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Wed Dec 16
25 posts in the last 24 hours
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@Bootknife-Jackson: I forgot to mention this in the piece, but they actually released some Zardoz inspired designs a few years back. Totally blew my head.
I'm starting to feel like that "South Park" episode -- not the recent one making fun of this, but an old one.
The one where the SP kids get lost in the jungle and they're all "screw you, hippies, nature is gross and things try to kill you" and there's a big cheer when they get found by the bulldozers.
I'm all "screw the noble savage cat-smurfs, and the traitor to his race and planet. This place is full of vicious shit that kills everything, nuke it from orbit and ship the unobtanium back to Earth."
I'm having a grumpy week, plus I'm beyond tired of the hype and the constant ads and product placement in TV shows. And Cameron is an egotistical jerk.
I never saw Titanic. (The boat sank. Get over it.) I might see this eventually, but not till after New Year's.
"Gay Skeletor" has to be the most eye-catching part of a headline I have ever read.
Now I'm trying to figure out the logo possibilities after the band changed into MDFMK...
It doesn't matter how long it takes, and it doesn't matter how much you spend.
Ultimately, the only thing that matters is: "Do I believe you?"
All theatre depends on this "willing suspension of disbelief." We know that it's fake, going in....it's only a movie. The question is, "Am I willing to believe this for 106 minutes?"
@korybing: Me too. When I was 12, I saved up my allowance to buy Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials. I was a few cents short but the cashier at our local bookstore let me buy it anyway. He rang it up as a sale item.
@Bill-Lee: Yeah, when I was a kid I had a membership to the Sci-fi and Fantasy book club, and the only books I ever bought were the Wayne Barlowe Guide to Fantasy and Guide to Extraterrestrials. I devoured those books. They were my most prized books, next to Dinotopia.
5 comments in before we have our first "I hope this movie fails" comment. I honestly don't get what people have against this film. The maker of Aliens & T2 gets at least one mistake out of me before I second guess his movies, and he's yet to fail.
@Paul_Is_Drunk: I'm with this guy. I can't think of the word/saying, but it's like when people don't listen to mainstream music because it's "mainstream". Not a valid argument. Movie looks at the very least extremely interesting. I'm sure it will be "entertaining" if nothing else. Who doesn't like cool special effects, mechs, find toys and weapons bundled with aliens and an alien planet. I mean c'mon on people!
@leber: I like all those. I also like good dialog, good plotting, and good acting. What drove me nuts about Titanic is that the epic sweep of the movie and its mass appeal made it impervious to criticisms over its melodramatic plot, so-so acting and atrocious dialog.
@Wookie1972: I can almost guarantee I am going to like this movie simply because it just looks cool and I'm into cool looking CGI.
Also, one man's "atrocious dialog" is another man's funny dialog when you suspend disbelief for a while and just remember you're spending ~2 hours to escape from reality. :-)
@Paul_Is_Drunk: It's because of the Hype Backlash. It was kept so hush-hush everyone's imaginations ran wild, and when reality hit, they blamed Cameron.
Seriously, if anyone, anyone at all, should be able to use Space Marines, it should be this guy.
@SkipErnst: Yeah, but the dialog in Titanic was supposed to be moving and romantic. And remember Luigi, I mean Fabrizio, Jack's loveable Italian sidekick?
Is it just me or is every piece of concept art a million times more interesting than the final film? The concept art is of a gritty, big-budget, sci-fi epic. Cameron's movie is a family-friendly holiday adventure that doesn't illicit the slightest reaction from me. Has anyone brought up the District9 comparison lately?
@revdrkevind: I dunno about family friendly. A mountain banshee snatches a soldier from one of the ships in its mouth and tosses his ass somewhere. You know at least a few people are going to get mauled, PG-13 style lol
My sister has been working on this for over 2 years at WETA. She tells me it is quite a site, and an outstanding film. She has worked with Cameron before but her opinion on this film has been very good all along. I will be seeing it w/her in HD, but in MI, the IMAX version is not coming on release to MI; and boy is she pissed.
I wish this film the best; but I am not a fan of the "King of the World" his head is way too big.
Sorry, but no level of PR mongering can obscure the fact that it looks like an over-budget, live action cartoon; a sappy, overwrought, and cliched one at that. It didn't work for Terminator Salvation (i.e. the fawning clap-trap about the movie sets), and its not going to work for Dances With Na'vi.
