Looks great, but I don't typically enjoy the behind the scenes footage until post viewing. Mostly because it takes a little away from my imagination while I watch the film - because I constantly am referencing how they made the scene rather than enjoying it. Would have rather seen a trailer. #avatar
I don't get the headache thing regarding 3d. I used to use shutter glasses for all my pc gaming and could use them for 8+ hours with no headache problems at all. Also, halfway decent 3d isn't blurry at all. If it looks blurry to you, then your brain is somehow not properly focusing on it and that I can see could cause headaches.
So I can see that the technology might not be for everyone, but just because 3d is blurry and headache inducing to YOU, does not make it so to other people.
To me it looks like the second coming. For full disclosure I can also magic eyes without any effort and can also easily do the cross eyed two picture 3d thing easily.
What I can't do is the red/blue glasses because I am colorblind. THOSE just look blurry to me, but I know that is because of my eyes.
So don't crap on 3d because is it bad for YOU. I can understand you not wanting it to be the ONLY option. That would suck for you, like me playing a video game that does not have a color blind mode (most of them) #3d
@Alluvian: It's interesting that red/blue anaglyphs wouldn't work for you because you're colorblind... the filters basically just let one color pass more than another, so I'd have thought that on the red side, red would be light, and blue would be dark, and vice versa on the blue... #3d
@Jrsy Devil's Advocate®: Ugh. Michael Bay is the vapid, two-dimensional, coat-tail-riding, over-the-top-but-without-any-substance..., roller-coaster version of James Cameron. Michael Bay IS the poor man's James Cameron. #3d
I don't understand the hate directed toward 3D, and this movie especially. I went to that 15 minute preview and everyone in the theater was speechless for the entire presentation. Avatar looked amazing in 3D. Anytime I see the 2D trailer I can help but think of how plain it looks and I tell people they are missing out.
3D really made everything stand out and seem more vibrant (the flora scene in particular). #3d
@Raziel66: But the problem is that TV sets and monitors showing the trailers aren't showing them in 3D. I mean, I get that it looks amazing in 3D. I'm sure that it does. But the big issue is that when you show people a trailer that looks--let's be honest--pretty lame, it's a huge leap of faith to then say "ah! But pay $15 to see it in 3-D, and then you will be really impressed!" #3d
I know that it'll make tons of money because people will want to see the effects, but I have no interest in it because the script/story seems like the same old same old. #3d
I dont get this. So the 3d costs $500 million more to make it than if they just did it in 2d? or is it 2d +3d production = $500 million?
because in this article you seem like you hate avatar (you call avatar a folly), while in other Gawker articles the writers praise it for being awesome.
If you are saying just the 3d version is a POS, then perhaps the title should be,
"James Cameron's 500 million dollar foolish venture into the 3rd dimension"
instead of equating the movie overall to foolishness. #3d
The movie looks awesome. The blue crap does not look like crap at all. Maybe you should take a minute in the bathroom and study your own crap and ask yourself why yours is blue?
Yes, I image it will be quite difficult for the movie to make it's money back in the theater. Luckily for Cameron he does not need to rely on theater showings to make his money back. This is more than just a movie, Avatar is also a tech demo. As long as the movie does amazingly well, then he will have studios lining up to purchase rights to use that tech in their own movies.
Honestly I don't know how anybody could say the movie looks like crap. You may not like the color of something, you may think it looks like a video game, you may thing its all just a re-interpretation of stuff that has already been done before.... but all of that does not make it look like crap. The animation is beyond superb, the color shouldn't matter as it's an alien race that never existed before and could be any color the imagination chooses, the modeling for the world and creatures look amazing, even the worse of it.
The complaint that it looks like CG? Well hello, it is CG... duh? Would you rather they used puppets and models so we could then say, "but it looks like puppets and models!" #3d
@Forsakenchild: "The complaint that it looks like CG? Well hello, it is CG... duh?"
I'd rather they used CGI effectively so that it blended easily, allowing me to be captivated by the story. Of course we know creatures aren't real, but there are definitely shitty CGI effects that just ruin the final product. Then there are triumphs of effects, acting and direction that allow us to forget we're even watching a film.
