General movie thread!!!!

[ComradeYellow]

2 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

Whatever happened to the... 4? ... 5? Avatar sequels James Cameron was going to make? It's a weird thing, when Avatar first came out I was very much in the minority of not liking the movie. I didn't hate it, I thought it was pretty meh with a dumb as **** plot and while the visuals were cool for the time, they didn't make me blow a load in my pants like they did for seemingly most other people. As time has passed, I think more and more people have come around to my side of "Avatar was stupid". Is there still an audience that really wants these sequels to happen?

What is Cameron even doing these days?  Last I knew he was deep sea diving and that was like many years ago.

[Raithe]

They have been working on Avatar 2 and 3 back to back I believe.  I'm fairly sure I've seen a few news articles on that.

https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a785456/avatar-2-release-date-plot-cast-trailer/

To cut a long story short, Avatar 2 is finally going to be released on December 22, 2022, having been pushed back from December 2021.

The latest delay was a result of production being delayed due to the global shutdown, not just the live-action filming in New Zealand, but also the "virtual production work" taking place in Los Angeles.

[ComradeYellow]

I hope they tweak the plot a bit because all-in-all I basically agree with Keyrock.

I don't think everyone loved it to pieces, I think it's just one of those cases where; everyone else is watching/consuming it, therefore...

I'm starting to like movies that aren't "EPIC" and have smaller scopes and focus on littler things.

Like Judge Dredd remake for instance, the plot could have been ripped from a comic book ver. 674566 and it was way better than the Sly Stallone one

Avatar should do something similar, but am certainly not holding my breath.

[Hurlshort]

Avatar was fantastic as a family friendly version of Aliens. My kids could watch it and enjoy the blue elves and nature, and I could enjoy the space marine going aggro in a mech.

[ShadySands]

I watched the Tom Clancy thing on Amazon. I liked it.

Michael B Jordan was great but the rest of the movie was a little off somehow and not just because I kept expecting Kate Mara and Miles Teller to show up.

Edited May 1, 2021 by ShadySands

[Hurlshort]

Michael B Jordan is pretty awesome in everything. I need to get on his workout regimen.

[LadyCrimson]

3 hours ago, Keyrock said:

Whatever happened to the... 4? ... 5? Avatar sequels James Cameron was going to make? It's a weird thing, when Avatar first came out I was very much in the minority of not liking the movie. I didn't hate it, I thought it was pretty meh with a dumb as **** plot and while the visuals were cool for the time, they didn't make me blow a load in my pants like they did for seemingly most other people. As time has passed, I think more and more people have come around to my side of "Avatar was stupid". Is there still an audience that really wants these sequels to happen?

I thought Avatar was passable brain-at-door fantasy entertainment, just nothing special/memorable or worthy of extreme adulation. I think over time many realize the main draw at the time was likely the "new" type of 3D.  People were curious about that (including me - the 3D is the only reason I went to see it in as theater) how well it worked etc.

I always thought the joke that it was like Dances with Ferngully (or Pocahontas or whatever) were pretty apt, tho.  I'm sure the first weekend for the sequel will make big bucks if only because people will be curious, but one problem with taking so long to finish sequels is ... most people lose their anticipation.  It could be the sequels will be much improved/better than the original but it could also be that Cameron's ego will finally over take him and after the initial curiosity box office it'll be downhill from there (edit - and if the 2nd film isn't considered masterful, the 3rd when it releases would do worse etc).

Edited May 1, 2021 by LadyCrimson

[Zoraptor]

3 hours ago, ComradeYellow said:

What is Cameron even doing these days?  Last I knew he was deep sea diving and that was like many years ago.

Same thing Gabe Newell* and a bunch of other rich foreigners have been doing, riding out the pandemic in New Zealand. To be fair to Cameron he actually owns a farm next to where Peter Jackson lives and has for over a decade at this point so he's a lot more committed than the average fly by nighter like Thiel.

It's briefly mentioned in the article Raithe posted but he is definitely doing actual work on the Avatars now rather than just George Martining it as he seemed to be for years. They imported hundreds of people for filming which caused a bit of a scandal since they were allowed to circumvent normal quarantine rules due to it being a special project.

*and if I find gamer hero worship or him to be utter cringe the sort of prostrate kowtowing to him from our media is even more embarrassing. He's not going to move Valve here guys, asking him for the billionth time won't get a different answer.

[Raithe]

Avatar was a glorious visual feast. And an incredibly trashy, tropey story mish-mash of white man saviour to the environmentally-friendly, tech-poor savage natives.

Hence so many of the "Dancing with Smurfs" variety of comments in the years after.

Eh, Honest Trailers pretty much nailed it.

