#go see it in IMAX 3D

[engagemachine]

AVATAR 2 WAS ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING. I CRIED FOUR TIMES!!!!!

[denimbex1986]

"It's a dream, really. I never imagined I'd be working with all these actors all on the one movie. I mean, I think it's one of the greatest ensembles, certain, certainly modern ensembles, that Chris has put together, but that just shows you, you know, everybody wants to work with Chris, you know, and these, these actors will turn up because they, they love his movies, they love his writing and he's an incredible director. So yeah, it was a gift for me every day, and also you know, when you, when you wake up and you're, you know one day you're doing a scene with Matt Damon, one day you're doing a scene with, you know, Ken Branagh or Emily Blunt or, you know, Gary Oldman, you know you're just - its kind of electrifying, and you just gotta, you gotta turn up the volume on your own performance a little bit I think, you know?"

"Well the way Chris works, you know there's no video village or monitors or anything like that, and obviously it's film cameras so this; you don't see any playback. The first frame of the movie that I saw was the first trailer, and then when I finally got to see the finished film it was - it was completely, completely overwhelming. But, but because there had been a gap between, you know, wrapping the movie and watching it, I suppose I had some distance, and to answer your question, no, I hate looking at myself - I don't really know any actor that enjoys the experience - but I found it - I was completely blown away by it; you know, it's, it's a truly essential, cinematic, immersive experience. You know, like Chris said it's like, it's like 3D without the 3D glasses you know, particularly in an IMAX, and, and I, and I, and I felt that. I would like to watch it maybe once more with a, with an audience."

"For me it's the best way to experience a film is, you know, in a, in a darkened space with strangers and you know, you just, you there's no interruption, you know you're, you're not going to answer the door, you're not going to make a cup of tea, you're just - you're, you're invested, and you paid your money and you got your snacks and you're there. And there's something hugely romantic about it to me, there all, there always will be - and I think what's extra special about this film is it's talking about the world. You know, it's really digging at what it means to be humans and our responsibility as humans on this planet and how what we do with the power that we can harness, and in this case you know, this extraordinary, and destructive and appalling weapon. And you know, it's amazing, and you know I think it was Truffaut said, you know: 'We go to films to escape from life, but also to learn about life', and I think this is one of those great films; it does that - it entertains, and it's incredibly entertaining, but it also you know, it makes - it makes you think."

"Well I think he's kind of the ideal director, right, because he's - he, he, he writes his movies, he directs the movies, he produces the movies, he's incredible visually, and he is extraordinary with actors - and it's very few directors have all those talents in one person. Have I, have I seen him change over the course of working with him? I guess he's become more and more confident in the sorts of stories that he, that he wants to tell, and I think he's more and more confident in making films, you know, within the studio system that actually challenge the audience. And I - I have always loved that he's presupposed the level of intelligence with the audience; he always knows that the audience are smart enough to go with him, and he never patronises an audience and he's never prescriptive or didactic in his movies; they're always kind of a challenge to you and you need to go - you need to work, you know, but the, the reward you get for the work is, is terrific. And I - I've learned so, so much from him, you know, it's, it's kind of changed, you know, it's changed my life - my creative and professional life, working with Chris, and I hope I continue."

"You know there's a universality to it that people connect with, people understand the themes that are in this movie and, you know, there's big questions being, being asked of the audience - there's no answers being given, which I think is, is excellent filmmaking always. But you know, it's also, it's like - it's like a thriller, it's a love story, it's, to me there's elements of horror in there as well you know, for sure. So that just resonates with an audience, and I think the period setting, however familiar or not you may be with what happened in 45, I think you will just be wrapped up in it - the movie grabs you by the throat, like from the beginning and, and like you, you just don't take a breath I think from, from start to finish really, because we are now living in a nuclear age because of what happened then. I mean, he did change the world, you know, and that, that event changed the world forever - we're living with the fallout of that ever since, you know?"

[ayo-edebiri]

80!!! holy shit. do you have like a year pass for your theater or something? is that a thing that some theaters have?

I have a pass, yes! It's only 16,90 euros per month because i'm under 26. I can see all the movies i want. I could even go to the theater 30 times a month, if I wanted. i just have to pay for 3D or Imax, but honestly it's not worth it.

it's funny, because now you have to pay more than 10 euros for 1 ticket if you're under 26.... the pass is really cheap

[dethkomic]

The End

Well gang... Here we are. The end of an era!

Okay, so, maybe not that. But certainly the end of a dethkomic. For now, hehe.

I want you guys to know something. I want those of you who have only been with the fandom for a little while to know someone.

That's me... a younger me... in front of my artist alley table at NYCC in 2013. The Klokateer on the left is my friend, Holkie.

Her real name was Holly, and she was a New York native who braved the ridiculous train and subway systems that day (It was Saturday, so things were nuts) just to come out and meet a random person she met through the Metalocalypse fandom. I was surprised and delighted to see her for the first time, live and in person. I gave her some of my werewolf comics, we talked MTL, and generally had a good time. Unfortunately, that was both the first and last time we'd ever see one another in the flesh.

