Not looking for spoilers. I am seeing reports that the movie is doing well at the box office. No one on my social media or in my daily contacts has mentioned they watched this movie. I was surprised it is doing so well as the firs movie was pretty much out of the public consciousness for a while.

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Ways to improve web conference image and sound quality. [forums.macresource.com]

I’m in the same boat you are, I didn’t even know it was out.

I saw the first movie. Special effects were great, the story was very so-so and predictable. It made no lasting impact on me, and I have no intention of seeing it again or any sequels to it.

Yeah, in 3 weeks it's doing pretty well. + $1,700,000,000.00 ($1.7 Billion) globally. 7th biggest movie of all time worldwide.

+ $170,000,000.00 ($170 Million) estimated budget on just marketing alone.

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d4
Yeah, in 3 weeks it's doing pretty well. + $1,700,000,000.00 ($1.7 Billion) globally. 7th biggest movie of all time worldwide.

+ $170,000,000.00 ($170 Million) estimated budget on just marketing alone.

That's what boggles my mind. Usually when a movie is big I know at least one person in real life and a few on social media that mention they watched a movie. I had forgotten about Avatar but saw a headline about how another movie was unable to unseat it at #1.

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All the things i've heard say that it's much better in iIMAX 3D, which makes it extraordinary. Otherwise, sounds good, but not special.

And two or three sequels are already in the works. I may watch it when it is streaming for free, but no interest in paying for it.

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

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JoeH
I saw the first movie. Special effects were great, the story was very so-so and predictable. It made no lasting impact on me, and I have no intention of seeing it again or any sequels to it.

yup. very disappointed in the "story" as it could have been written without such ridiculous clichés.

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Hurts like a bastid...

Saw it with the kids. Nice SFX but plot holes the size of whales - like

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Embarassing myself on the Internet since 1978.

I saw the first one in IMAX 3D. It was one of the first movies that I remember being shot specifically for this format.

It was good but actually gave me a headache because my eyes are very different and not the same strength post-Lasik surgery years ago. While I don't typically wear glasses and usually have no problems with 3D movies, the combination of 3D and giant, IMAX screen was too much.

As for the new movie, my son saw it (regular format screen). He said it was okay but nothing special. He never saw the first movie. I'll watch it when it comes on Disney+.

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mrbigstuff

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JoeH
I saw the first movie. Special effects were great, the story was very so-so and predictable. It made no lasting impact on me, and I have no intention of seeing it again or any sequels to it.

yup. very disappointed in the "story" as it could have been written without such ridiculous clichés.

yeah - the plot may have seemed a bit familiar...

My daughter talked me into seeing this movie over Christmas break. Visually it’s very good. Not that different from what we have already seen but good. It was about 30 minutes too long though. It’s a real time commitment.

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Ukulele music I couldn't find anywhere else.
[colquhoun.info]

Decent action movie. Good water effects.

Worth the IMAX experience if you can find it priced reasonably.

IMHO, it was NOT worth the $18 admission for IMAX at my local AMC.

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I'm not sure why anybody is surprised it's doing well.

I figured it would from the jump, as fans of the genre are legion.

It does surprise me that it's doing so well.

At last look, it appeared to be closing in on Maverick, which did surprise me.

I knew I wanted to see it, that it would be great, but I didn't realize how many people would like it, how well it would do not only in box office, but extended box office, as well as other platforms.

A movie that's not a documentary is generally meant to entertain and employs creative license to that end.

If it's sufficiently entertaining, a metric I actively embrace, a lot of other niggles can be overlooked.

Given that many of us don't socialize nearly as much post pandemic, it's a given we'll be somewhat to way out of touch.

But Avatar never appealed to me, and the MCU has fallen out of my favor for the same reason — CGI dependence is massive.

Expected, given the genre, and I'm not a particular fan, so there's that.

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

CGI dependence is massive

right. I'll stick with the masters for my cartoons.

[youtu.be]

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Hurts like a bastid...

I saw the first one in the theater and had a wonderful time and then I read a bad review that mentioned that it was just the Pocahontas story all over again - and it was. Note for note. Really surprised that I didn't pick up on it in the theater - it's really obvious.

I never rewatched like I normally do with big fun movies. Tried a couple of weeks ago and I just can't get interested again. This time the cgi really bothered me - the first time, it was just fun.

A good friend saw the new movie and said it was too violent for her. She has a very low threshold. Cameron said that after watching the movie, he cut 10min of the violence because it made him sick to his stomach.

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SDGuy
yeah - the plot may have seemed a bit familiar...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2023 03:02PM by hal.

I always thought the original was a sci-fi version of Dances with Wolves... But I still loved it.

New Avatar is ok. Visually stunning. Story is ok. I could have waited to watch on my projector at home.

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hal
I saw the first one in the theater and had a wonderful time and then I read a bad review that mentioned that it was just the Pocahontas story all over again - and it was. Note for note. Really surprised that I didn't pick up on it in the theater - it's really obvious.

I never rewatched like I normally do with big fun movies. Tried a couple of weeks ago and I just can't get interested again. This time the cgi really bothered me - the first time, it was just fun.

A good friend saw the new movie and said it was too violent for her. She has a very low threshold. Cameron said that after watching the movie, he cut 10min of the violence because it made him sick to his stomach.

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SDGuy
yeah - the plot may have seemed a bit familiar...

Nope. First one bored me out of my skull, I didn't even stick around for the big finale battle.

Not for me.

