Epic Fail

[capsulecorpjx]

Wow, just wow:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movi...ues/index.html

"Ever since I went to see 'Avatar' I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na'vi made me want to be one of them. I can't stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it," Mike posted. "I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in 'Avatar.' "

Can't believe people are that stupid and delusional.

Especially considering it's such a mediocre movie, mediocre characters with a twice rehashed storyline (Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas) about space furries.

I seriously hope those forum posts are just trolls.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I went to see the movie. The 3D effects were worth it, especially for a biologist. Here's the interesting thing: Pandora is underwater!

Mountains floating in the air? Not gonna happen, but floating rafts of plant matter do occur in water bodies.

Plant like objects that display in a fan and shrink back into the ground in the blink of an eye when touched? Some kinds of tube worms fit that almost perfectly.

Lots of bioluminescence? Some on land, common underwater.

Hammerheads? Check.

Creatures breathing through flaps on the neck? Gills, especially similar to those on sting rays.

Strange white creatures that look like, and move like, jellyfish? How about actual jellyfish. Also, the tinaphores or comb jellies can look very much like that, though they don't move with the jellyfish undulations seen in the movie.

[capsulecorpjx]

I went to see the movie. The 3D effects were worth it, especially for a biologist. Here's the interesting thing: Pandora is underwater!

Mountains floating in the air? Not gonna happen, but floating rafts of plant matter do occur in water bodies.

Plant like objects that display in a fan and shrink back into the ground in the blink of an eye when touched? Some kinds of tube worms fit that almost perfectly.

Lots of bioluminescence? Some on land, common underwater.

Hammerheads? Check.

Creatures breathing through flaps on the neck? Gills, especially similar to those on sting rays.

Strange white creatures that look like, and move like, jellyfish? How about actual jellyfish. Also, the tinaphores or comb jellies can look very much like that, though they don't move with the jellyfish undulations seen in the movie.

Visual effects are just fluff to me.

It can't hide the overwhelming mediocrity.

Cameron does pacing well, even the romance is done well.

But the mediocrity, the rehashed storyline, the predicitability just overwhelms the good execution.

There are really no interesting characters, just cliches, and if that's the case there is no good movie.

Star Wars, had good, new interesting characters. A good coming of age story. And I can see why people fall for that movie.

But falling for the giant mediocre pile that is Avatar seems ridiculous to me.

[SambaNeko]

"Today on CNN: a slow news day."

There are also people out there who sincerely think they're vampires. This is just another fine example of the level of stupid in the world today.

The article reminds though: I liked Avatar overall, but I think the single stupidest thing about it was calling the rare mineral "unobtainium." It's like after Cameron named all those blue people and their critter friends, he was completely spent for made-up words.

[visualAd]

Didn't the same happen with the Matrix. The suicidal people wanted to "unplug"?

[abhijit]

Mountains floating in the air? Not gonna happen, but floating rafts of plant matter do occur in water bodies.

That could be something to do with magnetism. Not too long ago, there was an idol that was floating in the air in a temple in India at Somnath.

This idol was in the middle of the temple without anything to support it from below, or to suspend it from above. It was held in the highest honor among the Hindus, and whoever beheld it floating in the air was struck with amazement.

Mohammad of Ghazni ordered the magnet to be "studied" and in the process ended up destroying the idol's floating "powers".

[homer13j]

There are really no interesting characters, just cliches, and if that's the case there is no good movie.

You just described all of Hollywood since roughly 1980 or so...

[BackWoodsCoder]

I don't know what's worse, this or the fact that sarah palin now works for fox news.

[abhijit]

I don't know what's worse, this or the fact that sarah palin now works for fox news.

Doesn't everyone have a right to work?
What would you rather have?

[BackWoodsCoder]

fox news wiped off the face off the planet. It's not news, it's entertainment. It was hard enough taking her seriously in the first place, now that she's with fox news she just effectively killed any chance at going back into politics (or anyone who cares about politics to take her seriously at all anymore).

