Avatar review -- getting it off my chest so I can breathe easier

[lagilman]

Dear Reader: if you have to ask me "is this the first book in the series" when the cover clearly states BOOK ONE? I'm just not going to respect you at all. And my first instinctive response (unsent) is going to be homagawd snarky. Just sayin'.


In other news, I have now seen Avatar, and so can post an actual Informed Opinion.

And my AIO is that this movie doesn't have a single uncliched or interesting thought in its pretty little head. And, for the most part, I'm okay with that.

The longer version is that I think this was 3/4 of a decent military SF movie with Extra! EyeCandy! in the form of the special effects (the world itself was stunning, absolutely stunning, if I do have a few quibbles about the biological evolution of the species), and then devolved into 1/4 of a really so bad it's insulting movie toward the end, where everyone's reduced to a cliche of an archetype, the language goes from gung-ho adventure to ... well, both the military guy and the liberal tree-hugger were offended on behalf of all the characters, for how they fell apart, and the ending...

*facepalm* Nobody thought the ending through at all. Because no matter how well you defeat the invading force once, if you have something the invaders want, badly? And you have only a primitive, if effective, surprise weapon on your side? They will come back and nuke you from orbit. Seriously.

[EtA: yes, I used to edit stuff like this for a living. It was my job to ask pointy-type ploty questions and demand a decent response -- or at least a convincing handwavium. And, while we're on the topic - unobtanium? Seriously? Seriously?]

But, despite the paint-by-numbers and the failure of biology, and the failure of military thought (I expected better of a Marine), the fact is that the 3D in this movie is light years ahead of anything I've seen before: it enhances the experience, rather than jarring you with the FX, adds depth without distraction, and didn't give me even the slightest hint of vertigo or headache, as previous attempts did without fail. I compared the movie later to dating a much-younger companion: "shhh, don't say anything. Don't ruin it. Just look pretty."

The opinions of our group were mixed, from "really liked with a few reservations" to "oh god, I hated it, I was bored, even the music was bad." We all agreed the FX were damned amazing tho. I can't wait for the inevitable immersion ride.


After, we ended up at a new-to-me restaurant -- Whym. American comfort food, and we were mightily comforted. They have a small but acceptable scotch list, but I went with the mood of the group and had a mojito instead. I had two, in fact, which is my limit for mojitos (do not let them fool you. They are things of great and terrible evil, and if I have three, I become a force of great and terrible evil. Or at least later embarrassment.)

Oh, and I also picked up a new cookbook, while wandering through the B&N. *looks innocent and helpless and it totally mugged me, I swear...*

Comments

[ex-fashioni.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I also picked up a new cookbook, while wandering through the B&N. *looks innocent and helpless and it totally mugged me, I swear...*

I've been banned from bookstores & buying cookbooks until after The Great Move West.

*whimpers*

Indulge me-- which one?

[lagilman]

The Soup Bible. All my soup recipes are either improvised in the moment, or from old, tattered pullsheets. I thought it was time to shake up the cupboard. Also, it was on sale for $9. Score!

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

God review of Avatar. Haven't seen it yet, but after Titanic (The Titanic script: Jack! Rose! Jack! Rose! ::gurgle gurgle::), I figure that James Cameron isn't about smart or interesting scripts. He's all about the technical and visual aspects of film making. I no longer expect anything intelligent from him, merely pretty. With that borne in mind, I'm never disappointed...but I regret having to take that approach.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

Dear Reader: if you have to ask me "is this the first book in the series" when the cover clearly states BOOK ONE? I'm just not going to respect you at all. And my first instinctive response (unsent) is going to be homagawd snarky. Just sayin'.

Egad. This sounds like my mom has finally figured out how to send e-mails.

I had two, in fact, which is my limit for mojitos (do not let them fool you. They are things of great and terrible evil, and if I have three, I become a force of great and terrible evil. Or at least later embarrassment.)

But that's what YouTube is for!

Oh, and thanks for the Avatar review. So, would you call it Dances With Wolves in Space?

[lagilman]

Dances with Smurfs.

Phosphorescent Smurfs.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

Writing is the least cared about element of moviemaking these days. Which is why most of the good screenwriters prefer TV.

Off topic

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

I downloaded the BVC steampunk anthology Christmas Eve to read Christmas Day. I liked it. In fact the only disagreeable thing was that I had to read it on my computer. I would have preferred to curl up on the couch.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I just wrote my own review of it and then came over here...pretty much analogous. Huge issues with the 'noble white guy' thing. I suppose one could suggest that they won't nuke the planet because of cost issues - but if this unobtanium stuff is so fantastically expensive, it's hard to see why they wouldn't.

Also a depressing number of indigenous peoples have managed to trash their own environment without external aid....I guess that might involve actual complexity and we can't have that.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

They are things of great and terrible evil

its the mint.. really.

[lagilman]

It's the muddling. *nods*

[jslinder.livejournal.com]

The sad part was the whole 'planetary bombardment issue' was so easily fixable. Make the 'unobtanium' unstable, so that a planetary bombardment makes it go boom and thus unobtainable.

[lagilman]

except then, blowing up the Tree directly over said desired object would have done likewise...? I mean, it would have been beautifully ironic, but this wasn't that movie (pity, that movie could have been brilliant).

[jslinder.livejournal.com]

Well not THAT unstable (a planetary bombardment would probably involve nukes or other high energy weapons as apposed to conventional (missile) type explosions...

[allaboutm-e.livejournal.com]

We had pretty much the same response. I hear this is the movie Cameron has wanted to make since he was 13 -- and it felt like he was devoted to that initial vision to me. But fun and pretty and amazing to look at, agreed.