That's the definition of a McGuffin. If you are really irritated by the lack of explanation then I can see how you could not fully enjoy the movie. Its use is absolutely not essential to the story at all. The point is, once man finds something valuable and untouched he will plunder it all by any means necessary, and especially if the enemy is technically-inferior. I'm 100% certain Cameron deliberately left it out of the movie!

That's what I've been saying all along. A simple story is inconsequential as long as the movie rises above it.

You're talking about suspense, but Avatar is not chiefly about suspense, although it has it as well. Just let the world of Pandora envelope you, do not attempt to notice the story mechanics, and let Pandora itself tell the story. Everything just flows from there. At least that's how I view it.

Haha nevermind la... it's fine if you don't like the movie. I dont want to be accused of trying to imprint my experience on others.

lol I'm at work. Just argued with a colleage who thinks the 3D is not syok because "they never keep throwing stuff at the audience. Like that 3D where got nice?"

He actually only saw the 2D version, and he asked me the 3D nice or not.

2D got subtitles. 3D doesnt have. All digital projections (including digital 2D) here do not have subtitles.

Aiyo, those red and blue are so last decade lah. New one is slightly tinted but you won't really notice it. And the technology behind it is much much better than the old red and blue. And yes, it sits nicely on top of your own specs, though it does tend to slip occasionally.

hey Linkz who's that girl in your sig?

Wow this could actually have a $80m second weekend, an increase from the first weekend!

I think 5th row should be good.

Now to anyone who has been to hall 4 in pavilion (the bigger of the two 3D halls), is row 4 too near to the screen? I'm not sure how big and far the screen is from the seats. faster reply please I wanna buy the tickets now lol

shucks why never quote me?

So I watched it for a second time today, at Pavilion. Still thoroughly enjoyed it. OK, one or two scenes felt slow, but on the whole I think it's pretty immaculately paced. Still has the best battle sequence by far this year. The best movie of the year for all-round entertainment value. It does what it aspires to do almost perfectly, and there is no one who can deliver what the masses like and want so well like Cameron. And... how can anyone not love to hate a bad guy who, with his goddamn clothes on fire, can calmly take his time to get into his mech, before using his bare hands to PAT OFF the fire?

But I found much faults with the 3D. First of all, the framerate looks totally off when there are quick movements, and I dont simply mean fast edits of action scenes, I mean quick movements of limbs in a still shot. The whole damn thing flickers like hell and becomes jittery and choppy. Very annoying. Second, I think the depth perception employed is pretty severely lacking. Interior shots, especially with real sets and real people, looks really good when it comes to depth, but outdoor shots with CGI dont extend beyond like 5 or 10 meters of the object in the foreground, when we should have background that recedes way back to a few hundred metres. The out-of-focus shots which are meant for objects that should be directly in front of our faces also knock the illusion of 3D right out of the window when you actually try to focus on them. It looks like poorly rendered graphics from a 10 year old game.

I more or less noticed all these problems when I watched it in 1 Utama, but it looks worse this time around. There might be a few reasons for this, it maybe be because I'm noticing them more with my 2nd viewing, my 3D glasses might have been faulty, the projection at Pavilion sucks, or the projection in Malaysia sucks. I stand by what I said before. This is a step forward, but not the revolutionary technology so many proclaim it to be. After around 40 minutes this time, I didn't even really like the 3D anymore, save for a few shots. It's so goddamn problematic. But if the movie was graded solely on the CGI and 3D, you can bet RT would be at 100%, with the average score 9.5, which leads me to believe the problem may actually lie in the projection/glasses over here in malaysia.

P/S: For the record I also think Davy Jones is more impressive as a CGI character. He just registers so naturally in my mind.

This post has been edited by QuickFire: Jan 9 2010, 12:07 AM

It's not that the whole picture is choppy, just the particular fast-moving limb or object. When a characters swings his arm, the arm itself looks real choppy. As I said, it may be the projection over here. You live in England right? As far as I know, most theaters over in the west use Dolby3D and Real3D, and from what I've read Dolby3D is generally regarded as superior. We use Dolby3D here as well, but there must be something that is off here. I refuse to believe people can say what I saw last night was the future of movies. It oes show the potential, but doesn't fulfill it.

too bad he wont be returning for the sequel.

This post has been edited by QuickFire: Jan 9 2010, 09:19 AM

he is already there. this will most likely surpass both of Titanic's domestic and overseas grosses.

4 weeks no. 1 here, I dont think its gonna go off so soon.

I might watch this a third time, just to check out the 3D in different cinemas here. I think I read in a post that there is no surcharge for the 3D glasses at cineleisure? So it costs only RM12 there?

I will choose the middle row this time, to see if the depth of field is indeed better. Twice I watched from the 4th row, by choice, because I always thought 3D will work best if the screen fills your entire vision. But the depth perception left a lot to be desried.

In the old days the TV was still in the womb and people had nothing better to do than to watch GWTW like 10 times. Plus people went to theaters to get their news broadcast.

Today you not only have your blurays and dvds, but also movie piracy, so no, it's not very fair to compare.

I cant beliebe its still so damn hard to get tickets for this movie! 7 weeks already lah!

Btw, I've been listening to the score a lot the past week. Friggin amazing. Gathering All The Na'vi Clans For Battle and War... ahhhh. The Leona Lewis song is terrible.

I dont like it. Every time I listen to the score... and the song comes on, I have this massive urge to just shut it off. I do not resist the urge. The highly post-processed sound of it ruins an otherwise totally awesome soundtrack. It just doesnt blend well with the rest of the score.

I saw Avatar again yesterday. Still mightily entertained by it.

P/S: n00bi3, Ang Lee's Hulk, for my money, is probably the most underrated film of all time. Cant believe people still dont see how good it is. Maybe 10 more years down the road. Hopefully.