 

[ComradeYellow]

It scored a 7.8 on IMDB which is like the gaming Metracritic equivalent to a 9.x (lol) so it's probably not all that bad.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/

I saw it once in the theater and remember walking out thinking it was pretty good but standard modern fare entertainment.  The Aliens references were cool though.

We don't really live in times of cultural originality so you kind of gotta take what you can get.  My personal opinion is that Cameron hasn't made a stellar movie since Aliens.  Terminator 1 and Aliens are near the top of my "awesome" list.

Edited May 2, 2021 by ComradeYellow

[LadyCrimson]

^ People just like making fun of it at this point.  It really wasn't that bad - just nothing special.  The visuals (including motion capture) and/or 3D for the time are what sold it - such wasn't commonplace at the time.  But these days grand (and CGI and motion capture) visuals are a dime a dozen.

For me it goes:   Aliens > T2 > T1 > Abyss (especially extended) > True Lies
I did kind of like Titanic. Not in a superfan way but I enjoyed it for what it was. It felt grand (occasionally cheesy...), I liked the attention to detail, and it had it's moments, although Jack running around the ship yelling "Rose!" over and over and over wasn't one of them.

[Raithe]

True Lies has a very fond place in my heart.

Arnie taking fun of his own character type, as he'd tried the previous year and not had work out. Although I still think Last Action Hero was ahead of its time.

[Keyrock]

My James Cameron top 5 ranking would go as follows:

1) Terminator 2: Judgement Day
2) Aliens
3) True Lies
4) The Terminator
5) The Abyss

Like @Raithe, I probably rate True Lies higher than most people. I freakin' love that movie. I didn't think Avatar was terrible or anything, I just remember tons of people losing their minds over it when it came out. People had a hard on for gigantic blue elves, for whatever reason. I saw it, I though "that certainly was a movie" and I moved on with my life, it left zero impression on me. The thing I remember most about the movie is how cartoonishly mustache twirling the main villain was. The only thing missing was him tying a giant elf to the train tracks.

Edited May 2, 2021 by Keyrock

[ShadySands]

Ooh, ooh. My top 3

1. T2
2. The Abyss
3. True Lies

[LadyCrimson]

--sometimes I feel like many people forget Cameron directed True Lies.
--I should note when I first saw T1 (I missed it in theaters, had to see it on VHS on a 19" CRT TV) I was obsessed with it.  Watched it over and over, paused it, slo-mo'd it, etc.  It being 3rd on my Cameron list is mostly due to time passing/the other films coming out. 

[ComradeYellow]

 

[LadyCrimson]

That whole scene is so iconic, imo.  I don't have it on 4k disc but I did get it and T2 on regular bluray.

Although I have to say, when I see it now, every time the lady in the blue tiger stripe appears I always think  "DANCING SO 80'S".  I swear everyone in my highschool danced like that at parties. EVERYONE.

[Keyrock]

James Cameron utilized the budget he had for The Terminator extremely well. People forget that movie was made on a fairly limited budget. I really miss practical effects. CGI has come a long way and it's a wonderful tool, but it's overutilized these days. Practical effects still have a place, even in giant blockbusters.

[Sarex]

To that point, rewatching LotR in 4k showed how much better the practical effects are in the long run. Gollum is starting to show his age and the scene where Frodo and Sam run in to mount Doom is particularly bad.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

It's interesting to watch old movies with practical effects and see how they've aged relatively well while cgi looks like a 90s Playstation game.

[Sarex]

13 minutes ago, ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP said:

It's interesting to watch old movies with practical effects and see how they've aged relatively well while cgi looks like a 90s Playstation game.

Matrix 2 and 3 come to mind.

[ShadySands]

16 minutes ago, ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP said:

It's interesting to watch old movies with practical effects and see how they've aged relatively well while cgi looks like a 90s Playstation game.

I just re-watched Blade and while I don't think the CGI was ever that good it looks especially terrible now.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

35 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Matrix 2 and 3 come to mind.

Oh yeah, those swarms of Agent Smith scenes look really bad now.

34 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

I just re-watched Blade and while I don't think the CGI was ever that good it looks especially terrible now.

Oh ****, I haven't watched that in years. How bad does the animated blood look now?

[LadyCrimson]

38 minutes ago, ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP said:

those swarms of Agent Smith scenes look really bad now.

I thought they looked bad even at release, at least that one scene in that ... courtyard? Y'know, the one where Keanu does the thing with the pole. 

The LotR cave troll still bugs me to this day (especially the roar animation), and anything that came after that was very similar.

It's a lot better now but still, every time Godzilla face-expressed (human expressions on Godzilla....) in that recent film I lol'd.  Sorry.  In my defense, it was a good-natured/fun sort of lol.

[Sarex]

10 minutes ago, LadyCrimson said:

The LotR cave troll still bugs me to this day (especially the roar animation), and anything that came after that was very similar.

Just rewatched that scene, what bothers you about it?