in digital 3-D... IMAX was sold out unfortunately...

Fuckin' unbelievable film... one of the most visually stunning ever, and the 3-D was so good that after 15 minutes you forgot it was a 3-D movie, it just seem that real.

My only complaint was that the ending was a bit hokey, but overall a great story told as only Jim Cameron can...

When was the last time James Cameron told so much as a "good" story?

The script for RAMBO?

...an updated "Dances with Wolves". I am looking forward to seeing it.

Here's a clip of James Cameron supposedly cussing out a fan who's bugging him for an autograph. The whole autograph thing is such an imposition. I don't give autographs either, Jim.

Sounds like the experience is the thing, and not the story from what I'm hearing. The evil corporation thing is soooo played out.

On another note "Sherlock Holmes" is decent. I give it 3 out of 4 stars. Good characterizations, so-so story.

I enjoyed it immensely but the nest description I've heard is "Ferngully on steroids."

I've been calling it "Dances with Smurfs", so obviously I agree with that assessment.  

What, do you expect an original idea to get produced?  That would be revolutionary.

to put it in terms this board can relate to:

it's like settling for a $50 whore after having spent your life with $1000 pornstars

that's Guy Ritchie for you

there is/was/always-will-be one true SH: Jeremy Brett from the Granada TV series

The definitive Sherlock Holmes was Vasili Livanov despite his TV series and films being Soviet Union productions in Russian. Aside from the language these are considered the most faithful adaptations of the Doyle stories.

I agree. Brett's version is the best I've ever seen (although Rathbone's could have been great IF they hadn't done a slew of cheapo Holmes in WW2 flicks).

agreed. Rathbone was #1 and became #2 almost immediately after the Brett series aired (heck, even the London SH Society declared as much)

interesting thing about those WWII flicks. they were actually done not so much to cash in (like Guy Ritchie has done) but mostly as propaganda to get the Americans into the war, so one could cut them (and Rathbone) some slack i suppose

Does wearing cheap 3D glasses lessen the experience???

I saw it the other day and it was insanely entertaining. I'm old retired skydiver and the 3-d scences of the banshees and their riders really got me feeling I was in freefall again! Anybody up for some Banshee relative work?

No, where I went I got glasses that were made of a solid plastic frame that fit just fine over my normal sized regular eyeglasses. I didn't notice them after the first few minutes.

Or you could just read the stories. I hear that they are rather good.

Visually its amazing but I found the movie rather stupid and silly.

Funny you mention that, because I saw it with two friends, one of whom said it was basically Dances With Wolves and another who compared it to "Broken Arrow", the Jimmy Stewart western.

One could say that Michael Keaton was the definitive Batman, or that William Shatner was the definitive Capt. Kirk, or that Sean Connery was the definitive James Bond.  That doesn't take away from the quality and entertainment value of the Christian Bale Batman movies, the new Star Trek film, or Daniel Craig's portrayal of James Bond.  

Guy Ritchie is a great director of action crime films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and using big-budget special effects to make Sherlock Holmes an action adventure brings a new dimension which is a natural fit for a Holmes story.

And you're both wrong... the Basil Rathbone series was shit; even Rathbone himself thought so.

Since the IMAX was sold out, we sat in the third row to get the IMAX effect! lol

LS&TSB is the *only* good film Ritchie has made. everything else since then has been absolute crap (remember Swept Away?) so his is not exactly the batting average of a "great director of action crime films"

as for your other argument (1st paragraph), i don't disagree that the *average* viewer (non SH-fan) won't find the new Downey tripe entertaining.

my point was that die-hard SH fans won't

Do his gangster films have actual "action" in them, anyway?

Do they have action in the way John Woo gangster films have "great" action?

I think not.

I'll wait for the DVD.

Thought the movie was good overall.  Story line is familiar - an indigenous population threatened by another group - in this case a corporation from earth - because of greed.  I did think the story itself had some depth as far as characterizaton.  I agree the visual aspect was truly stunning but I could have done without the 3D - didn't do much for me.

Overall - definitely worth a watch.

Sure, it's visually stunning, but if Sci-fi is the "literature of ideas" then Avatar's storyline is about 60 years out of date.

Side note: James Cameron got sued over "Terminator" by legendary writer (and sci-fi Grand Master) Harlan Ellison since the Terminator story borrowed heavily from two award-winning Ellison scripts for the long-ago TV series Outer Limits -- "Soldier" and "Demon with a Glass Hand."

If you read the credits on the DVD for Terminator you'll see a line that reads "acknowledgment is made to the works of Harlan Ellison."

Avatar borrows a bit much from Ursula K. LeGuin's long-ago novella "The Word for World is Forest." but I'm sure it was unintentional.

Funny you should point that out, CR. I just read this at Roger Ebert's Journal. This is the 27th comment below a story titled, "Cameron is recrowned King of the World."

"Something I'm puzzled about...I had watched the 60 Minutes interview with James Cameron about Avatar...and he claims that he wrote this story many years ago...but...I read this story when I was a teenager...a story called, "Call Me Joe" by Poul Anderson, copyright © 1957 (it's in a collection of stories- The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Vol. II A)

"yes, the movie appears to be a quite embellished version, but the base-storyline is the same...
Avatar is to Call Me Joe as Where the Wild Things Are movie is to Where the Wild Things Are book...

"I smell plagiarism....

"Ebert: Most likely not plagiarism but buried memory. I actually have that 1957 issue of Astounding, now selling on Amazon for $62.50."

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/12/cameron_is-recrowned_king_of_the_world.html#comment-835123