If you want to know what 3D will be like in your home or what all the 3D fuss is about this is a great reference point to get your 3D gears spinning or decide 3D is not for you.
Avatar is considered to be state of the art 3D from well known director James Cameron. He claims to have taken the gimmicky nature out of 3D and reduced eye strain and fatigue with natural stereoscopic capturing of images.
The movie is entertaining but I don't think Avatar will become a film classic.
Display Format
If you want to get a taste of the difference in 3D display technology it is available in IMAX 3D, Real 3D and Dolby 3D. All use the orthogonic approach (X-pol) with passive glasses. The movie is 2 hours and 40 minutes and due to the length I suggest you study your 3D options.
IMAX 3D will give you the widest foreground to background response and possibly a work out for your eyes but is hailed as providing the most dramatic response. One huge difference includes the huge screen and some of the scenes will play quite well to this engulfing aspect while making Hollywood close ups unrealistic. Some may be overcome by that engulfing aspect losing their personal sense of balance and comfort.
Real 3D and Dolby 3D is reported as taming 3D excesses for a more natural presentation that is also easier on the eyes. Unlike IMAX these theaters use a conventional screen size. If you have any concerns about eye strain or motion sickness go with one of these instead of IMAX. Dolby 3D adds color filtering to their passive glasses claiming better color performance.
Avatar in 3D - see it now for your taste of 3D at home
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Richard
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stevekaden
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I have seen 5 variants. I suggest anyone seeing the movie in RealD 3D, try and find out if they have switched to a silver screen, or find someone who is knowledgable to advise you on the quality. I and another very experienced person have found RealD to be horribly bad. Theory so far is that they are not using the proper screen and the color is muted, off, image dim and as a result of the lack of saturation of the eye - persistence is short and the action images are very jerky.
I wrote to National Amusements who own the theater where I saw the RealD image, they have not yet responded to me. Their IMAX was very good.
One alternative is XpanD - active shutter glasses - but only known to be showing in one theater in Hollywood.
I wrote to National Amusements who own the theater where I saw the RealD image, they have not yet responded to me. Their IMAX was very good.
One alternative is XpanD - active shutter glasses - but only known to be showing in one theater in Hollywood.
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Richard
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I watched in Real 3D and there was no problem. It's far more likely your Real 3D experience was a local failure rather than global.
It's worth pointing out that the quality you experience with any of these systems will be directly related to how much that theater cares about performance. A lot don't and I suspect many viewers will not have the experience they should have, with 3D or 2D for that matter!
It's worth pointing out that the quality you experience with any of these systems will be directly related to how much that theater cares about performance. A lot don't and I suspect many viewers will not have the experience they should have, with 3D or 2D for that matter!
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Richard
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While my Real 3D experience used the right screen the theater is horrible when it comes to giving a hoot about performance. I am reminded of the THX Theater program where they would send a local THX rep to watch THX movies at the local theaters for a confirmation of performance. Hmm... wonder if that is still on going...
I have discovered this movie was delivered in 1.78 but you may easily end up not seeing it that way. In my case they used a 2.35 screen cutting off the top and bottom fo the original image. Expanding the height presentation for 3D makes oodles of sense without getting into all the details of why.
Considering all this and the well deserved performance reputation of IMAX theaters for both image and sound I suggest going that route. At least you will get the full meal performance deal. The only possible drawback is the screen size can be overwhelming. As for too much 3D activity, I recommend taking that risk.
I have discovered this movie was delivered in 1.78 but you may easily end up not seeing it that way. In my case they used a 2.35 screen cutting off the top and bottom fo the original image. Expanding the height presentation for 3D makes oodles of sense without getting into all the details of why.
Considering all this and the well deserved performance reputation of IMAX theaters for both image and sound I suggest going that route. At least you will get the full meal performance deal. The only possible drawback is the screen size can be overwhelming. As for too much 3D activity, I recommend taking that risk.
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stephenxanders
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hharris4earthlink
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"I don't think Avatar will become a film classic"
I'm curious to know in what sense you mean that? As I'm sure you know, Avatar ticket sales are approaching $1.5 billion worldwide and has probably single-handedly created a new market for 3D television. How can what will be probably the most successful film in history not be a classic?
I'm curious to know in what sense you mean that? As I'm sure you know, Avatar ticket sales are approaching $1.5 billion worldwide and has probably single-handedly created a new market for 3D television. How can what will be probably the most successful film in history not be a classic?
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stevekaden
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What is a classic movie?
BTW, this is not the most successful movie....yet. I heard about a week ago it had sold 75 million tickets vs. 125 million for Titanic. Essentially adjusting for inflation (and 3d markup) this is still second in popularity - and probably in $.
I personally loved it to the point of 5 viewings, and want to do 2 more (part of my all technologies sweep). But, I might have to go with Richard, that it might not hold in the realm of what we might call classic movie in a 'literary' context. It has been compared with King Kong in it's leap of achievement, but King Kong sprung from a time where there was nothing similar. Avatar is now, and will be blended in with a huge amount of high tech movies. Including it's own sequels.
The story is great, the dialog good - but both are still pretty much 'classic' James Cameron. Not extremely memorable for their literary content - more for presenting some basic concepts (love, honor, respect etc.) and carries the visual side of the story very well. I could go on, but others have done a great job of lambasting the story - some with great humor.
I'd go with that this will be movie classic in the sense that it will hold up for a long time, for multiple viewings and being a fabulously engaging, emotionally connecting, wonderfully pagan, absolutely classic Hollywood. But it is not literay classic in that deeply emotional connectivity that great tragedy or literary genius brings.
