Avatar, Has Sci-fi Found Its Heaven's Gate? 443
brumgrunt writes "Den Of Geek wonders if James Cameron's Avatar is heading for a fall, and if it will even be a science fiction film, off the back of the previews shown last week. It writes: 'It seems in Avatar that all this gee-whiz science is merely there to draw the "old crowd" in and provide some kind of rationale for a brightly-coloured fantasy-world which reflects the most emetic of the artwork plastered over teenage girls' MySpace pages.'"
All the whiners have is a teaser trailer (Score:5, Informative)
So are we now judging a book by its cover? Thanks but no thanks, I'll wait until I see all the reviews on rottentomatoes before making judgement. Something tells me critics who have actually seen the movie and know how to write and think about film might be a better barometer than random nerd on the internet.
Funny how the synopsis mocks teenage girls, but we dont mock teenage fanboys who loudly declare "FAIL" after just seeing a teaser trailer. Seems thats the more odious habit.
Ironically, the teaser trailer has done its job: its got everyone talking. So little an investment for so much publicity.
Re:Heaven's Gate? (Score:4, Informative)
No, it's about the disastrously overproduced movie of the same name.
Re:"and if it will even be a science fiction film" (Score:5, Informative)
That's actually what I thought when I heard the title too. Except that's "Avatar: The Last Air Bender." And there is a movie coming out called "The Last Air Bender" which is based on that anime. This "Avatar" is unrelated to that one. Needless to say, I was still rather confused.
Re:Story? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Heaven's Gate? (Score:5, Informative)
Because Heaven's Gate is the cinematic disaster by which all others are judged. Not only was it a critical failure and a box office debacle, it wiped out an Academy Award winning director's career, put an entire studio out of business, and removed the Western as a major film genre. It also scared studios into taking more control over movies, which has led to the "overproduced pieces of crap" that plague the industry today.
Oh, and it was first.
Re:Story? (Score:5, Informative)
Heaven's Gate [imdb.com], 1980, Michael Cimino, starring Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Sam Waterston et al. Important not just because it was bad, but because it was the third most expensive film of 1980, at $35 million (in that year, Empire Strikes Back was made for $18 million), and failed so stupendously that it is now remembered as one of those few rare bombs that are so terrible that they actually bankrupt the studio that made them; see also Battlefield Earth, Masters of the Universe (or Superman 4, both did Cannon in), and Cutthroat Island.
The implication of a comparison to Heaven's Gate is that it is not only terrible, but so hideously expensive ($237 million) that it could bankrupt Fox. Which almost happened once before [wikipedia.org].
similar film called Surrogates coming out earlier (Score:3, Informative)
PST! (Score:3, Informative)
It is actually an action-based SF 3D movie.
NOT a political/ecological diatribe about "how bad White Manifest Destiney was in the United States.".
Because you are such a fan of Google-based-deduction, try this search string: avatar after seeing IMAX preview [google.com].
You know... opinions of the people who actually saw the 3D footage in 3D - and a little more of it than a chopped up teaser trailer.