Holkie died in late 2020, just a few months before the Metalocalypse movie was announced. It's a shame she isn't still here to see the show conclude. But I'm willing to go on record and say without her, and her dedication and genuine hard work as a fan, we might not be getting a movie otherwise. She ran the original Dethklok Minute on Livejournal and continued that work here on Tumblr for a time. It kept us fans up-to-date and looking forward to more Dethklok in a time when news about the show was hard to come by, and interest threatened to wane in-between seasons(that's just how it is when you're a fan of an animated series). I know wherever she is, if there's any justice to be had in this life and whatever happens after, she's somewhere biding her time before the premiere with my other friend (and yours) Jon Schnepp. And in the great hereafter, the two of them will have front-row seats in a theatre with a kickass surround sound system. And there'll be a 3D IMAX option. And Dorito dispensers. And candy snake tits. Whatever they are.

I thought a lot about Hokie when I wrapped this comic. I got emotional more than a little when I was writing the eulogy given by her own Klokateer OC, Janet. You might guess that Janet's speech had as much to do with Cherry as it did Holkie, and you'd be right about that. But more so, I wanted it to be a statement to all of us.

When you have a fandom like ours -- a bunch of people who believe in a little cartoon show about heavy metal idiot-gods that hasn't had the ability/huge budget of other shows to churn out official content on a regular basis... and in spite of that -- in spite of apparent cancellation, even -- it still manages to come up with a great storyline, memorable characters, and captures the imaginations of talented masses like yourselves who have managed to make some of the most compelling fan-content on the internet for over a decade, now... It defies probability. And in our case, it defies being cancelled without a resolution.

I think that's something quite special. And it's worth celebrating.

Today is Halloween here in the USA. In our fandom, it's also the last day of Kloktober 2022. To me, this has always been a special time of year -- and I sometimes feel, even more than January 1st, it's a time of celebration for what has come to pass. It's a time of reflection and looking back. It's a time of looking forward to what will be. I can think of no better time to say thank you to each and every one of you dethkomic readers out there, for making this a kickass year. Thank you all -- my MTL friends from the internet, casuals who lurk in our fandom, people who are or who have worked on the show, and everyone in general, for keeping the faith. Thanks for keeping the torch burning.

Holkie, wherever you are, we hope we're doing you proud. This comic has been dedicated to you. And I really miss you. We all do.

Here's to the end. Here's to what's to come. Here's to you all.

Remember... Dethkomic loves you.

[nerdynanny]

i'm just a widdle cyclops

oh yeah and i have central heterochromia

My left eye can see-- though I need corrective lenses. Eventually, I'll lose full sight in it. But that's alright! I've been training my entire life for that eventuality. The condition I have has some sort of fancy medical name-- all I know is I'm in medical journals.

Whenever I go to the optometrist they ask if they can call in others to look at my derpy eye. It's like being a celebrity for a very specific niche.

But ye-- I'm a cyclops! I have no visual depth perception, which leads to WEIRD BRAIN SHENANIGANS when I watch 3D films and stuff-- only the tinted IMAX style glasses work for me, the blue/red ones don't, for obvious reasons. My brain doesn't know how to process visual depth so it kinda goes AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[scottishmongol]

Avatar 2: the Way of Water

The main draw of this movie is absolutely the visuals. See it in IMAX if you can, the visuals are amazing and it's a really fun experience.

The characters and plot are decent improvements on the first one, there's more going on in terms of themes, everyone gets a bit of characterization.

My favorite character was actually Miles Quaritch, they do some interesting stuff with the idea of bringing him back as an Avatar that made him a pretty compelling antagonist. I think he's going to be a standout character of the franchise and I hope we get a lot more of him.

I do wish we got more of the other ReComs, they all got wiped out which seemed like a waste of some potentially interesting characters.

Kiri was also an enjoyable character, she's cute, her sarcastic quips were funny, I like that she's the Navi Messiah, we stan our epileptic catgirl queen she's so @anempressofmars coded.

This movie isn't subtle, but like, if you came here for subtlety what the fuck are you thinking. The human antagonists are so despicable you cheer every time they get fucked up. The whaling captain especially, I won't spoil what happens to him but it's metal as fuck.

I really feel for that blackpilled marine xenobiologist, he was a great minor character. I'm not sure if he survived but I hope so.

This movie has some really good, fun action scenes where you get to watch a space whale fuck shit up. People were actually cheering.

Something I thought was interesting but that the movie dropped pretty quickly was the hybrid society the Navi are building with the help of human defectors, integrating human technology and using actual military tactics against RDA forces. I'd like to see more of that.

The technology in these films is really interesting, from the fascinating way the spaceships decelerate to "dip" into the atmosphere and drop off their payloads, to Bridgehead City and its drone constructor swarms/3D printers, to the CRAB MECHS.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Interesting Statistic

Tweeted by Disney Animation Promos...