I personally loved it to the point of 5 viewings, and want to do 2 more (part of my all technologies sweep). But, I might have to go with Richard, that it might not hold in the realm of what we might call classic movie in a 'literary' context. It has been compared with King Kong in it's leap of achievement, but King Kong sprung from a time where there was nothing similar. Avatar is now, and will be blended in with a huge amount of high tech movies. Including it's own sequels.
The story is great, the dialog good - but both are still pretty much 'classic' James Cameron. Not extremely memorable for their literary content - more for presenting some basic concepts (love, honor, respect etc.) and carries the visual side of the story very well. I could go on, but others have done a great job of lambasting the story - some with great humor.
I'd go with that this will be movie classic in the sense that it will hold up for a long time, for multiple viewings and being a fabulously engaging, emotionally connecting, wonderfully pagan, absolutely classic Hollywood. But it is not literay classic in that deeply emotional connectivity that great tragedy or literary genius brings.
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Richard
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Avatar provides a huge feast of ear and eye candy galore by taking CG rendering to a new level, with the cinematography directed by the talented James Cameron. And it will likely be a big hit for demoing the HT to ooh and ah yourself or your friends with specific cuts. All of that is entertaining but the screenplay itself was hugely disappointing for me and many others. Where is the inspiration for multiple viewings of a 160 minute movie?
We are provided with two thought provoking premises; science has created the ability to create life forms, project your consciousness into that life form and when you aren’t projecting, that life form becomes unconscious falling to the ground; and the fact that on this alien planet, life forms have the ability to directly communicate with each other via thought. WOW! That’s pretty incredible with so many different, new and unpredictable directions to go.
What does James do with this awesome material? Throws an old canned and re-hashed screenplay behind it, used hundreds of times now, of evil government and military in collusion with evil big business, versus the noble and moral scientists and noble and moral social culture of this planet and indigenous beings all wrapped around an idealistic moral lesson of how man’s relationship to nature should be. This made nearly every hook instantly predictable. It was like an adult version of Captain Planet! The big machine rolling over the trees could have come directly out of that cartoon!
Sorry, but I have seen this moral story for the last 20 years ad nauseam. Avatar just provides a different palette. Nothing inspiring here except for seeing the ear and eye candy one more time in 2D on my rig. On that note, can’t say I would watch it again if I would have seen it in 2D to begin with. On that note, I would not have gone to the theater anyway and waited on the Blu-ray instead!
We are provided with two thought provoking premises; science has created the ability to create life forms, project your consciousness into that life form and when you aren’t projecting, that life form becomes unconscious falling to the ground; and the fact that on this alien planet, life forms have the ability to directly communicate with each other via thought. WOW! That’s pretty incredible with so many different, new and unpredictable directions to go.
What does James do with this awesome material? Throws an old canned and re-hashed screenplay behind it, used hundreds of times now, of evil government and military in collusion with evil big business, versus the noble and moral scientists and noble and moral social culture of this planet and indigenous beings all wrapped around an idealistic moral lesson of how man’s relationship to nature should be. This made nearly every hook instantly predictable. It was like an adult version of Captain Planet! The big machine rolling over the trees could have come directly out of that cartoon!
Sorry, but I have seen this moral story for the last 20 years ad nauseam. Avatar just provides a different palette. Nothing inspiring here except for seeing the ear and eye candy one more time in 2D on my rig. On that note, can’t say I would watch it again if I would have seen it in 2D to begin with. On that note, I would not have gone to the theater anyway and waited on the Blu-ray instead!
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stevekaden
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Richard, I can't argue with your opionion, even as I don't quite share it - I found the movie grew on me more and more the more I saw it. And as I heard the right wing groaning and moaning I began to realize it hit a cord. Of course they went jingo and utter misinterpreted every aspect of it.
There was an interview with James C. and he corrected some of the perceptions and assumptions vs. what he had intended. While I believe in dualities and he could have built in multiple messages, or they could have just come out of it as well. He said that the last scene, where Jake's Navi eyes open - is just that - a message to OPEN your, our, eyes. My interpretation is that this message about facism (thought there is no indication an Earth Government was involved) is one that bears repetetion. As James said, (more or less) we just walked into a war where we were lied into assaulting a country that had not attacked us, nor threatened us with any danger - that had a precious resource.
And we then threw all boundaries out the window and first shocked and awed them, then just wreaked havoc on them. For Oil.
Our society just sat there with a bit of progressive moaning and groaning as we walking to Vietnam all over again.
So now knowing the intention, the message is classic and very solid. Was it as elegant as it could be...no, but there are many other good elements throughout. And in that, there is a lot of seeming rehash.
There was an interview with James C. and he corrected some of the perceptions and assumptions vs. what he had intended. While I believe in dualities and he could have built in multiple messages, or they could have just come out of it as well. He said that the last scene, where Jake's Navi eyes open - is just that - a message to OPEN your, our, eyes. My interpretation is that this message about facism (thought there is no indication an Earth Government was involved) is one that bears repetetion. As James said, (more or less) we just walked into a war where we were lied into assaulting a country that had not attacked us, nor threatened us with any danger - that had a precious resource.
And we then threw all boundaries out the window and first shocked and awed them, then just wreaked havoc on them. For Oil.
Our society just sat there with a bit of progressive moaning and groaning as we walking to Vietnam all over again.
So now knowing the intention, the message is classic and very solid. Was it as elegant as it could be...no, but there are many other good elements throughout. And in that, there is a lot of seeming rehash.