Avatar gets hammered

[Mikala]

Uwe is a creative genius!!!

[S_Matt]

I did like Avatar despite its shortcomings until I started to find out exactly how much of a ripoff of other sci fi materials it is. I was willing to forgive the Pocohontas references, but all out theft of other people's work? I cannot abide that.

I always dismissed the Harlan Ellison lawsuit against Cameron in 1984 as a fluke, as an example of hysterical and frivolous litigation, but now I'm not so sure. Its becoming clear to me that James Cameron never had an original idea in his life, and I have been forced to re-evaluate his body of work.

Avatar unfortunately has been a box office success - the more money it makes, the more prestige it gets, and the more remote the chances are that anyone will be able to sue and get some form of compensation of the blatant theft that they have suffered. I'm just hoping sanity prevails and that nobody hands this film any oscars (except for techncial categories - no sense punishing the VFX artists for Cameron's crimes)

As for me, I'm done with James Cameron. The man is a hack and a thief.

[ST-One]

Originally Posted by S_Matt

I did like Avatar despite its shortcomings until I started to find out exactly how much of a ripoff of other sci fi materials it is. I was willing to forgive the Pocohontas references, but all out theft of other people's work? I cannot abide that.

I always dismissed the Harlan Ellison lawsuit against Cameron in 1984 as a fluke, as an example of hysterical and frivolous litigation, but now I'm not so sure. Its becoming clear to me that James Cameron never had an original idea in his life, and I have been forced to re-evaluate his body of work.

Avatar unfortunately has been a box office success - the more money it makes, the more prestige it gets, and the more remote the chances are that anyone will be able to sue and get some form of compensation of the blatant theft that they have suffered. I'm just hoping sanity prevails and that nobody hands this film any oscars (except for techncial categories - no sense punishing the VFX artists for Cameron's crimes)

As for me, I'm done with James Cameron. The man is a hack and a thief.

How can he even steal the Pocahontas story?
Next thing people will say is that stole the Titanic story?

Do you know if he was even aware of a comic book that was published 25 years ago?

But if we are at 'being done with' people: You should stop watching Star Trek altogether since Roddenberry obviously ripped off Forbidden Planet.

[Tenement 01]

Originally Posted by muzzlenz

Movies are art - art is subjective - subjectivity means difference in opinions. One thing I do find interesting though is how quick some people are to slam a movie based primarily on who the director is, how much he spent on making the movie, and how much the movie made. It's a bit like highschool times, when it was cool to like or not like something which often had little to do with the actual thing being lauded/slammed.

Bands are a classic example - it's cool to like them when no-one else does, but as soon as they become successful, they've "sold-out" and are no longer cool.

Avatar was an enjoyable watch - a spectacle. Not the most original story, nor completely flawless, however the sum of it's parts outweighed the shortcomings, in my opinion.

But, if Uwe Boll had made it.....

Or Paul Anderson.

[XRaiderV1]

Originally Posted by deg3D

Yep, storm churnin' up here too, eh.

Never really that bad since '68 and '78 though.

deg

last bad storm I recall was in '95.

I was 12 at the time. it was 2 and a half feet, privately, I think it was closet to 3 feet.

[deg3D]

Originally Posted by ST-One

How can he even steal the Pocahontas story?
Next thing people will say is that stole the Titanic story?

Do you know if he was even aware of a comic book that was published 25 years ago?

I don't know, ST-One, given those major similarities, I'd find it extremely hard to believe he was unaware of Timespirits. It could be a fluke of similarity, but I seriously doubt it myself. In the end though, I just don't know, and I don't know the man personally to really gauge his character to enable making a valid call on it.

TBT though, if he was to have lifted (not just been influenced by) something that close to Xerox, it does sorta change my gauge of him personally. But does that make me enjoy his films any less, or detract from my day overall? No, I don't really invest that much energy in what other people do or do not do, so as to have it actually change my inner-workings/feelings. If I did, there are many more real issues going on in the world that really impact life on the planet, as opposed to distressing about what amounts to a mere entertainment product.

So yeah, wow, he may have blundered, big deal. Humans are walking contradictions, every single one of us, at some level, at one point or another (esp. ones with the artist-ego). If he did blunder, I still enjoy his films, always have. Heck, I used to über-admire Mel Gibson (and still do artistically), but he jumped-the-shark on a personal level big time (IMO), but hey, he's just a flawed human, eh, as am I, as is all of us. Mine is not to judge and condemn other's paths, mine is just to try and keep my own course as straight as I can on my own path by trying the best I can or am able.

But heck, I still love Mel up on the big-screen or behind the camera, as the man has talent IMO, eh. He's troubled IMO too, but he still makes an enjoyable 2 hours of entertainment in my book.

deg

[deg3D]

Originally Posted by XRaiderV1

last bad storm I recall was in '95.

I was 12 at the time. it was 2 and a half feet, privately, I think it was closet to 3 feet.

Yeah, we had a pretty decent amount in Jan of "99 as well. Good times. I had just met my wife a few month before, so it was our first winter together.

deg

[VK08]

I want to apologize for my temper tantrum yesterday, all sorts of messages from people who don't comment wanting my raider set me off.

