Comments on: Avatar Featurette Shows Off Film’s Sci-Fi Tech

By: James Cameron’s profile and Avatar behind the scenes images from Wired Magazine | I Think

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:34:23 +0000

[...] Avatar Featurette Shows Off Film’s Sci-Fi Tech (screenrant.com) [...]

By: Ken J

Ken J — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:11:57 +0000

Well, Titanic was a good movie from a technical standpoint. It was simply not the type of movies most guys enjoy. His recreation of the Titanic was basically spot-on, the sinking of the Titanic was pretty accurate to the accepted theory at the time, and there was plenty of story and character development besides that. But alas, it was a cheesy love story, so it was mostly a chick flick, lol. So yah, my point is that even though I didn’t like Titanic, it wasn’t just some crappy movie. So basically, other than that Piranha movie that he didn’t get to write or make other than get to direct, none of his movies actually suck…

By: Fenix

Fenix — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:45:59 +0000

I agree with Ken J,
Cameron is masterful at action scenes AND character development. Too many movies today have one or the other but when you combine both you really have something special. I know no matter what I will end up loving this movie even tho apparently there is a “this movie is going to suck” sentiment going around… I think with highly anticipated big budget movies like avatar there are always going to be skeptics and haters who don’t want it to succeed but I just find it really hard to believe that this movie will just downright suck.. I mean honestly has Cameron made a movie that just sucks the big one? I think Titanic sucked but that movie broke box office records so what does my opinion matter…

By: Ken J

Ken J — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:09:08 +0000

@greenknight

Um, yah, I know, but it was the imagery of a human manipulated exoskeleton type thing being used for combat. Obviously the Matrix is not going to just copy it and have a bunch of forklifts fighting weird squid flying machines… It’s not such a stretch of imagination to put guns onto the concept that Cameron made popular with Aliens.

By: greenknight333

greenknight333 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:52:24 +0000

thanks old man ..I learned something new today..I will look it up!!

CHeers

By: greenknight333

greenknight333 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:51:17 +0000

Yeah Ken but that was a glorified forklift/loader not an amp suit loaded with guns and designed for fighting..

By: the old man

the old man — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:13:26 +0000

Yeah Greenknight and of course Heinlein wrote about them back in 1959. GE made models in the 60′s. Small versions are being manufactured in limited numbers today. Heinlein could imagine real tech it would take 50 to 70 years to realize interesting, no??

By: Ken J

Ken J — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:24:04 +0000

@grenknight

Too bad Matrix ripped that from the fight scene with the queen alien in Aliens, which is a Cameron film…

By: greenknight333

greenknight333 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:09:15 +0000

Amp suit…wasn’t that already done in Matrix Revolutions?

By: BP

BP — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:40:29 +0000

Excited to see both sides of the fight. Cool human weaponry and cool blue aliens with…birds? and stuff

By: the old man

the old man — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:46:18 +0000

I think jerseycajun has valid concerns. I’m not a Cameron hater by any means but I can’t forget “The Abyss.” Somethings you should know about what I think about the “Abyss” I like inner-space movies. “Thunder Ball,” “U-571,” “Das Boot,” “Red October,” “The Deep” are just some of the titles I’ve seen. But you know what, of all those titles I named, I only have a copy of the “Abyss.” So now you know when I say the movie is uneven you don’t think I’m another Cameron hater. Certainly he’s grown over the years and I’m betting the technology he’s behind is top notch. I haven’t looked at the teaser above, I want to save as much as possible for the theater. I think it’s likely though that the show will have some unevenness at the least. Until I see it, I can’t say it’s science fiction only science fantasy. Their’s a lot more of that out there for better or worse.

By: Avatar: Running Time Confirmed & New Footage - Screen Rant

Avatar: Running Time Confirmed & New Footage - Screen Rant — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:32:13 +0000

[...] you’re excite for this flick and dying to see more, definitely check out the featurette we put up on Friday which shows and talks about the planet of Pandora and why James Cameron [...]

By: Ken J

Ken J — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:43:24 +0000

@jersey

You left out one aspect about Cameron. He’s good at action scenes, getting good performances, and character development. That last one could really make the movie, that’s why I’m optimistic.

By: jerseycajun

jerseycajun — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:29:32 +0000

MYM,

The characteristic of them (droids and clones and gungans) being animated wasn’t what was responsible for so few people being able to generate a rooting interest in the conflict, it was that they never developed a reason to care about them.

For an example of a completely computer generated character that did move audiences to care, see Carl Frederickson from Pixar’s “Up” earlier this year.

If they develop the characters the pixels represent, this shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, I still think the biggest problem this film has is that you can see most of how the story will end up from the barest description of the set-up, and they’ve given much more than that away in the preview material so far.

The only way for it to overcome that obstacle is if Cameron decided to say something completely different from what we expect from this set up. Call it the “Dances With Wolves” scenario. If he makes the ending something other than the one or two predictable ones that can be seen from miles away, and comes off as being fresh, then the SFX will have served the story well, and the latter won’t end up being the only reason to see the film.

Personally, I’m skeptical. Cameron is a gifted director. He makes action scenes like nobody else in the business and he will (with rare exception) get above average performances from his actors, which always gives some rooting interest in the story, but in this case the story may be the weakest point. I hope I’m wrong, because these sfx look truly groundbreaking, and I would really like to see this be more than just another black-and-white native society vs. industrialized society narrative.

By: MYMHM

MYMHM — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:17:06 +0000

Meh?
OK ok. It DOES look cool, but it’s still really hard for me to care that much about a cartoon army fighting another cartoon army. I just can’t wrap my suspension of disbelief around it. See also Droids v Gungans…