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[brights the cat]

My friend said to see it in Imax. Wow, I'm glad I saw it in Imax. It was gorgeous. I love plants and the plantworld blissed me out. Nice plot, too.

[Casey]

Originally Posted by brights the cat

My friend said to see it in Imax. Wow, I'm glad I saw it in Imax. It was gorgeous. I love plants and the plantworld blissed me out. Nice plot, too.

Excellent that you liked it!

Someone close to me who knows a whole lot about films phoned from another state to say it is an incredible film (which is very high praise from him). Said he was sorry he and Paul and I weren't able to see it all together, but that Paul and I had to to see it ASAP because it is so good. The only problem is: Paul and I haven't been able to yet.

Thanks for the tip on the Imax. Will do...and just as soon as we can! (Paul's days off are usually--but not always--Wednesdays and Thursdays, but lately everything has been more complicated than usual so we haven't been able to get to the theater yet.)

It's great to know that we have a memorable experience ahead of us, though.

Thanks, brights!

[brights the cat]

I felt awed. I felt ignorant--I had no idea Imax could do these things, make the dandelion-things float right into your lap.... I would have been really pissed if I'd seen it in 3D and not Imax.

Casey, when you return, I want to ask you if you were impressed by the same plot thing I was.

[Casey]

Assuming everything goes right, brights, tomorrow (Monday, February 8th), I will be seeing Avatar (the Imax version), starting at 3:25 PM PST.

It looks like Paul and I aren't going to be able to see it together, so I will drive to the town where he works several hours early tomorrow for the 3:25 show at the theatre there (I'm hoping that the stated times on the theatre Internet site today will be good for tomorrow!), then go over to where Paul works and pick him up afterwards.

I haven't checked the planets and portents for tomorrow (which Shakespeare, no doubt, would believe extremely foolish), but if they're all in their proper places and the universe is in fine order, Avatar should be in my have seen category by tomorrow night.



Casey

[brights the cat]

Make sure you get a good seat.

When you meet Paul, say, "I see you."

[Casey]

Report:

I saw the film, and I read as much of the script afterwards as I could last night.

I am about 2/3 of the way through the script.

[Nyxipoo]

I enjoyed the visuals very, very much both times I went to see it. They are spectacular and epic and completely lived up to being The Reason 3D film has been making a comeback (true story. I can try to find the article, but basically James Cameron is behind this all and lent the technology to other companies so that enough theaters would adopt it to make it worth releasing his baby).

The rest was so basic, though.

[brights the cat]

I had a tree house when I was little, and I feel like the movie picked up on a lot of the joy you feel playing in the woods when you are a kid. I feel a little like the guy who had lost use of his legs and went wild when he was able to have the sensation of running, by which I mean scenes allowed me to remember childhood exuberance in being in nature.

[Casey]

brights:

Today is full (Paul's day off, so all of the other important things that have to be done, including on "the other side of the mountain"). Tomorrow (also Paul's day off) may be the same, depending on how much we can get accomplished today (and how long it takes to do the "other side of the mountain" stuff).

I am still at the 2/3 point in the script.

What was the plot point that impressed you? I was impressed by one thing (the film made "three-dimensional" something I've always felt was actually reality). I'm wondering what yours is.

I see you.

Casey

[brights the cat]

What impressed me:

I know these high tech shock and awe movies are always going to have some kind of "positive message," so I'm braced for it, and dreading that it will be pro-American-military-intervention.

I think it would be great to use one of these movies to send a message about global warming, but frankly the topic is so overwhelmingly depressing (see The Road) that it hardly seems likely to combine with high box office.

I felt as I left the theater that the movie had adeptly lifted the audience off the planet and set them back down solidly in the camp of people who understand what a tragic thing it is to ruin one's environment through the same strategies of conquest that have brought the humans in the movie to try to colonize the forest of the lovely blue people where I'm sure anyone would prefer to live than Los Angeles or Toledo.

I also liked the fact that the evil operation was an alliance of corporate and military figures, like Blackwater, and the heroes are scientists, not warriors per se. My husband was disappointed that the corporate chief didn't suffer an appalling death but I was just happy to have him in the movie.

I couldn't get enough of that plant action! I might have to find a child to take so I have an excuse to go again.

[Casey]

Originally Posted by brights the cat

What impressed me:

I know these high tech shock and awe movies are always going to have some kind of "positive message," so I'm braced for it, and dreading that it will be pro-American-military-intervention.

I think it would be great to use one of these movies to send a message about global warming, but frankly the topic is so overwhelmingly depressing (see The Road) that it hardly seems likely to combine with high box office.

I felt as I left the theater that the movie had adeptly lifted the audience off the planet and set them back down solidly in the camp of people who understand what a tragic thing it is to ruin one's environment through the same strategies of conquest that have brought the humans in the movie to try to colonize the forest of the lovely blue people where I'm sure anyone would prefer to live than Los Angeles or Toledo.

