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[CowboyTutt]

OK, I admit it. I went into watching this film in 3D not expecting much. The "plot" sounded like a real re-hash of Cameron's earlier work with Arnold where "bad guy" becomes "good guy", joins the rebellion and saves the planet. Yawn!

Been there and done that.

Well, went to a humongous Regal theater here in SoCal with my sis and Uncle to see the film in digital 3D while I have the opportunity (nothing like this where I currently live).

I have to say, it was truly, truly remarkable. Never seen anything like it. There were enough detail to the new world that Cameron created to make the concept seem "original". The effects, particularly in 3D, are totally captivating and qualify as extreme eye candy.

While the story is simple, its a good one.

This movie is going to sweep the Academy Awards this year. Do your selves a favor and spend the $14-16 bucks to see it. There has never been a movie experience like it, not ever, not even in 3D films like "Captian Eo" at Disneyland.

Again, I was not expecting much, but in 3D its truly an outstanding experience and not one to be missed. Now I just need therapy on how to cope with this new desire for a blue, 10' tall, athletic girlfriend!
-Tutt

[TedH]

A friend of mine saw it this weekend also and he also said it was a must see. My daughter is going to Grandma's this week, so maybe the wife and I can slip out and see it.

[vancelw]

I have to say, it was truly, truly remarkable. Never seen anything like it. There were enough detail to the new world that Cameron created to make the concept seem "original". The effects, particularly in 3D, are totally captivating and qualify as extreme eye candy.

While the story is simple, its a good one.

Again, I was not expecting much, but in 3D its truly an outstanding experience and not one to be missed. Now I just need therapy on how to cope with this new desire for a blue, 10' tall, athletic girlfriend!
-Tutt

I went to see it for $2.50 at the matinee in 2D. The plot is exactly like Dances with Wolves and Last Samurai and there were absolutely no unexpected plot twists. I loved it! Sometimes movies are supposed to turn out how you want them to.

3 days later I took the wife and kids to see it at the 3D theater about 70 miles away. It was bargain Tuesday so it only cost $9.00. I think at IMAX it is $14.00. I didn't feel cheated, watching it again. The special effects are amazing. You actually feel like you are visiting another world, rather than looking at a cheap set.

I may go see it again. Some movies are just meant to be seen on the big screen. Like Saving Private Ryan (I was ducking bullets on the beach on that one) and Titanic (my feet got wet when the ship went down..I swear.)

I told the wife I wanted some blue body paint for Christmas. Didn't get it. She said I was on the naughty list.

[JohndeFresno]

I have to agree. I went with my daughter (no child, herself) more as a concession to some father-daughter time. I expected a cartoony, corny, laugh at itself type movie with more fantasy than science fiction.

But the plot, special effects and beauty of it were far better than expected. It was a lot of fun and a great escape.

I saw it at the huge screen I-Max in Fresno. If you have a chance to see this 3D spectacle on an overly large screen, so much the better. The three dimensional effects employed were beyond cutting edge. In one scene, there is a control room with several operators working behind control panels, nested several deep, each surrounded by half-circle hologram screens. The three dimensional effect and realism were stunning.

It was clear that the writers had an agenda with their message of imperialism, capitalistic exploitation and greed. Our Army invaded a peaceful people to try to enforce our way of life while exploiting their forests and resources. But the story was still a good one, and it resolved itself well. Thankfully, Al Gore or some other political airhead did not appear at the end of the story in some type of "instructional" cameo.

Even with all of the CGI characters, I really enjoyed this movie, and was disarmed by its outstanding special effects, photography, and scene creation. Then the 3D work moved it to a whole new plane.

[Blaine]

Daughter and I saw it today at 3D IMax....Breathtaking! Maybe the best visual feast I've seen on screen.

[olyinaz]

Whole family enjoyed the film despite the plot echoing Dances With Wolves and Last Samurai (and a host of other films) very strongly - as another said sometimes you don't mind a simple plot when the movie is entertaining. Hey, it's not like Westerns often took wild plot turns and I like them!

The 3D was stunning but my wife does not like it and my boys were split on that part (I like it).

Best,
Oly

[rangerider7]

It was clear that the writers had an agenda with their message of imperialism, capitalistic exploitation and greed. Our Army invaded a peaceful people to try to enforce our way of life while exploiting their forests and resources. But the story was still a good one, and it resolved itself well. Thankfully, Al Gore or some other political airhead did not appear at the end of the story in some type of "instructional" cameo. JohndeFresno

My son saw it with his kids. He thought it was great, but said the same thing and added "Liberal propaganda" to his discription.