Before I start, I'll point something out here.

THE LION KING didn't gross nearly a billion dollars back in 1994-early 1995. That full total, which you can find on BoxOfficeMojo and various other sites, is made up of the original release (which itself stopped and re-started at one point), the 2002 IMAX-only re-release, and the 2011 3D re-release. The original 1994/95 take was around $768m, approximately... Which is still a monster total, and held the record for highest-earning animated movie until 2003, when Pixar's FINDING NEMO took the crown.

It's almost kind of... Rhythmic, in a way...

1990s... Movie that made $700m. 2000s, a movie that made little over... $300m... 2010s, big billion dollar hit and one of the highest grossing movies of all-time... 2020s... A movie that coughed up around $250m...

Wanna go back further? 1980s... Obviously, the biggest Disney animated feature at the box office - not counting any re-release totals - was THE LITTLE MERMAID, which made around $183m at the worldwide box office. That was an unprecedented total for an all-animated feature back in the day. Hybrid movie WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, a year and a half earlier, collected $329m worldwide. That same year, Don Bluth and Steven Spielberg's THE LAND BEFORE TIME made $84m worldwide, while the full worldwide total for Disney's OLIVER & COMPANY - released the same exact as the Bluth dino movie - has never been disclosed. The domestic take was $53m, a record at the time... LITTLE MERMAID was a big jump up from OLIVER and LAND BEFORE TIME... And things only got bigger and bigger, as evidenced by THE LION KING making over $700m worldwide. Animated movies in the mid-1990s were now sharing the big leagues with blockbusters like TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY and JURASSIC PARK, but also leggy sensations like FORREST GUMP.

The 1970s is where things get muddy, given limited box office data - especially worldwide data... But I *do* know that THE RESCUERS was the biggest at the time, and that the domestic take was somewhere around $16m. Nowhere near that top ten of 1977, for sure... Hey, did you know that THE RESCUERS was *massive* in Europe? Like, so massive, that it outgrossed STAR WARS that same year in both France and West Germany? That's wild, isn't it? A fairly slow-paced, slow-burn mystery movie with two mice made on a tight budget, beating out the big spectacle that redefined the escapist blockbuster landscape and the family film as a whole? French folk and Germans not trapped inside by the Iron Curtain seemed to feel so... France and West Germany always seemed to come to the rescue with Disney during the 1970s. The movies that did okay-ish over here, like THE ARISTOCATS and ROBIN HOOD, were blockbusters over in those territories. The secret weapon that kept Disney's animation division afloat during a period where it was in the danger of being shut down, and a period where it wasn't easy to convince Americans other than families and children to go see a Disney animated movie in the cinema.

Anyways, some context for the 1990s vs. the 2000s vs. the 2010s vs. this decade...

We all know the story. The '90s was the "Disney Renaissance", a mostly fruitful period where they came back with a wallop, and scored some of their most successful animated movies since the final years Walt Disney himself was among the living. THE LITTLE MERMAID proved to be Disney's biggest animated domestic hit in a long while, in terms of attendance, and did excellently worldwide. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, ALADDIN, and THE LION KING built upon that success, big time.

But then the grosses dwindled. Some audiences caught onto Disney kind of reusing the same musical comedy-adventure formula with each movie (such as with movies like HERCULES and MULAN), and some were turned off by what they felt was the studio biting off way more than they could chew (the misguided ambitions of POCAHONTAS and the darker but tonally all-over-the-map THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME). That said, Disney continued to score box office successes, take home some Oscars even (largely for musical categories), and get decent to good enough critical reception for most of the post-LION KING/pre-FANTASIA 2000 movies. By the time Disney switched it up with the genres, such as doing a zany buddy comedy with THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE, action-adventure with ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE, and space opera with TREASURE PLANET... It was too late.

Those three movies came out in the early 2000s, a period when all-computer animated movies like Pixar's films and DreamWorks/PDI's spectacles were wowing audiences everywhere, and it also helped that the stories they were telling weren't the musical comedy-adventure romps that Disney Animation kept offering with each new movie. Pixar had buddy comedies TOY STORY 1 & 2, and Western-themed adventure A BUG'S LIFE, inventive workplace comedy MONSTERS, INC., and the perilous ocean adventure FINDING NEMO. PDI had the very PG ANTZ, and the very snarky and equally very farty SHREK. Audiences weren't moved by the trailers for movies like NEW GROOVE, ATLANTIS, and TREASURE PLANET... And they similarly ignored films like THE IRON GIANT, THE ROAD TO EL DORADO, and SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON. Beautifully hand-drawn movies, even if they changed up the stories a bit, just seemed same ol' same ol' to audiences. Throw a movie like SHARK TALE in front of them in 2004? Boom, big hit. As long as you were CG, competently made, and had some kind of edge, you were good to go in the early 2000s.

