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    psterl3384@

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    It certainly is a visually stunning movie. The foliage in this fantasy world is remarkably portrayed. The 3-D is, like all the others of this year, a tremendous asset. The acting is typical for an action movie, and not much better than average. As for the storyline, I am afraid it falls short of being considered a "classic" movie. If we push aside all the special affects and the 3-D element we are left with a standard western movie with the 'cowboys against the Indians'... The climax of the movie is stunningly stupid. Why would these nurturers of nature take action that is completely opposed to their way of living? I found that this aspect of the movie was just too incredulous. As the saying goes, "Don't bring a knife to a gun fight". So I believe that with time this movie will stand out as a fine movie for the year 2009, and may have a fan following for its inevitable sequel. But the story itself is a weak one. You will enjoy the visual aspect of this film. That alone is worth the money. But it is hard to ignore the foibles depthless predictable plot.

    7
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    psterl3384@  18.12.2009 age: 50+ 202 reviews

    But district 9 (piece of crap!) and cloudy with a chance of meatballs are better movies?

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    rick_latzer@  18.12.2009 age: 36-49 10 reviews

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    District nine was in your view a piece of crap. I found its actors and storyline were very strong. Chance of Meatballs for its genre of movie (Cartoon type media) also had a fine storyline and the voices gave a character dimension to their characters that is rare in animated stuff. Avatar is a fine movie. I am left to wonder among other things, about their yelping like natives or their Jamaican accent. I am sure that with some brainstorming that the writer might have considered a better resolution to the plot. Eg make it a tragedy when killing the tree of life, the so-called "unobtainium" loses its power... and everyone loses. Or the peaceful natives simply discuss a solution with the lead character... I would imagine that over the next couple of centuries humans will have come up with a less invasive mining protocol... Anyway I did give those two movies an eight simply due to their storyline and acting. However commercially Avatar will be a HUGE hit. I have now seen it twice. On the second run through I was focussed on the attention to detail which was impeccable. I base my scoring on the sites descriptors. And it does not allow any weight to genre of movies. Just saying...

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    psterl3384@  20.12.2009 age: 50+ 202 reviews

    WTF? You give Avatar a 7, the same as completely violent stupid horror movies? And District 9 a higher rating? How deranged is that?

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    marco@  20.12.2009 age: 26-35 2 reviews

    Clearly, the time is now and this movie is by far the best movie of the year. Just look at the reviews... Stunning! Everything, including the story was remarkable and the 3d... need I say more.

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    trent54321@  20.12.2009 age: 50+ 4 reviews

    Hi, I'm not sure what you meant by why they contradict their way of living. They don't have weapons of mass destruction, just basic weaponery.

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    jurkiewicz_anna@  20.12.2009 age: 18-25 2 reviews

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    If you recall early on, in the movie, when the lead female killed a jackal-like animal, there was great sadness and a ritual involving the creature. This tribe of people certainly abhor violence and their respect for nature/ all life forms was sacrosanct. It just struck me as very odd that they would resort to fool-hearty violence in the face of the weaponry of the humans. Surely they would have considered every other option in order to keep in line with their religious beliefs. There was not one single suggestion about a peaceful solution. The lead character, as he learned their customs should have also assimilated their peaceful thought pattern... Even Captain Kirk of the Star Trek series from the 70's had a mandate of non-interference with a species or planet. The humans did not want their land, they simply wanted the nonobtainium... So to answer your question, why on earth would they consider such a violent fool-hearty response? It is against all that they believe in isn't it?

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    psterl3384@  21.12.2009 age: 50+ 202 reviews

    Where did you get the idea that fighting the alien invaders was completely opposed to the Na'vi's way of living? Right from the beginning, it was stated that the Na'vi would attack the humans' base from the forest. Everything else you said makes sense. Merry Christmas!

