Directors Roundtable: Sequels and board games vs. original work (Part 4 of 8)
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Avatar is quite different from Project 880, the rewritten script was a greatly simplified version, i suppose it would have ended up being a 5 hour movie otherwise…
The acting was great, for the most part, Ribisi’s character was a failed attempt at ‘Carter Burke’ and he didnt feel right for the part, and Sigourney just felt unnatural whenever she spoke
Seems THL got the sound/editing oscars and BP, such a poor choice, this is ‘Crash’ all over again, it also stole Best Screenplay from Basterds
Not entirely, I honestly think Quentin is a LOT smarter than Cameron, he just doesn’t feel that he needs to prove his intelligence.
And come on, Reitman is pretty humble…
@BradBallanger
so your going against Cameron and Quentin? i agree with Quentin, it’s an adaptation.. Reitman is a young director who thinks he knows everything
Yeah, and the fact that Avatar only got 1/3 of those means it fell flat on it’s face. The general public will consider it an epic but my good friends at the Academy will continue to call it eye candy and nothing more.
Hurt Locker FTW
Man, Cameron just argues until people give up on the topic. Star Trek and Transformers are both reinventions, and he just directly contradicted himself. Props to Reitman for calling him on it.
@PunkFictionProdction It could become a timeless classic. It’s certainly an instant classic, and will be remembered and viewed 50 years from now. Just like the original “King Kong”, “Star Wars”, and “Lord of the Rings.” It’s that type of epic. And it’s over-hyped, since it reached the hype for many people. The fact that it got 9 Oscar nods, means that it reached the hype.
@PunkFictionProdction The acting was very good, and great in some scenes.
@PeikLoef There’s nothing wrong with the dialogue. It’s cheesy, but in a good way, and it sounds plausible. It’s way better then the dialogue in the “Star Wars” prequels. And “Avatar” is “Project 880.”
@PeikLoef Ribisi was pretty great.
@katalius123 He makes original franchises. Nothing based on anything else.
I think you misunderstood the point. He created Terminator and Avatar. The idea was all these studios are taking preexisting material and creating a movie with it.
And Avatar is not based off of anything…really?
wait wait wait wait. Is James Cameron SERIOUSLY trying to refer to himself as anything BUT a franchise director? YOU MADE TERMINATOR. YOU MADE ALIENS. YOU ARE MAKING 2 MORE AVATAR MOVIES. YOU ARE THE KING OF FRANCHISE DIRECTORS.
God I hate that man.
2:08 I don’t think Jim likes being interrupted
I know that it was nominated for the writers guild award, but honestly, no one else has given any nods to the writers (lol, if they can be called that) or the actors/actresses. I’m not one of those people that thinks that they weren’t nominated because it’s not really acting, I’m one who thinks they just didn’t act well.
If Avatar would have come out last year, I totally would be behind it 100%. But it deserves NOTHING this year because of the amazing films it’s up against.
Ignore the wrong use of the word “whom”
Avatar was nominated for Best Original Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America btw
I thought the script was solid, but Cameron definitely needs to hire someone to help him with the dialogue in future projects =/
Otherwise his scripts are very easy to read, and he explains everything in tremendous detail, Project 880 would definitely have been a better film, but in order for it to work it would have had to be split into 2 films
I wouldnt compare Avatar to the first LOTR movie, but it definitely surpasses the second and third, both whom i was pretty disappointed by
The only one in Avatar that deserves an Oscar nom would be Zoe Saldana, she pretty much kept the whole film going, Stephen Langs performance was perfect (as usual) but Quaritch was just too… black and white, and the dialogue was quite bad, the rest were solid performances, with the expection of Ribisi, but nothing Oscar worthy
I’m sorry but I don’t think you can compare The Lord of the Rings to Avatar. Trust me, I get Avatar. I get exactly what it’s trying to say, it’s not hard to figure out. It isn’t a timeless classic. Please do tell me why Avatar isn’t up for any acting or writing Oscars, because that fact perfectly fits in with my theory that it’s an over-hyped piece of crap.
@PunkFictionProdction If you don’t understand why it’s up for Oscars, then you don’t understand it’s quality. It’s an epic achievement that creates an engrossing spectacle, it’s universal story, and that Cameron only uses the ground breaking effects to be service to the story, instead of taking it over.
If you don’t understand why it’s up for Oscars, then you’ll never understand why many epics were up for Oscars. “Avatar” is just as great as “Star Wars”, “Lord of the Rings”, and other epics.
@PunkFictionProdction I don’t see what’s the big deal with the name “unobtanium.” Cameron spent 14 years writing “Avatar”, and building the world, and that shows within the film. He didn’t just focuse on the visuals, he focused on the story, characters, and the universe that he created and will continue to create.
I’m sorry but I refuse to accept the notion that a film with a mineral called “unobtanium” is well written. Tarantino spent ten years writing Inglourious Basterds, Cameron spent ten years on the visuals of Avatar. And that shows in both of them.
I just don’t understand why it’s up for Oscars. Up in the Air is 100% talking and 100% more entertaining than Avatar. Anyone else notice that Avatar isn’t up for acting or writing awards? What does that tell you?
@PunkFictionProdction Pocahontas was a pretty mediocre film, but I’m talking about the cartoon by Disney. The best story film adaptation of Pocahontas is definitely “The New World.”
But still, “Avatar” is an original and highly innovative film. With alot of emotional depth, and spiritual resonance. Cameron probably peaked with “Terminator 2″, but he’s seemed to gain alot more maturity with both “Titanic” and “Avatar.” And Cameron’s opinion on the movie business is pretty accurate.
Sure it’s original in concept, but come on. I cried at the end of Pocahontas, I didn’t feel anything at the end of Avatar. In my mind, Cameron peaked with Terminator 2.
It’s just irritating to hear some of Cameron’s ignorant comments regarding the movie business. You can’t walk all over film festivals with Reitman sitting there. Besides, Up in the Air>Avatar.
Uh Cameron did acknowledge that “Avatar” was influenced by “Dances With Wolves”, and many other stories. But his film is original in concept, because it didn’t come from any other source material. It might be hist most derivative work to date, but it’s not a direct copy or adaptation of something else.
As far as I’m concerned, Tarantino and Cameron are equally great in their own way, and have different approaches to cinema. One is more avant garde, while the other is more Hollywood epic.