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tarheel91 on 27 January 2010
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rocketpig said:
MontanaHatchet said:
rocketpig said:
I didn't realize anyone in this thread had a financial stake in this movie and therefore had a reason to cheer its box office gross.

Avatar was a decent movie. Visually fantastic with a predictable story and characters. It also had an overbearing message that unnecessarily weighed down the movie with its heavy-handedness.

District 9 was a far better film in every respect other than visual effects.

Maybe people are cheering for it because they like the movie? I mean, why cheer for anything unless you have a personal stake in it? Plus, beating Titanic can only be a good thing for cinema.

Also, was I the only one who didn't "get" District 9? Why was it so good? I just watched that movie with a blank face most of the time, waiting for the parts that were supposed to make it amazing as I heard.

I can understand wishing for something to do well because you liked it (and therefore will see more work done by the creative team behind it) but I can't see the point in celebrating its passing of a pointless milestone.

I liked District 9 because of its fresh take on an alien "invasion", which basically turned to enslavement. It also had an interesting way to tackle bigotry. On top of that, the director did a good job of taking the main character and turning him into a sympathetic character after spending 45 minutes thinking he was a giant douchebag. The camerawork was also good, though that shaky camera style is becoming a little stale.

In short, it offered fresh ideas while Avatar had none.

Fresh take on an old story/genre?  That seems to me exactly what Avatar is.  Point out ONE novel or movie on imperialism that did any of these things:

  • Made it's MAIN appeal to viewers/readers through the world created in the movie/novel.
  • Created a scientific, logical explanation for the whole interconnectedness/circle of life system of beliefs.
  • Had the white man completely abandon his Western culture and essentially become one of the natives.
  • Make connections between the imperialism of centuries ago with what happened in Vietnam or what's happening in Iraq/Afghanistan.

I'm truly surprised by the shallowness with which a lot of people approached Avatar.  To be sure, none of that was explicitly stated or obvious, but it wasn't like this was something by Faulkner, either.