Has anyone watched Avatar yet? Spoilerz

[Quirel]

whoa, never made the Fern Gully connection till you just said that.

This movie has about as much in common with Fern Gully as The Dark Knight has in common with Batman & Robin.

Apart from the vegetation, another thing I loved about the visuals were the vehicle designs - that they are all so present day or near future styled.
Which reminds me...

Try a google image search for "Bagger 288"

As for "ripoffs" - I haven't seen a single movie in the last 10 years where one couldn't say "it's a ripoff of: <insert lesser known story here>"

Agreed, on all points.

With what Xyvik mentioned, Manta's Gift...
I'm a Timothy Zahn fan, and I haven't even heard of that one (Not to say that I hunted all his books down, just that I pick his stuff up when I see it).

As to say that Cameron has no decency to speak of whatsoever... As far as I see it, the only reason he's guilty of these crimes was when he waited ten or twelve years for the technology to catch up, so he could do something like this. If he did it straightaways after Titanic, then he wouldn't have seemed so derivative.

As for saying he ripped off Borderlands...
You... have... to.. be... kidding... me...
The ONLY connection I made was the gigantic excavator that was shown for five seconds in the beginning. Pandora? The planet has been called that ever since he came up with the story! That little swirly effect when the Avatar connection is made? Can you say... Spiderman?

[Xyvik]

It's 4am and I've been up all night, I don't even know why I'm talking about this lol. It was a good flick and I'll watch it again, but you'll never find me extolling it as an awesome movie except for its visuals.

/endrants

[Eligor]

Fascism works under the believe of cultural or race supremacy, WITHOUT the interaction of any attempt a diplomatic solution.

Actually Fascism is simply the belief that Military Might makes Right. It doesn't have to be married to nationalism or racism (though it usually is).

[Quirel]

Actually Fascism is simply the belief that Military Might makes Right. It doesn't have to be married to nationalism or racism (though it usually is).

No, that's a bastardization of what Fascism is.
Fascism is strong state control of economics and social aspects (Stronger on the social aspects than the economics) and is always tied in with Nationalism or racism (I am unaware of a Fascist government that DIDN'T use Nationalism as a crutch).

Militarism usually ties in too, but I don't think it's necessarily part of the definition. The US, under Roosevelt, could have gone into communism or fascism, because of the economic and sociopolitical acts Roosevelt signed into law, and the only real act of militarism was when Douglas MacArthur crushed the Bonus March.

Edit: Belay that last bit. Bonus March took place under Hoover.

[Eligor]

No, that's a bastardization of what Fascism is.
Fascism is strong state control of economics and social aspects (Stronger on the social aspects than the economics) and is always tied in with Nationalism or racism (I am unaware of a Fascist government that DIDN'T use Nationalism as a crutch).

Well, I perhaps should have said Military Might and Order. I do think it's a good summation of the spirit of the thing though (which defines it better than specific government mechanics).

[The_Blade]

Well, I perhaps should have said Military Might and Order. I do think it's a good summation of the spirit of the thing though (which defines it better than specific government mechanics).

Well most of the times fascism is also tied to military due to the fact that people "like" to think different or "be" different, unlike the government wants to. But, most of the factors that involve fascism is the propaganda or face the government uses over itself in order to claim its unique power over the society and law.

[Lupino]

So, I just saw it bout 30 minutes ago.

Drawn out, predictable, by-the-book "white guilt" plot with hollow characters you can relate to but ultimately not give a shit about.

The CGI trees were very pretty, though.

White guilt? Now who's being racist, as if only the White Man has ever gone & subjugated a more primitive culture (though his efforts are usually the more memorable ones ).

But yeah, there were similar themes in this movie to Dances with Wolves (Cameron admits as much), but it was much more a examination about colonialism and how blowing people up because they have a resource you want isn't that great an idea. The only difference is this time the Aztecs won and drove the Conquistadors off their land.

[DemolitionSquid]

White guilt? Now who's being racist, as if only the White Man has ever gone & subjugated a more primitive culture (though his efforts are usually the more memorable ones ).

But yeah, there were similar themes in this movie to Dances with Wolves (Cameron admits as much), but it was much more a examination about colonialism and how blowing people up because they have a resource you want isn't that great an idea. The only difference is this time the Aztecs won and drove the Conquistadors off their land.

You are one dense SOB. These movies aren't about how the natives won, or how colonialism and strip-mining are bad, or some other shit. They're about making white people feel better about all the crap we've done to everyone else. How even though we caused the problem and are sacks, a white man saved the day and so it's all OK.

I'm sick of this shit. The LEAST they could have done is made Jake Sully some other color than white, but no, that would defeat the purpose of this 400 million dollar piece of shit.

[Quirel]

You are one dense SOB. These movies aren't about how the natives won, or how colonialism and strip-mining are bad, or some other shit. They're about making white people feel better about all the crap we've done to everyone else. How even though we caused the problem and are sacks, a white man saved the day and so it's all OK.

I'm sick of this shit. The LEAST they could have done is made Jake Sully some other color than white, but no, that would defeat the purpose of this 400 million dollar piece of shit.

Not what I got from it. To be honest, skin color doesn't matter to me.
If all you're able to get form is it "White man saves the day!", and Jake Sully would have had to be latino or black for you to get over it...

[Gradius]

400 million dollar piece of shit.

1 billion now I believe.