Neither actually. I just appreciated the new standard in visual effects for what they are and let the numbing PC message ooze out of the way (once I pointed it out). I just don't care for "message movies". To me a film is about being entertained, not preached to. Of course opinions vary so your mileage may vary.



I can agree with that. It was a fun, entertaining film.

Regards,
Ltstanfo

actually, almost all of Hitchcock's films have a "message" (they are morality plays, basically). the difference is that He was never heavy-handed about that message. most people never even notice and just have some sense of it under the surface - which is one of the reasons his films never get old. The entertainment value is always very high while the underlying meaning is very subtle


this is lost with many modern films, unfortunately

Very well put Cecilia. Very well put. And yes, Hitchcock was indeed a master.

Regards,
Ltstanfo

As a followup, I figured I would revisit my comment above about AVATAR needing to win all of the "technical Oscars". Well, it scored pretty well in that catagory (visual effects, art direction and cinematography). Case closed.

Regards,
Ltstanfo

... but it still sucked as a movie.

Dances with Wolves in Space... Get it? Got it? Good. Case closed...

Waynebo

Hey, I finally got around to seeing Avatar. I have to admit, it was better then I was expecting story wise. Effects wise, I was impressed with the blue people. Before the movie I thought that watching two CGI characters in a love relationship would be the ultimate in cheese, but with the aid of good directing and pacing it was easy to forget they were CGI (although dialog wasn't the best, it was easily better then anything Lucas could imagine). Not sure I'd give the movie Best Picture though. Not sure I'd give Hurt Locker best picture either. I was actually kinda disappointing that Sherlock Holmes wasn't more prominent in the nominations as I thought it was an excellent movie with great acting and story.

Anyway, I also saw Alice in Wonderland on Friday. Surprisingly good. I barely remember the story at all but it was a lot of fun. Probably best viewed if you're a little stoned, but it was good sober.

It's ok Wayne... really... it's ok. Just because no one else here thought (as you still apparently do) that 2012 was worth anything more than the cheeze it was made from, you don't need to be so bitter.

Let it go... we are here for you... just let it go...

Regards,
Ltstanfo

I went to see Avatar a while back. My thoughts on the movie were more or less:

How much? What? For a movie?

Oooo. Like the floating dust motes and insects.

Sigourney's still totally doable.

Alien chicks look bodacious.

Hmmm. The hunter gatherer lifestyle does impose serious evolutionary pressures. They are physically quite different from agrarian populations.

A little bit too "crystal vibration" for my taste.

You think blowing up a few aircraft will do it? Don't see the humans giving up that easy. They'll be back with friends. Should have been a better way.

The Navi are changed already just by what they had to do to win the battle. The changes they need to make to win the war and keep their planet will render them not much different from the humans in the end.

I don't even get to keep the glasses? Seriously?

Finally, Hurt Locker was bound to do well. The Oscars are a hugely political event and Hurt Locker is significantly kinder to US foreign policy than Avatar is. It's not surprising at all.

I haven't seen Avatar, but I did see Hurt Locker. It was good. I find it funny that you think it was kind to US foreign policy, yet some on the right apparently think it was hugely anti-american. I thought neither. It was a fictional story, that is it.

Was it? I thought the Hurt Locker did a good job of demonstrating how fucked up Iraq is thanks to US intervention. I thought Avatar was more about corporate greed, but I found it to be not so convincing which is why I wasn't rooting for the blue people at the end of the movie like I was supposed to. I'm thinking that's why Cameron didn't get best picture. That, plus the academy seemed to be thinking of longevity and 50 years from now Avatar will be just another forgotten effects movie from the early part of the century. Like Casablanca, people might still watch The Hurt Locker for it's historical content.

Which reminds me of the best line of the Oscars last night: Steve Martin ended it by saying that the show was so long that Avatar now took place in the past. Finally that guy said something funny!

Corporate greed IS American foreign policy. Who do you think wants all those wars fought. (Don't remember Bush running on a "let's start a bunch of wars and invade places" ticket back in 2000. Quite the reverse, actually.

Avatar: Good Guy Americans fight Bad Guy Americans (corporate greed backed up by force) on behalf of noble savages.

Hurt Locker: Good Guy Americans fight Bad Guy Arabs on behalf of themselves and Not So Bad Arabs.

Hurt Locker is a lot kinder to the military machine that the US runs.