When even those grouchy depressed snotty hipsters on Gawker publicly apologize for attacking Avatar (and sing its praises), it starts to look like ol' James Cameron pulled it out. Apparently he aimed for the impossible sci-fi bullsye and hit it:
For months, the evidence mounted and mounted that James Cameron's long awaited Titanic follow-up was going to be the biggest let down since Phantom Menace. No one wanted to believe that more than we did.
So imagine our horror, when last night we attended a screening of Avatar — and it was pretty spectacular.
[...]
It is going to become to film that everyone — nerds, families, grandparents — will have to see and it will rake in unbelievable amounts of loot; mountains of cash beyond the imagination.
So now it is time to point fingers — at ourselves. How in the heck did we get this so wrong? How did a movie manage to look so horrible and actually turn out to be great?
Well for starters, all the stuff that we ridiculed in the the trailers and publicity campaign — the laughable dialogue, the cartoonish good versus evil plotting, the clunky character names, the silly looking cougar noses — they are all in there, and they are all ridiculous. But what wasn't clear from the trailers is how small a part of the film those laughable/clunky bits would be.
We were basing much of our dread on memories of Titanic — which we still hold was the worst film ever made; thinking that the sins of Titanic, as they reappeared in the Avatar campaign, meant that the same tedious nightmare awaited us, like an iceberg drifting through the dark Atlantic towards our ship of entertainment.
But in Avatar, Cameron managed to reverse the disastrous Titanic equation, letting him play from his strong suit. Whereas Titanic was a drama with bits of action, Avatar is basically an action/adventure movie with bits of drama stuck in. Yes, there is ridiculous clunky dialogue, eye-rolling Dances With Wolves-like worship of the Earth-loving (or Pandora-loving) native wilderness people, a plot that attempts to be a parable of US foreign adventures written with the subtlety of a 12-year-old.
Yes, the irony of making a film celebrating the sanctity of every living organism which revels in exquisitely slaughtering vast number of characters is completely lost on the filmmaker.
All that is there in Avatar and we were right to mock those elements.
But those pieces, amazingly are small and fairly unobtrusive in plot that is mostly a rollicking, visually spectacular adventure (even if it sags a bit in the middle). They provide guffaw-ready moments but unlike Titanic, where the love story went on hour after hideous hour, here it basically is handled in one fairly brief scene.
Trust us, this gives us no joy to write, but this time the tea leaves were off and we must hereby humbly resign our seat on the board of Avatar-Bashing Incorporated.
More at this link: An Apology: Avatar, Amazingly, Does Not Suck
14 comments:
I’m very pleased to hear this. I must admit that I’ve been one of the anti-Avatar people for a while now. I guess I’ve just been disappointed with what I have seen in the trailers/ads. The reviews have almost been universally positive. I can’t wait to take my dad to it – are you game JSP?
I can't wait for your review, Jordan.
I'm also very happy to hear this, the previews had me concerned but the rave reviews have piqued my interest again.
Speaking of movies, JSP and I loosely kicked around the idea of a Horrorthon get together on the 26th while he's here on the right coast. Possibly a trek to the theater pub. So who's up for it?
woohoo, holiday horrorthon get together! mr. ac and i should be returning from nyc on saturday, so if we can swing it we'd love to join.
Sounds like a plan JPX!
I kind of dropped out of horrorthon when I was thinking way back in August, you can reference the thread on this blog, that we shouldn't get all worked up about a trailer. Cameron seemed to be the pile on of the moment for a couple of months for every opinion blog.
I found after that too that no matter what comment I made there was no interaction so no real reason for me to play in this sandbox. What keeps a community alive is interaction and for what ever reason there wasn't any.
The appearance would be if you have a different opinion here that you won't be tolerated, or at least interacted with. Maybe that's just true if you aren't in with the gang? Not sure. If that is incorrect my apologies but that's an honest take from a decent guy.
I do pop by now and then if I see something on one of my rss feeds that looks interesting and still enjoy some of the thoughts.
For those of you who don't take yourself too seriously, and I know you know who you are, I enjoyed playing in the sandbox for a bit with you and wish you all well.
Wow, that's pretty intense for what started out as comments on a movie trailer.
I'm not exactly the most loquacious commentator on the Horrorthon blog, and I've never met anybody else that contributes. It's likely that I never will since I live in San Diego and it seems most everyone else lives on the East Coast or LA. Still, Horrorthon is fun. I read it regularly and comment on occasion. Sometimes people respond to my comments, sometimes they don't, but regardless, it's still fun to see what people have to say about whatever cinematic event is about to take place.
So, what I'm saying is, to Nowandzen, don't take anything here too personally. I think we're all just having a prolonged, casual conversation. I check out the blog at random times when I'm not teaching math problems to teenagers, and I assume that Horrorthon is only a slight distraction from whatever else it is that is taking up everyone else's time.
And for others in the "in" crowd, it's awesome that they can use Horrorthon to stay in touch in the post-adolescent/post-college years.
HA! It's funny that a blog can have an "in" crowd and "outsiders". I never thought of this as any kind of microcosm.
Chuck Klosterman could have a field day with this one.
Nowandzen I'm sorry to hear you feel that way. I can only speak for myself when I say that I enjoyed your posts and missed them this Horrorthon. Though I am not one to respond to everything I do read everything that's posted. Sometimes I just don't have anything to say.
