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James Cameron’s <i>Avatar</i> Teaser Trailer
SlashFilm ^ | 20 Aug 2009 | Russ Fischer

Posted on 08/20/2009 9:30:34 AM PDT by AreaMan

James Cameron’s Avatar Teaser Trailer

Posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 by Russ Fischer

Avatar

The teaser trailer for James Cameron’s new film Avatar has arrived.

The clip isn’t yet properly live at Apple, the site meant to be hosting it in the US, but you can see it in 1080p with this link, or at the French MSN site.

Here’s the quick recap: Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) arrives (in his wheelchair) on Pandora. He sees the planet’s beauty and, though him, we’re quickly introduced to the ten-foot tall alien Na’vi avatars. Implanted in his Na’vi body, Jake leads us on an exploration of Pandora. We see Zoe Saldana’s Na’vi character and Jake’s imprinting session with Pandora’s version of a dragon. (Hey Anne McCafferey, did you get a royalty check?) There’s even a glimpse of Pandora at night, and a little bit of the new power suits in action, which weren’t much seen in the Comic Con footage. We don’t see Sigourney Weaver, but do get a glimpse of Drag Me To Hell’s Dileep Rao as one of the Avatar technicians.

And, much as I thought when seeing footage in Hall H, it all looks a bit like a big adult Pixar movie. Which people are probably going to take as a pejorative, given that the whole thrust of Avatar so far has been that it is a game-changing experience. But when is being compared to Pixar ever an insult?

The real insult is from Fox, which keeps mismanaging Avatar’s debut. First there was the Avatar ticketing server crash and subsequent confirmation confusion, and now the teaser launch has been screwed up. In the long run this isn’t a big deal, but creating hype for a film is all about getting the moment right and that hasn’t been happening so far.

Official Plot Synopsis: AVATAR takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery, as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization. The film was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist. Now, after four years of actual production work, AVATAR delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film, disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

Comments 

 


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: entertainment; movies; sciencefiction
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To: karnage

If your point was about artistry rather than historical accuracy, one does not need to be an artist to critique art any more than one needs to be a chef to critique the taste of food. And, yes, I was overgeneralizing.


81 posted on 08/20/2009 2:12:50 PM PDT by Question_Assumptions
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To: Borges

I see you’ve actually read “A Christmas Carol”. My apologies. But my point about comparing and contrasting with what Dickens wrote to how it is produced by modern leftwing television and movie types remains. And while you can say Marx was qualified to write about the same period, Dickens was no Marx.


82 posted on 08/20/2009 2:17:20 PM PDT by Question_Assumptions
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To: Borges

...or, to answer your original question, the class issues in Dickens don’t annoy me but the way it’s twisted out of shape to make Dickens look like a Marxist by modern interpretations of Dickens does bother me.


83 posted on 08/20/2009 2:20:35 PM PDT by Question_Assumptions
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To: AreaMan

Isn’t it easier to just trade with the blue people and then give em Small Pox?


84 posted on 08/20/2009 2:22:17 PM PDT by Sawdring
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To: Question_Assumptions
I didn't claim that Cameron was trying to give an accurate portrait of the era. The film was a Romantic fantasy. But I was defending the use of class oriented tension as a legitimate subject for a film set in that period. And the notion that he can't write about it because he didn't live at the time is silly. Historical fiction has always been with us.
85 posted on 08/20/2009 2:22:27 PM PDT by Borges
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To: Question_Assumptions

I was responding to your post about artists doing their best work when they are young and hungry.

I think Spielberg has made great movies since achieving great wealth and fame with JAWS. Some of Hitchcock’s later movies were as good or better than any of his early ones. Another poster mentioned Ridley Scott. Scorsese also. The same could be said for Hawks and Ford.

I don’t think your post stands up to critical analysis.


86 posted on 08/20/2009 2:29:27 PM PDT by karnage (worn arguments and old attitudes)
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To: Sawdring
Isn’t it easier to just trade with the blue people and then give em Small Pox?