Hence why CHICKEN LITTLE of all things is the highest-earning Disney animated movie of the 2000s, if we’re excepting the hybrid collaboration film DINOSAUR, which only made about $20-something million more. This rather maligned 2005 movie even outgrossed the beloved LILO & STITCH, which made around $267m at the worldwide box office. That was a movie that had an enormous second life on DVD, and there was a brief Stitch-mania of sorts from around 2003-2006. A period where he was *everywhere*, to the point where he was as ubiquitous as Mickey, Donald, and Goofy... I was there, and I remember getting kinda tired of that little blue renegade, despite that I liked him and his movie. Very similar to how Disney aggressively shoved FROZEN front and center following its out-of-nowhere home run success, and trying to keep up with the demand for a movie they supposedly had muted confidence in when they were releasing it.

So the first half of the 2000s for Disney Animation was one 2D movie that did fine, and a bunch of movies that just didn't cut it. Even BROTHER BEAR, which made back its small East Coast budget, made $250m worldwide. That's a fine number, but when FINDING NEMO made $870m earlier that year... Yeah, things weren't looking great. Disney Animation switched to making all-CG movies, and while CHICKEN LITTLE made the most money of the pack, it was still pretty below what Pixar and DreamWorks racked up. MEET THE ROBINSONS was dumped, and BOLT was given a ho-hum release and consequently it just didn't make all that much for a 2008-release animated movie. THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG ended the 2000s with a whimper, a 2D animated movie... and it sadly and predictably made less than $300m worldwide... and CG TANGLED, arriving one year later and starting off the 2010s for WDAS, collected nearly $600m worldwide.

The 2010s, with the exception of the 2D animated and left-for-dead WINNIE THE POOH, was like the 1990s. Hit after hit. WRECK-IT RALPH, FROZEN, BIG HERO 6, ZOOTOPIA, MOANA, a pair of sequels, etc. Oscars, too. Good critical reception. They were back to being a well-oiled hit machine that would've likely continued into this decade, if not for COVID-19 and the whole cinema landscape being upended...

The 2020s... The world shutting down, and the re-opening being very unpredictable before the release of a vaccine... Plus The Walt Disney Company also had a very sloppy CEO running the joint. Unlike Universal, who either waited things out (like delaying MINIONS Deux by two full years, and wound up with a monster gross for that movie) or tried experimental strategies with other movies (such as the strategy they tried for THE CROODS: A NEW AGE), Disney kind of screwed the pooch with many of their animated releases...

Disney largely seemed to be using WDAS' movies, and Pixar's movies too, more as a carrot to get people to subscribe to Disney+ during this lull period. And I will be fair, RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON debuted before the vaccines really got out. That was in March 2021. I was 28 at the time, and didn't get my second Moderna jab until two months later. It was available for the elderly first, then middle-aged adults, then folks my age, then later teens and children. Maybe not the most ideal time to release a family movie, no matter what the strategy was. When I started going back to the movies in spring 2021, I didn't really order snacks much, I wore my mask when in the lobby. When Delta was cropping up, I kept my mask on, even in the auditorium. Omicron, I was back to working at said movie theater, so I was masked when with customers and out of the break room...

I still hold that, because WDAS and Pixar's films are so goddamn expensive... that they should've held some of them like how Universal did with MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU... At the same time, they did need something to release... So I understand their RAYA strategy, and ENCANTO was to get a month-long theatrical run but Delta happened, and it being on Disney+ in a matter of weeks probably conditioned audiences who knew of its existence to wait. (When I saw ENCANTO on a weekday, two or so weeks into release, maybe 4 other people were in the auditorium with me?) ENCANTO was deus-ex-machina'd by just how well it did on Disney+ and how incredibly well the soundtrack did. Not a box office hit, but huge in the second life. It's strangely a tradition for Disney animated movies... PINOCCHIO, FANTASIA, BAMBI, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, SLEEPING BEAUTY, etc. All flops on their initial releases, big favorites afterwards...

By the summer of 2022, audiences had fully returned to cinemas, and not just for Marvel movies. MINIONS 2 made nearly a billion, and there were other big hits in TOP GUN: MAVERICK, JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION, and SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2. Animated movies like THE BAD GUYS and DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS did quite well, but were lower budgeted, so their grosses made the grade. Did Disney take advantage of this resurgence for their 2022 WDAS offering? No... They just straight up left STRANGE WORLD for dead, they let it wither on the vine. Poor test screenings drove that decision, and audiences who did see it on opening week... gave it sour grades, too. Sometimes I wonder, what if RAYA came out in fall 2021, and ENCANTO this past fall? Could've been a blockbuster, pre-Disney+...

Just a sticky situation all around that could've been handled differently. Two movies impacted by how things were going in the world, and another that they straight up lost faith in...

