Avatarded
Warren Sanchez is a 3-D animator. A damn good one at that. Warren Sanchez and I used to work together at an advertising/animation studio. He knows I like to read a lot of comics and watch a lot of effects-heavy films.
Warren Sanchez knows I like to curse a lot.
Warren Sanchez has never heard me curse out of sheer awe of a movie’s visuals.
And then we saw Avatar.
2009 in Film is a closed book as far as I’m concerned. Thanks, Jim. After the Star Wars prequels, Transformers, and G.I. fucking Joe… I badly needed that.
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On the other side of the bowl of awesome sauce, I was at first worried about a project Jad and I were working on that was superficially similar. HARBINGER WAR is a sci-fi tale pivoting on the premise of cavemen battling an extra-terrestrial threat. The parallels are all there, but then I thankfully unclenched when I realized Lucas had beat Cameron to the punch with Phantom Menace, and Burroughs spanked them both with the Barsoom books decades before.
So yes, I’m good. This, as they say, is fuel for a hopeful and mighty fire. A movie hasn’t thrilled me like that in a long time, and if nothing else… it felt amazing being a wide-eyed kid again.
- - - -Tags: artist, avatar, inspiration, james cameron
“it felt amazing being a wide-eyed kid again.”
I guess it HAS been ages since you were like this.
It was two whole days ago.
There are children present, dear.
I loved Avatar. And I can name a whole slew of parallelisms and analogies that some critics are probably going to whine about, including some casting flaws, but I sat through an almost 3-hour length film, counting off the themes i saw and yet I was riveted. In the end, strong filmmaking and its “formulas”, no matter how disdainful to some, still works. Cameron knew that, and every sci-fi fan (the ones that read actual books) will appreciate a good tall tale, even if it’s not the first to use a particular concept.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. I haven’t read many Scott Cards or Clarkes, but I will say that the many nods it made to the few sci-fi themes i DO love absolutely made me gush.
plus the CG was so detailed you hardly care that there was a SHITLOAD of it. The flying scenes, and the mountains. And the bioluminescence overload, even that I liked, despite a little voice in my head going…”Fern Gully 2.0″
The giant tree falling reminded me a lot of Titanic. Haha!
3 words:
Pocahontas in space