Avatar trailer (new James Cameron movie)

[david_a]

http://www.movie-list.com/trailers.php?id=avatar

Ok, so it's just a teaser/trailer whatever, but:

- The CGI isn't that awesome. It's been hyped up as taking things to the next level - "almost real." What I saw in the trailer was no better than any other modern CGI fest.

- The blue aliens look retarded. Blue space orks... whee.

- The whole things is just... what. I wasn't very happy when I first read the story, and this trailer has just made it worse. Someone said it looked like Dances With Wolves in Space.

- I still think the 3D thing is a gimmick.

I dunno. This doesn't seem like a return to form to me. Making Titanic was the worst thing that could have happened to him. I don't think we'll ever get another The Terminator or Aliens.

[Scet]

I really don't understand why they stopped using models/puppets/robots, they look so much more realistic(because they are real...) compared to this CGI crap. A little CGI is OK sometimes(when other methods are too expensive or not possible), but this avatar movie appears far too cartoonish.

[Nomad]

I can't load more than 25 seconds of it no matter which format I choose.

[Sharessa]

Heh, the aliens remind me of the Kroot from Warhammer 40k. Dunno why.

[Enjay]

Scet said:

I really don't understand why they stopped using models/puppets/robots, they look so much more realistic(because they are real...) compared to this CGI crap. A little CGI is OK sometimes(when other methods are too expensive or not possible), but this avatar movie appears far too cartoonish.

Yes! Precisely my thoughts. I thought I was the only person left on the planet who thought this.

[Mr. Freeze]

MOVIE OF THE YEAR

ALL YEARS

[Nomad]

Stupid thing finally loaded. My internet connection is seriously pissing me off lately.

I think it looks pretty cool. I'm not really obsessed with whether CGI looks "real" or not, so long as it doesn't look hokey, and this looks fine to me.

[kristus]

Looks pretty disney. I wonder if there'll be singing.

[david_a]

kristus said:

Looks pretty disney. I wonder if there'll be singing.

Looks like there will be dancing!!1

[Udderdude]

Well the CGI is definitely not realistic, but it still looks pretty cool. Has yet to be seen if it's actually worth watching. Maybe just for the visuals.

[david_a]

It'll probably be worth watching for the spectacle if nothing else. Cameron created a stereoscopic HD camera system to film this monstrosity in 3D.

The only reason I even brought up the CG was because the hype around the movie was that it was supposed to be a big leap... I'm a bit disappointed that a notorious perfectionist who pushed CG to the limit in the early days (The Abyss, T2) would consider this to be "photo-realistic."

[Ninjalah]

david_a said:

It'll probably be worth watching for the spectacle if nothing else. Cameron created a stereoscopic HD camera system to film this monstrosity in 3D.

The only reason I even brought up the CG was because the hype around the movie was that it was supposed to be a big leap... I'm a bit disappointed that a notorious perfectionist who pushed CG to the limit in the early days (The Abyss, T2) would consider this to be "photo-realistic."

I have to say that I saw BeoWulf not too long ago and it doesn't top that by much. I think it's a little better a points, not by much though.

BTW why did Beowulf get such bad reviews? I mean, i hated the ending but yeah, I liked the movie as a whole.

[Maes]

CGI? More like SGI.

[Belial]

Enjay said:

Yes! Precisely my thoughts. I thought I was the only person left on the planet who thought this.

I felt the same until a friend of mine told me he considers The Thing to have some of the best special effects ever. Needless to say that was my opinion as well. It was a happy day.

[Use]

Scet said:

I really don't understand why they stopped using models/puppets/robots...

It's really becoming a lost art form..a shame really. Yeah this movie looks stupid as fuck.

[40oz]

The last airbender?

[Zaldron]

Puppets and animatronics only look good when you conceal their flaws through intelligent editing, lighting, and camera use. It's limitations in regards to animation/morphing/materials/shape are plentiful. CGI is perhaps a decade away from perfect photorealism, with none of the constraints.

The movie industry wisened up.

[DoOmEr4LiFe]

40oz said:

The last airbender?

will with any luck do far better at the box office than this film. I like James Cameron and all, but the whole film title thing kind of pissed me off.

[Super Jamie]

Meh, usual modern overhyped CGI rubbish. Looks like a cross between 3DMark and Halo without the franchising.

James Cameron will have to personally deliver me gold-leaf movie tickets on a cushion made of Sigourney Weaver's abs (from the end of Alien 1) to get me interested.

Also who instantly thought of these guys?

[Ninjalah]

Zaldron said:

Puppets and animatronics only look good when you conceal their flaws through intelligent editing, lighting, and camera use.

Can you guys link a good movie clip where this is used? I'm now interested in this, and am wondering which movies i've watched were actually robots.

[Super Jamie]

The first three Ninja Turtles movies were actors in costumes wearing electronically-controlled headsets. Some of the biologically impossible scenes in the first Terminator were filmed with an obviously-fake Arnie dummy. I think there was a robot in Short Circuit :P

Notice Zaldron said puppets and and animatronics. I assume things like E.T. and Gremlins would fall under that description as well.

[leileilol]

James Cameron's Delgo?

[Sharessa]

Ninjalah said:

Can you guys link a good movie clip where this is used? I'm now interested in this, and am wondering which movies i've watched were actually robots.

Watch the movies Labyrinth and Dark Crystal. Pretty amazing young adult fantasy movies done by Jim Henson with design by Brian Fraud (at least on Labyrinth).

[Super Jamie]

This is fast turning into an "awesome 80s childhood movies" thread :D

One of my personal favorites with no CGI, Hardware (sometimes known as M.A.R.K. 13) stars a metal skull that was part of a killing droid which starts to rebuild itself after being found in post-apocalyptic wastes. Rad film.

[david_a]

Zaldron said:

Puppets and animatronics only look good when you conceal their flaws through intelligent editing, lighting, and camera use.

This kind of brings to mind Alien 3. A lot of people assume that the shots of the alien running around the corridors are CG since they look so bad. In reality, there is only one very brief CG shot of the alien in the entire movie (when it's head cracks after being doused with water). The alien is actually a puppet filmed on a minature set using motion-controlled cameras to duplicate the shot. However, there's just something terribly, terribly wrong with the lighting that gives it that flat, cheap CG look.

I don't agree with your other contention, however. Increasing the visual fidelity of the images isn't enough to make them look "real." The uncanny valley will still be a problem due to the issues involved with capturing motion (especially for something like animals - remember the flak that Beowful got for the horses?).

[Belial]

Ninjalah said:

Can you guys link a good movie clip where this is used? I'm now interested in this, and am wondering which movies i've watched were actually robots.

The Thing

[Ninjalah]

Belial said:

The Thing

I see I see. Btw that whole time i was screaming "OOOO NOOOO!!!" to myself, that was pretty graphic.

david_a said:

Visual Fidelity... Uncanny Valley

Name of my band, then, when the first breaks up due to drugs, i move on to the second. Then the first band members and I have a reunion 20 years later. We're all fat and disappointed, but the real thing that matters is... uh...

[SyntherAugustus]

Massive Flop Ahead!

[Mr. Freeze]

SPOILER ALERT:

The reason that the CGI might not hold up to the hype can be pinned on two reasons:

1. It's a trailer. Trailers *always* use unfinished CGI.

2. The movie was- and still is- meant to be seen in 3D. Even 1080p won't cut it until we sit in the theaters.

[Dutch Doomer]

Fuck CGI, another crap ass movie that I will never bother to watch.