Now it is mid-2023. Cinemas are very much alive and well, animation is benefiting from it, too... but audiences aren't made of money, so choices are narrower than ever before. WISH, along with the other not-sequel movies WDAS is making and releasing this decade, have an uphill battle to face. It's no surprise that ZOOTOPIA 2 and FROZEN III are in the works, partially because they're easy hits. Franchise favorites. They'll probably single-handedly make back the money RAYA, ENCANTO and STRANGE WORLD lost as theatrical titles. Expect at least another sequel to come out before 2030, likely a second ENCANTO. It's also no surprise that WISH is being marketed and positioned as this "definitive" Disney film, and being previewed as a sort-of "origin story" for all fantastical Disney animated movies. The teaser has a silly title card that says it was a story "centuries in the making"... They really want and need this thing to be their first bona fide box office success since... 2019's FROZEN II... And omitting sequels, since 2016's MOANA... Damn!

And I certainly hope it does well, it seems like the kind of movie that *would* come to the rescue when things aren't looking too hot. It's why I'm really curious to know what's after WISH, as in... Movies that aren't ZOOTOPIA 2 and FROZEN III, both of which seem to be deep in development and quite a while away. STRANGE WORLD's failure stung me because it happens all too often when Disney Animation tries on clothes that it doesn't normally wear in the post-Walt era. Like ATLANTIS, TREASURE PLANET, and MEET THE ROBINSONS before it, a sci-fi-flavored adventure movie with no musical numbers went belly-up. On the other side of the coin, Disney Animation - this past decade - scored hits with the video game adventure WRECK-IT RALPH, the superhero comedy BIG HERO 6, and the sorta police procedural/48 hours-almost-political conspiracy tale ZOOTOPIA. These balanced out the familiar musical comedy-adventures - TANGLED, FROZEN, and MOANA - quite nicely... So, I do hope that the post-WISH movies still play around and even experiment. I wouldn't want repeats.

With various complications out of the way, they now have to really battle for audience dollars and make the rest of this decade an upswing for them. Especially for leader Jennifer Lee, who assumed the mantle in 2018. Her tenure consisted of two sequels that were locked to do well to begin with, and then a couple of original movies that got affected by a worldwide crisis, and then a movie that was screwed. WISH should be her first not-sequel hit, a movie she apparently co-wrote, too. And a movie directed by her FROZEN partner, Chris Buck. Chris hasn't had a duff film there yet, his TARZAN made its money back in 1999, FROZEN and FROZEN II, need I say more? WISH likely continues his own little hit streak.

How well it does remains to be seen. Maybe a movie that comes out later this year, and not FROZEN III, is the surprise and takes the decade box office crown... Maybe not. Whatever happens, I hope WDAS claws its way out of the COVID-19 mess and keeps up with the other heavies.

[treeofsouls]

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF A:TWOW !!!!

oh my god it was amazing, not a single thought passed through my mind for the entire duration of the movie I was just absorbing everything Cameron was showing me.

it was visually stunning, I don't care if you don't want to watch it because "oh, no one cares about avatar any more, it was 13 years ago!!!!" "it's too late for a sequel" "it's going to be boring" JUST GO WATCH IT TO LOOK AT IT, I was so immersed the entire time that when the credits rolled and had to look around and be like ????? where am I????? (I didn't watch it in anything fancy, not screenX, not imax 4d, not 3d, just regular old 2d) and admittedly, not everyone is going to feel like that when watching it, but we can all agree that it looks incredible.

you can relate to the characters!!! the characters are well written and you can relate to different aspects of them, and even though it's all cgi, there's so much emotion, and at times it's intense emotion which makes you feel emotional watching it, and even that emotion is well written!!!

the world building is stunning, even revisiting places we see in the first movie and how it's changed since the last time we've seen it. and then we see the new areas and aspects of pandora which are again, stunning. I'm so glad we're exploring new areas and biomes of pandora, and that we can experience how different the Na'vi live, in comparison to eachother, depending on where they live.

I've seen a lot of people complain about the plot, and I don't agree with them, people have been saying that it's shallow, but I don't think so, it explores new themes, and new real world problems. I think it's the story we need for right now.

but the biggest reason of all that you all need to go see this movie is because.............. look at all those creatures, they're adorable and make cool sounds and we so much of small and endemic life too, it focuses in more on the nature surrounding them and we get to see things better.

[notrailers]

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) Review

Big Jim is back baby!

In this second installment of the Avatar franchise, James Cameron is back to prove all you haters and doubters wrong. This is his passion project and he obviously gives a shit about the product he is creating and that’s all you can ask from a film director. In the world of mindless IP and cash cows, of which Avatar is, it doesn’t have an agenda. Not to poop on Marvel, but every entry at this point has to tie in to 2 TV shows, 3 movies, and another project, all of which may not matter for years. Avatar is IP and it is a money printer, but Cameron doesn’t owe anything to anyone and is allowed to see his vision out.

