The cinema thread

[CommieRabbit]

- The length of time spent exploring some mystical forest world was far too long for the final battle. In other words I don't expect experimental cinema but some more action sequences would be nice. Not a pastiche of mystical forest life - taming animals, blah, communing with the spirit tree, leaping through the trees, blah... I can deal with archetypical situations and characters, just not THAT kind. I don't really need to point this out since you admit it anyway.

Fair points

Not disagreeing but rather expanding to this - I thought the parts in the movie where the characters show their wonder and curiosity to the alien world through visual cues, whether intentional or not (but knowing Cameron it matches his past storytelling style) offered more character development than any cliched line that could've come out of their mouths. I think Jake's child-like curiosity to the different fauna and later, it's bioluminesence, felt believable and significant. I mean wouldn't do the same? The world was gorgeous, for all intents and purposes, it's real.

Yes, I realise how down-right simple that sounds, but in the context of the film I felt it was effective.

I just got back from Avatar...i dunno about 'good, not great,' imo it is a remarkable and audacious piece of filmmaking, especially from a commercial, big studio angle. It's not better than 2001, but it's definitely better than Star Wars. After that experience, I can safely say Jim Cameron, P.T. Anderson and Michael Haneke are the last remaining auteurs still working.

You're right, I try not to use a linear thumbs-up/thumbs-down approach to movies since I like to imagine cinema to be a little more multi-faceted than that. Hell, I hate to do same-year comparisons but since I know a lot of people like to pit District 9 and Avatar against each-other since they share similiar themes yet contrast in terms of approach, especially in budget; I thought District 9 was the superior film of the two in terms of anylatical film making, yet I feel that Avatar has won it's place as one of my top sci-fi films flicks. District 9? Nowhere close, but I did really like it...

Faust - see it in 3D. Trust me.

[Fade to Black]

it's strange...i went in knowing absolutely nothing about what to expect, was very skeptical of the snowball of 'WOW' reviews since every trailer and press picture i've seen for it struck me as unbelievably corny. Yet about 10-15 minutes into it, I was hooked and towards the end I'd pretty much lost all sense of time in the theater. The screenwriting isn't particularly good (it's 'movie' dialogue in the truest sense of the phrase), etc. etc. yet the whole thing added up to a real one of a kind effect on me that i can't rationally explain. It's what I imagine would have been like to witness other mass cultural landmark moments like 2001 or Star Wars on their first run and carrying that original excitement walking out of the theater years later which fossilizes into a strange, fond sense of nostalgia akin to that described by the few lucky enough to experience a "full" childhood.

[Faust]

The trails don't work here, because this is a movie of visual effects, not of plot and dialogue (from what I gather). So, when you hear the banalities condensed in a 2 minute clip, I can see how you can be easily turned off.

[CommieRabbit]

Fuck, damn Fade, you just expressed everything I've wanted to say except infinitely more eloquent.

It definitely did leave a big impression on me. Maybe I'm easily manipulated by hollywood? Perhaps a sense of inner-child wonder and escape? Fuck I don't know, I just know I enjoyed the crap out of it.

[Fade to Black]

Although I'm more ashamed to admit it than I am with Avatar, Titanic had a similar effect on me (or maybe just discovering Kate Winslet as a 13 year old boy)...you gotta hand it to Cameron. He's not a particularly great or even good "filmmaker" but he makes operatic statements of movies that totally shut down the innermost cynic in us.

[Servo2000]

I vividly remember the first time I saw Jurassic Park as a child - probably even more so than Star Wars or other comparable landmarks - i can recall palpably the awe and wonder. While Avatar didn't quite break me down to my gurgling childhood self there were definitely moments that came closer than any film since.

[Fade to Black]

rented Andrei Rublev, the second Tarkovsky i'll have seen since catching Solaris not long after I saw the Clooney remake in theaters way back when...dunno what to expect, the 205 minute running time seems something good to get lost in on a rainy Sunday night...

[Faust]

FtB, you need to watch Stalker.

[Faust]

I think LOTR is quite perfect as is!

[Fade to Black]

Rublev was fucking epic watching it 2 nights ago in the living room with no heater on, a window open and the wind and rain beating like fucking hell (after watching it, i don't want to sound too funny but IMHO it's not a movie that should be experienced in comfortable surroundings.)...I don't know if the circumstances added to it for sure, but it was very interesting watching this not long after watching Avatar. The grandness in scope of Tarkovsky's film and especially certain sequences (the entire bell chapter, the tatar raid and the pagan sequence) are sublime in its technical vision. Another testament to human possibility enabled by the cinematic frontier.

[Fade to Black]

The Ages of Lulu (1990), a curious piece of early-90s Spanish erotica, featuring a star-worthy turn by Javier Bardem towards the end as a ruthlessly ambitious antithesis to Rob Schneider's "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo." ** out of ****

[doldrums]

pocahontas with better graphics

would like 140 of the 160 minutes spent watching Avatar back. highly recommend it in the dollar theatre for the visuals and so you can leave half way through guilt free.

really its an immersive experience and the graphics are jaw dropping. much else was cringe worthy though...cgi was insanely good in all its dreadlocks and african/native american/every other indigenous people as captured by national geographic glory.

[Servo2000]

it certainly did take that western 'taken in by the natives as one of their own' fantasy to the absolute logical extreme

[maldoror]

re: avatar

art director obviously owns a head shop

special effects were special, but seriously worst writing/story/aesthetic since... ?

[Faust]

re: avatar

art director obviously owns a head shop

special effects were special, but seriously worst writing/story/aesthetic since... ?

Titanic?