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Want to See a Good Movie? Don’t Talk About It: Why Hype (and ‘Avatar’) Sucks
Posted by Craig Kessler on August 1, 2009 at 9:53 am
DELICIOUS
STUMBLEUPON
REDDITBefore James Cameron
, director of Titanic, snagged the title of Avatar for his new movie, I would always think of that lame anime-wannabe of a cartoon on Nickelodeon. Now we can think of both! M. Night Shyamalan is making a feature-film out of Avatar: The Last Airbender while Cameron is doing a movie simply called Avatar. It had to be the talk of Comic-Con this year, banners waving advertising the festival, pictures and more plot info released, etc. Some fans were even screened twenty-five minutes of footage from the sci-fi flick. Now they’re talking about a holiday entitled “Avatar Day” set for August 21st : Fifteen minutes of the movie will be shown in IMAX theaters and online, according to Fox. Urgh. I’m one of the many people who are excited to see Avatar, but whose fault is that? Hype’s fault! Because of hype, pretty much every major movie has sucked so far. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, King Kong. Next up to bat? G.I Joe: Rise of Cobra. Or Inglourious Basterds. Although advertising has been cut down on it, so maybe that actually has a chance.
Most times independent films like 500 Days of Summer and The Hurt Locker Perfect Stranger divx
receive so much praise is because of the down-low on its release. Think about it: how many times have you actually waited for an independent movie to come out? Movie studios spend a fortune on constant advertising of their latest wide release. So much in fact that people will be angry that it wasn’t better than watching Jesus Christ being resurrected for the second time! With Avatar being called the “most-anticipated movie of the year” (topping New Moon, respectively), we should automatically expect it to suck. James Cameron is getting cocky on this too, saying to MTV on worries of special screenings affecting ticket sales “If you’re there, then you liked what you saw. So you’ve already answered the question, ‘OK, can they do the kind of emotional reality that’s been missing from CG?’ And I think all those questions about ‘Can they do it?’ ‘Will it live up?’ — that’s going to be set by the wayside. So now, in a way, you’re free to enjoy the world and enjoy the ride. That’s why I don’t mind showing stuff at this (Comic-Con) stage.” From the sound of this, it seems that Cameron is expecting his first major film since 1997 to be the next Titanic. However, it’s highly unlikely that it’ll gross over $1,800,000,000 worldwide (Titanic remains to be the highest-grossing movie of all time, both overseas and domestically). To answer the original title question, if you want to see a good movie, catch an unheard of one in limited release; that’s bound to please. Enjoy it until major studios catch on to the charm of independent film and destroy it. Destroy it, I tell you!
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I kind of have to disagree with you on this one Craig.
First off, I’m a huge fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and I think people don’t give it enough credit. It’s really great. A lot of people who have seen episodes here and there were surprised by how good it was. Although granted it’s not for everyone.
As for James Cameron’s Avatar, I didn’t know much about it before seeing the footage at Comic Con, and it really blew me away. I think what the big deal about it is kind of the Planet Pandora they totally invented and the visuals they were able to create with the characters. It really felt like you were watching real live actors and not CGI. I honestly think you should watch the footage before making any judgments, you might be surprised. Of course, not everyone is going to like Avatar, but it’s definitely something worth checking out.
And as far as studios hyping up movies too much, I agree, most of the time it’s pretty disappointing. But I don’t feel like Avatar has been hyped up by the studios so much, but by websites instead, which to me is actually a positive thing.
I’m definitely curious to hear your thoughts on the footage once you see it. It’s either going to change your mind or just confirm what you already thought. Ha!
@Sandie I am very excited for Avatar and hope when I finally see the footage and full movie will be blown away. I am not going to go into it with a negative mindset, just tough to have so much hype surrounding it. Similar to the way they built Hangover this summer, I still thought it was very funny but may have enjoyed it even more without the hype leading up to it. Either way, looking forward to Avatar this winter.
I do agree with you about movies being hyped up, the problem is that most of the time they never live up to your expectations, which is why sometimes it’s better to see a movie without hearing anything about it. As for The Hangover, I’m with you. I enjoyed it but it didn’t live up to what people were saying about it because by that point my expectation was too high.
I do hope that you’ll enjoy Avatar once you see it. Just remember to tell yourself it’s going to suck, that way it can only go up from here, haha!
@Sandie I’m sure Avatar will be really cool. I’m with you, sometimes the random movies I see that I don’t know much about end up being more enjoyable than ones that are super hyped up.