Avatar: The Way of Water - Does Quaritch look like someone who uses condoms?

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Avatar: The Way of Water - Does Quaritch look like someone who uses condoms?

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Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

The memory dump opens up so many possibilities - like implanting the same set of memories in several avatars and having a whole army of Quaritch'es. A bit like Agent Smith in The Matrix. Growing a compatible avatar is not trivial though, it's resource intensive and time consuming - hence why Jake Sully was offered his twin's avatar in the first movie.

I wonder if Pandora tech might become some sort of future for humanity as well, either as avatars or perhaps just as non-corporeal beings living in a sort of soul state. Could be a sort of Matrix-like nightmare, or maybe something like the Zalem central computer in Alita: Battle Angel.

teagone posted:

To be fair, it's a valid read, but pretty elementary. Thinking about how the idea of remote piloting a superhuman-like being is similar to playing an MMORPG or whatever. Jake "logs in" daily on his gaming PC (the pod chamber thing), and is consumed by playing in his avatar body -- so much so that the film makes it a point to show how unkempt and scrubby his human form has become after getting "addicted" to Pandora; Jake doesn't shower, doesn't eat properly, let's his beard get all scruffy and doesn't change his clothes, etc. He eventually levels up and upgrades his mount from the common-rarity blue dragon to the giant legendary orange gently caress-off dragon.

Does Avatar tech work other places than Pandora? We see them linking up to Avatars in space, but I wonder if the reason you can't just jam the link or trace the link, is that Pandora itself works as the data link between the pilot and the avatar. As far as the movies have shown, the link is almost as spiritual as it is technological. If it was a simple radio link, it would be so easy to sever or trace. From a military standpoint, Pandorans have a huge advantage of Pandora itself being an un-jammable communications network - it's the ideal battelground for Network-centric Warfare. But if the Na'vi go to space and to Earth, that advantage is not there. Unless Earth also has an undiscovered, more nascent form of this network.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2022 23:02

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# ¿ May 19, 2024 10:04

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Slashfilm interview with VFX supervisors,
Like in the BeforeAndAfter article, I take from this that they shot a lot of reference footage, and may have snuck some real footage into places which we don't expect to be real.

# ¿ Dec 23, 2022 00:19

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Yeah, looks like the memories are downloaded through a pod visit. It doesn't look like you can "edit" the memories, since they're exploiting technology they don't seem to fully understand.

Pacing-wise, Alita: Battle Angel could have used 20 minutes of runtime taken from Avatar 2. I'd still recommend watching it, and Cameron and Landau are talking up a sequel to that movie too right now. Rosa Salazar is great.

teagone posted:

It's a psionic link. I don't see any reason why an avatar driver wouldn't be able to pilot their avatar body anywhere else (so long as the link bed is within distance) based on the avatar program wiki entry: https://james-camerons-avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Avatar_Program

The specifics are probably detailed in the Avatar activist survival guide book that I have.

Interesting. I wonder how much of this is considered "canon" as such.

# ¿ Dec 23, 2022 02:06

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Mister Speaker posted:

i thought marines never left anyone behind

Maybe that's why all the dead RDA operators on his blue team are ex US Marine: These ones died trying to recover him, while the others just pissed off and surrendered?

# ¿ Dec 23, 2022 02:31

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Yeah, supposedly the RDA's security operations take people from various services and countries, even people without prior military experience, but it makes sense that Quaritch has an afinnity for US Marines - like Jake Sully. I'm reminded of Hotel Moscow from Black Lagoon, which primarily recruits former Russian paratroopers.

# ¿ Dec 23, 2022 02:37

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

I think they re-used some of the music from the first film in this one too.

As for the high framerate, I didn't notice, but I've only seen the 2D version so far.

Costco Meatballs posted:

I heard there were two shots without effects in this movie. Were they dude getting hit into a bulkhead by water and Sully's hand pulling the grenade pin?

Both involved water so I'm guessing not but they stood out

The shot where Jake tightens the strap on his hand before trying to ride a skimwing is at least partly practical:
https://beforesandafters.com/2022/12/21/why-the-cg-water-in-the-way-of-water-looks-so-good/

quote:

Finally, there was a lot of online speculation after people saw that shot of the hands tightening the leather straps on the creature on the water surface, and people wondering whether it was practical or CG. To settle the debate, can you tell me if that was real or CG?

