James Cameron Saves the World

Avatar 2? Let’s bet on this. I bet there’s going to be at least 3 Avatar movies each talking about a new part of the environment that needs saving from the mean white people. The first movie made so much money that they will more than likely be making quite a few. Avatar was not only the highest grossing movie when it was in theatres, but it also sold the most DVD’s ever. It’s rumored that the movie will even be re-released in theatres to make even more money. Oy vey. It wasn’t even that great. Yeah, it had amazing CG and what not, but it got a little too political for me.

Avatar 2 is supposed to focus on the ocean. I wasn’t kidding about an Avatar 2 coming out. Since the first movie took 10 years to make, Avatar 2 may not come out for a while. I just hope they don’t pump it out quickly and make it sloppy so they can make money. I hope they take their time and do it right. Maybe it will be the next Lord of the Rings where a new movie comes out each year.

Avatar the Novel....?

I heard on the radio yesterday morning that James Cameron is writing an Avatar novel that explains things left unsaid or unexplained in the movie. The book will come out the end of this year so all the crazy Avatar fans don’t have a long wait. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this. I don’t feel like anything was left unexplained in the movie. I guess he digs deeper into why the humans started following the forest people in the first place. What was presented in the movie seemed pretty clear to me; humans want to steal land from forest people. Why is that hard to understand? Really what this comes down to is Cameron wanting more money, duh. I personally wouldn’t buy the book, but I’m sure it will be a best seller when it does come out. It would have made more sense to me if it was a comic book or something. Usually books get made into movies, not the other way around.

I did hear that he wrote this script 10 or so years ago and had to shelve it because the CG technology wasn’t advanced enough at the time. I do think that this movie set the bar for CG. I am such a critic of that stuff and to me this movie was as flawless as it could be.

So are you going to buy the book? I hope it has pictures.

CG Magic

So last night I joined the herd and saw Avatar in 3D at the Arclight Cinerama Dome. Those glasses are some serious business. I felt like we were on an actual mission to space. The glasses were pretty heavy on my face so after a while I got a headache, but otherwise the 3D experience wasn’t too bad. It’s like reading subtitles. After a while you don’t even realize you’re doing it anymore. I used to be very against 3D movies, but not so much anymore.

The movie wasn’t what I expected at all, but I liked it. I’m not sure what I expected, but this was not it. I’m sure everyone has seen it by now so I probably won’t be ruining it if I talk about the plot. Basically, people are transported into avatar bodies where they can breathe different air and do things humans can’t normally do. You know, the usual. The movie was very political. It was all save the world, hate Bush. If at first you weren’t sure if it was political, they let you know by saying things like, “let’s fight terror with terror” and “it looks like they are doing some shock and awe mission.” How much more political can you get and not even that, how much more Bush hating can you get? I didn’t mind and neither did the people around me. I heard a lot of giggling during those lines. Way to go Bush! No we have a movie showing how much you sucked. It was a fight between those who want to save the planet and humans and those who don’t care and want it all destroyed. The Bush administration in a nut shell.

The CG in this movie was freaking stunning. I am such a hater of people who try and don’t succeed when it comes to CG, but this movie definitely succeeded. Next time I see poorly done CG I am going to proclaim they have no excuse because Avatar was able to do it flawlessly. I look at movies like the recent Indiana Jones for example where the camera pans up to show a chase scene and the CG is just obvious and terrible. This one has none of that. There was no inkling whatsoever to show that this was CG with live action. It all pretty much looked like it was live action. Very well done. If you have no other reason to see this movie, see it for its CG beauty.