So I'm sorry if I offended anyone.

[deg3D]

Originally Posted by VK08

I want to apologize for my temper tantrum yesterday, all sorts of messages from people who don't comment wanting my raider set me off.

So I'm sorry if I offended anyone.

No worries here, VK. Hope you are feelin' more balanced and at ease today, eh.

deg

[Gordon Robb]

Originally Posted by VK08

I want to apologize for my temper tantrum yesterday, all sorts of messages from people who don't comment wanting my raider set me off.

So I'm sorry if I offended anyone.

Wow! Was that a temper tantrum

hehe, everybody gotta vent sometime.! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykxwwQxzKE4

[VK08]

Originally Posted by deg3D

No worries here, VK. Hope you are feelin' more balanced and at ease today, eh.

deg

Originally Posted by Gordon Robb

Wow! Was that a temper tantrum

hehe, everybody gotta vent sometime.! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykxwwQxzKE4

it's as much of a tantrum as I will show publicly nowadays.. Especially when people claim my behavior is "erratic" for questioning why they aren't following written arrangements.. Don't ask, just understand the stress..

[Gordon Robb]

Got it!

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

I'd like to see you come up here bud, and walk around in my ol' hood at 2 AM, LOL.

What and see a bunch of senior citizens? Wait! Did someone say Uwe Boll is a genius?

[Mikala]

Certifiable

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

yeah, he's certifiable alright. I watched Postal.

[BillS]

Definition: Stress (noun) When the mind overrides the bodies basic desire to choke the living $hit out of someone that desperately deserves it.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Erm, Bill you need to lie down.

[deg3D]

Originally Posted by BillS

Definition: Stress (noun) When the mind overrides the bodies basic desire to choke the living $hit out of someone that desperately deserves it.

Reminds me of the ol' saying; Don't let the turkeys get you down.

Life's too valuable to waste throwing away thought and energy (let alone time) on the like.

deg

[VK08]

Originally Posted by BillS

Definition: Stress (noun) When the mind overrides the bodies basic desire to choke the living $hit out of someone that desperately deserves it.

LOL Bill, that's about where I am right now..

@Deg: not really nothing, its a big deal thing.

[DigitalOrigami]

Originally Posted by VK08

yep i just normally get ignored, even when I make a point... guess noone will miss me.

I'd miss you too. Who else could I bug for modo help?

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

So THIS is where the idea for Avatar came from.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9uo4nOD__s

[deg3D]

Does more to illustrate the dissimilarities than the similarities to me.

I love both films either way.

deg

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Yeah Dances With Wolves was good.

[Mr. Wilde]

In this video Cameron sort of adresses how much of an ******* he was ten years ago and before, and that he has changed since.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP7tnzzNd-c

[NanoGator]

Originally Posted by Mr. Wilde

In this video Cameron sort of adresses how much of an ******* he was ten years ago and before, and that he has changed since.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP7tnzzNd-c

Thank yout for posting that. You can see at about the 8 minute mark he gives credit to us for helping him make the movie. He has made a point of that at a number of places and the crew definitely appreciates it.

I remember when I first started on that movie I was scared poop-less from the stories I had read about what he was like. As a result, I clammed up whenever he said anything to me. That made things...awkward. I'll never forget the first time I met him. I was having a meeting with my boss and he had unexpectedly burst into the room and said "There's smoke in the building, go find the fire!" Now, thanks to the exaggerated stories I had read on-line, a thought had quietly percolated in my head. "Did he just set a fire somewhere in the building to test us?" I just stood there like 'o_O' .. and there was this pause, and I hadn't said anything. After a bit he looked at me like "Did this employee come equipped with a brain?" and walked out.

So... we went on a fire hunt, eventually bumped into the Santa Monica Fire Dept, wearing oxygen tanks and masks, doing a room by room search for fire or maybe alien life or something. I remember thinking as they went through the art department "uhh... did these guys have to sign an NDA?" Well, it turns out the AC unit on the roof had generated a fault and started to smoke. And since it was part of the 'life support' system, it was sending the faint scent of smoke to every room in the building. Hence the 'fire search'. There was smoke, nobody could find the fire, so people were going room to room recruiting others to help find the source of it. So... yeah, I must have looked kinda dumb to him.

Thankfully, after three years, somehow I erased that first impression.

[NanoGator]

Wow, I assassinated the thread. Sorry guys!

[Mikala]

Don't worry these threads tend to resurrect

[Spartan-117]

Originally Posted by Mikala

Don't worry these threads tend to resurrect

*6 months later* Indeed.


I first heard of Avatar when Cameron talked about it during the 1990's and I've followed the news closely... hoping for another Terminator film, but still looking forward to anything written/directed by Jim. So last year when Avatar hit the big screen I almost threw a fit since the cinema complex where I live wouldn't show Avatar in 3D! So I refused to see it and I didn't get to see Avatar at all until last week! Sucks living on an island! The 3D tech is BRILLIANT the movie was amazing. Have since also seen the regular 2D version.... so flat, so boring. At least compared to the 3D version.