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There were two things different about last night's 3D IMAX previews compared to the San Diego/ComicCon footage shown last month. The reel I saw here was, of course, shorter -- 15 or 16 minutes compared to 24 minutes in San Diego -- and the ending has a hurried montage ofAvatar's second half (the clash between Stephen Lang's military commandos and the Na'vi with Sam Worthington's Na'vi hybrid sure to take sides against his own). But there was another distinction. Actually a distraction.

The Avatar footage, projected onto the huge IMAX screen inside Leows Lincoln Square, wasn't quite as vivid and needle-sharp looking as the 3D San Diego reel. And yet LLS projects "real" IMAX (i.e., on super-sized film) vs. the digital "fake" IMAX-on-smaller-screens that other NYC theatres were showing. What gives? My semi-educated guess is that Avatar looks better with digital projection since it's been an all-digital show from shooting to FX to post. Transferring to film (even IMAX film) just degrades. I know that what I saw wasn't as on-the-money so what other conclusion could there be?

Beyond this I was feeling a little Avatar-ed out after it ended. I walked out saying to myself, "Hmmm....no bump-up. Same as before only less so." Obviously because of the tech/focus issue but also because an Avatar visual highlights reel (i.e, the Na'vi/jungle monster/flying reptile-bird whoa stuff aimed at 12 year-olds) only takes you so far. It doesn't wear well the second time. I need story, soul, structure, music, wit, great acting, etc.

Why does Worthington's Jake Sully, a paraplegic military guy, act like an incorrigible 13 year-old when he wakes up from his Na'vi transformation operation and finds himself 10 feet tall and full of energy with two good legs? He didn't anticipate that it would be a huge shock to suddenly find himself able to walk around? The laboratory authorities didn't talk to him about adjusting before he went under? It's kind of stupid that he just gets up and goes "this is really cool!" and lumbers out of the recovery room with the physicians warning him to stay put or else. I didn't believe it. It felt bullshitty.

Plus the CG of his backside (including a tail) as he leaves the room looks too cartoony.

Down on Pandora the second monster (i.e., the big black one Scully is told to definitely run from) is right on top of him during the chase sequence. Why do big scary predators have to be within a step or two of their prey all the time? Why does every movie chase have to be so skin-of-our-teeth close? It gets old. Plus the monster moves so fast that his moves blurred out for me. My eyes couldn't follow each and every whip-snap movement.

Paramount standee on second floor of Leows' Lincoln Square -- Friday, 8.21, 8:35 pm.

And how does it work exactly that Zoe Saldana's Na'vi character -- a strong, fierce-eyed warrior named Neytiri -- can speak English? She's a Pandora native whose fellow Na'vi tribesmen speak in their native tongue with subtitles, so I don't get it. I'm sure it'll be explained down the road but it was one more thing to scratch my head about.

The 8 pm show was maybe 25% full, if that. A female Leows usher screwed things up in the early stages, telling people who showed their print-outs (like me) to go straight up to the fourth floor without telling them to get their orange wristbands from the Avatar/Fox guys on the main level. So a lot of us went up to the fourth floor only to be told to go all the way back down again.

I'm just going to take an Avatar break in my head until they start showing the full-length film to press sometime in November or whenever.

Once Was Enough<< previous | next >>Today Tells The Tale

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 22, 2009 at 9:59 AM

comment #1

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

Yeah, I mentioned the blurriness as well in the other thread. It just didn't seem pristine. The IMAX scenes of The Dark Knight were really spectacular - crystal clear image - but I'm realizing that the "real" IMAX screens are really only good for a giant picture and for films that have scenes shot with an IMAX camera. I think from now on I'll stick to the fake IMAX digital screens for animations, etc.

Ages ago I saw This Is England digitally projected and it looked great. Why is this not the standard now? With HD TVs commonplace it seems weird that we are still projecting movies using weather-beaten film, with all the blurry, scratchy bits on it. Wouldn't it also cut costs for theaters and potentially reduce ticket prices?

Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey at August 22, 2009 11:33 AM

comment #2

markj says ...

If people aren't happy with Cameron they always have McG, Bay, Abrams, Emmerich and Sommers to fall back on...

Posted by markj at August 22, 2009 11:50 AM

comment #3

Circumvrent says ...

I was sitting right behind Jeff and was tempted to catch him after the screening and saying hi, but he was out of that theatre like a shot (and exited in the opposite direction of my party).

Posted by Circumvrent at August 22, 2009 12:03 PM

comment #4

Circumvrent says ...

Oh, and here's my logic question down the road... if Worthington actually defects and fights against the Marines, why don't the Marines just cut whatever connects his mind to his avatar? War's over, and he's stuck in a wheelchair again.

Posted by Circumvrent at August 22, 2009 12:33 PM

comment #5

K. Bowen says ...

It's like Admiral Akbar and the Blue Man Group had a lovechild. :)

Posted by K. Bowen at August 22, 2009 12:42 PM

comment #6

richlbii says ...

here's my logic problem with the plot: so technology is such that the armored power-assist power lifters are possible, and there is technology to change people's bodies into alien creatures, but no technology for something better than a regular wheelchair if you suffer a spinal injury?

Posted by richlbii at August 22, 2009 12:44 PM

comment #7

mpneeb says ...

Rich,
My guess is the HMOs are still running things.

Posted by mpneeb at August 22, 2009 12:53 PM

comment #8

Hallick says ...

"here's my logic problem with the plot: so technology is such that the armored power-assist power lifters are possible, and there is technology to change people's bodies into alien creatures, but no technology for something better than a regular wheelchair if you suffer a spinal injury?"

HMOs hell. The guy's probably in the VA system, god help him. Odds are more than likely that he hasn't gotten confirmation from the bureaucrats that he has a spinal injury in the first place.

Posted by Hallick at August 22, 2009 12:58 PM

comment #9

chris7crows says ...

I'm sorry, I checked out for a while. Are we still arguing over whether the "Avatar" trailer is better or worse than "GI Joe"?

And if a guy in a wheelchair is going to be your big sci-fi plot issue, let me point out just a few of the plot holes in "Star Trek"...

Posted by chris7crows at August 22, 2009 1:14 PM

comment #10

p.Vice says ...

I love it how it usually takes Jeff two viewings to catch on.

If great acting, story and soul are what you need, I think you're going to have to look elsewhere.

Posted by p.Vice at August 22, 2009 1:38 PM

comment #11

DCIJB says ...

"If great acting, story and soul are what you need, I think you're going to have to look elsewhere."

This is bullshit. All of James Cameron's movies had great acting, story and soul so far so it's not unlikely that this one will have to.

"And how does it work exactly that Zoe Saldana's Na'vi character -- a strong, fierce-eyed warrior named Neytiri -- can speak English?"

Don't worry: I read the decade old scriptment, it's all explained.

Posted by DCIJB at August 22, 2009 2:05 PM

comment #12

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to p.Vice: I get what I get when I get it, and I don't need you keeping score and I don't need or want your assessments of my artistic sensitivity levels. My reaction to the footage in San Diego was as real and from the heart as I was able to convey, and my reaction to last night's footage was what it was given my having seen the CCSD reel and so on. It doesn't take me two viewings to "catch on." You're suggesting...what, it only takes you one viewing to get the whole picture? My word, what a fellow you must be!

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at August 22, 2009 2:07 PM

comment #13

MARLOWE says ...

He didn't anticipate that it would be a huge shock to suddenly find himself able to walk around? The laboratory authorities didn't talk to him about adjusting before he went under? It's kind of stupid that he just gets up and goes "this is really cool!" and lumbers out of the recovery room with the physicians warning him to stay put or else. I didn't believe it. It felt bullshitty.