[oic0]

It was clear that the writers had an agenda with their message of imperialism, capitalistic exploitation and greed. Our Army invaded a peaceful people to try to enforce our way of life while exploiting their forests and resources. But the story was still a good one, and it resolved itself well. Thankfully, Al Gore or some other political airhead did not appear at the end of the story in some type of "instructional" cameo. JohndeFresno

My son saw it with his kids. He thought it was great, but said the same thing and added "Liberal propaganda" to his discription.

I went in to it expecting that. I was expecting anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, anti-capitalism, pretty much sugar coated anti-america with "the middle east just wants you to leave", "you screwed the Indians are are the bad guys!", etc... etc...

The movie was entertaining and the visuals were spectacular. I almost forgot about the message they were trying to push in to my subconscious until they fumbled and were too upfront. The commander said "we will fight terror with terror!" when they were planning an assault on the natives religious mecca . Anyhow, 95% of the movie managed to be entertaining and not too preachy. Was a lot better than I was expecting it to be.

[SFRanger7GP]

Loved this movie! Great entertainment and visual effects. I'll stay off my political soap box, but in my former life, I saw more than one advisor "go native" and forget why he was there.

[olyinaz]

I didn't find it that preachy at all. The basic premise is that Earth has become natural resource poor and this planet is a bonanza so the opportunity for making money is through the roof. The "military" in the movie aren't military, they're a private security firm and the job is so dangerous it pays really well. When it comes to mercs and/or private security I'm just fine with the opinion that they tend to be trigger happy and morality challenged.

I'm no liberal but I'm not so far right that I'm blind to the fact that "might makes right" is a common human failing so I had zero problem with the film and or the premise.

Oly

[Ysabel Kid]

Okay - you all convinced me. I love sci-fi, but had heard this movie was heavy on the enviromental message - to the point of being overbearing. Sounds like it's not so bad - and the special effects are worth it!

[oic0]

Okay - you all convinced me. I love sci-fi, but had heard this movie was heavy on the enviromental message - to the point of being overbearing. Sounds like it's not so bad - and the special effects are worth it!

Watch it in 3d. This movie seemed like it was made from the bottom up for 3d. None of that WOAH sticking a stick in your eye stuff. It was just depth to all of the environments. Every little twig and flower, etc...

[vancelw]

Okay - you all convinced me. I love sci-fi, but had heard this movie was heavy on the enviromental message - to the point of being overbearing. Sounds like it's not so bad - and the special effects are worth it!

No, it wasn't overbearing (to me.) You can't go to a Hollywood movie nowadays and not expect to have the liberal "message" force fed to you. The messages were there, but I didn't feel like it was being crammed down my throat. I thoroughly enjoyed the special effects and fantasy world. I mean, come on, who doesn't wish their horse could read their mind and fly one of those "things"?

As I kid, I loved westerns, but now that I'm older I see the other message that was in them. All indians are bad and must be eradicated. It was simply a matter that they had what "we" wanted and we took it by sheer force of numbers and justified it from our point of view. They were here first, but we wanted it too and got it. It's the way humans have always been and always will be.

Avatar did a good job of showing that story with a good blend of "let's blast them and take it" and "let's save it all for science" points of view.

We all know the aliens will just come back with a bigger ship if the first one was too small.

I caught myself swatting at the 3D stuff (only once, I swear)

[JB]

This movie is going to sweep the Academy Awards this year.
-Tutt

Surely it can't be better than Precious!

[Blaine]

This movie is going to sweep the Academy Awards this year.
-Tutt

Surely it can't be better than Precious!

What is truly sad is that character is lauded everytime it shows up....."Da Man made me what I am and I struggle every day with it"

[JohndeFresno]

...The "military" in the movie aren't military, they're a private security firm ...Oly

C'mon, Olyinaz -

The uniforms and choppers all looked purely military; and the topper was:
When the helicopter landed at the target site and the troops first jumped out, you could see a U.S. Air Force logo on the side of the chopper, albeit it had dotted lines. Remember this when you watch the movie again when it comes to Netflix or whatever. The dialog might have said one thing, but this is a paper-thin veiled propaganda piece, especially for the worldwide market.