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    seetoomanymovies@  21.12.2009 age: 36-49 530 reviews

    Lol. It isn't deranged Marco. If there is a problem it is with the scoring method of this site. Surely when one sees a horror movie like Friday Xiii or Saw, that there are different expectations than a Disney cartoon media movie. I base my scoring on acting, storyline, visual effects and to some extent originality. So scoring in the 7-8 range is a fine movie that is worth seeing for its genre. This movie does not have a strong storyline. If you can for a minute strip away the 3-d and the phenomenal foliage etc, what is left? Just your basic greed story. I am just saying that in time when all movies use the same technology will we view this storyline more objectively? Is Starwars a classic movie that you will watch over and over, or was it considered great simply because of its special effects? I would say that the storyline for Star wars is stronger than Avatar. So for me to rate a horror movie the same as an action movie is a moot point. I grade movies in comparison to other movies of its type. For District nine it was an fresh movie that had very strong, believable acting, and had contained a lot of ironies in its plot. Many people gave This Is It a ten... I don't say that they are deranged. But clearly the scoring is skewed by his death. Avatar is worth seeing but only in 3-D and on a BIG screen.

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    psterl3384@  21.12.2009 age: 50+ 202 reviews

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    The story was, in my view, quite unremarkable. What exactly was remarkable about it? Every 3_D movie this year has been visually stunning. One needs to strip away the technology a simply view the storyline. It is quite flawed and tired. Read Dr. Seuss's Lorax for a similar but a much better storyline. Many of these reviews are swept up with the effects of the movie and not its plot. So the movie ends with the aliens toting big guns... Did they use a mass grave for their dead warriors? Who put out the forest fire? When the chopper with the massive load of explosives crashed, what happened to the explosives?.. It did crash within a mile of the life tree... The whole battle thing was stupid. The humans have the technology to create an avatar and don't have the technology to track/monitor the same creature... Most cars today can do that. So enjoy the visuals of this movie, it is just hype and will be commonplace by next week. The entire story is as old and as tired as the hills. And to say that it is the best movie of the year... isn't saying much.

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    psterl3384@  21.12.2009 age: 50+ 202 reviews

    I have to give you some credit as some people have given this movie a 1? How silly is that. At least you gave it some credit at a 7. This movie was visualy stunning, granted its been a long time since I have seen a movie in 3d. I still think it was the best of the year and after close to 600 reviews it is still at a 9.5! I have personally not seen anything higher, and it's right across the board. With most Sci-fi's you can always pick apart the little unanswered pieces if you think too much, but we go to these to escape for a few hours and the 2:45 minutes just flew by for me. I also thought the physical conection with the forest and animals was unique.

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    trent54321@  25.12.2009 age: 50+ 4 reviews

    Thanks for your response. As I mentioned in my review every 3-D movie this year has been incredible to view. I suspect that many of the one-liner reviews are from many young people or many people who have not experienced 3-D movies. For simply viewing a 3-D movie in terms of its effects consider watching A Christmas Carol that may still be in theaters. IN yourt final comment you made what I think is the biggest flaw in the movie. Why couldn't they come up with a more peaceful conclusion and have this respect maintained? Why did these Na'vi have to resort to human methods to save their planet? That to me was a missed opportunity to make this a true classic movie. In the end the Na'vi became more like the humans and that to me was wrong. So my seven is simply following this site's guideline... a good movie worth seeing. I certainly won't buy it on DVD as its strength is mainly the 3-D effects. Have a good New Year.

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    psterl3384@  27.12.2009 age: 50+ 202 reviews

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    HI again. Sorry for the delay in responding to your comment. Firstly thanks for the Xmas wishes. I hope that your New Year is a good one. I decided to revisit the movie armed with my own questions, hoping to answer them during the second viewing. There is no direct dialog stating that the Na'vi attack the base. The Commander in his preface to the new troops said that the fence was to protect them from all the creatures that would eat your eyes out like jujubies. The scars on his body are clearly not done by Na'vi. He then went on to mention the Na'Vi as having poisoned tipped arrows and were hard to kill. He never said that they had killed anyone. I suppose one could draw a conclusion from the arrows in the tires, but this was against their way. As you might recall before the battle when Sully was praying for a victory, his Na'vi girl friend said that the spirit would only support the balance of life so his prayers were useless. After watching it I am left with further puzzlements over the plot and its weakness. Why on earth would they have constructed a portable "transporter", when the base had the capacity to transfer the humanoid form to the Na'vi form?.. And upon further review the character portrayed by Sigourney Weaver was very unstable and not needed... She begins as a cigarette smoking crank-pot to a transformed gentle soul for no apparent reason... Her final scene was a great waste of time at that point in the movie...

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    psterl3384@  30.12.2009 age: 50+ 202 reviews

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