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  1. #21

    Default Re: James Camerons Avatar

    I was wondering about that myself. And the same with the respiration openings. Everything in the world seemed to have the same six limb symmetry but the Na'vi. But I doubt that most people would be able to relate to them well unless they were 90% humanoid in appearance.

  2. #22

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    i assumed it had more to do with filming 4-limbed actors and not wanting to deal with trying to create/assign motions to the extra 2 limbs that the computer did not have to work off of from the people filmed.

  3. #23

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    Haha - I thought of that exact thing myself. "Everything on the planet has an extra set of limbs except the humanoids..."
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  4. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by Solitaire View Post
    ... But I doubt that most people would be able to relate to them well unless they were 90% humanoid in appearance.
    Bingo ... think you hit the nail on the head there for why they have two forelimbs.

    If you remember Red Dwarf... for some reason this discussion reminds me of Camille (big green blob) - here's the episode - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzElOZRnNG4

    And one to make you laugh... ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRzNu...AB973&index=28

    Enjoy..

    Rakku


  5. #25

    Default Re: James Camerons Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by Solitaire View Post
    I was wondering about that myself. And the same with the respiration openings. Everything in the world seemed to have the same six limb symmetry but the Na'vi. But I doubt that most people would be able to relate to them well unless they were 90% humanoid in appearance.
    Go figure, humans are very self centered... we tend to like a character more if it is more human looking.


  6. #26

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    Indeed. James Cameron was quoted as saying something to the effect of their first design being a lot more 'alien' (fins and gills were mentioned too) but they were later redesigned so that a general audience would be able to better relate to them.

    Big crunchy ancient dragoness of Order

  7. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by Solitaire View Post
    I just got back from watching it in 3D. I agree with what is said about the story but it was very enjoyable none the less. Awesome visuals. Can't say enough about them. And it truly establishes that Weta Digital is up there with ILM and makes what they did in LotR look like an art school project.

    I just wish I had an Imax around here that could show it. There is an Imax dome screen but they closed it down recently due to lack of attendance. Could not show this type of movie on it properly anyway. I dislike domed screens. A lot. It is in the same building as the cinema and hopefully they will retrofit it to a standard Imax screen with 3D capability and reopen it.

    Shian, Cameron has stated that the initial Blu-ray release of Avatar will not be in 3D but a 3D version will be released later in 2010. They just finalized the 3D standard for Blu-ray a couple of weeks ago (and happily PS3s will be compatible with a software update). About early summer you should start to see the first signs of marketing for home 3D. The TV manufacturers are really pushing for it with their new models even though some of them have been producing sets with the capability for a couple of years now. RealD, the manufacturer of the 3D equipment in the cinemas, seems like they are going to enter the home market too from what they say on their web page.

    I have a 2008 Samsung DLP that has the ability to run 3D and I've been itching for them to get a move on so that I could make use of it. I'm really curious how well a massively visual movie like Avatar will translate to the smaller screen (even though mine is pretty darn big). When they start releasing 3D movies on Blu-ray, I will certainly get the emitter and glasses to see how it looks. Hopefully they have been preparing and the early releases won't be a disappointment.
    Yeah, the Avatar video game I have for my PS3 has apparant 3D capabilities, which was nice to discover.
    Nisse 100 Helian/Nissei 100 Lunus/SShiak biped (All on Chaos)

  8. #28

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    If anyone is interested, I was browsing around checking to see what the current gross take for Avatar was and I found a story that said that Fox made the entire script available for download in PDF format. It is an interesting read so far. I've always been fascinated by the movie business and consider it to be the "path not taken" in my life. I like reading the script and comparing it to how the movie turned out. And seeing in my mind how certain scenes would not have worked as good as what the final cut was. Like showing Jake on Earth before he learned of his brother at the beginning. If you are interested in reading it, the PDF is here.

  9. #29

    Default Re: James Camerons Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by Solitaire View Post
    If anyone is interested, I was browsing around checking to see what the current gross take for Avatar was and I found a story that said that Fox made the entire script available for download in PDF format. It is an interesting read so far. I've always been fascinated by the movie business and consider it to be the "path not taken" in my life. I like reading the script and comparing it to how the movie turned out. And seeing in my mind how certain scenes would not have worked as good as what the final cut was. Like showing Jake on Earth before he learned of his brother at the beginning. If you are interested in reading it, the PDF is here.
    Absolutely! Downloaded already. I wonder if there's one if these for aliens. Thanks Solitaire!