[Shaggy Hiker]

That could be something to do with magnetism. Not too long ago, there was an idol that was floating in the air in a temple in India at Somnath.

This idol was in the middle of the temple without anything to support it from below, or to suspend it from above. It was held in the highest honor among the Hindus, and whoever beheld it floating in the air was struck with amazement.

Mohammad of Ghazni ordered the magnet to be "studied" and in the process ended up destroying the idol's floating "powers".

That is nothing more than idol speculation on your part.

How much magnetism would be required to hold up a mountain. At what point do the Tesla get so high that they would be lethal? Of course, there were plenty of other physical problems with the movie, but the floating mountains are just one more example of why Pandora was underwater.

Now what would have been REALLY cool....but that's just idyll speculation on MY part.

[homer13j]

fox news wiped off the face off the planet. It's not news, it's entertainment.

I hate to break it to ya... but ALL TV news is entertainment.

"Channel 6 news... A car chase every night! Guaranteed! Or the weather girl wears a tube top!"
-Kent Brockman

[abhijit]

fox news wiped off the face off the planet. It's not news, it's entertainment. It was hard enough taking her seriously in the first place, now that she's with fox news she just effectively killed any chance at going back into politics (or anyone who cares about politics to take her seriously at all anymore).

I don't know enough about politics to know if this will boost her ratings or kill her chances. Though I do know that businesses getting shut down are not a good indicator for economic recovery.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I hate to break it to ya... but ALL TV news is entertainment.

ABSOLUTELY!! And bad entertainment at that.

"Channel 6 news... A car chase every night! Guaranteed! Or the weather girl wears a tube top!"
-Kent Brockman

I vote for the latter.

[pcuser]

First!

[KiwiDexter]

"Today on CNN: a slow news day."

There are also people out there who sincerely think they're vampires. This is just another fine example of the level of stupid in the world today.

The article reminds though: I liked Avatar overall, but I think the single stupidest thing about it was calling the rare mineral "unobtainium." It's like after Cameron named all those blue people and their critter friends, he was completely spent for made-up words.

See you don't know the history of cinema when it comes to "unobtainium". I believe the mineral was first discovered in the awesomely good (in a "B" grade fashion" "The Core".

I think you personally owe Jimmy C an apology, clealy the mineral exists in vast quantities in LA ... or was that something else that exists in vast quantities in LA.

[capsulecorpjx]

I don't think I've created thread yet that hasn't been derailed.

[KiwiDexter]

I don't think I've created thread yet that hasn't been derailed.

I haven't seen mention of Llamas and shaving foam yet ... maybe Mendhack hasn't replied yet

[SambaNeko]

I think you personally owe Jimmy C an apology,

[Jenner]

It all depends on how much you boil movies down capsulecorpjx. You could continue to boil plots down until you get to a single sentence. Granted, I'm with you in that special effects are only icing on the cake for me; it's the theme, plot and all the under the hood things that make movies memorable to me. Hell, I've had movies where everything was perfect, except the soundtrack was a total, epic fail and ruined the movie to a large degree for me (Ladyhawke for instance), or even the cinematography. I'm amazed how many directors don't know the first thing about setting up decent camera angles on scenes!

Still, is Casablanca just another "escape from the bad guys" movie? If Godfather just another "conflict from differing ideas" movie? Of course not, because most see these movies deeper than their most basic plot element. Pocahontas is a "defend your home from invaders" movie and so is Avatar, but so are a good number of other movies such as Soldier, Home Alone, Braveheart and Patriot.

It really depends on what's important to you in a movie.

Personally though, I haven't seen Avatar (going tonight) so I can't judge the movie yet.

[mendhak]

"Today on CNN: a slow news day."

There are also people out there who sincerely think they're vampires. This is just another fine example of the level of stupid in the world today.

The article reminds though: I liked Avatar overall, but I think the single stupidest thing about it was calling the rare mineral "unobtainium." It's like after Cameron named all those blue people and their critter friends, he was completely spent for made-up words.

