Avatar 2

As long as we recognize Lucas is washed up and most TV sucks, we'll all get along fine.
Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

Delayed "indefinitely".

Another possible reason Ep VIII was moved was for exactly this reason. Star Wars' dick is bigger and they probably wanted to put Avatar and Cameron in their place.
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Post by Malcolm »

Wow. Ep VIII has made the world a better place already.



Edited By Malcolm on 1453574324
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Post by Malcolm »

Movie gods again offer us a reprieve.
"Well, 2018 is not happening," Cameron told the Toronto Star. "We haven’t announced a firm release date."
Woohoo.
"What people have to understand is that this is a cadence of releases," Cameron said. "So we’re not making Avatar 2. We’re making Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5. It’s an epic undertaking. It’s not unlike building the Three Gorges dam."
Goddamnit.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
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Post by Leisher »

Leisher wrote: Avatars 2, 3, and 4 start shooting next year.

Avatar was a pretty movie, but the story sucked balls. Cameron better have more up his sleeve than rehashing the same plot 3 more times (and the first one was already a rehash...).

With Swartzenegger being cast as the bad guy general, I have a feeling all the films are going to be the same old "the military is bad" bullshit. What's worse is that their visual appeal will be old hat too.
Quoting myself here because I might have been correct about the next three movies. Sequel is almost the exact same cast and Lang's role is the main villain in all four movies.

This is going to be fascinating to watch. I think #2 will do well because people won't remember how bad everything was in the original, aside from the visuals. However, making 3 and 4 at the same time means the tech won't get better and he won't be able to course correct anything the public hates.

Also, he and Brolin apparently have some issues. Cameron comes off like a dick in that story. A guy turns down your film, which says a lot, and you bash him around town like a rejected teenage girl? That doesn't bode well for the Avatar sequels.
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Post by Leisher »

Cameron back tracking on Avatar 4 &
5.


I wonder if he's seen the writing on the wall? Public interest in Avatar is way down. The original film has been shredded since it came out and initially wowed people with its technology. He might be able to see toy sales and interest in the Avatar areas of Disney's parks?
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Post by GORDON »

I'm really surprised how little I care about these movies.
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Post by TheCatt »

Still never seen the first.
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Post by Leisher »

You have to watch it. It's one of the biggest movies of all time, yet would very easily qualify to be featured on "How Did This Get Made?"

If you don't know, that's a podcast that rips bad movies.
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Post by Leisher »

James Cameron wants "Avengers fatigue".

The article points out his hypocrisy pretty well.

Cameron's a tool.
“Not that I don’t love the movies. It’s just, come on guys, there are other stories to tell besides hyper-gonadal males without families doing death-defying things for two hours and wrecking cities in the process. It’s like, oy!”
This is as he's working on the release of Avatar 2, 3, 4, and 5.

What a jackass.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Post by Leisher »

“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Post by Leisher »

First trailer for Avatar 2 will be shown with Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
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Post by Leisher »

This looks very meh to me, but reviews have been gushing. I refuse to see it in theaters mainly because the first one was such perfect proof that most audiences are dolts. Fucking "unobtainium", humans/corps = bad, and all the other tired cliches Cameron used in that beautifully shot, but horribly written movie.

In related news, Avatar 3 comes in at 9 hours right now. It will be cut down, but damn.
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Post by Leisher »

Cameron is a brilliant filmmaker. Additionally, his innovations to film tech are leading the industry right now. The guy designs subs in his spare time for fuck's sake. The more I hear him talk, the more impressed I am with him. He is a master of the visual aspect of film. He has only one true flaw and it's so glaringly obvious that one wonders why he doesn't address it...

Avatar 2 is a stunningly gorgeous film. If that statement is a surprise, congratulations on just waking up from your 20 year coma.

The runtime is around 3 hours, and honestly, I get why he'd want it to be that long, and longer, but when you having friends over and you're showing them the slides from your recent vacation, do they need to see all 1000+ or just the 100 that cover pretty much everything?

The story is that it's been many years since the humans were driven off of Pandora. Scully and Smurfette have miracle babies and are living happily as people can without the internet. That's when the humans come back. The humans might as well be wearing all black and twirling oversized mustaches. Their villainous ways are so utterly ridiculous that they will shred your immersion in the film. (More on that in a minute.) This puts Scully and his family on a collision course with the human army, and that ultimately leads Scully to hide with the water Navi. And thus the title.

Long story short: Same movie as Avatar, but this time on water. I would like to tell you it's more complex than that, but honestly, that's the movie.