I also liked the fact that the evil operation was an alliance of corporate and military figures, like Blackwater, and the heroes are scientists, not warriors per se. My husband was disappointed that the corporate chief didn't suffer an appalling death but I was just happy to have him in the movie.

I couldn't get enough of that plant action! I might have to find a child to take so I have an excuse to go again.

Okay...I think you're being sardonic [???], but since I'm not certain, I'm also uncertain of how to reply.

What I do know is that now I don't have to read the rest of the script! (I was afraid you were going to ask me about some esoteric plot point I didn't even know was there, so I thought I ought to be prepared for any eventuality!)

I thought this was an extremely well done film, on all levels, for what this film was attempting to achieve. James Cameron can be extremely proud of his work here because everything he set out to realize on screen, he did.

I wouldn't have seen this if I hadn't "had" to but I promised I would, so I did. I'm glad I did. Now I understand what the all the discussion is about. (I also learned some minor, but interesting-to-me, cutting-edge technical stuff on how to format a script on a page, circa 2010, thanks to Cameron as writer.)

On most every significant level of film creation, James Cameron deserves the sincere congratulations he's receiving. He's definitely earned every one.

And now I don't have to feel obligated to see "Avatar" anymore!

[brights the cat]

No, I wasn't being sardonic. About loving the plants, wanting to see it again? I loved the plants. I am always looking at plants and wondering how many other ways there could have been for them to evolve.

I think I also went to see it because I felt obligated to--why, I don't know, except that everyone has to see the most popular movie since Titanic, I guess.

Tell me what part you thought was sardonic.

[Casey]

Originally Posted by brights the cat

I felt as I left the theater that the movie had adeptly lifted the audience off the planet and set them back down solidly in the camp of people who understand what a tragic thing it is to ruin one's environment through the same strategies of conquest that have brought the humans in the movie to try to colonize the forest of the lovely blue people where I'm sure anyone would prefer to live than Los Angeles or Toledo.

I also liked the fact that the evil operation was an alliance of corporate and military figures, like Blackwater, and the heroes are scientists, not warriors per se. My husband was disappointed that the corporate chief didn't suffer an appalling death but I was just happy to have him in the movie.

This was the part I thought you might be saying sardonically, particularly: "...the forest of the lovely blue people where I'm sure anyone would prefer to live than Los Angeles or Toledo."

I didn't know if you were being sardonic or not because there are so many practical limits sometimes as to how effectively we are able to convey our real feelings solely via cyberspace. Despite the incredible miracles of the Intertubes, some substantial deficits in communication still exist.

I'm glad you liked the plants. I don't know it for a fact, but I bet that James Cameron would be especially proud that you did respond so appreciatively to the botanical creations of his imagination.

[brights the cat]

I think I've been sarcastic so much that I can't sound sincere even when I am.

I was trying to say that I think the movie had a message about global warming that kids need to internalize, and it worked.

Every spring I am really surprised by the pink trees, and how much I love them. They renew my hope. I have two planted in my garden but they're not big enough to awe me yet. The pink willows in the movie really rocked my world.

Sincerely!

[Casey]

Originally Posted by brights the cat

I was trying to say that I think the movie had a message about global warming that kids need to internalize, and it worked.

Yes, I agree with you. I think "Avatar" worked on a number of levels to get some important contemporary messages across.

Originally Posted by brightsthecat

Every spring I am really surprised by the pink trees, and how much I love them. They renew my hope. I have two planted in my garden but they're not big enough to awe me yet. The pink willows in the movie really rocked my world. Sincerely!

It's Spring where I am. Not that winter is over--hopefully. Because we have been in an increasingly serious, multi-year drought here that has been very badly affecting most of the state of California. 2010 is supposed to be an El Nino year (which means: lots of drenching, tropical-type rains, at least during our rainy season), but so far, not nearly as many rainy days as we really need.

But it's mid-to-high-seventies today, crystal-clear skies (you can easily see the snow on the San Gabriel mountains in the distance), the breezes are soft and warm, the birds are singing, the air is clear, our local hills and mountains are (for us) intensely green, there are orange California poppies on the freeway medians and the mountain sides (with purple lupins--my favorites! --soon to follow), all the newly-rain-washed, semi-tropical colors are in their full glories, and for the third day in a row, I have all the windows open, so Spring is, quite literally, in the air. Think of "Zorro"--just about any "Zorro" ever made. Think of Don Diego de la Vega, on his horse, galloping over the Southern California countryside. "See," in your mind, the beauty of the hills and valleys he is galloping through.

That is Southern California today.

Pink, flowering trees are beautiful, brights. In your garden...and in "Avatar"...and today, in El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula, too.



Casey