I've seen puppet and model effects that make CGI look like shit, and vice versa. In the best cases smart directors and effects masters use all available techniques to a masterful conclusion. I submit: Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor. They used effects as a means to support a brilliantly directed story. On the opposite end of the spectrum you have Michael Bay, who relies on effects as a crutch for having no sense of storytelling or directorial acumen at all. (He is successful, however, because people like still like loud and flashy bang bang, even if devoid of any lasting merit.)
So... yes, to many people Avatar looks like crap. The CGI looks like crap. James Cameron is an extremely talented writer, director and artist... but even masters of their craft occasionally make a mistake. #3d
@met2art: You must be seeing something completely different from what I am seeing. I saw the 15min screener on that horribly labeled "Avatar Day" and was nothing short of blown away. The animation is some of the best, if not best, I have ever seen in a movie and it is used quite masterfully. Same goes for the modeling, which happens to be a career path in which I am seeking to get into. Even the most recent 2D trailer was quite engrossing. To each his own, but to call it crap is ridiculous. I don't like Michael Jackson's music or the Toy Story movies, but just because I do not like them neither means they are crap nor that I do not recognize the importance that one had on the musical world or the other on the computer animation world. Time will tell what kinda of impact Avatar will have on the cinema world, but to call it crap is plain and simply closed mindedness to ones own biases. #3d
@Forsakenchild: That's why they're called opinions. Opinions are biases. But it's nice that you're so open minded about Michael Jackson and Toy Story, and also able to accept other people's opinions with equinimity. Bravo. #3d
Sadly, I work for Fox. We're running a marketing campaign to try to convince people that this movie is (hang on, let me cut and paste from my email...) "Our mission from now on will be to get this message out there in everything we can AVATAR is NOT animated, NOT sci-fi, NOT CGI."
I see this going the same way Jennifer's Body did... Good game Fox. #3d
@ninjagin: I know :) I'm all for embracing that this movie is NOT going to be like any 3D movie you've *EVER* viewed before :) The 3D aspect in this movie isn't like those cheap tricks where things come out at you for gags (ie My Bloody Valentine/ A Christmas Carol 3D). The best way I can describe it would be that Avatar uses 3D to add depth perception to the screen. So you begin to really feel how big some of these creatures are, or the water in some scenes looks so realistic (for CGI). #3d
"But does anyone else find it a tad too absurd that technology in the world of Avatar can build a hybrid species from a cocktail of DNA but still can't fuse a sub-millimeter fracture in a spinal cord?"
I'm gonna have to agree with Mark on this one - perhaps not in terms of them not having the tech, but more on how preposterous the idea of of them holding it back from a soldier. Does this presume that someone who can walk cannot link with the Avatar? Wouldn't they prefer to cure soldiers from spine injuries so they can be badass MOFOs carrying those huge (oh, but yet so light and practical) machine-gun-RGP-Gatling gun-axis of evil-eliminating things? (BTW, how come in the future weapons become bigger and not smaller and more efficient?).
Anyway, clearly this is one of those movies where you will do better not dwelling too deep in the plot. James Cameron cares more about hardware than about plausibility. Besides, this is just an action-packed CGI-fest with a minor allegory regarding man's greedy willingness to destroy the natural world for money.
I'll just set my brain to 25%, and accept being mesmerized by the blinking light, the gadgetry, the blue people, and flying polychromatic pterodactyls. All this in full IMAX 3D glory. #avatar
@Luis Bascones: BTW, how come in the future weapons become bigger and not smaller and more efficient
Because bigger guns are more awesome than tiny guns. Sheesh, how hard is that to figure out? The BFG in Doom does not stand for Babyish Feeble Gun #avatar
@Luis Bascones: "how come in the future weapons become bigger and not smaller and more efficient"
I think we have to suppose they do a lot more in a slightly larger package. While a failure, a real world, albeit rudimentary example would be the OICW. In Sci-Fi, think of "The Fifth Element" weapon compliments of Zorg Industries. It was huge, but it had all sorts of fun capabilities. #avatar
11/12/09
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So I can see that the technology might not be for everyone, but just because 3d is blurry and headache inducing to YOU, does not make it so to other people.
To me it looks like the second coming. For full disclosure I can also magic eyes without any effort and can also easily do the cross eyed two picture 3d thing easily.
What I can't do is the red/blue glasses because I am colorblind. THOSE just look blurry to me, but I know that is because of my eyes.
