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#152 Dec 27 2009 at 4:48 AM Rating: Decent
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TirithRR the Eccentric wrote:
Debalic wrote:
Apparently, Avatar just got beat out at the box office by Alvin and the chipmunks: The Squeakuel.

I have a sneaking suspicion that varus drained his office's funds to make this happen.


Everyone is a secret furry and just wants to watch the Chipettes.


The Na'vi are cat-like, yea...? And considering that Avatar is PG-13, whilst Alvin is PG, there is more room for awesome. Having seen Avatar on Friday, I've delayed posting about how much I love it, there will probably be one in the Movies forum soon enough.

The furriness wasn't my main concern in this film, it was two things - First, the romance. (I actually got a romance novel for Christmas. Jayne Castle's Dark Light, which I look forward to reading.) It was very enjoyable, and I'm a big fan. Second was the sprawling world. Just knowing that Cameron had this in mind for over 10 years before making it was more than enough to convince me that the Avatar universe would be terrific and creative. I was satisfied to the extreme. The Na'vi language was detailed and ornate, while their planet was tropical, beautiful, and elegant, even if the idea behind it is a bit fuzzy.

This thread is just blowing my mind, though. I don't think Avatar was this terribly serious, it was just an awesome movie. Varus isn't very smart.
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#153REDACTED, Posted: Dec 28 2009 at 8:56 AM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) Turin,
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#154 Dec 28 2009 at 7:07 PM Rating: Decent
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fantastic movie.

first, you do not go to a fantasy or sci-fi movie for the plot or story line. bad guy vs good guy, good guy usually wins and gets the girl. there. the plot line for this movie and just about every other action flick every made. you try to make the bad guy intersting, you try to make the good guy heroic and the babe hot, but other than that, its all the same.

you go to them for the world they take you to, and the world this flick took us to was absolutly awe inspiring. the animation was the best i have ever seen. ever. from the ships to the animals to the forest to the controll rooms in the various buildings, all first rate. the time and attention to detail in every aspect of the enviroment was first rate.
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#155 Dec 28 2009 at 7:52 PM Rating: Decent
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shadowrelm wrote:
first, you do not go to a fantasy or sci-fi movie for the plot or story line. bad guy vs good guy, good guy usually wins and gets the girl. there. the plot line for this movie and just about every other action flick every made. you try to make the bad guy intersting, you try to make the good guy heroic and the babe hot, but other than that, its all the same.


Honestly, it's attitudes like this that are the reason so many sci-fi and fantasy films suck. I specifically like those genres for the plot and story. No amount of special effects will dress up a crappy story IMO...

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you go to them for the world they take you to, and the world this flick took us to was absolutly awe inspiring. the animation was the best i have ever seen. ever. from the ships to the animals to the forest to the controll rooms in the various buildings, all first rate. the time and attention to detail in every aspect of the enviroment was first rate.


If that's all you want from a film, then I suppose that's fine for you. But for me, what has always been most intriguing about sci-fi and fantasy is that the ability to create a different world with different rules allows for plotlines and stories which you could not write if constrained to the "real world". The best stories in those genres are the ones in which the plot, protagonist, and problems to be solved are created by and flow from the different environment. Some of the most enjoyable stories I've read involved questions like: "How do you solve a murder when certain types of technology or magic are involved?", or "How do you use magic or tech to solve some problem you've found yourself in?". To me, it's a missed opportunity not to take advantage of that and a mistake to just create a sci-fi or fantasy world and then just use it as a backdrop for an otherwise "normal" story.


That's not to say that every sci-fi or fantasy plot has to include those elements, but IMO the best ones do.
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#156 Dec 28 2009 at 10:33 PM Rating: Good
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gbaji wrote:
If that's all you want from a film, then I suppose that's fine for you. But for me, what has always been most intriguing about sci-fi and fantasy is that the ability to create a different world with different rules allows for plotlines and stories which you could not write if constrained to the "real world". The best stories in those genres are the ones in which the plot, protagonist, and problems to be solved are created by and flow from the different environment. Some of the most enjoyable stories I've read involved questions like: "How do you solve a murder when certain types of technology or magic are involved?", or "How do you use magic or tech to solve some problem you've found yourself in?". To me, it's a missed opportunity not to take advantage of that and a mistake to just create a sci-fi or fantasy world and then just use it as a backdrop for an otherwise "normal" story.