Word on the street is that we've seen all the CGI in the trailers. The rest is just claymation. But from everything my sources say this film will take claymation to heights Gumby never dreamed of.
@NorwoodIsMyHero: Yea, inside sources (my brother dates his daughter) tell me the movies is actually a conglomeration of those trailers and Gumby playing the main role!
The 5 five things that sold me on this: 1. James Cameron: even when it's not his best it's still interesting. 2. The 3D: I saw the Avatar day preview ( didn't get into the comic con one, damn you Twilight)and it's not a cheep gimmick, it works for the movie. 3. It takes 5 years to get to the planet, which is 4.4 lightyears away ( someone please do the math and find out how fast the ship can go.) 4. mechs. . Strong beautiful women I mean look at Susan Sarandon she's what 63 and still stunning.
@salthegeek: Unless my math is off, the ship in question would be traveling roughly 0.88 the speed of light. Around 950 040 000 kph, better than 33 000 times faster than the shuttle on orbit.
@Will Nickelson: Well it would average 0.88c, but since Valkyrie uses a reaction drive (fusion plus antimatter "nitros"), there's going to be acceleration and decelartion periods (which incidentally influences the time dilation calculation).
@ChaosCon: It's kinda like "Clive Barker's Jericho (by Clive Barker)"
I'm also expecting the credits of Avatar to be something like
"Created by: James Cameron
Directed by: James Cameron
Idea by: James Cameron
Camera work: Nobody important
Editing: James Cameron and some useless peon
Writing by: James Cameron
Everything else: James Cameron
Oh, did we mention James Cameron? *BIG PICTURE OF JAMES CAMERON*"
Best-boy dolly grip: James Cameron
Gaffer: James Cameron
Craft services: James Cameron
Fetcher of coffee: James Cameron
Destroyer of worlds: James Cameron
@ChaosCon: It's to avoid confusion to M. Night Shyamalan's Avatar: The Last Airbender. Which is going to suck more that this movie if it does indeed suck.
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i just noticed, you have a Zardoz head too! +2 to you!
12/10/09
The one where the SP kids get lost in the jungle and they're all "screw you, hippies, nature is gross and things try to kill you" and there's a big cheer when they get found by the bulldozers.
I'm all "screw the noble savage cat-smurfs, and the traitor to his race and planet. This place is full of vicious shit that kills everything, nuke it from orbit and ship the unobtanium back to Earth."
I'm having a grumpy week, plus I'm beyond tired of the hype and the constant ads and product placement in TV shows. And Cameron is an egotistical jerk.
I never saw Titanic. (The boat sank. Get over it.) I might see this eventually, but not till after New Year's.
Bah humbug.
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Now I'm trying to figure out the logo possibilities after the band changed into MDFMK...
12/10/09
It doesn't matter how long it takes, and it doesn't matter how much you spend.
Ultimately, the only thing that matters is: "Do I believe you?"
All theatre depends on this "willing suspension of disbelief." We know that it's fake, going in....it's only a movie. The question is, "Am I willing to believe this for 106 minutes?"
For "Outland"? Yes.
For "Waterworld"? No.
For "Star Wars"? Yes.
For "Battlefield Earth"? No.
For "Avatar"?....
12/10/09
I...I have a bit of a problem with Barlowe. The problem is I love him.
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Yeah dude, I feel exactly the same way.
Now step back.
12/11/09
@Vexxarr: Wayne Barlowe cat fight!
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Also, one man's "atrocious dialog" is another man's funny dialog when you suspend disbelief for a while and just remember you're spending ~2 hours to escape from reality. :-)
12/10/09
Seriously, if anyone, anyone at all, should be able to use Space Marines, it should be this guy.
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I wish this film the best; but I am not a fan of the "King of the World" his head is way too big.
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The movie is a huge letdown. Unless you like smurfs.
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;)
If it was such a great movie, how come they won't let the critics review it before it's released? ;P
12/10/09
My point still stands though -- reserve judgment.
At the very least, we should be hedging our bets.
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I'm also expecting the credits of Avatar to be something like
"Created by: James Cameron
Directed by: James Cameron
Idea by: James Cameron
Camera work: Nobody important
Editing: James Cameron and some useless peon
Writing by: James Cameron
Everything else: James Cameron
Oh, did we mention James Cameron? *BIG PICTURE OF JAMES CAMERON*"
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Best-boy dolly grip: James Cameron
Gaffer: James Cameron
Craft services: James Cameron
Fetcher of coffee: James Cameron
Destroyer of worlds: James Cameron
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