I couldn't disagree with you more Jeff. No amount of counseling from a therapist can prepare someone who is paralyzed from the waist down for what happens when a miracle allows them to walk again. Imagine for a moment that your legs are useless hunks of flesh. Dead weight with no chance of ever walking or running. Now imagine you're suddenly able to walk and run. Your brain will short out and all the warnings to take it easy will go out the window. Paraplegics have constant dreams of running. If you suddenly wake up with new powerful legs, the first thing you're gonna do is run around like an excited child and fuck what the scientists are saying. Nothing bullshitty about that. FYI, I saw the IMAX 3D footage and was blown to bits. Everything felt alive. David Poland was there. He seemed to enjoy the experience. Cameron delivered. I believe in AVATAR but seeing it 3D is a MUST.

Posted by MARLOWE at August 22, 2009 3:14 PM

comment #14

Anonymous Bosch says ...

What? A guy goes native? You mean after all the endless hype for this movie, *that's* what it's about?

You can throw up all the CGI on the screen you want, it's still the same old story as something like 'Dances With Wolves', but made weaker by us having to suspend disbelief by watching obvious computer characters emote / fall in love.

Game-changer? Show me a CGI character with convincing weight to it's movements.

I can safely skip this one.

Posted by Anonymous Bosch at August 22, 2009 3:15 PM

comment #15

K. Bowen says ...

Question: Why do all alien races have apostrophes in their names? is this an intergalactic code that we humans are sinisterly avoiding?

Posted by K. Bowen at August 22, 2009 3:40 PM

comment #16

Yuval says ...

I really hate it when something negative is said about a director like Peter Jackson or James Cameron you get all these “they’re visionary directors that have an OSCAR”. Thanks for contributing for this conversation.

“All of James Cameron's movies had great acting, story and soul”
Are you fucking serious?

Posted by Yuval at August 22, 2009 5:41 PM

comment #17

VictorLazlo says ...

If this movie is depending on IMAX 3-D to make an impact they are dead in the water.

I saw RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK at a second run 75 cent shoebox theater with the music from MEGAFORCE bleeding through the walls and I was still blown away.

Posted by VictorLazlo at August 22, 2009 7:51 PM

comment #18

DeeZee says ...

Yuval: DCI hasn't seen Piranha 2.

Posted by DeeZee at August 22, 2009 7:52 PM

comment #19

Hans F says ...

It probably looked blurrier just because it was larger. 2K material displayed big enough just plain doesn't look very good. Seeing it digitally projected won't necessarily make it look any better, especially not if you sit so that it still fills the same amount of your vision as the full-scale IMAX auditorium. You'd likely be getting the "screen door effect". Comparing it at the same viewing angle it should look to have more or less the same amount of sharpness.

Not having seen it I can't say for sure, but that's probably it. It could have been a focus problem or a bad transfer, but that is the most likely explanation.

Posted by Hans F at August 22, 2009 9:52 PM

comment #20

DCIJB says ...

""All of James Cameron's movies had great acting, story and soul"
Are you fucking serious?"

Yes, I am fucking serious. But of course I excluded Piranha 2 which isn't really a James Cameron movie.

Posted by DCIJB at August 23, 2009 1:02 AM

comment #21

SpinDozer says ...

"Down on Pandora the second monster ... is right on top of him during the chase sequence. Why do big scary predators have to be within a step or two of their prey all the time?"

That had me wondering if Cameron hired George Lucas as a 2nd unit director, I'm wondering if, at the moment the scene is frozen, an even BIGGER monster swoops down to kill the 6 legged marsupial saber cat.

Posted by SpinDozer at August 23, 2009 6:31 AM

comment #22

Yuval says ...

So True Lies had great acting and soul?

Posted by Yuval at August 23, 2009 10:32 PM

comment #23

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HMOs hell. The guy's probably in the VA system, god help him

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dd says ...

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It's certainly a tricky narrative, but Wells, I am shocked you didn't love this film, as I really figured you would.
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