I reemphasize that, despite this, the film wasn't too preachy, and I believe that it was the best piece of science fiction since Star Wars; and even better in its special effects. But please don't let Hollywood blow smoke up your behind with their finely honed propaganda. Rest assured that they got their fanatically liberal point across.

I agree with you that man of any nation and culture can be greedy and imperious, and that we have some low points in our history; but it is no coincidence that the left and its High Priestess, Hollywood, goes out of its way to continuously denounce our country and its way of life and erode our traditions and morals.

[Blaine]

I

agree with you that man of any nation and culture can be greedy and imperious, and that we have some low points in our history; but it is no coincidence that the left and its High Priestess, Hollywood, goes out of its way to continuously denounce our country and its way of life and erode our traditions and morals.

Say over and over: It's only a movie

[JohndeFresno]

Say over and over: It's only a movie

Thanks... I needed that! [slapping myself repeatedly and grinning wildly]

[Henry McCann]

Blaine,

You can say over and over it's only a movie, but the liberal, green, hate America message is sure getting out there. Look at who voted in Obama...who despises the military, the 2nd Amendment, thinks we don't need traditional energy scources, and also thinks that astronomical debt means prosperity.

Hollywood is darn successful with their propaganda. Look how many conservative gun types are fawning over this movie; happily giving their dollars to fund more liberal message laden, anti America movies. As long as it's packaged nice, (think also Obama) many just don't care.

[Blaine]

Blaine,

You can say over and over it's only a movie, but the liberal, green, hate America message is sure getting out there. Look at who voted in Obama...who despises the military, the 2nd Amendment, thinks we don't need traditional energy scources, and also thinks that astronomical debt means prosperity.

Hollywood is darn successful with their propaganda. Look how many conservative gun types are fawning over this movie; happily giving their dollars to fund more liberal message laden, anti America movies. As long as it's packaged nice, (think also Obama) many just don't care.

I'm willing to be held accountable to my peers and My God on this. I can separate the people from their movies. There are several like Rosie and Not Fonda Jane that I cannot do this with. I was a professional musician for over 20 years. Musicians are usually painted with a pretty broad liberal/sleezy brush, but, I assure you that there is a mix of conservative/liberal just like society on the average

[Gun Smith]

I'm sorry the topic "it's a wonderful movie" got down to a Hollywood liberal , green, political theme. But since it did I will add my .02 cents worth.

Why are we getting inundated with Hollywood "stars" telling us what's wrong with our country, our society, our government, our treatment of animals and everything else you can think of today? It takes at least two of these "experts" to total an IQ anywhere near 100. Just because they are pretty are we to believe they know more about how to run this country than anyone else.
I hope our young people can see through their liberal BS. It's scary to think they could sway voters because of their looks. But it seems to be happening more and more.















are

[Rimfire McNutjob]

I think South Park nailed it a couple of months ago when they did their "Dances with Smurfs" episode. Apparently, they had inside knowledge of the plot. This was an awful lot like Dances with Wolves but with great effects and blue natives.

It's worth seeing. It's also the classic liberal viewpoint as has been mentioned in previous posts. They do seem to cover an unusual number of bases in this one though ... military bad, corporations bad, etc, etc, ad infinitum.

[CowboyTutt]

Guys, as was stated, its just a movie! And James Cameron is a born Canadian, which could explain a lot. Add to the fact that Hollywood is the realm of fantasy, and that actors and actresses make a living selling fantasy's. Therefore, its not surprising that their politics are screwed up and always will be. Heck, 90% of those Hollywood actors/actresses can't even maintain a marriage. That says a lot, doesn't it???? Have any of them ever even thought of following the advice of Jesus? I don't think so. They might have a healthy marriage if they did.

That being said, I liked the idea of the Pandora natives having a "biological connection" to their planet. Frankly, few of us here have such an understanding of our own planet, but I would strongly argue that conservationists/hunters know and understand this concept many times better than preservationists, who don't understand Jack. Just read about the recent attempts of the BLM to round up and reduce wild horse/mustang populations in Nevada so all of the remaining horses don't starve. The preservationists are already screaming bloody murder. I guess they wish that the entire wild horse population would just starve to death. What a bunch of moroons.

We do need to preserve our planet for our offspring, and conservationists are the most qualified to do that. Lets just stick to our guns, manage wildlife, and provide for our children.

Screw Hollywood, they don't have a clue. They are so abnormal its not even worth discussing.

