Movie, TV, Web Series, and Music Hot Take(s).

twistedmic

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After watching Kenobi I am convinced that Phantom Menace would have been better served by having teenager Anakin in it rather than six year old.
A teenaged Anakin would have definitely made The Phantom Menace a better movie. It would have made his accomplishments less idiotic and unbelievable.
 
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Hawki

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But if the questions is "does Avatar need to have a big cultural impact?", I'd also say no to that. Pretty sure it was just a big money making exercise, some pretence of being more than that perhaps, but only a pretence. Just another woefully bad film with a big budget that raked in the mega-bucks.
I can agree to disagree on a lot of things, but I'm not sure how you could call Avatar a "money-making exercise."

Work began on Avatar in 1994, and that's not including Cameron's original idea for it back in 1973. So, even if we take '94 as a starting date, you don't 15 years of your life on something as a "money-making project," or another 12 on the sequel to your project.
 

Thaluikhain

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I can agree to disagree on a lot of things, but I'm not sure how you could call Avatar a "money-making exercise."

Work began on Avatar in 1994, and that's not including Cameron's original idea for it back in 1973. So, even if we take '94 as a starting date, you don't 15 years of your life on something as a "money-making project," or another 12 on the sequel to your project.
Was he working on it the whole time, or did it get put on the backburner and forgotten about for times? If it's the former, I stand corrected.

Though, if he was making Avatar for the art...that's embarrassing.
 

BrawlMan

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So, even if we take '94 as a starting date, you don't 15 years of your life on something as a "money-making project," or another 12 on the sequel to your project.
I know James Cameron has artistic integrity and all that, but at the end of the day, money is money. He wasn't the only one invested in that project.

Though, if he was making Avatar for the art...that's embarrassing.
Agreed. Like I said before, the dude has been sniffing his own farts ever since Titanic.
 
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Old_Hunter_77

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You...do realize that unobtanium is a real-world term, right? And that the unobtanium of the film fits the definition?
Thanks for the AHCKCHOOLLY here but yes, I was aware. The mockery of that term isn't that the movie invented it, it's that it's actually using it as the name of the thing. It would be like calling an object that characters are fighting over in a movie The McGuffin.
 

Piscian

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Thanks for the AHCKCHOOLLY here but yes, I was aware. The mockery of that term isn't that the movie invented it, it's that it's actually using it as the name of the thing. It would be like calling an object that characters are fighting over in a movie The McGuffin.
I disagree in that the context is that its an asshole product guy, not a scientist who uses the term. Hes an ass so he could be using unobtainium correctly or incorrectly and it doesn't matter. I think it was a smart play on Camerons part avoid bogging the movie down in science. I respect films that know not to focus on things that might add unneccesary complexity in movies about blue rabbits hurling spears. Its cheeky while still giving the audience the necessary info to know why they are there. If hed said helium or iron or something new they gotta spend all day explaining what it is and why they gotta go to Pandora to get it and people would still complain.
 

twistedmic

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If hed said helium or iron or something new they gotta spend all day explaining what it is and why they gotta go to Pandora to get it and people would still complain.
You wouldn’t need an exhaustive in depth explanation even with an invented element, just a couple lines of dialogue.

“Tritanium? The key to keeping our society running?”

“Yeah, there’s a shit-load of it on Pandora. We’re going to mine the fuck out of it.”

New element name and explanation if why tvey need it.
 

Hawki

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Was he working on it the whole time, or did it get put on the backburner and forgotten about for times? If it's the former, I stand corrected.
Um, both?

I looked up key dates, so make of it what you will:

-1973: First has the dream that will lead to Avatar (fun fact: apparently the Terminator premise also came to Cameron in a dream)

-1994: Script is complete by then.

-1997: Titanic is released, Avatar is intended for a 1999 release date. However, technology hasn't caught up to what Cameron wanted. Turns to documentaries for the next few years.

-2005: Proof of concept clip.

-2006: Script is "developed" (re-developed?), enters full production mode, aiming for a 2008 release.

-2009: Film is released.

We can debate what counts as working on something and when it's on the backburner, but there's a clear line of progression from 1994 to 2009. You can state that there's a gap between 97 and 2005, technically, but I doubt that absolutely nothing was done.

Point is, you don't spend the amount of time here, and draw from personal sources (childhood novels, teenage dreams, deep ecology, etc.), and do a cash grab. Or, maybe you can, but that would have to be one of the longest drawn-out crash grabs in history.

Though, if he was making Avatar for the art...that's embarrassing.
We'll have to agree to disagree there.