Eric Saindon: The shot in question was both live action and CG. The props department built a Ilu saddle and strap for Kevin Dorman to sit on in a small pool on stage. Kevin�s hand and forearm were painted by Sarah Rubano using reference of Jake�s arm from the CG model. Jim Cameron was then able to get the performance he wanted for the wrapping of the strap around Jake�s hand and interacting with the water. Once we got the plates at Wētā FX, we match moved the motion and used CG from the straps above Jake�s wrists. We used real water over the saddle and around the hands and fingers. CG water was used to extend the plate and to get the interaction of Jake�s body in the water.

There might be others - Slashfilm asked about a shot of a shell buried in the sand which Kiri studies, but the VFX directors won't tell:
https://www.slashfilm.com/1146735/a...sive-interview/

quote:

One of my favorite shots is this simple moment of Kiri looking at this hole in the sand underneath the water. Was any of that real or...?

Bodapatti: We're never going to break down the shots. You tell me.

Vir fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Dec 23, 2022

# ¿ Dec 23, 2022 21:49

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

HD and high framerate can make props and makeup which works in low framerate look terrible. I'm going to be seeing it in RealD 3D - does that have high framerates? I heard some Japanese theaters crashed, because they couldn't handle the movie files.

https://twitter.com/Bosslogic/status/1606339100625158144

# ¿ Dec 23, 2022 21:58

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

teagone posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAIIdW62Cjk

That synth voice at 1:19 in Titanic sounds so bad to me. They could have afforded some real voices.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2022 06:08

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Happy Noodle Boy posted:

There�s a na�vi Jedi now.??????

She has mastered spirit-bending and waterbending. Now she just needs to master fire-bending and earth-bending before she becomes The Avatar- The Legend of Kiri.

Vir fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Dec 25, 2022

# ¿ Dec 24, 2022 23:57

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

I thought part of what was happening there was the turtlewhale muddying and disturbing the water to make it harder for the enemy mini-subs to track him.

# ¿ Dec 25, 2022 00:16

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Presumably the HFR is used to avoid jittering during pans and stuff like that?

Mister Speaker posted:

Oh poo poo, are we gonna get a Captain Ahab but with a futuristic peg arm instead?

That would be funny, but I kinda hope not.

Kuiperdolin posted:

In avatar 8 he turns back into a human

He turns into a tulkun and swims the oceans. Or he becomes Shai-Hulud, the God-Emperor of Man.

# ¿ Dec 25, 2022 23:07

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

teagone posted:

But like, no one remembers anything about or cares for Avatar remember? Lol.

[edit] Most would never admit it, but I always felt this take was the truth:

https://twitter.com/Jickle/status/1524583174197907456

I watched the first Avatar once, enjoyed it well enough, and then more or less forgot about it until I heard about the sequels. Sure, Avatar has a fan base, but most of the people turning up to see Avatar 2 now isn't "Avatar fans", I think. It's regular mass audiences who may or may not remember the first one. It does well with infrequent movie goers - as in not the audience who see every Marvel and DC film, and don't go to see every film like The Lighthouse, The Whale or The Menu etc. These people might have gone to see Parasite because they heard it won an Academy Award, but most likely they just took their kids to see Minions and Maverick.

Vir fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Dec 26, 2022

# ¿ Dec 26, 2022 23:03

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Ratios and Tendency posted:

Avatar 2 is primarily an anti-whaling movie...like, how can you be this dumb?

I don't feel like this movie is targeting aboriginal whaling in Canada or the Faroe Islands for example - in those places the whale hunt is a communal affair, not an industrial one, and no part of the whale goes to waste. The meat, blubber and bone is used for food and materials. I think it's more analogous with the large scale industrial whaling industry in the Southern Ocean (bonus with the whaling captain sounding Australian), or even maybe even trophy hunting, or hunting rhino and elephants for aphrodisiacs.

Edit: It's Moby Dick, but Quaritch is Ahab, and Jake Sully is Moby Dick.