So don't crap on 3d because is it bad for YOU. I can understand you not wanting it to be the ONLY option. That would suck for you, like me playing a video game that does not have a color blind mode (most of them) #3d
11/09/09
11/09/09
Just seems weird to spend $250+ million on a movie only to have people wear $2 crap glasses and make it all fuzzy and blurry... #3d
11/09/09
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11/12/09
Wow. #3d
11/12/09
11/09/09
3D really made everything stand out and seem more vibrant (the flora scene in particular). #3d
11/09/09
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11/09/09
because in this article you seem like you hate avatar (you call avatar a folly), while in other Gawker articles the writers praise it for being awesome.
If you are saying just the 3d version is a POS, then perhaps the title should be,
"James Cameron's 500 million dollar foolish venture into the 3rd dimension"
instead of equating the movie overall to foolishness. #3d
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
Yes, I image it will be quite difficult for the movie to make it's money back in the theater. Luckily for Cameron he does not need to rely on theater showings to make his money back. This is more than just a movie, Avatar is also a tech demo. As long as the movie does amazingly well, then he will have studios lining up to purchase rights to use that tech in their own movies.
Honestly I don't know how anybody could say the movie looks like crap. You may not like the color of something, you may think it looks like a video game, you may thing its all just a re-interpretation of stuff that has already been done before.... but all of that does not make it look like crap. The animation is beyond superb, the color shouldn't matter as it's an alien race that never existed before and could be any color the imagination chooses, the modeling for the world and creatures look amazing, even the worse of it.
The complaint that it looks like CG? Well hello, it is CG... duh? Would you rather they used puppets and models so we could then say, "but it looks like puppets and models!" #3d
11/09/09
I'd rather they used CGI effectively so that it blended easily, allowing me to be captivated by the story. Of course we know creatures aren't real, but there are definitely shitty CGI effects that just ruin the final product. Then there are triumphs of effects, acting and direction that allow us to forget we're even watching a film.
I've seen puppet and model effects that make CGI look like shit, and vice versa. In the best cases smart directors and effects masters use all available techniques to a masterful conclusion. I submit: Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor. They used effects as a means to support a brilliantly directed story. On the opposite end of the spectrum you have Michael Bay, who relies on effects as a crutch for having no sense of storytelling or directorial acumen at all. (He is successful, however, because people like still like loud and flashy bang bang, even if devoid of any lasting merit.)
So... yes, to many people Avatar looks like crap. The CGI looks like crap. James Cameron is an extremely talented writer, director and artist... but even masters of their craft occasionally make a mistake. #3d
11/09/09
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11/09/09
I see this going the same way Jennifer's Body did... Good game Fox. #3d
11/09/09
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11/06/09
I'm gonna have to agree with Mark on this one - perhaps not in terms of them not having the tech, but more on how preposterous the idea of of them holding it back from a soldier. Does this presume that someone who can walk cannot link with the Avatar? Wouldn't they prefer to cure soldiers from spine injuries so they can be badass MOFOs carrying those huge (oh, but yet so light and practical) machine-gun-RGP-Gatling gun-axis of evil-eliminating things? (BTW, how come in the future weapons become bigger and not smaller and more efficient?).
Anyway, clearly this is one of those movies where you will do better not dwelling too deep in the plot. James Cameron cares more about hardware than about plausibility. Besides, this is just an action-packed CGI-fest with a minor allegory regarding man's greedy willingness to destroy the natural world for money.
I'll just set my brain to 25%, and accept being mesmerized by the blinking light, the gadgetry, the blue people, and flying polychromatic pterodactyls. All this in full IMAX 3D glory. #avatar
11/06/09
Because bigger guns are more awesome than tiny guns. Sheesh, how hard is that to figure out? The BFG in Doom does not stand for Babyish Feeble Gun #avatar
11/06/09
@Geisrud: You mean this is not awesome? #avatar
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11/06/09
@Geisrud: Ah, the Magnum .44. Good times, good times indeed. #avatar
11/06/09
I think we have to suppose they do a lot more in a slightly larger package. While a failure, a real world, albeit rudimentary example would be the OICW. In Sci-Fi, think of "The Fifth Element" weapon compliments of Zorg Industries. It was huge, but it had all sorts of fun capabilities. #avatar
11/06/09
Who will be the victor?! #avatar