I saw it, and like the first one, I would never sit down to watch it again. I think it is WAY overhyped thanks to the impressive tech involved. Ultimately, it's very long, has loads of boring moments, implies things about Native Americans that are complete bullshit (Those Native Americans who sued over the Navi being obvious ripoffs of them are not going to like this movie where everyone whoops like it's a 1930s Western and there's even a bunch of broken English.), and is a weird anti-technology message for a guy whose entire career is about pushing technology.

Listen, I'm down with the conservation stuff. I'm not even mad about "The Great Balance" concept. I dig it. However, the film's story is complete dogshit. I mean, it's laughably bad. I swear someone bet Cameron that he couldn't do something dumber than "unobtainium" and he said, "Hold my beer." More on this all behind the spoiler tag.

This is worth seeing once, but not for the story or the acting. Did I mention the acting is kind of shit? The voice acting, the actual actors, and a lot of emotions given the Navi are not great. Some of the Navi are done super well and are very expressive, but others, like Sully, are as wooden as the actor doing the voice.

Special shoutout to the "crab-like" units. Those were awesome.

In the highly, highly unlikely event that James Cameron ever stumbles upon this, Mr. Cameron, you're brilliant. However, no man can do all things, and the larger the vision a man tries to make into a reality, the more details get ignored or forgotten. You are clearly super passionate about the tech of your filmmaking, and it's where you are focused. You just need one additional person in your inner circle. You have enough "Yes men" and people unwilling to dare say anything remotely negative to you. You need one man or woman with the intestinal fortitude to stand up to you and tell you when something is not good. One person to raise all of the issues I'm about to discuss in the spoiler tag could turn this technological masterpiece into a storytelling masterpiece.

Ok, let's talk about the horrible plot and those evil, evil humans:
First, the humans' arrival is phenomenal. Ever seen a rocket take off? There's a very large flame(s), a fuckton of smoke, and then off it goes. Well, when the humans land, picture that rocket coming down except all the smoke is just enormous flamethrowers that burn everything to dust for miles upon miles. MILES. Not a few hundred feet. MILES. Animals cannot even escape and get incinerated. I'm not making this up. Cameron might as well have painted "ACME" on the sides of the rockets.

Second, remember "unobtainium"? Cameron doesn't because the whole reason humans were on Pandora in the original is never even mentioned in the sequel. Now they're after amrita being the new coveted resource. What's it do? Oh just stops aging completely. How'd they figure that out, how the hell do they know where to get it, and how do they know all of this without the water Navi ever encountering them? All unanswered and very legit questions that get more pressing as you watch the movie.

Third, it's stated that Earth is dying and the humans need Pandora to survive. That is their primary goal...or I guess secondary due to the profit waiting to be made from amrita? Oh wait, it's their third goal because everything else takes a back seat to hunting down and killing Sully. Yep. The entire human race is in peril and instead of worrying about finding a way to conquer or peacefully move to this new world, humanity is just petty and wants to hurt Sully. If you think I'm kidding, the entire reason the water people get involved is because Sully and his fam move out there to protect the tree Navi as "they're the ones the humans want".

There's more, but honestly, that's enough. That alone should be enough to destroy the concept that Avatar is a franchise built on good storytelling.
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Post by GORDON »

Leisher wrote: Tue Jun 27, 2023 2:40 am
First, the humans' arrival is phenomenal. Ever seen a rocket take off? There's a very large flame(s), a fuckton of smoke, and then off it goes. Well, when the humans land, picture that rocket coming down except all the smoke is just enormous flamethrowers that burn everything to dust for miles upon miles. MILES. Not a few hundred feet. MILES. Animals cannot even escape and get incinerated. I'm not making this up. Cameron might as well have painted "ACME" on the sides of the rockets.
One had the impression that was on purpose. Instant "clear the trees so none of these interconnected lifeforms can sneak up on us" in a perfect circle.

I do not understand how this movie and its predecessor made a billion dollars. I told my kid half way through, "This is the prettiest anime I've seen in months." Something about it just isn't real enough for me to make me get immersed in a concrete world. It's just a cartoon. That was a longish 3 hours.
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Post by Leisher »

GORDON wrote: Sat Jul 01, 2023 11:36 pm One had the impression that was on purpose. Instant "clear the trees so none of these interconnected lifeforms can sneak up on us" in a perfect circle.
Considering the complete lack of actual military strategy throughout the movie, I am skeptical that is true.
GORDON wrote: Sat Jul 01, 2023 11:36 pm I do not understand how this movie and its predecessor made a billion dollars.
Ditto.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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