I saw this in the proper format, at least according to Cameron, in IMAX 3D. I will admit that some of the visuals are jarring. At some points the camera cuts and the zooming looks like a video game and could make you nauseous if you are prone to motion sickness. With that being said, this is a visual masterpiece. In a year where every studio has put out rushed effects, Avatar really took their time (like started in 2017 take their time) and it shows. It was gorgeous and despite looking at shot that was probably 90% visual effects, it looked real and that’s all you can hope for in a film like this.

The people who complain about not remembering the story are annoying and should shut up. It became cool to hate on the franchise, but people still showed up as this film will likely make 2 billion dollars at the box office.

Onto the story. After their forest is destroyed, the Na’Vi are forced to retreat to a water based tribe. They must learn to coexist and fight alongside one another while the US military is ready to raze the entire planet to kill Jake Sully for because they’re mad at him for winning 10+ years ago.

The dialogue is clunky, the plot lines don’t all connect, but it doesn’t really matter. If you a great plot go watch Citizen Kane or There will be Blood. That is obviously an excuse for this movie, but you have to know what you’re getting in to before you get to the theater.

Movies are typically structured around the plot and then the visuals are laid out, but this seems reverse engineered. James Cameron seems like he laid out the shots he really wanted to get then created a story around that and the last hour is as beautiful looking as any other movie ever made.

With plans to release a new Avatar every two years for the next 10 years, there will be no shortage of opinions and takes on this franchise. I’m ready for every single one of them.

Rating: 4.5/5

Would I Recommend? Only if you love visual spectacles

[average-guy-reviews]

Avatar (2009) Re-release (2022)

"Jake, who is paraplegic, replaces his twin on the Na'vi inhabited Pandora for a corporate mission. After the natives accept him as one of their own, he must decide where his loyalties lie."

13 years ago an iconic film came out, using proprietary methods not used before, swiftly rising up the ranks to become the biggest selling movie of all time. James Cameron created, and sent out, a movie that he had planned to be the beginning of a massive franchise. He gave us Avatar.

When I found out it was being re-released, and available in in IMAX 3D, I had to book a ticket as soon as possible. This was the way this film was meant to be seen, and I had missed out first time round. I was not disappointed, in the slightest, but I'll get into that more in a bit.

For me you have to look at this film in two parts, the story and the technology.

The story is a basic tale, of an indigenous people facing a rising tide of colonisers/invaders who want their land for "reasons". A 'saviour' comes along, usually one of the colonisers, who joins the natives and helps fight against the rising tide. It's an old tale that has been done innumerable times, in multiple formats, and often done better. Notable examples in film include Dances with Wolves, Dune, The Last Samurai and Ferngully: The Last Rainforest. That's not to say Avatar tells the tale badly. Quite the contrary. Avatar tells the tale very well, but it doesn't build on it, or really add anything new. It simply tells it quite well.

What really makes this film stand out, and the reason it is so wildly popular and talked about so much, even 13 years later, is the technology behind it.

Cameron took all of the technology available to him and maxed it out, making the very best use of it he could. In Avatar, he used a combination of 3D and CGI mixing real footage with CGI that was motion captured. Performance capture in the film made a wide use of CGI or computer generated imagery, with appproximately 60% of the film completely created in a computer.

One of the things that made the cgi humanoids look so real was a software by Weta Digital. They used a variety of innovative techniques including facial motion capture. With a high definition video cameras and markers attached to the face of an actor, Weta Digital's own specially developed software was able to map out which muscles in the face were moving. This was an outsanding use of technology and one of the reasons the film looked as good as it did.

I've seen a good few films in 3d now and I can honestly say that this is still top of the pile in terms of quality. Despite knowing that the story will, likely, be secondary to the way the film looks seeing this again has sparked my interest in Avatar: The Way of Water to an even higher level. This time I will absoluteky be seeing it in IMAX 3D when it first comes out.

Overall it's a good story, backed up by a phenomenal look. It gets a 6/10 for the story and a 10/10 for the look and the cinematography. I'm going to give it a solid 8/10 for the total package. Can't wait till December....

[destinyc1020]

Yeah, I noticed the box office blood bath. I wanted to see Barbie at AMC and it’s not even playing near me to probably save screens for the other films. I have to go to another theater near me to watch Barbie

Really? 🤔

I'm shocked about that.... Especially being AMC and all. 🤔

Speaking of AMC....

Y'all, I've just signed up for AMC A-List, and it's the BEST thing ever lol 😆

You can watch up to 3 movies a week, all for one FLAT FEE per month. 😁👍🏾

Being the movie fanatic that I am, and knowing all of the plethora of films that I want to see this year, I am ecstatic lol 😆 I'm gonna save SO much money rofl 🤣

Plus, if I want to see a movie again, I can just go again for FREE.... in ANY format! 🥹

It's a movie lovers dream! ❤️

Just saying!

(I swear they're not paying me to plug this lol 😂 My membership has already been paid for, and I've only seen 2 movies this month so far lol 😅)

[world-of-pandora]

are you going to see World of Water in 3d?