That's not to say that every sci-fi or fantasy plot has to include those elements, but IMO the best ones do.

Then I highly reccomend you read "The Golden Age" trilogy by John C Wright. Someone is catastrophically messing with the good guy. But how the heck is that happening, in a universe where no-body is capable of lying and getting away with it even for a second, and everyone is unavoidably well adjusted to the point that harming somebody else is unthinkable?

I have never come across a plot with so many twists and turns in it, where the author is able to keep the reader in suspense about what is real and what isn't so often and for so long.
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#157REDACTED, Posted: Dec 29 2009 at 8:40 AM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) You want some great sci-fi's:
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#158 Dec 29 2009 at 9:29 AM Rating: Good
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I'd put Bladerunner, the first Alien movie, the first and maybe second Terminator movie, and the first Matrix movie out ahead of all the rest. The original Star Wars movies are also great, but also weirdly bad in some ways. I love them, at any rate, but tend to cringe a lot in the third one.

I like Minority Report rather a lot. I loved this year's Star Trek. Even though it's a straight forward story, the visuals are fantastic.

The Abyss is one of my favourites. Area 9 is outstanding.

The Animatrix is also extremely good, and if you like the Matrix at all, I think it is a "must see". Out of the anthology, my personal favourite visually is "Program", although Matriculated is also amazing. Well, they are all pretty fantastic, each in their very different way.
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#159 Dec 29 2009 at 9:30 AM Rating: Good
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publiusvarus wrote:
You want some great sci-fi's:

Wrath of Kahn/Search for Spock (and a few others star trek movies)
Blade Runner
Original star wars trilogy
Dune
Event Horizon
Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
Terminator Series
Alien series
Predator series
Logans Run
Matrix series

The point is there are plenty of good sci-fi's out there. Avatar isn't one of them.

Event Horizon was only loosely sci-fi (it fits more into horror - claiming it's sci-fi just because it's on a spaceship is like claiming the concept behind Doom is sci-fi), Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy likewise (but comedy this time), and the Matrix series was not good sci-fi (you want a good version of this concept, I'll have to refer you to Jack L. Chalker's Wonderland Gambit trilogy).

As far as Dune, I sincerely hope you're referring to the miniseries version that was on the Sci-Fi channel, and not the butchery that was the 80s version.

On the plus side, you didn't list 2001 (which, if remade, could be good sci-fi, but...). On the minus side... to be honest, I'm not entirely sure why you left AI out (where the failings are entirely on the opposite side of the coin from the Matrix series - the sci-fi is good here, the rest of it is crap).
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#160 Dec 29 2009 at 9:32 AM Rating: Good
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My favorite out of the Animatrix was The Second Renaissance.
(The KND Parody of it was good too Smiley: nod)
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#161 Dec 29 2009 at 9:32 AM Rating: Good
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Ooo, I quite like 2001. Very much a classic.

And Wall-E. That one is a 10/10 movie.

Edited, Dec 29th 2009 10:42am by Aripyanfar
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#162 Dec 29 2009 at 9:37 AM Rating: Good
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Aripyanfar wrote:
And Wall-E. That one is a 10/10 movie.


Oh, now you did it, Varus is going to rant all day long.
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#163 Dec 29 2009 at 9:41 AM Rating: Good
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TirithRR the Eccentric wrote:
Aripyanfar wrote:
And Wall-E. That one is a 10/10 movie.


Oh, now you did it, Varus is going to rant all day long.

Hey, Wall-E was really well done environmental propaganda. Happy Feet, on the other hand, was embarrassingly clumsy about it. >.<

Stargate!!! That was good! Very straightforward plot again, but I love it. Great baddy, great hero, great sidekicks, great monsters.

The movie of Cowboy Beebop sucked, I think they used a different team for it. But I would like to submit the series to you all as great sci-fi.

Edited, Dec 29th 2009 10:55am by Aripyanfar
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#164 Dec 29 2009 at 9:50 AM Rating: Excellent
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Quote:
Wrath of Kahn/Search for Spock (and a few others star trek movies)

This does not take shots at big business. 