Vir fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Dec 26, 2022

# ¿ Dec 26, 2022 23:09

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

I think it's pretty well done how they establish several of the turtle-whales as named characters before they're hunted. This is a James Cameron movie, not a movie made by Al Gore or Greta Thunberg - so it's more subtle in its approach.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2022 23:15

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Avatar made 8 million more than expected domestically over the Christmas weekend, despite the winter storm.
Variety: Box Office: �Avatar 2� Scores $90 Million Over Holiday Weekend, �Babylon� Bombs at Christmas

quote:

Extreme weather conditions are pummeling a large portion of the U.S. with frigid temperatures, high winds and blankets of snow, contributing to lackluster turnout at the movies.
(...)
Even with unfavorable circumstances, �Avatar: The Way of Water� managed to bring in solid numbers, earning a better-than-expected $64 million over the traditional weekend and $90 million through Monday. Disney and 20th Century initially projected the sequel would make $56 million over the weekend and $82 million through the four-day holiday frame. However, the film enjoyed a more robust turnout on Christmas. With those ticket sales, a 52% dip from its debut, �The Way of Water�s� domestic tally stands at $287 million.

The first �Avatar� faced similarly severe weather conditions when it opened in December 2009, but that didn�t prevent the film from, over time, crushing records with $760 million in North America and $2.92 billion globally.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2022 23:25

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Even a good theme park ride needs a sort of a story. And Flight of Passage and Pandora in the Disney parks seems to be a popular with visitors.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2022 02:38

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Atlas Hugged posted:

Whaling hasn't gone away entirely, but it is a blip compared to what it used to be and is already illegal in most of the world. He's kind of preaching to the choir on this one, whereas the monstrous nature of the displacement of indigenous peoples and wildlife and the climate catastrophe caused by the destruction of the Amazon is still something that a lot of people don't want to acknowledge and it might kill us all before we reach a consensus on what to do about it.

It's rather ironic that attitudes towards whaling in industrialized nations is threatening cultures - including indigenous cultures - which depend on whaling for their cultural practices and sustainment. The Na'vi are presented not as vegans, but as a hunting culture. It is a hunting culture which lives in balance with nature, which respects nature, doesn't take more what they need, and wastes nothing. They value a clean and quick kill, without unnecessary suffering. So the values shown in this movie aren't "become a vegan pacifist and move to New Zealand", it's more like "live in balance with nature, we have no plan B if Earth doesn't work out" or something like that.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2022 03:29

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Atlas Hugged posted:

the water tribes had not yet reacted to the killing of the whales in other places

I'm sure they mourned the death of the tulkun who were lost, but since the tulkun are strictly pacifist, the tulkun wouldn't want the Na'vi to get involved on their behalf. I'm reminded about the Ents in the Lord of The Rings - they know that Saruman is cutting down the forest, which is sad, but seeing it up close makes them enraged enough to get involved.

Atlas Hugged posted:

We do get that one line from Spider about how its wasteful that I think is trying to bridge that gap though.

Yes, and compare to the first movie with how proud Neytiri is of Jake's first kill, and how proud Jake is of Neteyam catching a fish.

Wasting an animal is both culturally and legally anathema many places. E.g. in Alaska, if you shoot an animal, you have to eat it or find someone who will take it off your hands, or the police will be after you.

Vir fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Dec 27, 2022

# ¿ Dec 27, 2022 03:45

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

SuperMechagodzilla posted:

It explains why he has carte blanche to do whatever he wants, and a helicopter budget, but the specific goals he's supposed to accomplish for his superiors are never elaborated upon. (I don't think it was ever said whether he was trying to capture Jakesully or kill him. They certainly pass up dozens of opportunities to just shoot him in the head.)

There is a logic and clear purpose to the mission: Kill or capture Jake Sully. Remember, since the end of the first movie, the planet's spirit has become hostile to the humans, so going as avatars makes sense. There is also something to be said for hunting an insurgent with a small team on the ground - you can't really find him from the air, and a manhunt might become too large and resource intensive. I remember stories of insurgents or special forces operators who joined the search for themselves because the counter-insurgency mounted a massive manhunt.

Quarritch goes off-mission by making this a personal revenge against Jake, since he feels personally betrayed, and is offended by Jake's betrayal of both his race and the Marine Corps. If Quarritch had done as the RDA expected, he should have sniped Jake and Neytiri as soon as they could. He got too emotionally invoved, especially after discovering his son.

For the greater mission, though, Sully's insurgency is a bother, but not a main effort. The general is focused on mining and 3D-printing the future habitats for the human colonization.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2022 17:46

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Let's just say that's the Covid fever talking.

I'm OK with the immune response to humans being stronger in some parts of the planet versus others - if Eywa activated the fauna in that particular area, they might have stayed adverse to humans, while other parts of the planet weren't given that instruction.

