Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

In that case, the safest bet anyone can make is to find out what Armond White thinks of a movie, and then proceed to do exactly the opposite of what he tells you to do.




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95.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 18, 2010, 19:19

I think that when it comes to critic, the best you can ask for is to find one or two that likes the kind of movies you do and read what they have to say about it. Relying on a "critical mass" of critics (I guess that's as good a collective noun as any for critics) only leads to confusion. Better yet, go see a movie and make up your own mind and don't rely on the critics. You never know ... you might like something they don't.

94.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 18, 2010, 18:45

I have no idea what Hudson Hawk is. All I know is it has Bruce Willis and it occasionally aired on Comedy Central, and Comedy Central isn't exactly renowned for their choices in movies.

And of course it swings both ways, which is the basis for this argument. I had no interest in Star Trek but saw it on the basis it had 90% on RT. I thought the movie flat-out sucked.




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93.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 18, 2010, 18:34

What any consumer should gleam from reviews boils down to one thing: whether or not one should see the movie. Based on that though, who would have gone to see Hudson Hawk? That movie is the reason why people should NOT listen to critics.

92.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 18, 2010, 18:03

While any self-congratulatory awards show is hardly relevant, the Golden Globes are even less so.

What any consumer should gleam from reviews boils down to one thing: whether or not one should see the movie. Reviews are not to be taken as measure of a movie's quality, because such a measure as it applies to oneself can only be rendered by... oneself.




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91.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 18, 2010, 17:24

'nuff said really when you consider that RT and Metacritic rate Hudson Hawk at 21 and 20 respectively. Oh ... and Avatar winning the Golden Globes? I guess someone thought it was good. (I know me and my mates certainly did).

90.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 18, 2010, 13:02

That's because reviewers have a binary selection at RT: Either they liked the movie, or they didn't. Doesn't allow for a very precise tracking of opinion.




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89.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 18, 2010, 11:29

theyarecomingforyou

Man, this is another awesome movie. If you haven't seen District 9 I think you could do worse. Fantastic acting, presentation, dialogue and special effects IMO. Love how they did this documentary style. Just checked Rotten Tomatoes, District 9 is at 90% now.

D9 is a completely overrated movie, with two dimensional characters, unsubtle political undertones and a complete lack of focus - half of it is a crude take of racial tensions and the other half a cheesy action movie. Some of the special effects are very good, especially for a low budget movie, but to get 90% on RT simply shows how irrelevant that site is. I mean, a shitty movie like PJ's King Kong receiving a better score than Stardust? And Vanilla Sky getting a 40%? That site is farcical.

Then again, reviews are largely irrelevant to me. I like what I like. I can tell from most trailers whether I'm going to like something. Occasionally some reviews can push me in one direction or the other, particularly if many of them share the same points and I wasn't sure about the movie anyway, but the rest of the time I'm fine.

Certainly sites like RT and Metacritic are interesting to look at and can be used to gauge the quality of certain titles - as RT scores Lost In Translation at 95% (possibly my favourite film), yet most people I talk to hate it - but RT ratings are dramatically more variable than MC and not something I take at all seriously.




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88.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 18, 2010, 10:19

Verno

Being responsible for billion dollar movies tends to raise a person's confidence level I would imagine.




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87.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 18, 2010, 04:01

The fact that he's a stuck up, egotistical, self-centered idiot doesn't help either.

The guy directed many of the most popular movies of all time. I think he's earned it.




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86.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 18, 2010, 00:21

eunichron wrote on Jan 17, 2010, 23:22: The GEICO Cavemen wrote on Jan 17, 2010, 22:02: Another great movie? The Wrestler. If you haven't seen it you could do worse. RT gives it 98% so I may not be alone in my opinion. The Wrestler > Avatar Definitely. Darren Aronofsky is right up there with Tarantino and the Coen brothers on my list of must-see directors. Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei were both amazing in that movie. I guess to keep this somewhat on topic, even though the thread has derailed infinitely off topic, what good movie has Cameron even done lately? Honestly, Aliens and Terminator were the only really good movies he's ever done. Everything else has just been bloated, over hyped, special effects driven piles of crap. That is not to say Aliens and Terminator weren't driven by special effects either, but they at least had decent acting and story to go along with it. Yep, gotta agree with you about Cameron. The fact that he's a stuck up, egotistical, self-centered idiot doesn't help either. Since we're going way off topic, let me throw this one out there: District 9 > Avatar Man, this is another awesome movie. If you haven't seen District 9 I think you could do worse. Fantastic acting, presentation, dialogue and special effects IMO. Love how they did this documentary style. Just checked Rotten Tomatoes, District 9 is at 90% now.