On a side note. Although I did know a few people when I joined the blog, those I didn't know have always made me feel welcomed. I think Trevor put it best when he said, "I think we're all just having a prolonged, casual conversation." It feels that way to me too.
Thank you Cat, I enjoyed many of the folks here especially your thoughts. I still will from time to time too.
You are right it's not completely interactive, more of an ongoing convo.
Thank you again.
Nowandzen, please don't ever feel that your opinion isn't welcome. I love that people who I've never met contribute to our little nerd gathering.
There are many posts that I have not commented on simply because I spend most of my blog time trying to find interesting things to post before my day kicks in. There is no "in" or "out" crowd here, I assure you. In fact, I can promise you that I've never been part of any "in" crowd in my entire life.
I understand why you might not feel validated at times, especially if you have a differing opinion and are in the minority on some topic, but there have been numerous occasions when my positive opinion on some matter has been squashed by others. For example, there are movies and television shows people often discuss here that I have little interest in and conversely I know that I geek out over things that people think are ridiculous (The Expendables will be awesome, damnit!)
Please don't ever believe that your opinion doesn't matter here - I think it's rare that this large group of nerds will summarily agree on anything. The more the merrier!
I hope you feel comfortable coming back to the blog!.
Well after a nice post like that I feel like a real idiot. Must have been me and thanks for the thoughts JPX.
I think the boards I have participated on throughout the years were a little more reactive to one anothers thoughts and cat kind of put it in perspective when she said that it's more like one long conversation.
Thanks again.
Don't give me credit on that one, I was just quoting Trevor ;)
Glad everything is all worked out though :)
Am I an H'thon regular who takes himself too seriously? Yeah, that's probably me. I'm combative and opinionated (and, I'm sure, occasionally annoying) but I'm not exclusionary at all and if I've ever given that impression I assure you it was not intentional. The more people are on board, the happier I am; I'm delighted when people "stop by" who haven't visited before. I'll argue with anybody, friend or stranger, because I love arguments; but the last thing I want to do is create the impression that deviant opinions "won't be tolerated." Totally the opposite! I believe vigorous disagreement is a sign of respect; ignoring somebody is much more dismissive...and sometimes it just seems like you're being "ignored" when it's really just a lull in the conversation (I've made many posts and comments that nobody reacted to; I don't take it personally, because it's clear that everyone missed them, or didn't see them, or was busy, or didn't care for some other reason). Anyway, everyone's welcome; that's the whole point.
Mea Culpa.
I would like to echo everything Jordan has said (he's really quite good at putting words...and stuff...together...)
But nowandzen, I would like to humbly apologize for any feedback (or lack thereof) you took from me directly as exclusionary. And, by extension, the effect that might have had on your opinion of the blog at large.
As an Assistant Director on feature films and TV shows, I am accustomed to constantly having to apologize for mistakes that often are not really directly my fault, but in my Catholic guilt-based upbringing, I can always trace everything back to some fault of my own. Imagine the havoc this plays on one's nervous system.
In that vein, I actually haven't been an active blog participant in recent weeks due to a serious medical sidelining, brought on by stress and numerous other factors. It's a goddamned great thing there wasn't any Haiku Hump Days, cuz I wouldn't have cut it. And for the record, with regard to HHD, nowandzen, I miss you and your brilliant wit.
In any event, I know you might be referring to Trevor's LOTR opinion, among other things. I feel bad about my parenthetical ("head bangs on desk"), but at the same time, I don't feel bad about A) Trevor registering his opinion, or B) the blog at large offering their collective criticism thereof.
Trevor's got a grapefruit-sized ball sack to offer his unvarnished, TRUE opinion of the movie, within the forum of a bunch of cross-eyed nerds who have drank WAY too much Kool-Aid about a number of different things, and then he subsequently endures the geek-lash with dignity and grace, and responds in kind.
This is coming from a yahoo (ahem...me) who has openly confessed to spending an ENTIRE Saturday (and part of Sunday) willingly and purposefully watching the Director's Cuts of each of the movies of the LOTR Trilogy, for the single sole purpose of experiencing the film as a 12-hour, unbreakable epic. (except for bathroom breaks, and, well - make sure you eat somewhere within Two Towers. You can start drinking with Return Of The King.)
In any event, it isn't about LOTR or haikus or any opinions: the point is BEING HERE, as much as you can be, WHENever you can be, about WHATever you can talk about. As JPX knows, sometimes you post shit like crazy into a black hole, with zero response. It's not personal.
Trevor - I hope you didn't feel like I was being an asshole that felt that your input wasn't valued or respected. I like LOTR, and there are serious arguments against it being Great, much like I would debate any Star Trek fan about the merits of Picard vs Kirk, or why I, III and V are such crap. But I'll debate you to onto the shores of Mount Doom, if you'd like. Because I value your opinion :)
Nowandzen - much like miko and G and puffinslayer, I, as a sometime contributor, NOTICE your absence, mainly because when you bring something in to the table, it's SO good as to merit further discussion, and I want to see your mind return to the fold as soon as possible. Please don't feel like an "outsider". I feel like that ALL the time. And I bet, most of the rest of the folks on this blog do too.
I am deeply sorry that you felt any sense of exclusion. It's probably all my fault.
Or Puffinslayer's. He's SUCH a complete douchebag.
Well I came here late but I'd just like to echo what everyone else said, Nowandzen. Your comments and input are always welcome.
Speaking of HHD, I'm going to post a winner shortly so we can resume the competition next week...
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