So...
A bunch of things, I suppose.
First of all, late holiday wishes to everyone from Brazil. Hope everyone had a great Christmas, although I already know that's sadly not the case for everyone :(
But yeah, I'm currently in Brazil (have been for two weeks now), spending time with ishtar_vr and enjoying a surprisingly mild summer (and missing out on the first white Christmas in the Netherlands since '81 in the process XD). It's a more than welcome change from the depressing weather I left behind, although I sadly couldn't do the same with my architecture work. Final presentation is coming up on the 12th of January, and since it's groupwork and kind of important I pass this design course... "sob" expresses my feelings well enough.
But that and the fact I'm leaving in a week (sob. ;_;.) aside, there's a much bigger reason for this post: today we saw Avatar in 3D.
That shouldn't even be a reason for a post, really. The movie itself was "pretty okay" more than anything. It pretty much lived up to my expectations, not that I had many to begin with. It has a completely unoriginal and predictable storyline (Pocahontas and Ferngully meet Halo sounds about right), and the characters are more caricatures than actual characters. The visuals are fairly impressive: the world of Pandora looks great, mechanical design/animation and the Na'vi were pretty good too, although hardly inspired. The other creatures were a lot less impressive and most of them looked and felt like minor characters. But in the end, it all came together quite nicely, and the 3D effect definitely added something to the experience as well, but the movie also pointed out plenty of weak points with the format.
Despite/thanks to the above, Avatar was a very entertaining film for the almost 3 hours. It certainly didn't feel like we'd spent that much time staring at the ridiculous love story "unfolding" on the screen, which makes it a worthy movie in its own right already. Although there are many things I could go deeper into, mostly related to the visuals for me, I don't think that'd be enough reason for me to actually make this post.
No, that reason would be the ridiculous amount of good reviews this movie is gathering. It's just mind-blowing. "Best movie of the decade/last 30 years/ever"? "A powerful love story"? "Amazing spiritual movie"? "James Cameron brings the CHANGE that Obama could not deliver"? "The Mona Lisa of film"?
No. If you're open to the movie's premise and technique, Avatar can be an engrossing experience. But it doesn't even come close to any of the superlatives above. A movie with such a huge list of faults is not any kind of best movie. The "love story" is nonexistant. Its message is shallow. It's not going to be the movie that'll change cinema forever because of the ridiculous budget required to even make a movie like this. And the Mona Lisa one is just silly. I honestly can't fathom how people can seriously make these statements.
So I guess in the end this is just a post about how I don't understand most people and how they make me sad :(
also lol unobtainium
First of all, late holiday wishes to everyone from Brazil. Hope everyone had a great Christmas, although I already know that's sadly not the case for everyone :(
But yeah, I'm currently in Brazil (have been for two weeks now), spending time with ishtar_vr and enjoying a surprisingly mild summer (and missing out on the first white Christmas in the Netherlands since '81 in the process XD). It's a more than welcome change from the depressing weather I left behind, although I sadly couldn't do the same with my architecture work. Final presentation is coming up on the 12th of January, and since it's groupwork and kind of important I pass this design course... "sob" expresses my feelings well enough.
But that and the fact I'm leaving in a week (sob. ;_;.) aside, there's a much bigger reason for this post: today we saw Avatar in 3D.
That shouldn't even be a reason for a post, really. The movie itself was "pretty okay" more than anything. It pretty much lived up to my expectations, not that I had many to begin with. It has a completely unoriginal and predictable storyline (Pocahontas and Ferngully meet Halo sounds about right), and the characters are more caricatures than actual characters. The visuals are fairly impressive: the world of Pandora looks great, mechanical design/animation and the Na'vi were pretty good too, although hardly inspired. The other creatures were a lot less impressive and most of them looked and felt like minor characters. But in the end, it all came together quite nicely, and the 3D effect definitely added something to the experience as well, but the movie also pointed out plenty of weak points with the format.
Despite/thanks to the above, Avatar was a very entertaining film for the almost 3 hours. It certainly didn't feel like we'd spent that much time staring at the ridiculous love story "unfolding" on the screen, which makes it a worthy movie in its own right already. Although there are many things I could go deeper into, mostly related to the visuals for me, I don't think that'd be enough reason for me to actually make this post.
No, that reason would be the ridiculous amount of good reviews this movie is gathering. It's just mind-blowing. "Best movie of the decade/last 30 years/ever"? "A powerful love story"? "Amazing spiritual movie"? "James Cameron brings the CHANGE that Obama could not deliver"? "The Mona Lisa of film"?
No. If you're open to the movie's premise and technique, Avatar can be an engrossing experience. But it doesn't even come close to any of the superlatives above. A movie with such a huge list of faults is not any kind of best movie. The "love story" is nonexistant. Its message is shallow. It's not going to be the movie that'll change cinema forever because of the ridiculous budget required to even make a movie like this. And the Mona Lisa one is just silly. I honestly can't fathom how people can seriously make these statements.
So I guess in the end this is just a post about how I don't understand most people and how they make me sad :(
also lol unobtainium