Avatar

Ok, i'll throw in my 2 cent review. Visually this movie is stunning, you have never seen anything like it, on a movie screen. It alone is worth the ridiculous price of admission. I paid $22 for a pair of tickets in a hick town.

Story wise, it's no different imo than a cheesy summer blockbuster. A 10 year old could have easily written this. I'm astounded that they can throw a half a billion dollars into a movie and totally eat it with the script. Don't get me wrong I was in the minority with this opinion, I just thought it could have been so much better. I believe Cameron was afraid to detract in anyway from his visual masterpiece. Still a must see in a theater!

P.S. mines still better than his.

wildwest450 said:

P.S. mines still better than his.

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Any chance of getting yours in 3D?

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

Any chance of getting yours in 3D?

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Don't you have the glasses?

I agree the story was pretty predictable but in 3d this movie is absolutely must see. It wont be the same at all at home.

The 3D was well done and not obnoxious like most kids 3D movies, but it isn't absolutely necessary for the Avatar experience IMO. We saw it last night at a new theater with RealD digital projection and premium seating with full chair-side service. Getting delivered pints of Great Divide Titan IPA during the flick made it much more enjoyable.

Oh and anyone expecting a highbrow plot should re-watch Titanic before going...

wildwest450 said:

P.S. mines still better than his.

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I would pay $22 to see that in 3D!

+2. It absolutely pulls you into the movie.

Looks gay to me

This is what I'm looking forward to...

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/ironman/

dances with smurfs... in space.

Was great though... visually stunning.

I REALLY want to see this movie being a sci-fi dork and all. But I want to know how much violence is in this movie cause my daughter wants to see it to; but she is 5 and I think she is WAY to young to see it despite what SWMBO says. Hopefully will see it xmas weekend when my parents can watch my girls.

Dalarast said:

I REALLY want to see this movie being a sci-fi dork and all. But I want to know how much violence is in this movie cause my daughter wants to see it to; but she is 5 and I think she is WAY to young to see it despite what SWMBO says. Hopefully will see it xmas weekend when my parents can watch my girls.

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It was funny... a family of 6 sat in front of us... halway through the movie the 5 year old girl says to her dad "Dad... can't we go across the hall to see princess frog?"

Will the 3D make some people sick? I am planning on seeing it. Though I don't think it looks that good. I saw a 3D movie at home, and it made me sick.

Julohan said:

Will the 3D make some people sick? I am planning on seeing it. Though I don't think it looks that good. I saw a 3D movie at home, and it made me sick.

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I don't believe so, this movie was shot with all new technology. It's NOT stuff flying at you face every 30 seconds. The 3-d is more or less enhancing the already cool surroundings, if that makes sense.

BBKing said:

Looks gay to me

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Couldn't put my finger on just why I am not excited about this movie but you just explained it for me in four words. I only saw a clip about the making of it so who knows.

jgln said:

Couldn't put my finger on just why I am not excited about this movie but you just explained it for me in four words. I only saw a clip about the making of it so who knows.

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They show very little in commercials. I still don't know much about it, other than everyone says it's a great movie, and maybe not for the writing, but the presentation is supposed to be top-notch.

I saw this from a friend this morning: "Avatar = Fern Gully for $300"

I'm still gonna go out to see it...

Going to watch this tomorrow. Do you need glasses?

i saw the none 3d version, it was awesome. Like everyone else has already said though, the story is weak. It's Pocahontas, but with different people.

IrregularPulse said:

Going to watch this tomorrow. Do you need glasses?

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If you see the 3D version, yes. The theater will provide them. There's different glasses for different 3D projection technologies.

i've still not seen titanic. doubt this one will make the list any time soon.

gotcya, My lame theater is probably not 3-D

The trailer on their website does pretty good at explaining the plot. I'm guessing I know teh whole movie now from those 3 minutes. Now I can just watch the pretty colors

Honestly, did anyone else see the previews and think to themselves, "You know, that blue chick is kinda hot"?

Admittedly, I had downed a few homebrews, but still. . . . Maybe it's a carryover from Mystique in X-Men.

Julohan said:

Will the 3D make some people sick? I am planning on seeing it. Though I don't think it looks that good. I saw a 3D movie at home, and it made me sick.

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I thought it might also but this technology is far superior than the old green/red glasses. It's like you are wearing shades. They fit perfectly over my normal glasses.

It took about 5 minutes to get used to because you need to follow the focus of the camera. In a far less capable Director's hands it might make you sick but Cameron has done an excellent job at not making the 3D gimmick. The 3d is most abundant in slow moving and simple scenes rather than the fast moving scenes with a wide depth of field that might make you sick.

The 3D was done so well that I will never go see another sci-fi flick unless it is in 3D.

I saw this last night with my 15 yo daughter and let me tell you it was awesome!! i woudl probably take my 10 yo daughter, but just because it's such a cool flick. There is a fair amount of sht and gdamm once in a while, and the natives are basically wearing lioncloths, and necklaces to cover up. They don't show anything, but don't leave anything to the imagination either. I don't see that as a problem. There is one love scene and I thought it was well done.

Lowdown: Standard Plot, Standard Script, no surprises. Why is it so good then? Well, the acting is decent, the action is fantastic, and the CGI is almost unbelieveable (or should I say very believable?)

You will be astounded by the realism. Perfect? No, but very close. The environment is simply breathtaking. Creatures ultra cool, mechanicals very cool.