Kiri's spirit-bending might become extremely over-powered, though, so I guess they'll have to nerf her with seizures or perhaps she'll be fought by evil spirit-bender agents inside the Tel'aran'rhiod Matrix.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2022 00:44

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

There's only so much expository dialogue that I'm willing to tolerate - that marine biologist narrating the whale hunt was already a bit much.

There are bits of exposition about the immune response though - Spider paints himself blue to make the wildlife less hostile to him - or so he claims. The general says that the copters get attacked in the Hallelujah Mountains more than in other places. The cities are surrounded with desolate areas. Keep in mind though that there are humans (avatar pilots) in the insurgency base, and they are tolerated, even though they mostly stay hidden inside the airlock.

Vir posted:

Avatar made 8 million more than expected domestically over the Christmas weekend, despite the winter storm.
Variety: Box Office: �Avatar 2� Scores $90 Million Over Holiday Weekend, �Babylon� Bombs at Christmas

Actual number was over 95 million domestic for the 4-day weekend: Christmas Delivers Box Office Miracle For �Avatar: The Way Of Water� Despite Winter Weather: James Cameron Sequel Finals At $95.5M+ 2nd Weekend

quote:

Meanwhile, Avatar 2 has now earned $105.5M in IMAX global box office in less than two weeks � the fastest film to hit the $100M mark in IMAX since April 2019. James Cameron�s epic sci-fi sequel is only the 9th film in IMAX history to exceed $100 million in global box office. To date, IMAX has accounted for 11.4% of the film�s global gross on only a fraction of its total screens.

King poo poo:
https://twitter.com/hollywoodhandle/status/1607758270072238081

# ¿ Dec 28, 2022 02:59

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Tekne posted:

From a purely internet presence, The Way of Water seems to be getting more art and memes than the first Avatar did.

Some of it might be commissioned as marketing, but I also see some fan artists making it on their own initiative.
https://twitter.com/hou_jae04/status/1604430110752284672
On that note:
https://twitter.com/the_snickman/status/1605021305413279746

# ¿ Dec 28, 2022 17:55

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

I don't think they're seriously criticizing the movie, just having fun with the fact that Sigorney Weaver is playing a teenager, and that it works due to technology.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2022 18:25

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

FacelessVoid posted:

My guess is they think in terms of opportunity costs not just raw profits. Films are an investment. If you can spend the same money on 2-3 safe Marvel films and make the same money or more then it doesn't make sense to make more Avatars.

Or US Treasury bonds for that matter. I took that statement from Cameron to mean two billion for good success, not just marginally break-even. Thanks to inflation, and the fact that a high percentage of the tickets are for IMAX and other premium screens, AtWoW might become one of the top five grossing movies in nominal terms without ranking highly in the adjusted top list.

Hollywood accounting is a black art anyway, since the budget includes money paid to other Disney entities. New Zealand is also bound to pay back some incentives. The technology and set building also can be re-used in the sequels, so this is also an investment.

Vir fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Dec 28, 2022

# ¿ Dec 28, 2022 20:47

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Tom Guycot posted:

wasn't the budget ~350m? Did they spend 1.5 billion on advertising?

460 million, but no way did they spend the same amount on the marketing. The short-hand �marketing budget is the same as the production budget� doesn�t really apply to really big or really small movies. You�re also forgetting that the theaters get a cut of the ticket price. The box-office prognosticators tend to assume that the theater gets 50%, but again for big movies like this one that doesn�t necessarily apply. For big releases, Disney might be taking a much higher cut in the first few weekends, and the theater gets a higher cut later this in its run. But on the other hand, Disney might not be able to drive as hard a bargain as they did for the Star Wars movies, so they might not be taking 80%(?) in the first week.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2022 21:11

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Feldegast42 posted:

Yeah a lot of classic kids animation has characters that are voiced by older ladies. Believe it.

Even young boy characters voiced by older ladies, yeah.

# ¿ Dec 29, 2022 00:39

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

The guy playing Tonawari is an actual Maori and he's even a champion Haka performer, and the movie is made in New Zealand, so those people complaining about Kate Winslet being white are literally complaining that there's too many interracial couples in their blue space alien movie. This is on the level of being mad about Uhura kissing Captain Kirk.

Spider isn't the only one saying "bro" and "cuz", by the way. Keep in mind this is supposed to be Na'vi language rendered in English. It's how the youngsters talk.