    Rakku


  10. #30

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    http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Aliens.html

    It seems that site has a lot of scripts on it. Enjoy.

  11. #31

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    Quote Originally Posted by Solitaire View Post
    http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Aliens.html

    It seems that site has a lot of scripts on it. Enjoy.
    Seeeweeeeet! Thanks again! I can't believe that script was written over 20 years ago now...

    Rakku


  12. #32

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    So, this movie is currently in 7th place on the all-time list for how much it has made domestically. Its in 1st place for the 4th week in a row. If it stays in 1st place it could move up to 4th or 3rd quite easily. That puts it behind two icons of movies, Titanic and Star Wars. Can it knock Titanic from the top spot?

    Interestingly enough, if it did then Cameron would have the two top movies of all-time. Talk about a resume.
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  13. #33

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    Well, it edged out E.T. to take over the 5th slot. Next weekend it will easily take down Shrek 2. And even if it does half of this past weekend's $50.3 million it should be able to knock off Star Wars to capture #3. But it has a big mountain to climb to beat out The Dark Knight to get #2. Another 3 or 4 weeks and it just might do it. It'll be interesting to see if it can beat Titanic. From what I read on boxofficemojo.com, people in the industry are very surprised at the staying power it has. Normally a movie has a very steep drop off following it's first week or two but Avatar is still staying up there with high receipts though they keep mentioning that it is being partly driven by 3D ticket prices. I wonder how much repeat viewers and those following the hype over 3D account for in the numbers. I've seen it twice and the second time I watched it I noticed a surprising number of older people in the auditorium. A pair that looked to be in their 60s were in front of me and stayed to watch the credits and we talked about it after. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were glad that they listened to all the fuss and came to see it.

    I used to work as a projectionist for a few years and I'm glad to see Cameron doing so well. I started when Aliens was finishing up it's run and looked forward to seeing more from him ever since. It seems like his movies get a lot of speculation that they will be failures ever since They Abyss, which I personally thought was a good movie aside from the leading lady being miscast. Although T2 was going to be a hit no matter what. I'm glad to see him prove the speculators wrong. Again.

    Edit: Should mention that the above standings are for domestic U.S. Worldwide, it has taken the #2 spot and is about $500 million behind Titanic at this point.
    Last edited by Solitaire; January 13th, 2010 at 04:05 AM.

  14. #34

    Default Re: James Camerons Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by AmonGwareth View Post
    Can it knock Titanic from the top spot?
    I hope so. I'd like to see Avatar beat Titanic with a big stinky old fish and claim the podium. Man that movie drives me nuts (personally). I'd be more sad about Star Wars being knocked off number 2.

    Somehow I don't think Avatar will do it. Titanic probably appealed to a wider base of people, being a costume drama/based vagely on historical events/Kate Winslet steaming up car windows etc ... while as sci-fi Avatar will likely not appeal to some. I know one family in particular who would rather pull their own teeth out than see this film, even if it's in 3d, but would crawl over broken glass naked to see Titanic again.

    Rakku


  15. #35
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    Default Re: James Camerons Avatar

    sometimes, i just don't know what to make of the world i live in......

    http://news.discovery.com/human/avat...s-cameron.html

    Is 'Avatar' Racist?

    Decide for yourself whether James Cameron's blockbuster conveys an underlying prejudice.

    Mon Jan 11, 2010 12:50 PM ET | content provided by Jesse Washington, Associated Press

    Near the end of the hit film "Avatar," the villain snarls at the hero, "How does it feel to betray your own race?" Both men are white, although the hero is inhabiting a blue-skinned, 9-foot-tall, long-tailed alien.
    Strange as it may seem for a film that pits greedy, immoral humans against noble denizens of a faraway moon, "Avatar" is being criticized by a small but vocal group of people who allege it contains racist themes -- the white hero once again saving the primitive natives.
    Since the film opened to widespread critical acclaim three weeks ago, hundreds of blog posts, newspaper articles, tweets and YouTube videos have said things such as the film is "a fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people" and that it reinforces "the white Messiah fable."
    The film's writer and director, James Cameron, says the real theme is about respecting others' differences.
    In the film (read no further if you don't want the plot spoiled for you) a white, paralyzed Marine, Jake Sully, is mentally linked to an alien's body and set loose on the planet Pandora. His mission: persuade the mystic, nature-loving Na'vi to make way for humans to mine their land for unobtanium, worth $20 million per kilo back home.
    Like Kevin Costner in "Dances with Wolves" and Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai" or as far back as Jimmy Stewart in the 1950 Western "Broken Arrow," Sully soon switches sides. He falls in love with the Na'vi princess and leads the bird-riding, bow-and-arrow-shooting aliens to victory over the white men's spaceships and mega-robots.
    Adding to the racial dynamic is that the main Na'vi characters are played by actors of color, led by a Dominican, Zoe Saldana, as the princess. The film also is an obvious metaphor for how European settlers in America wiped out the Indians.