Come on!! Unobtainium! Unobtainium! Eh? Eh? Aw come aaaahnnnn!!

[vbcode1980]

Mountains floating in the air? Not gonna happen,

There's featurette on the Apple trailer website, that explains this phenomenon.
It has something to do with strong magnetic fields combined with the special properties of Unobtanium. (not making this up).

[Shaggy Hiker]

Does a phony explanation about a phony phenomenon make it more plausible?

[JuggaloBrotha]

Does a phony explanation about a phony phenomenon make it more plausible?

Depends on how small the person's mind is when they're thinking about it

[Jenner]

Saw the movie last night. I loved it. I thought it was excellent. Yea, it was a fairly transparent Pocahontas / Dances With Wolves plot, but it really was masterfully done.

I can even suspend enough disbelief to entertain the possibility about unobtanium. Come on, we have half a dozen elements with stupid names (Californium? Berkelium? What next... MITium? Microsoftium?). I can totally see humans naming some oddball exotic baryonic matter "unobtanium", especially if it was only discovered in a lab, couldn't be found anywhere in nature that we knew of and had some amazing properties. "Sorry guys, it's wonderful stuff but it would take years to generate a gram of it in the lab, that's why we named it 'unobtanium', you just can't obtain it."

I really didn't have a problem with at all with the soundness of the sci-fi of the movie. The only things I saw kinda hokey were the floating mountains. If they were caused by something in the ground below, then you want to mine THERE, not under some tree miles away. Why wasn't anything else like those gyro-copters or pterodactyls affected beyond a "sensor malfunction"?

Second, was the nature of the "remote control" link between the human and his avatar. Does the Avatar have a microchip in his head with a mega-powerful transmitter? It's a hard nut to swallow for me; especially when you add in that this signal is totally unaffected by the aforementioned floaty mountains, terrain or range. It was too mystical. I'd be more satisfied with a transferred consciousness in the lab... and that's it; you're in your new body until you come back to the lab and transfer back out. That would have been better sci-fi, but wouldn't have made as good of a movie so I'll let it slide.

Overall, Avatar rocked, and not just for the special effects. Really, the special effects were just icing on the cake. It was a solid story with it's own unique twists. It was crafted exceptionally well. The type of story has been told before; but that never stopped me from enjoying a movie.

[abhijit]

I wouldn't call it a solid story. The storyline was fairly predictable and the bonding with nature part that Naavi exhibited kinda reminds me of several tribes all over the world.

[NeedSomeAnswers]

I haven't seen Avatar, but from what i have heard i am not in a rush to go.

A lot of people have mentioned there problems with the Plot or have talked about the plot of movies being important, what it is just as important is the script, and from the clips & trailers i have seen the plot is not the best but mainly the script is a bit too hammy for me !

How many movies do you remember the whole plot of, or what the cinematography looked like years later but everyone can quote one of there favourite films !

I never f**ked anybody over in my life didn't have it coming to them. You got that? All I have in this world is my balls and my word and I don't break them for no one

[Jenner]

I dunno, I typically remember scenes, so in effect, I remember cinematography. Lines are lines but even the best lines can be weak if the scene sucks. Darth Vader delivering the "I am your father" line wouldn't have been half as memorable without the dramatic slightly off-center, zoomed in camera angle. Imagine if Vader delivered that line during a shot like the overhead one shown just moments before.

I remember every plot to every movie I watch as well. Maybe I just have a mind for it. I dunno.

BTW, how can you claim the script is too hammy from only watching the trailers? That's like saying a program sucks from looking at it's quick-sort function.
Trust me, the script is good. The lines well delivered and appropriate. Looking back at the trailers, it's the trailers that are hammy; not the movie.

[abhijit]

I haven't seen Avatar, but from what i have heard i am not in a rush to go.