Yes! I really wanted to see it in IMAX 3D for the first time but the theater is a bit far and a bit too pricey for my whole family to go so we settled on just going to our local theater and seeing it in RPX 3D. Hope to try seeing it in IMAX for my second viewing though if I can!

[dumbbitchawards]

GOING TO SEE AVATAR IN 3D IMAX ON SATURDAY LETS GOOOO

[doppleganger-rental]

Jaws is currently in theaters in IMAX and IMAX 3-D (Spielberg approved). I’m going to see it later today. I normally have no interest in 3D but I am very curious.

Getting in the mood via the iconic soundtrack.

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (2022)

Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Giovanni Ribisi, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Jemaine Clement, CCH Pounder, Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, Chloe Coleman, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo, Duane Evans Jr., CJ Jones, Jack Champion, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald and Alicia Vela-Bailey.

Screenplay by  James Cameron, Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver.

Directed by James Cameron.

Distributed by 20th Century Studios. 192 minutes. Rated PG-13.

James Cameron’s film Avatar took off like a rocket when it was released in 2009. With spectacular special effects and eye-popping action, it quickly became a smash hit – eventually becoming the highest grossing box office motion picture ever, a distinction that it still holds with $2.8 billion in ticket sales.

And honestly, it may or may not have really deserved that popularity. As often is the case with Cameron’s movies, it was spectacularly filmed, with some terrific world building, had an intriguing, important ecological message, but it was not all that well written. (Dialogue has always been Cameron’s Achilles heel.) It was a pretty good film, but was it the best ever – or even just worthy of being the most popular film? At the time, Cameron promised that Avatar was going to be a series of at least three films (he’s now talking about five) and potentially the biggest franchise ever.

However, then a strange thing happened. It’s like the world at large just sort of moved on from Avatar, almost forgot about it. Literally, when was the last time you thought about Avatar, or someone mentioned it to you? It had been years that I had spared a thought for the film before the hype machine started ramping up for this sequel.

I saw the first film once in the theater, once when it was released on video, and since then never even thought of rewatching it again. I was not alone on that. Avatar seemed to fade away from pop culture consciousness.  Previous films that were at their time the top grossing films of all time – like Jaws, Star Wars and Cameron’s Titanic – are still beloved classics and regularly watched decades after their release.

Of course now with the second Avatar film finally making it to theaters, Cameron is desperately trying to downplay the Avatar backlash talk. (Don’t believe your lying eyes, you’ve all loved this movie for years!)

Also, Cameron’s legendary slowness in releasing films didn’t help to keep the momentum going. Cameron has directed nine feature films in 40 years if you count Avatar II, and his last three have been released over a period of 25 years.

Now, thirteen years after the first chapter, is there really an audience still waiting for a second Avatar movie?

We’ll see.

It certainly is a spectacular piece of filmmaking. The visuals are even more impressive than they had been in the first film. (Thirteen years of innovations definitely are noticeable.) That said, Cameron’s tendency for clunky dialogue still has not totally improved, and the story, while visually stunning, is pretty much a retread of the original film. And I’m sorry, the computer-generated alien creatures are still kind of weird looking.

There is the addition of undersea footage – a long time fascination of Cameron’s. (See also: The Abyss, Titanic and the sea diving documentaries that Cameron has put together over the years.) These are also generally spectacular looking, particularly if you have the opportunity to see it in IMAX 3D.

Honestly, The Way of Water is too long (three hours and twelve minutes!) and some of the battle sequences seem to be straight out of the modern blockbuster playbook. Still, credit where it is due, Cameron has a stunning visual eye and much of Avatar: The Way of Water is picture-book gorgeous.

I’m definitely glad I’ve seen it and I have no doubt it will be a big hit (although probably not on the scale of the first film). However, like the first one, it doesn’t seem like a movie I’d be likely to revisit with any regularity.

Luckily, it doesn’t seem that we’ll have to wait another thirteen years for the next Avatar film. Cameron is planning (and plans don’t always go as one would expect) to release the next film in two years, and then another one every two years until at least 2028.

Will it really happen that way? Like I said earlier, we’ll see.

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2022 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: December 15, 2022.

[duhragonball]

If you dont mind me asking about Super Hero, how do you feel about the new animation after you've watched the movie? For me, I think its still pretty awkward in slow parts but on the flip side it did make the fights feel really fluid.

I just got back from watching the dub in IMAX, so yeah, feel free to ask me about this movie! And that goes for all of you out there, too. (I'm pointing at you right now through the screen.)

Okay, so this movie was done in all 3D, CGI, whatever people call it. I've been hearing people gripe about it for a long time now, because there are a lot of people who worry about the future of 2D animation, and also there were fears that the quality would suffer, because a lot of animated shows make the jump to 3D thinking it'll be easier, and it ends up looking like crap.