85.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 17, 2010, 23:22

eunichron

The GEICO Cavemen wrote on Jan 17, 2010, 22:02: Another great movie? The Wrestler. If you haven't seen it you could do worse. RT gives it 98% so I may not be alone in my opinion. The Wrestler > Avatar Definitely. Darren Aronofsky is right up there with Tarantino and the Coen brothers on my list of must-see directors. Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei were both amazing in that movie. I guess to keep this somewhat on topic, even though the thread has derailed infinitely off topic, what good movie has Cameron even done lately? Honestly, Aliens and Terminator were the only really good movies he's ever done. Everything else has just been bloated, over hyped, special effects driven piles of crap. That is not to say Aliens and Terminator weren't driven by special effects either, but they at least had decent acting and story to go along with it. This comment was edited on Jan 17, 2010, 23:25.

84.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 17, 2010, 22:02

Another great movie? The Wrestler. If you haven't seen it you could do worse. RT gives it 98% so I may not be alone in my opinion. The Wrestler > Avatar

83.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 17, 2010, 20:39

OT: Meh. "Inglorious Basterds" is a movie I'm kind of in two minds about. It had a fantastic opening and slowly sank into a ridiculous parody. Regardless of if that was Tarantino's intent (al la "From Dusk 'till Dawn") that depth of parody didn't work for me. This comment was edited on Jan 17, 2010, 20:41.

82.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 17, 2010, 20:17

Yifes wrote on Jan 17, 2010, 20:08: It was good...what do you like about it that would make you describe it as "awesome"? I thought Fight Club was much better, as far as Brad Pitt movies go. Is your opinion of the movie slanted because it's a Tarantino movie? Just wondering. I love Tarantino's dialog. The first act with the Jew Hunter was haunting and brilliant. Also, I wouldn't consider it a Brad Pitt movie because it has more of an ensemble cast. Have to agree, Tarantino has some of the best dialogue. See Reservoir Dogs. I do like Inglourious Basterds but I wouldn't rate it higher than Pulp Fiction or Resevoir Dogs.

81.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 17, 2010, 20:14

Yifes

The fact that the movie has some unrealistic (or at least unlikely) scenes doesn't bother me at all...it's a movie not a documentary, nor does a claim to be a 100% accurate account of Army EOD personnel. It's a movie that is meant to entertain and IMO it succeeds greatly in this area. If some EOD soldier is disappointed by the movies lack of realism maybe someone should tell him it's not a History Channel documentary, it's a movie. Right, and it wouldn't have bothered me either if the movie wasn't billed and hyped for its realism. For a movie that takes itself so seriously, the blatant ridiculousness of the plot takes away from the overall experience. RT is looking at several reviews for a given movie, it's not "blindly jumping onto whatever critcis bandwagon is the most popular at the moment". That's the whole point of using several review sources and not relying on any particular one. Yeah, RT looks at several reviews and tracks the general trend of critic opinion in the form of fresh or rotten. Using an artificial aggregate of overall critic opinion as the basis to form your judgement is blindly following critics' trends, hence my reference to jumping on the overall critics' bandwagon as opposed to blindly following one critic's voice in particular. This comment was edited on Jan 17, 2010, 20:18.

80.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 17, 2010, 20:08

Yifes

It was good...what do you like about it that would make you describe it as "awesome"? I thought Fight Club was much better, as far as Brad Pitt movies go. Is your opinion of the movie slanted because it's a Tarantino movie? Just wondering. I love Tarantino's dialog. The first act with the Jew Hunter was haunting and brilliant. Also, I wouldn't consider it a Brad Pitt movie because it has more of an ensemble cast.

79.

Re: Avatar Game: What Went Wrong

Jan 17, 2010, 17:23