I didn't see any historical overtones with 2012 that squicked me. It just looked like it would bore me, even if it kept me awake.
Lorne: You know what they say about people who need people. Connor: They're the luckiest people in the world. Lorne: You been sneaking peeks at my Streisand collection again, Kiddo? Connor: Just kinda popped out.
'Time Bomb'
Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
§ ita § - Dec 11, 2009 4:46:27 am PST #5485 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Daisy Jane - Dec 11, 2009 4:51:17 am PST #5486 of 30000
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."
Ah. Gotcha. If I thought about it too much, there were some things that would upset my sense of right and wrong. If I thought about it.
Jessica - Dec 11, 2009 4:51:31 am PST #5487 of 30000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Everything I've seen about the plot of Avatar so far is white man goes in to rescue natives and goes native himself (possibly for/with love of a fair alien maiden). Can your DH tell me it's not that, or it's more than that?
I'll ask him, but I don't think he'll be able to reassure you.
Fone Bone - Dec 11, 2009 5:08:37 am PST #5488 of 30000
ita, what you described is more or less the plot--the pre-release comparisons to Dances with Wolves and The New World are on target when it comes to the basic narrative arc of the movie. What elevates the film--and what makes it worth seeing, especially on the big screen--is the richness and detail that Cameron brings to this alien planet. He really does create an entirely new world; there are sections of the film that are astonishingly beautiful and don't involve anything falling down and going boom. (Although the going boom stuff is incredible as well--the third act battle is extraordinary). But yes, the plot, dialogue and characters are pure B-level pulp that we've seen a thousand times before and I can definitely see that turning people off. As pure spectacle though, this is a major, major leap forward for sci-fi films.
§ ita § - Dec 11, 2009 5:23:11 am PST #5489 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Thanks, FB. Dances With Wolves was enough of a turnoff (never saw The New World) that I think I'll wait for the effects to percolate to a story that doesn't make me feel patronised to at a basic level.
Connie Neil - Dec 11, 2009 5:30:53 am PST #5490 of 30000
brillig
The book Dances With Wolves ends differently than the movie. In the book, the cavalry guy gets back to the tribe and is talking about running off with Stands With Fist, but the chief says, "No, we're off to the winter village soon anyway, and when the white men come looking for [whatever his American name is], we will say we know of no such man, we know only Dances With Wolves and his wife." I would have liked that ending much better on the movie.
erikaj - Dec 11, 2009 5:34:43 am PST #5491 of 30000
Always Anti-fascist!
I loved "Dances" at the time, but the effect doesn't last when you have to pull up your big-girl pants, does it? But I'm guessing that the big, sweeping, part is what Fone is talking about...right?(Not to put words in your mouth; someone did that to me on the 'net yesterday...I'm not a big fan.) But that would be a good conversational topic: What's the biggest movie that you really liked when you saw it that didn't hold up when you watched it again? I'll say Dances and Forrest Gump which in the theater I found really amusing, but on rewatch, had some really ugly bits (about Jenny) I mostly blew past.
Steph L. - Dec 11, 2009 5:40:08 am PST #5492 of 30000
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine
The book Dances With Wolves ends differently than the movie. In the book, the cavalry guy gets back to the tribe and is talking about running off with Stands With Fist, but the chief says, "No, we're off to the winter village soon anyway, and when the white men come looking for [whatever his American name is], we will say we know of no such man, we know only Dances With Wolves and his wife." I would have liked that ending much better on the movie.
Wait, how did the movie end? That sounds like the way the movie ended. Perhaps I've made up a more palatable ending in my head.
Connie Neil - Dec 11, 2009 5:42:38 am PST #5493 of 30000
brillig
The movie ends with Dances With Wolves proposing to go to the government and confronting them on how they treat Indians, despite the fact that when he pops his head up he's going to be locked up for desertion. The chief had proposed he just disappear into the tribe, but Dances felt the need to Make A Statement.
Matt the Bruins fan - Dec 11, 2009 5:52:50 am PST #5494 of 30000
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Everything I've seen about the plot of Avatar so far is white man goes in to rescue natives and goes native himself (possibly for/with love of a fair alien maiden). Can your DH tell me it's not that, or it's more than that? Because I don't think the spectacle could get me over the hump.ita echoes my own feelings about this - at least when I saw this story with Karl Urban as the guy running around in a loincloth saving the Noble Savages from his countrymen, I could appreciate the view if not the story. Smurfy Sam Worthington doesn't hold the same appeal, and all the SFX footage looked so video game-y and unreal in the previews I've seen that it's not a selling point.