Hee! I love those things.

That one nearly made me jump out of my skin. Looks like an awesome movie too.

Yeah, I like that they keep doing new things with the format.

I saw a trailer in a theatre a while ago, and it does look like a pretty cool movie.

I just about broke something laughing at this:

Sometimes the best defense against the Dark Arts...is to care

Saw Avatar yesterday. Random thoughts, in no particular order:

How many Cameron movies introduce Sigourney Weaver's character by having her wake up and get out of a high-tech sleep tube? However, Weaver was never in her skivvies in this movie. Also, Cameron broke with his tradition, and cast an actual Hispanic woman as the Hispanic woman.

The plot was nothing special. It was Aliens 2, but as sci-fi/fantasy rather than sci-fi/horror. All developments were telegraphed so loudly that you knew what was going to happen before the movie started. Only the ability of the actors added enough genuine humanity to keep it alive. (ETA: FoneBone says this way better than I do in his review)

James Horner remains a hack.

There were some nice touches that weren't hammered too hard (as opposed to Cameron's Cameron-subtle anti-war commentary); namely the different levels of driving an avatar (the Marines in their mecha suits, the Na'vi jacking in to their horses and Fell Beasts) and the lightest brush on the original meaning of "avatar" as a physical manifestation of a god.

Also, the Marines flew Scorpions, which I had an instant visceral reaction to, having been decapitated by them hundreds of times in Unreal Tournament, so that primed me in a weird way to remember what it feels like to drive an avatar.

But of course the real star of the movie was Weta and Richard Fucking Taylor. Those guys...freaking amazing what they did here. I'm fairly sure they reused code from LOTR, but who cares? They rocked it hard, down to the sunlight glowing through the tips of the Na'vi ears.

And for the first time I felt that the 3D wasn't a gimmick. The movie wasn't directed to have SHIT COMING RIGHT AT YOU!!!11!! Instead, the 3D served to knock your familiar perception neural paths off kilter just enough to make you feel that you really were on another planet, or that you were driving an avatar. The medium actually served the story, in a gentle way.

Finally, while it's clearly aimed at kids (LOTS of kid movie previews), I can't take Mal to see it in the theater. BECAUSE of the previews. He's been asking for a dragon for a year, and would also like a black cat that talks (thanks to Coraline and Kiki's Delivery Service), so he can never see How to Train a Dragon. Ever.

Or at least until I can get him a DIY bioengineering kit.

And for the first time I felt that the 3D wasn't a gimmick.

Have you seen Coraline in 3D in a theater?

Have you seen Coraline in 3D in a theater?

No, 3D at home. And I take your point...the otherworldliness in Coraline was also well-served by the 3D. But the way my brain responded to each movie's 3D was different. Which is either because of the theater/home or the stylized animation of Coraline vice the hyper-realism of Avatar.

The garden scene alone in Coraline was worth the price of admission.

And for the first time I felt that the 3D wasn't a gimmick.

Have you seen Coraline in 3D in a theater?

Yeah, that movie used 3D really well. I actually haven't seen any other movie in 3D recently, so I don't know what it feels like when it's just a gimmick. We're seeing Avatar in IMAX 3D tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to seeing how a live-action movie effectively uses 3D.

I just about broke something laughing at this:

Sometimes the best defense against the Dark Arts...is to care

Ha ha ha ha. Awesome.

I was so sucked in by SFX in Avatar that when the credits rolled, I was kind of startled to remember that the humans were not themselves SFX and had to be filmed with regular cameras, et cetera.

It also passed the Butt Test, i.e. I didn't notice I was sitting still for that long.