Blade Runner

This does.
Quote:
Original star wars trilogy

This sorta does, considering the empire pretty much is.

Quote:
Dune

I appreciated the movie, but I'm a David Lynch fan.
Quote:

Event Horizon
Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
Terminator Series
Alien series
Predator series
Logans Run
Matrix series


These do too.
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#165 Dec 29 2009 at 10:08 AM Rating: Good
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Aripyanfar wrote:
Happy Feet, on the other hand, was embarrassingly clumsy about it. >.<


Happy Feet was cute. Then it was ok. Then it just got creepy and strange.
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#166REDACTED, Posted: Dec 29 2009 at 10:14 AM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) Omega,
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#167 Dec 29 2009 at 10:16 AM Rating: Good
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publiusvarus wrote:
Omega,

I don't mind movies that have liberal slants. Avatar was just over the top. A bunch of hippified giant smurfs is not my idea of a good sci-fi.

Never watch Princess Mononoke.
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#168 Dec 29 2009 at 10:18 AM Rating: Good
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Aripyanfar wrote:
publiusvarus wrote:
Omega,

I don't mind movies that have liberal slants. Avatar was just over the top. A bunch of hippified giant smurfs is not my idea of a good sci-fi.

Never watch Princess Mononoke.


Love that movie.

Oh, and add Fern Gully to the list of "Varus should never watch" movies.
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#169 Dec 29 2009 at 10:26 AM Rating: Good
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Belkira the Tulip wrote:
Oh, and add Fern Gully to the list of "Varus should never watch" movies.
Tim Curry makes everything better.
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#170 Dec 29 2009 at 10:31 AM Rating: Good
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Belkira the Tulip wrote:
Oh, and add Fern Gully to the list of "Varus should never watch" movies.


I can't remember the whole thing. Why is it that the ancient evil rain forest demon was a smog monster? Seems like it should have been something else, something non-man made.
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#171 Dec 29 2009 at 10:35 AM Rating: Good
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TirithRR the Eccentric wrote:
Belkira the Tulip wrote:
Oh, and add Fern Gully to the list of "Varus should never watch" movies.


I can't remember the whole thing. Why is it that the ancient evil rain forest demon was a smog monster? Seems like it should have been something else, something non-man made.


I don't remember them saying it was ancient, just that they had fought it before and the fairies believed (mistakenly) that it had wiped all the humans out.
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#172 Dec 29 2009 at 10:37 AM Rating: Good
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Well, it was trapped in that really old tree. I just assumed it was an old demon.
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#173 Dec 29 2009 at 10:39 AM Rating: Good
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2cents

Saw this last night, and it is visually stunning. Like, "holy ****, which shots were CGI and which were live-action?" kind of stunning.

Of course, remember that this fantastic story about being at harmony with the planet and respecting the balance of life cost $300 million, and was brought to us by McDonald's.
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#174 Dec 29 2009 at 10:41 AM Rating: Good
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Demea wrote:
Saw this last night, and it is visually stunning. Like, "holy sh*t, which shots were CGI and which were live-action?" kind of stunning.


That's how I felt about District 9! The aliens looked real. That movie was awesome.

And probably another that Varrus shouldn't see, since it teaches people that racism is bad, mkay?

Edit: Should =/= shouldn't.

Edited, Dec 29th 2009 10:49am by Belkira
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#175 Dec 29 2009 at 10:42 AM Rating: Good
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Demea wrote:
2cents

Saw this last night, and it is visually stunning. Like, "holy sh*t, which shots were CGI and which were live-action?" kind of stunning.

Of course, remember that this fantastic story about being at harmony with the planet and respecting the balance of life cost $300 million, and was brought to us by McDonald's.

Where would life be without its ironies?
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#176 Dec 29 2009 at 10:43 AM Rating: Good
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Belkira the Tulip wrote:
Demea wrote:
Saw this last night, and it is visually stunning. Like, "holy sh*t, which shots were CGI and which were live-action?" kind of stunning.


That's how I felt about District 9! The aliens looked real. That movie was awesome.

And probably another that Varrus should see, since it teaches people that racism is bad, mkay?

The Mecha fight in District 9 was done a hundred times better than the robot fights in the live action Transformers movie.
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