# ¿ Dec 29, 2022 01:41

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

checkplease posted:

and it�s connection to real whale hunting

It seems to be more like a sci-fi version of Moby Dick than anything resembling actual whaling. Explosive-tipped harpoons are actually used today, but their purpose is to instantly stun and kill the whale with one shot. It's hard to turn a current day whale kill into an action scene, since it's over so quickly. It would just be this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09cpCqkFwa8

Bugblatter posted:

You're right that the scientist giving the rundown has a restrained bitterness in his delivery, it and Spider's kinda worried look is also the strongest emotional response we are shown in the scene. A pretty poor substitute for Neytiri's reaction in the compared scene.

I agree that the hunt felt kind of fetishized and drawn out to showcase all the cool mecha designs. If they wanted to focus on the horror of it, they should just have skipped to the sea-Na'vi finding the dead turtle-whales, grieving over the loss of ther soul-sister. Perhaps they should also comment on how the sky-people just killed them without even taking their meat, making the killing completely senseless and a mockery of hunting.

But hey, they've got to have some more toys to sell at Disney World's Animal Kingdom, so you have to show them off in the movie, just like in Saturday morning cartoons.

teagone posted:

Money. Money would be a factor that would prevent the mass-production of recoms.

Time and money is why Jake Sully gets offered the job in the first movie, yeah. Growing one is obviously a significant undertaking. Having an army of Agent Quaritch'es chasing Ma Jakeanderson seems like it might happen though.

Vir fucked around with this message at 12:45 on Dec 29, 2022

# ¿ Dec 29, 2022 12:43

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Avatar bodies also grow old and die, presumably, so if you're willing to become a blue alien you still have to repeat the process if you want your memories to live on. The Na'vi have solved this already by becoming one with Eywa after their death.

# ¿ Dec 29, 2022 16:45

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Yeah, when he said that I was thinking "are you sure about that?"

Mister Speaker posted:

I was just thinking how odd it is that they've lived in a different environment long enough to genetically develop significant physical differences (paddle-like forearms, longer tails, etc) yet they still understand each other perfectly.

The banshees and other creatures make it possible to travel these distances fairly easily, but I don't think the movies show any significant trade between the forests, plains and ocean. The first movie did show that they gathered the other tribes together. Can they communicate through Eywa also?

# ¿ Dec 29, 2022 18:07

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Mister Speaker posted:

Unless it's a major retcon, the 'sea people' they gathered together in the first film are not the same as the Metkayina we see in TWOW. Their structures look the same but physically they're identical to the forest people - no green skin, wide-set eyes, huge tails or paddle-like forearms.

They mention at least two different types of sea-dwelling Na'vi in Avatar 2, so the ones in Avatar 1 might be a more coastal type. Since the Metinkaya fight in water, their usefulness in the battle would also be somewhat limited. They can walk on land, but they're most at home in the litorals.

Kuiperdolin posted:

I rewatched it especially because I was wondering about that too. They're "the Ikran People of the Eastern Sea", and as the name implies they ride Ikrans and not flying fish. They're a different tribe although you can maybe see them as a prototype of the Tahitian Navi in Cameron's mind.

Ah, makes sense.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2022 00:10

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

porfiria posted:

Quarritch 2 is Quarritch (with a blue body) in just the same way he would be if they surgically transplanted his brain into a different body, unless you believe there's something special about the particular atoms that made up Quarritch 1.0's brain.

I think our soul/psyche is very embodied in a physical body, as a phenomenon that is expressed in a living body. Even with all the technology in the world, it probably can't be "downloaded" into a different brain or run in a computer. Avatar deals with this by taking your DNA and using it to create a new body which is only compatible with you - or your identical twin. That brings you closer to something which is a true copy of the person, rather than just a clone. What is still missing is all the environmental factors which have affected the body, from trivial things like scars, to more serious ones like possible chemical additions. If a person is addicted to painkillers and smoking, his avatar is probably going to keep his mental addictions, but what about the chemical ones?

# ¿ Dec 30, 2022 14:28

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

If it wasn�t a deliberate choice, he might have been mirroring the dialect of the people he was hanging out with in New Zealand? This can happen subconsciously.

Simulation883 posted:

For those on the more material side of things, would every time Jake "jacked in" to the Avatar in the first movie be considered dying and rebirthing each time?

No, because the brain in the pod is clearly running the avatar. Unplugging while it�s in progress interrupts the connection. Plugging in does appear to be a similar experience to the transfer into the avatar, though.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2022 18:44

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

stev posted:

If you've had a bad experience with 3D before this is no different - same goes for HFR. See it in standard framerate 2D on the biggest, nicest screen possible.