Sometimes people just don't bring it up in conversation when they've enjoyed a "lowbrow," pop culture-ish movie like Avatar2. For fear of being sniffed at. Meanwhile if they watched a thought provoking, obscure movie or show on streaming, they'll be sure to bring it up at the water cooler. Extra points if it's foreign with subtitles! I've never met anyone who brings up the Kardashian show. But it's been running for TWENTY SEASONS. Not that I'm comparing Kardashians to the Na'vi... LOL

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Rewatched the first one a few weeks ago, as I was honestly bored in the first showing.

My opinion did not change. Will wait to see it, maybe, at home sometime.

Everyone I've talked to that has seen it has said that it's basically the same as the first one (which I found trite and boring) but underwater. The CGI is supposed to be very well done but is basically lipstick on a pig. Even my son said that he doesn't want to see it based on opinions of friends. I won't be bothering.

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"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan

Loved the first one. Saw Avatar2 last week, and was quite surprised how boring the storyline was. It's basically a very, very cliched war movie in amazing CGI. I'm rarely pulled out a movie as often as I was during this one, often thinking that Cameron really lost the plot over the zillions of hours they spent working on the special effects.

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M1 2020 Mac mini (16G 2T) • Ventura 13.x • Dual 25" Acer 1440p LCDs • M1 2020 13" MBAir (256G 8G) •

I think the CGI and 3D effects of original Avatar were groundbreaking at the time and worth the price of admission.

Now that so many other movies have become so dependent on CGI effects and the 3D fad has come and gone, adding water to the mix falls short for me.

You may also be surprised to learn that the video game market has surpassed and now dwarfs the movies!

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g=

We saw it last week in Imax 3D and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I guess we are just uncouth, uneducated slobs.

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The arts are not luxuries but assets that give way more than they cost.
--Ronald Tucker on YouTube

A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open.
--Frank Zappa

I have no issues with people enjoying the movie. That's cool if anyone likes it. I am just surprised that it has high ticket sales but I haven't seen much buzz in my social circles about it. Normally a popular movie will have people posting in front of the movie poster or display at the theater.

I have actually seen 2 postings on my Facebook about Disney's box office failure "Strange Worlds" and nothing about Avatar.

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Ways to improve web conference image and sound quality. [forums.macresource.com]

i sat out, my wife & daughter went and said it was terrible.

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We also saw it in IMAX 3D and enjoyed it a lot. You go into this looking for cinematic experience, not an original story. Seeing it at home would probably be boring, unless maybe I sit 3 feet from my 100 inch projector screen and watch the 3D version.

On a side note, was Maverick an original story? Or just more acceptable to patriotic public?

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dk62
...On a side note, was Maverick an original story? Or just more acceptable to patriotic public?

I think that was covered just about two months ago

I guess we are just uncouth, uneducated slobs.


Nah, you went looking for entertainment and got it.

That's all that matters to a lot of people, and I'm one of them.

I don't go into a movie thinking 'You'd better convince me OR ELSE!'

Bad acting is probably the single biggest thing that pops my bubble of suspended disbelief.

Obvious procedural details might stick.

But things done to further the movie, not being a documentary, don't bother me, nearly as much as the viewers who try to make a movie into a documentary.

When I walk out of a movie feeling better than when walking in, it was worth that money.



On a side note, was Maverick an original story? Or just more acceptable to patriotic public?


Those two things don't make 'either/or' sense.

And since in Maverick it was only 'the enemy' that we didn't know by any other name (yes, a lot of wags tried to name them) patriotism wasn't that prominent of a factor.

Maverick had a ton of great things going for it outside of 'the enemy' - a great story, well told, solid acting, some levity, drama, and as some love to point out - creative license.

Though they don't see it as such.

We like what we like.

I've seen it in theater many times, and tried to see it on it's Christmas run, but by then it was too crowded for my benefit.

I've watched it many times more on video.

Each and every time it feels nearly new to me.

Yes, I know what comes next, but I'm not thinking about it.

It's one of the very few movies that let's me be in the moment for the entire movie.

That is rare for me.

I put it on recently just to find a point to prove to a hater, and again, just watched it from start to finish.

For me, this is a perfect movie, 100%.

Others would rather point out that we never saw the Tomcat's ejections seats armed.

So what.

If watching a movie makes one happy, then it's done a good job.

That the same movie might not make me happy is wholly irrelevant, and it's neither my duty or place to convince someone otherwise.

Unless they decide they want to be a sociopath serial killer, instead of say - a fighter pilot.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

And since in Maverick it was only 'the enemy' that we didn't know by any other name (yes, a lot of wags tried to name them) patriotism wasn't that prominent of a factor.

Having US act as world police by conducting an unsanctioned attack on a sovereign country sounds like it does require a certain dose of patriotism even if the "evil country" is unnamed.

We like what we like.

That is absolutely true. De gustibus non disputandum est. And we did enjoy Maverick as well, although I doubt I will watch it more than twice (not that I would be watching Avatar again any time soon, either).

Tried watching Black Adam- just couldn't. That was all style over substance in my opinion.

Liked Tar a lot. But that can be easily watched on the small screen. So one can enjoy both cinematic experiences with limited story if done right, and good story without cinematic fireworks, particularly if accompanied by great acting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2023 01:02PM by dk62.

….water…..logged…..

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

I wonder what part 3 will be?

He did above water and underwater.. what's next moles?

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

Quote
Ombligo
I wonder what part 3 will be?

He did above water and underwater.. what's next moles?

I was wondering the same thing. Hopefully something less black-and-white in terms of good vs bad. Hopefully he will not continue to paint the picture where the only morally acceptable course is to abandon your race and turn into aliens to support them... He may go further into Gaia-like concept, but really not sure how the whole thing will evolve. The cinematic wonders are mainly the results of world-building, and so far, as you say, underground seems the only realm not explored.

…..i believe 3 is already shot…..he filmed it at the same time as 2…..

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!