I know James Cameron has artistic integrity and all that, but at the end of the day, money is money. He wasn't the only one invested in that project.
Which is true of every movie ever made.

Agreed. Like I said before, the dude has been sniffing his own farts ever since Titanic.
How?

Thanks for the AHCKCHOOLLY here but yes, I was aware. The mockery of that term isn't that the movie invented it, it's that it's actually using it as the name of the thing. It would be like calling an object that characters are fighting over in a movie The McGuffin.
Except those are two different things. A mcGuffin describes a plot device, unobtanium is a real-world scientific term that describes certain materials. One's literary, one's scientific.

You could argue that unobtanium meets the definition of a mcGuffin, but that would be the same if it was given a made-up name as well.

You wouldn’t need an exhaustive in depth explanation even with an invented element, just a couple lines of dialogue.

“Tritanium? The key to keeping our society running?”

“Yeah, there’s a shit-load of it on Pandora. We’re going to mine the fuck out of it.”

New element name and explanation if why tvey need it.
I don't see how making up a compound name (or element, but it's almost certainly a compound) is somehow less silly than using a real-world term.

It's a minor point either way, but if people want to make it into a major point, sure. I just don't get why unobtanium is so out of place in a setting that's strived for scientific accuracy since the outset.
 

Hawki

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Figure it out.
Because after Titanic Cameron did a series of documentries focusing on the sea, after coming off films like Titanic and The Abyss, and Avatar 2 is titled "The Way of Water."

Yeah, hilarious. I know South Park did a skit on the guy, but I don't get the dislike. Guy's passionate about the Earth's oceans. How is that a bad thing?
 

BrawlMan

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Yeah, hilarious. I know South Park did a skit on the guy, but I don't get the dislike. Guy's passionate about the Earth's oceans. How is that a bad thing?
That wasn't what I was referring to. Being caring and passionate about the thing that gives all on Earth life I have 0 problems with. Speaking of South Park, Cameron got off super easy. Matt and Trey pretty much respect the guy and lovingly make fun of him. Even Cameron never had a problem with their depiction of him.

I've already stated my dislike of his writing in Avatar, and how it acts like it's greater than what it is, when other than technology, it's the same dumb Green Aseop that does not show humanity in the best light with little to no grey areas. The Navi I don't like, and they're nothing more than glorified space elves. And I saw better all the way back in 1999. That is all. I don't "hate" him entirely, but I sure as hell have no interest in the movies he's making now. That is all there is to it. If it still bothers you, there is not much you can do, but move on. I am already doing so. Unless he can convince Disney (a reminder, they own Fox now) to green light a sequel to Alita, I have nothing left to say.
 

Piscian

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The NYT pointed out something I hadnt really thought about. If Wakanda Forever had a message Ill be damned if I can think of what it was. Black Panther had some powerful commentary about the rage and plight of Africans in the modern world stage and the complexity that a nation like Wakanda would create. I know on the altleft side of things "black" movies are put on a pedestal requiring that they always have a message, so much so black comedies often joke about it, but still Im surprised Wakanda Forever just didn't have much to say. Dont get me wrong it made small comments, and it technically focused mostly on Chadwick Bosemans passing, but honestly the movie is so dense it feels like anything it tried to say was mushed in-between a thousand characters popping in every minute to remind you they are in the MCU.

I feel like if Chadwick Boseman werent dead the movies original script had a much heavier focus on Namors peoples problems in parallel and Wakandas place among the first world countries. I think it would have been cool for it to end more ominously with like a UN meeting where the two nations show up united and set the stage for a rebalancing of world power.
 
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Gordon_4

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The film Elf would be cringe inducing garbage regardless of who was in it, however having it star Will Ferrel in his most oblivious manchild state made it honestly one of the worst films I have ever had to suffer.

Also everyone who was in the Ron Burgundy films should be legally prohibited from portraying those characters ever again.
 

BrawlMan

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The film Elf would be cringe inducing garbage regardless of who was in it, however having it star Will Ferrel in his most oblivious manchild state made it honestly one of the worst films I have ever had to suffer.
I am so glad neither of my parents are Will Ferrell fans. I was 14 when the movie came out, and I deliberately told both to them never ever to take me to see this movie. Nor ever buy it on DVD. They were more than happy to agree.
 
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Xprimentyl

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We rewatched The Matrix: Revolutions last night, and here's my hot take: removed from its place in the original trilogy, it's a great movie. I say "removed" because the first two movies bring expectations that Revolutions fails hard at meeting, but by itself, it's really good.
 
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