In my experience, all 3D movies aren't made the same. I've seen a few 3D movies in the same theater, and some look bad, while others look good. If Avatar looks bad, I suspect either a problem with the eyes or the theater setup.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2023 01:36

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Artistic merit isn't directly correlated to commercial success. In fact, commercial success isn't even directly correlated with what mass audiences like, since plenty of movies which audiences hated still made a profit.

Cameron has now said to some Chinese media source what we suspected - that the actual break-even point for Avatar: TWoW is lower than 2 billion dollars - more like the 10th highest grossing movie. He was talking about impressing Disney.
https://twitter.com/skateparken/status/1609694534744838144
Variety's source says that the break-even point is indeed at 1.4 billion dollars:
Box Office: �Avatar: The Way of Water� Rules Over New Year�s, Global Gross Hits $1.38 Billion

quote:

Sources put �Avatar: The Way of Water�s� break-even point at roughly $1.4 billion, a figure it is on the precipice of passing.

Here�s where things stand. So far, the film has earned $421.6 million domestically and $956.9 million internationally. Its global gross stands at $1.38 billion. The �Avatar� sequel is now the fifteenth highest global release of all-time, just behind �Black Panther� and ahead of �Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.� So it�s in some pretty rarefied commercial company.

e: Grammar

Vir fucked around with this message at 13:33 on Jan 2, 2023

# ¿ Jan 2, 2023 04:26

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

SuperMechagodzilla posted:

If you're mushing the two films together like that, then you aren't actually talking about Avatar 2 but about the broader franchise or whatever.

This is a sequel. Even though it gives audiences unfamiliar with the setting a very quick introduction, the previous movie needs to be referenced when engaging with this movie.

The motivation is pretty compelling - for all intents and purposes this is the same guy. Discovering his son in the mix confuses those motivations though. From that point on, him and the team are working with a handicap.

Vir fucked around with this message at 04:34 on Jan 2, 2023

# ¿ Jan 2, 2023 04:31

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

Horizon Burning posted:

tbqh, i think i would've preferred something closer to this. the first fifteen minutes or so of this film are weird.

It would have been a neat change, and very "Cameronesque", but I wonder if Disney would have allowed him to have a bad guy protagonist for even 15 minutes.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2023 11:33

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

atrus50 posted:

with the 9 hour cut of a3 i hope we just get an entire remake of blade runner fc as a subplot for q2

Having the protagonist be a morally conflicted enforcer working for the oppressive system can be a very effective choice, especially in post-apocalyptic cyberpunk stories. Blade Runner, Judge Dredd, Robocop and Alita Battle Angel are all examples of that. They start out catching legitimate bad guys, but then the story turns to the system itself - or at least central people in it - being the greater villain.

Ghost Leviathan posted:

I mean seems fair given he's seen firsthand how they'll go literally scorched earth given the slightest excuse

Everything changed when the scorched earth nation attacked.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2023 13:48

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

https://twitter.com/PeterSciretta/status/1609972778828189696
I've seen it in 3D tonight. I didn't notice HFR-transitions, but think I subtly felt some scenes looked better than others - might have been just imagination. It was in RealD 3D.

The REAL Goobusters posted:

You can just say son and not nephew smg

General Ardmore: "He is not your son."
Some 9-year-old in the audience: "Yes he is." :kiddo:

Halloween Jack posted:

I know hippies get tough feet, but the kid is climbing mountains. Also, can't Navi jump like fleas? How is he keeping up?

Jake gives him a boost up, and the other kids probably do that too, when they're not teasing him for being a small monkey.

Nuts and Gum posted:

*wakes up in alien body* WHERES MY POMADE?

They even gave them their tattoos. Z-Dog (Z-Dawg?) must have cost a fortune in tattoo artist time, if they didn't just laser print that poo poo.

Vir fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Jan 2, 2023

# ¿ Jan 2, 2023 22:58

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# ¿ May 19, 2024 10:04

Vir: Dec 14, 2007; Does it tickle when your Body Thetans flap their wings, eh Beatrice?

I've seen it three times because of different groups, and I didn't get to see it in 3D before tonight. But that's probably enough for me until Avatar 3 comes out - I'll see 1 and 2 again before seeing 3. I've seen the first Avatar two times in total so far. I'm not trying to set a record for most viewings.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2023 00:17

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Avatar: The Way of Water - Does Quaritch look like someone who uses condoms?

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