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    Annalee Newitz, editor-in-chief of the sci-fi Web site io9.com, likened "Avatar" to the recent film "District 9," in which a white man accidentally becomes an alien and then helps save them, and 1984's "Dune," in which a white man becomes an alien Messiah.
    "Main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color ... (then) go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed," she wrote.
    "When will whites stop making these movies and start thinking about race in a new way?" wrote Newitz, who is white.
    Black film professor and author Donald Bogle said he can understand why people would be troubled by "Avatar," although he praised it as a "stunning" work.
    "A segment of the audience is carrying in the back of its head some sense of movie history," said Bogle, author of "Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films."
    Bogle stopped short, however, of calling the movie racist.
    "It's a film with still a certain kind of distortion," he said. "It's a movie that hasn't yet freed itself of old Hollywood traditions, old formulas."
    Writer/director Cameron, who is white, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that his film "asks us to open our eyes and truly see others, respecting them even though they are different, in the hope that we may find a way to prevent conflict and live more harmoniously on this world. I hardly think that is a racist message."
    Although the "Avatar" debate springs from Hollywood's historical difficulties with race, Will Smith recently saved the planet in "I Am Legend," and Denzel Washington appears ready to do the same in the forthcoming "Book of Eli."
    Bogle, the film historian, said that he was glad Cameron made the film and that it made people think about race.
    "Maybe there is something he does want to say and put across" about race, Bogle said. "Maybe if he had a black hero in there, that point would have been even stronger."
    you can't cast a play in hell and expect angels as actors
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  16. #36

    Default Re: James Camerons Avatar

    "Adding to the racial dynamic is that the main Na'vi characters are played by actors of color, led by a Dominican, Zoe Saldana, as the princess."
    I would guess that a lot of that has to do with the tonal quality of their voices more than anything else. That and they were the best people for the part. BTW, Neytiri was originally played in the testing stage by an actress of Asian descent, who I think currently is in the cast of "Lost". And Wes Studi, who plays Eytukan, is a native American.

    We have become a "Civilization of the Offended". Always got to find something to complain about even when there is nothing there. As far as I'm concerned these complaints really don't hold water and are just people looking for something to complain about riding on the success of the movie to get heard.

  17. #37
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    Default Re: James Camerons Avatar

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!

    I've been sitting here deliberating with myself how to best say exactly that.

    'Civilization of the Offended.'

    Looking for any excuse to jump up and belly-ache because they think someone's rights have been trampled upon.
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  18. #38

    Default Re: James Camerons Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by Veruliyam View Post
    Thank you, thank you, thank you!

    I've been sitting here deliberating with myself how to best say exactly that.

    'Civilization of the Offended.'

    Looking for any excuse to jump up and belly-ache because they think someone's rights have been trampled upon.
    Aye... that has the potential to be a 20 page forum rant all in itself. We're a race that has become so obsessed with sueing and health & safety I fear there will be no more Great achievements made.

    Ok so Avatar is Dances with Wolves in Space. ... it's still a great movie.

    Rakku


  19. #39

    Default Re: James Camerons Avatar

    It is possible to play HZ in 3d too.
    I been playing games in stereo3d since 2001 or so, all you need is an nvidia card, shutterglasses and a monitor that can handle 120hz or higher.

    I notice nvidia has updated their 3d products:
    http://www.nvidia.com/object/3D_Vision_Main.html.

    It's more expensive now then it was in 2001.
    Shutterglasses were like 50-70 and in those days we all had CRT monitors that could easily handle 120 hz.
    Today it costs loads :/
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  20. #40

    Default Re: James Camerons Avatar

    Hi Cobal*waves happyly*
    good to see you are still here with us
    YOU told me to play a dragon!

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