A lot of people have mentioned there problems with the Plot or have talked about the plot of movies being important, what it is just as important is the script, and from the clips & trailers i have seen the plot is not the best but mainly the script is a bit too hammy for me !

How many movies do you remember the whole plot of, or what the cinematography looked like years later but everyone can quote one of there favourite films !

I think that's from the Al Pacino movie. The one where his character creates a drug empire.

[Shaggy Hiker]

The storyline was fairly predictable and the bonding with nature part that Naavi exhibited kinda reminds me of several tribes all over the world.

THAT kind of 'bonding with nature' doesn't exist anywhere in the world, and was the most interesting part as far as I was concerned. Leaving out the obvious ramifications for sex, providing some kind of data tap for a series of mobile organisms of various complexities produces some really intriguing possibilities.

[Jenner]

Yea, it does. At first I thought it was kinda hokey. Oh, just "jack in" to a horse and you can talk to it and ride it... "jack in" to a bird and you can ride it... but the more I thought about it from an exobiology standpoint; it is entirely feasible. It's an alien genome; why wouldn't it be possible for different creatures to share a common genetic feature like that. A common, successful mutation somewhere farther up the genetic tree; possibly much farther up considering even some trees had the ability to link.

Look at Earth; most of the higher creatures have two eyes and those eyes are on their head. In Avatar, the appendage was located coming off the head of all the creatures and had a common structure.

I agree with Shaggy, if I was a biologist and I saw that, I'd go nuts to study it.

[BackWoodsCoder]

I think that's from the Al Pacino movie. The one where his character creates a drug empire.

Yah, it was from scarface.

[capsulecorpjx]

Yea, it does. At first I thought it was kinda hokey. Oh, just "jack in" to a horse and you can talk to it and ride it... "jack in" to a bird and you can ride it... but the more I thought about it from an exobiology standpoint; it is entirely feasible. It's an alien genome; why wouldn't it be possible for different creatures to share a common genetic feature like that. A common, successful mutation somewhere farther up the genetic tree; possibly much farther up considering even some trees had the ability to link.

Look at Earth; most of the higher creatures have two eyes and those eyes are on their head. In Avatar, the appendage was located coming off the head of all the creatures and had a common structure.

I agree with Shaggy, if I was a biologist and I saw that, I'd go nuts to study it.

They took out the love scene. Apparently Na'Vi mate by connecting their "jacks", the same way they connect to horses and birds.

Which ... raises some interesting questions.

[Shaggy Hiker]

That's what I was refering to.

When you get down to similar morphology, how many air breathing animals do you know that breathe through nose or mouth? All of them? Water breathers don't, and insects are different, but only the cetaceans are particularly different, and no air breathing animal is all that different. However, on Pandora, it appears that a good number of animals breathe through an orifice in the neck, though the Na'Vi don't. Why not? Probably, there is no sound biological reason, simply a political reason.

Biologists would be all over that world.

[vbcode1980]

Does a phony explanation about a phony phenomenon make it more plausible?

The question is more: is it plausible within the movie's universe?
It's just a matter of suspension of disbelief

[Shaggy Hiker]

My disbelief is still suspended, I'm just very animated about it.

[BillGeek]

Referring to the linked article: What the hell is wrong with people!? I'm depressed because we don't have spaceships that have warp-drives, artificial gravity and a machine that can make anything from nothing. Come on.

[NeedSomeAnswers]

BTW, how can you claim the script is too hammy from only watching the trailers? That's like saying a program sucks from looking at it's quick-sort function.

I don't know what it is but Trailers like the ones for Avatar really put me off going to see the Film. Maybe i will change my mind and go watch it anyway.

I haven't seen a film i really enjoyed at the Cinema for ages !

[KiwiDexter]

They took out the love scene. Apparently Na'Vi mate by connecting their "jacks", the same way they connect to horses and birds.

Which ... raises some interesting questions.

And vbf kicks off Na'Vi porn .... whatever floats your mountain dude*



* Okay I'll get my hat and coat ....