I think it will win some awards, but not in the writing, or best picture. Def going to win some tech awards.

So, even though I can't say the writing, plot, etc. are better than average, I did find myself tightening up during the last action scenes. So they they did do enough to pull you into the movie and care about the people and care about what happens to them.

Mostly you just have to see it to believe it. The 3D is the new Digital 3D, and you wear glasses that aren't much different than plain glasses. The 3D effect is slightly disconcerting at first, but after a couple of minutes, your eyes relearn to focus and you will not even notice it after a while. Maybe it was the 3D that made the difference. I know that from now on, if there is a choice, I will always choose 3D!

My only gripe was the $6.50 it cost to get 1 bottle of water, and a childs size drink. The $23 for two tickets was worth the movie, but my @zz is still a little sore from buying those drinks. I don't know why theaters feel they have to rape you on the concessions. The theater near my in-laws have $2-4 movies, and normal prices on concessions (when they aren't running a bring-your-own-bag popcorn night) and they are always busy! I wish more theaters chains would do this. They'd sell more tickets. It's no wonder many people wait for the DVD or BD to come out.

They say the concession prices are so much because it offsets the ticket prices. I am sure that is not completely true.

Chudz said:

Honestly, did anyone else see the previews and think to themselves, "You know, that blue chick is kinda hot"?

Admittedly, I had downed a few homebrews, but still. . . . Maybe it's a carryover from Mystique in X-Men.

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I guess a feminine looking dude running/flying
around barely dressed suppressed any thoughts of the woman.


Ok, I will probably want to see it but I will probably wait until it is on pay per view.

Julohan said:

They say the concession prices are so much because it offsets the ticket prices. I am sure that is not completely true.

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That would only make sense if the tickets were cheap. Why do you need to offset a 12 dollar ticket?

I watched it at IMAX 3D and it was pretty bad a$$. Yeah the story was a little cheesy (I mean its basically the same as Dances With Wolves) but hell.. the visuals were really worth going to see.

IrregularPulse said:

That would only make sense if the tickets were cheap. Why do you need to offset a 12 dollar ticket?

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My point. But in the case of the theater in Plainwell, MI, they seem to be able to charge low ticket prices AND reasonable concessions. I think they have Self-Serve popcorn and soda fountains. They say no free refills (I think), but it's pretty much on honor system.

Ask yourself how much do you think it costs to buy popcorn in bulk, and all they have to do is pour in some oil and some popcorn once in a while...

IrregularPulse said:

That would only make sense if the tickets were cheap. Why do you need to offset a 12 dollar ticket?

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Because you don't make much money on the 12 dollar ticket because most of it never makes the bottom line.

There is a lot of pressure to keep ticket prices around $10.

I am 31 and when I was in grade school ticket prices were $8-$9, now they are $11-$12. Do you think compensation to the studios has only increased by 30% in the last 20 years? I think the margins on tickets are going down and the margins on concessions up.

This is in the frugal consumers best interest as you can simply not purchase concessions and get a good deal. If the concessions and tickets were sold at prices that gave similar margins for each, the tickets would probably be $20 or more.

Alternately, you can go to a second run theater and pay much less for concessions and tickets, or get pay per view or rentals and pay even less.

Movie theaters dont make their money on tickets. Why do you think they give away so many tickets, but ask that you buy a some concessions.

They make their money on concessions. They have a captive market so they can charge the price that they want, up to a limit. If they were to charge $100 for a bottle of water you wouldnt buy it, but at $6.50 you will. They are trying to maximize their profits.

Remilard has it right about the profit margins.

The studio gets something like 90% of ticket proceeds for the first 2-4 weeks and then the percentage decreases over time. That's why theaters love movies that return viewings like Titanic. They even send in undercover spotters to count heads and audit the sales figures.

8-9 when you were a kid? I'm 27 and we paid like 4-5 when I was a kid. They're just now like 10-11 here.

IrregularPulse said:

8-9 when you were a kid? I'm 27 and we paid like 4-5 when I was a kid. They're just now like 10-11 here.

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Yeah, it was $6 for a matinee, which is when I usually went.

I don't know why theaters feel they have to rape you on the concessions.

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Many times concessions account for most or all of the profits for a theater. There is a classic business case study of the company that pioneered multi-screen theaters. Every location was losing money, except for the concessions ... and they seriously considered selling the concessions franchise!

A movie and popcorn for a buck in my childhood, but that's like $10 today.

Well just got back from watching it. Went to a matinee. Was $5.00 plus 2.50 since it was 3D. My first 3D ever. It was amazing. I thought the previews looked bad. I did really like the story. I would easily see it again if it wasn't so long. It is definitely worth checking out for anyone in 3D. I was amazed how well it looked. Small bugs flying around made it look like they were flying on me.

Julohan said:

Well just got back from watching it. Went to a matinee. Was $5.00 plus 2.50 since it was 3D. My first 3D ever. It was amazing. I thought the previews looked bad. I did really like the story. I would easily see it again if it wasn't so long. It is definitely worth checking out for anyone in 3D. I was amazed how well it looked. Small bugs flying around made it look like they were flying on me.

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Did they feel like they were crawling on you too? Maybe time to lay off the booze for a while.

jgln said:

Did they feel like they were crawling on you too? Maybe time to lay off the booze for a while.

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Yea - that was one of the craziest things I have ever experienced in a movie.