Yeah, I suppose, but how would Cameron get a 2hour feature out of that? Unless of course the small pox caused lots of CGI enhanced explosions and gunfights.

87 posted on 08/20/2009 2:30:57 PM PDT by AreaMan
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To: karnage
I don’t think your post stands up to critical analysis.

Whoa...whoa...whoa, you mean my posts have to stand up to critical analysis? When did this start?

88 posted on 08/20/2009 2:34:18 PM PDT by AreaMan
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To: AreaMan
I enjoy this Avatar.

Cameron's sounds kind of weenie.

89 posted on 08/20/2009 2:36:13 PM PDT by King Moonracer (Bad lighting and cheap fabric, that's how you sell clothing.....)
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To: Borges

The story was absolutely impossible, but the effects/set were great.

I love to bash Titanic as the worst film of all time. I love it when it comes on tv so I can make disparaging remarks about it to my wife!


90 posted on 08/20/2009 2:36:28 PM PDT by Boiling Pots (Evil-Mongering Angry Mobster)
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To: AreaMan

Change we can believe in. LOL!


91 posted on 08/20/2009 2:36:35 PM PDT by nufsed (Release the birth certificate, passport, and school records.)
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To: Borges

Yes


92 posted on 08/20/2009 2:37:01 PM PDT by Steve_Stifler ((Hail Brittania!!!!!))
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To: nufsed

Agreed.


93 posted on 08/20/2009 2:37:37 PM PDT by AreaMan
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To: AreaMan
Whoa...whoa...whoa, you mean my posts have to stand up to critical analysis? When did this start?

Next, we'll have to start reading the articles too. ;-)

94 posted on 08/20/2009 2:37:56 PM PDT by King Moonracer (Bad lighting and cheap fabric, that's how you sell clothing.....)
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To: King Moonracer

This has to be stopped.


95 posted on 08/20/2009 2:38:14 PM PDT by AreaMan
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To: Borges

Cameron’s one of the few Hollywood film makers who makes movies that are always worth the price of the ticket...


96 posted on 08/20/2009 2:43:01 PM PDT by GOPJ ("Fishy rumors posters" Check 'em out:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2311664/posts)
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To: Boiling Pots

It’s not even close. Whatever else, it’s extremely well crafted and holds one’s attention from start to finish.


97 posted on 08/20/2009 2:55:47 PM PDT by Borges
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To: GOPJ
I thought art (in this case film) could be judged by technical excellence, validity and intellectual content (worldview).

Cameron is good for the first two but fails miserably on the last one, in my opinion.

98 posted on 08/20/2009 2:58:37 PM PDT by AreaMan
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To: Borges

I was so happy when that boat hit that iceberg, as I thought it was the beginning of the end. But it turned out to be the end of the beginning. It was pure torture.


99 posted on 08/20/2009 3:09:11 PM PDT by Boiling Pots (Evil-Mongering Angry Mobster)
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To: karnage

While Spielberg has made some good movies since Jaws, he also made (sort of) A.I. and Munich. And as a friend has pointed out, Jaws wouldn’t have been the movie it was (nor would Star Wars have been the movie it was) if Spielberg (or Lucas) had the unlimited budget and free reign that they have now. Spielberg wanted more of the shark and had to work around a mechanical shark that didn’t work right, probably making a better movie in the process. There are also plenty of directors who writers who hit gold early and never seem to be able to recapture the magic, such as M. Night Shyamalan.

Yes, I was over-generalizing but when more than a few moviemakers and authors got wealthy or successful, people stopped saying “no” to them, they stopped having to work around limitations, and they felt free to let their political hair down. Sometimes they still produce movies, yes, but Terminator, Jaws, and the original Star Wars were more than special effects extravaganzas in part because they couldn’t afford the special effects or the technology wasn’t there for them.


100 posted on 08/20/2009 3:13:08 PM PDT by Question_Assumptions
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