-Tutt

[Gun Smith]

Hey Cowboy Tutt, I used to live about 20 miles from one of the larger receiving facilities for wild horses in north eastern California. Over the years they had many roundups and sold many mustangs to private parties at auction.
I thought it was a good idea to help with range management, as several of my friends were ranchers. They had said many times that the wild game, wild horses and cattle were too much for the available grazing land to sustain. So the BLM felt the logical thing to do was create the wild horse round up and sell off the excess herd every year.
The old way of controlling wild horses in the earlier days was with a rifle. A women nick- named "Wild Horse Annie" helped to create the roundup program, instead of killing.
I onced talked to a couple of the round up cowboys about their jobs. One statement that kind of changed my mind about the program's effectiveness was the fact they actually let some of the stallions remain on the range to increase the herds and provide a long term pay check for themselves. I don't know if that is still being done today.

[Rifleman336]

Gunsmith,

They just had another large round up last week. They do them every few years when the gov't determines theres too many for the area to sustain health herds.

As far as the movie I just saw it today and it's the first ever for me 3-d movie and the glasses issued were a new type versus the red/blue paper glasses. Overall I'd saw a 7 out of 10. The plot could have used some work and the liberial slant was a little thick, but I'd say to anyone that asked to go see it, it was good.

Rifleman 336

[CowboyTutt]

Gun Smith and Rifleman, maybe I wasn't clear, but the round-ups are a good thing but "preservationists" are trying to block this practice. As I said, I guess they would rather the horses starve.

Now if only I had a place to keep a horse and could get one of these mustangs....

-Tutt

[Rifleman336]

[quote="CowboyTutt"]Gun Smith and Rifleman, maybe I wasn't clear, but the round-ups are a good thing but "preservationists" are trying to block this practice. As I said, I guess they would rather the horses starve.

Now if only I had a place to keep a horse and could get one of these mustangs....

-Tutt[/quote]

No miss understanding here. And I'm in agreement with you, it is a good thing. Their are still wild mustangs, but when there are too many they get adopted instead of turned in to dog food or fertilizer.
Nothing wrong with that.

As far as leaving a few that don't make the round up, its like selective logging of hardwood timber in Southern Ohio. By not clearcutting every tree on an acre, and just taking mature marketable trees, the rest are left to mature and take natures coarse of replanting, to replace the felled trees. No need for someone to come in and replant.

Works and looks great.

Rifleman 336

[Kansas Ed]

just saw the movie tonight. I'll give it a 6 for plot, and a 7 for special effects. If I had to do it over again I wouldn't spend the money. The 3D was lame IMO. As for the message, Audrey and I were talking about it after the show, and we came to the realization that it was about the military protecting the "energy resources" by going to war against another civilization....Liberal slant on Iraq in other words....which made both of us disgusted to say the least...

Why can't we just have a movie for the sake of entertainment anymore??? Oh well...back to Friday the 13th part VI.... real entertainment...

Ed

[JohndeFresno]

It is not necessarily sinful, morally reprehensible nor hypocritical for a nation to be interested in the well-being and security of another nation when there are issues of shared national interest. To expect any nation to police every trouble spot in the world and right every wrong - that whole idea just on the face of it is childishly naive and totally ludicrous - yet that seems to be the implied alternative by our critics. Of course we have had some type of national interest in those countries we have helped. And that is appropriate and sensible; nothing for which we should be ashamed.

Even when the corrupt Cuban government mistreated its residents, and Teddy Roosevelt charged the San Juan Heights (incorrectly labeled "San Juan Hill" by William Randolph Hearst) with his Rough Riders, we were very invested in Cuba's sugar and tobacco industries, at the very least. Regardless, we still brought freedom from tyranny (for a while) to those people.

No - the message was not just about our government's involvement in one of the sandy wasteland countries; it was a typical Hollywood onslaught against our national agenda, historically and otherwise. But again, it was still a great flick.

[C. Cash]

Post deleted for preaching to the choir and going political. Happy New Year!

[Dastook]

It was clear that the writers had an agenda with their message of imperialism, capitalistic exploitation and greed. Our Army invaded a peaceful people to try to enforce our way of life while exploiting their forests and resources. But the story was still a good one, and it resolved itself well. Thankfully, Al Gore or some other political airhead did not appear at the end of the story in some type of "instructional" cameo. JohndeFresno

My son saw it with his kids. He thought it was great, but said the same thing and added "Liberal propaganda" to his discription.

++1
Sure wish Hollywood could come up with an original plot. Like the rest of you I did like the 3D and FX.