All I know is that this movie looks pretty hot-damn amazing. I kind of wish the final battle wasn't so murky, but we're talking about animation, not color palettes. As far as the importance of 2D animation, I'm not qualified to speak on that. I'm just a dumbass consumer, but it seems to me that if traditional animation is such a precious, valuable thing, then it can survive the advent of new technology. Television didn't obsolete radio, and e-mail didn't kill the post office. I don't see how complaining about 3D animation does anything to help 2D flourish.

As far as quality concerns go, I think the fanbase was particularly concerned because Dragon Ball has tried dipping it's toe into 3D before, and it hasn't gone well...

It's hard to convey in a still image, but these particular shots from Res F and DBS Broly were very conspicuous, because the characters' movements looked very stiff and uninspired compared to the footage surrounding it. I think Battle of Gods had a little CGI in the Goku/Beerus fight, but it's harder to spot, at least for me. With Res F and Super Broly, it's like Toei felt more comfortable using 3D for longer, more prominent parts of the movie, and I remember them getting some flak from the fans about it. These look like screenshots from the Raging Blast games, not feature-length films made years after the PS3's heyday.

The thing is, okay, I can't speak for everyone else, but my beef wasn't with the quality of the 3D in these shots. My problem was with how awkward it was when they switched back and forth. The 3D assets looked noticeably different from the 2D models, and there was no sense of a "rule" to it. Like, if all the fight scenes were in 3D and the rest of the movie was in 2D, I'd go like "Okay, this is how the movie works." Instead, they just sort of picked a few seconds and decided to animate it differently from everything else. That's what made it jarring. That's what took me out of these two movies.

At the time, I thought to myself, "If they made the entire movie like these brief segments, then it wouldn't be bad at all." To be sure, the CGI characters in Broly aren't as appealing as the 2D animation we got. I'm not saying the movie would have been better if it had been all 3D. What I'm saying is that it would have been less disruptive than switching it up late in the film.

To give an example of what I mean, in the late 90's, Toonami had a show called the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest. There was a lot of 60's nostalgia in the 90's, so the idea was to do a "modern" version of the old Johnny Quest cartoon. It was mostly 2D, but they had a gimmick where the characters would go into some virtual reality world and fight bad guys in there. And all the VR action looked like this:

And yeah, it looks like shit, but in the 90s, this was cutting-edge, and they made it the selling point of the show. The point was that they knew they couldn't animate the whole show this way, so they came up with an in-story reason for the change in visuals. It doesn't matter if Race Bannon looks different from his 2D model, because this is his avatar in the virtual reality system. But if they could have animated the whole series in 3D, that probably would have worked too. I mean, that's what Reboot did, and Beast Wars, and people loved those shows.

So yeah, when I first found out DBSSH was going to be all 3D animation, I wasn't too surprised, since the previous three movies seemed to be practice runs for something like this. And I wasn't too concerned, because at least they were fully committing to it. If all the characters had looked like Goku, Frieza, and Broly up there, I would have still enjoyed the movie. Hell, if they looked like Race Bannon and Ezekiel Rage, I would have dug that too. I'm not that choosy when it comes to Dragon Ball. That's probably because a lot of the classic episodes look like this:

But before some OG DB purist tries to weigh in, let's check out an example from pre-Saiyans Dragon Ball, back when it was """"good"""

I'm not trying to be a smartass with these gifs, either. These are clips taken from a couple of episodes I really enjoy. I liked them so much that I made these gifs, but I'm not ashamed to admit that they're not exactly sterling examples of 2D animation. People have been making cracks about Yukio Ebisawa's art direction for years, but every 6th episode of Dragon Ball and DBZ has his name on the credits. If you're into Dragon Ball, you gotta admit you enjoy some crap animation. You like good animation too, but it's pretty much impossible to skip the goofy shit and just watch the really good stuff.

That's why I've never understood the animation snobbery in the fandom. At its core, Dragon Ball is a franchise that is not afraid to cut corners from time to time, and even make jokes at its own expense. The Super Saiyan form was invented so they could draw Goku's hair faster in the comics. They could do a movie with sock puppets and Clutch Cargo mouths and I'd be like "Yep, typical Dragon Ball."

And yet, I think there's a genuine sense of pride in the franchise, too, a desire to surpass limits and try new things. The first several dozen episodes of the DBS anime were disappointing, but they turned it around by the end. And these movies seem to represent a sincere effort to really do something special with the characters. I think that's why they dared to make an all-3D movie starring Piccolo. It would have been easier to just stick to the formula and have Goku fight Frieza some more, but they wanted to do more. And the bet paid off. Super Hero is a visually stunning movie. If those wonky moments in the previous films helped them get to this point, then it was more than worth it.

One of these days, they might screw up royally, and I'll probably join in on complaining about it. I'm still sore about DBS Episode 5. But my biggest complaint about DBS 5 was that it was badly animated and it was just retelling a story we already had from the movies. If it had been a badly animated episode with new material, I would have probably accepted it. In the end, I'm more concerned with the story. Tell me something compelling, something good, and I can deal with substandard visuals.