Avatar 2009

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks, and the same from me to everybody!

Goodbye and good riddance, in ten days, to "the Noughties." I am often thankful that my dear mother passed away after the first of them, missing 9/11 and all the horrors that have followed.

[oscar jubis]

Well said. Indeed, Happy Holidays to my Filmleaf friends. Peace and Love to y'all!

As much as I want to watch AVATAR, I cannot afford to let people texting and walking in and out of the theater to buy junk food and sticky, buttery floors ruin the movie for me. So I will go to a matinee show on a weekday sometime next week or the following week and I'll make sure it is on digital 3D.

[Johann]

Stanley Kubrick missed it all too- just like your mother Chris.
His lack of faith in the human race was fully justified..

I'm studying Robert Anton Wilson's book Prometheus Rising right now (one of several books I'm immersed in) and it's amazing. He's taught me a lot about myself with that book, how the left and right parts of the brain work. I'm even trying to teach myself to write with my left hand, like Aleister Crowley taught his students to do. It's weird how these kinds of "alternative" books land in my lap...Wilson is pro-weed/LSD (consciousness expansion), pro-cinema, pro-Jung & Burroughs & Beethoven...he's a brilliant man, and I only just found out about him 2 months ago.


Oscar, I have the exact same gripes about seeing Avatar.
Just sitting in a theatre waiting for a movie to start is enough to make me flee. All these kids jabbering away about nothing.
As Nobody said in Dead Man: "Talk much. Say nothing."
Texting is just lame.
Twittering is even lamer.
Egomaniacs use that junk, not real people. (just my opinion)
But I guess I could be accused of the same- I text on a website!
Do I have a halo? Nope.

[Chris Knipp]

Saint Johann.

Saint Jason.

[tabuno]

I began this year wondering about the impact that 3-D would have on the movie industry this year and had initially believed that it would have a great impact and then I was persuaded that 2-D still have a powerful place in movies that could rival 3-D. I saw AVATAR in Wendover, Utah (some may have to look the place up on a map) in 2-D and was inspired and dazzled by the movie minus the content. Whether or not 3-D would put the movie into a rarified place in movie history, I haven't a clue.

[Johann]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Saint Johann.

Saint Jason.

Oh yeah. That's me alright.

*rolls big blunt, uncorks another bottle of Greg Norman's Cabnernet Merlot, scratches bum, yawns, yells at cat*

[Chris Knipp]

None of that will keep you from going to heaven.

[cinemabon]

Merry Christmas to all and to all... well, they are showing four new films Christmas day... anyone going? Last day to qualify...

I'll reserve any comments on the past decade for next week.

Tuesday's numbers? Another 16 million! For Monday and Tuesday alone, that's over 32 million, better than "The Princess and the frog" did on its opening weekend. $109 mill for total domestic gross. Merry Christmas, indeed... butter and all, a good night.

[cinemabon]

Post Script: Nationwide - IMAX theaters are sold out through Christmas break... sold out, Chris.

[tabuno]

Super popularity is a rather fascinating phenomenon. Take 9/11 for example - it was immensely popular in an insidious manner in that it grabbed the world's attention, yet a vast majority wouldn't consider the event the most aesthetic nor positively valuable experience. JAWS (1975), CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977), ABYSS (1989) have similar special effects at the time of their release and exciting scenes, yet in some ways JAWS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS might be considered even more creatively connected and consistently superior productions in their entirety.

Cameron's TITANIC (the same director of AVATAR, probably not by coincidence) remains the most popular and yet there are those detractors that might suggest that it was an overly romantic, simplistic movie that depended more on the psychological emotive buttons and special effects than the script and the superior quality of the movie itself that allowed this super popular movie to make history.

Thus AVATAR is an delightful piece of eye candy like a LSD hallucinagenic drug that invites its audience on a Disneyland ride of super visual entertainment.

[Chris Knipp]

Post Script: Nationwide - IMAX theaters are sold out through Christmas break... sold out, Chris.

I love being mentioned, though I don't know why exactly I deserve this honor. I have never said anything about the cost, popularity or box office of AVATAR. But going by savvy discussions of the production cost of the movie, it may be about $280 million for production plus marketing costs, and if the current take worldwide is $381 million as is currently estimated on Box Office Mojo, , then the movie is already turning a profit.

But as tabuno diplomatically puts it,

Super popularity is a rather fascinating phenomenon.

So is super profitability. Both are phenomena separate from artistic merit or narrative interest..

[oscar jubis]

I think it is remarkable in this era of rapid technological innovation, when there are so many choices of media available, that millions of people of all ages agree that this movie is worth leaving their homes to go to a public space to experience it. This is the rare movie that immediately becomes part of the culture of a nation. It is a phenomenon.

[cinemabon]

The fourth biggest movie in box office history... I'd say he made his money back... and, knows something about what the film-going audience wants - entertainment, pure and simple. What's your dream?

[tabuno]

The fourth biggest movie in box office history... I'd say he made his money back... and, knows something about what the film-going audience wants - entertainment, pure and simple. What's your dream?

I completely agree with your statement and Cameron like Spielberg's JAWS (1975) has demonstrated that he is attuned to what the film-going audience wants - entertainment, pure and simple. Nevertheless, this is a populist movie that fails to really adhere to the hard core nature of sci fi aliens - AVATAR is more like the soap opera STAR WARS (1977) updated with special effects that provided more dazzle and flash over the substance and inherent essence of sci fi much like Richard Gere's character of Billy Flynn in CHICAGO (2002).

[cinemabon]

Avatar is now the second biggest box office film of all time (surpassed only by Cameron's other film, "Titanic") with 1.2 billion in dollars in world wide sales, and for a very good reason. It is a very beautiful to see in its current presentation.

I said in the first post that I felt, despite the criticism, this would be a phenomenon. If you haven't seen it in 3-D (my 86 year old mother saw it Saturday in 3-D IMAX), then I highly recommend it. The DVD will most certainly not be the same and this may be your only opportunity to be part of this experience for a very long time, as no other studios or directors will be eager to spend three years and 300 million dollars on a similar project.