James Cameron (pictured left) held a private screening of "Avatar" on Dec. 4 for a few friends of his. Among the attendees were Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steven Spielberg (pictured right), a filmmaker who is also experimenting with motion-capture technology. (Spielberg and Peter Jackson are in the middle of mo-cap pic "Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.")
At the premiere last night, I heard that Spielberg's reaction was overwhelmingly positive.
Today I was able to confirm through his reps that after the screening, Spielberg called "Avatar" "the most evocative and amazing science-fiction movie since 'Star Wars.'"
Not too shabby of an endorsement, eh?
THAT is the only "critic" quote that should appear in all their ads.
Posted by: diane | December 17, 2009 at 09:12 PM
i heart avatar
Posted by: stephenie | December 18, 2009 at 12:44 AM
Spielberg also “flipped” over the last few Star Wars movies, so take this with a huge grain of salt. He’s just pumping up his Hollywood buddies. Means about as much as a Rex Reed review...
Posted by: valentines day gift ideas | December 18, 2009 at 02:35 AM
Avatar was terrible. 10 for visuals. A lousy 4 for story. More holes than swiss cheese.
Posted by: Harry the critic | December 18, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Avatar looks pretty awesome! :)
Posted by: Free Samples | December 18, 2009 at 12:54 PM
Did you expect him to come out of the private screening and say to Cameron - "Hey man, that stunk, good luck polishing that turd!"
As someone else noted, he said SW Eps 1/2/3 were the second coming of film. And he *made* that shitpile Indiana 4.
His opinion isn't worth the flecks of snot on my shirtfront.
Posted by: Neil | December 18, 2009 at 01:04 PM
THe man hasn't done anything good in a while, and he praised the last couple starwars movies...hum, this makes me more worried than anything else..
Posted by: da medic | December 18, 2009 at 01:06 PM
Have any of you actually seen the movie? It was fantastic. If you can go watch ninja assassin and enjoy it, why cant you do the same for this one? Both had cliched stories and both were fun, only one of them however was visually stunning from start to finish.
Posted by: Mike | December 18, 2009 at 01:24 PM
I just got back from seeing it. I didn't understand what all the hype was about, but now I do. It was the most amazing movie I've seen in recent memory. Not since the Fellowship of the Rings have I been so blown away by every aspect of a movie from the visuals to the characterization to the story. On a technical note, it was by far the best CGI I've ever seen; this was the first movie where there was no tell-tale sign that what I was watching was actually artificial. Actors with presence are no longer necessary. James Cameron brought it; I am totally fascinated by this movie.
Posted by: ddade | December 18, 2009 at 10:53 PM
What a I thought 45 min into the movie is "Pixar" and what comes out of Skywalker ranch look stupid now !!!!! I mean Avatar does everything Pixar does in "Living Universal 3D form"
I loved it the Alien creatures were beautiful as was the Forest and effects
The only thing I thought about (but its not really a complaint ) is the character that was the Corporate Boss trying to gain Profit from the Planet,, was close to the same guy in Aliens if you know what I mean
and we had overtures of Titanic in the Romance and Music,, But Cameron did all those Films so he has the right ,,, so there
And yes this is the Best film I have seen for a long time .... it makes me laugh when People comment on " oh yeah another 3D Sci fi movie how boring " then they go and watch a stupid George Clooney movie
I don't think he has done a classic movie Yet!! ,,,,, or these Stupid kid movies like Transformers and Batman.
I was one of those people In the 70's that Cued for an hour round the Movie theater to see Star Wars,, Terminator ,, Aliens,, Indiana Jones,, amazing Adventure Sc-fi movies that we had back then
Well done James Cameron "Real 3D movies" start now, cant wait for Alice in Wonderland which is done with the same format .. and I'm betting that the format will improve every year or so.
Posted by: Andrew Neave | December 19, 2009 at 04:07 AM
Absolutely STUNNING piece of cinematic history. anyone who didn't like AVATAR was born sadly free of imagination. This is literally a story meets technology benchmark for the entire world to look up to. There were no wasted moments, no pandering dialogue, no punches pulled in the action scenes, no hamming it up for the audience- and less cheese than LOTR which i LOVED. i am absolutely blown away by this picture, and being a 3D artist by trade i am staggered by the technical achievements- only a labor of pure love with the right people could turn out this close to perfect.
Posted by: Lawson | December 20, 2009 at 11:55 AM
LOL...::hides::
Posted by: Jon | December 23, 2009 at 04:51 AM
Avatar is a visual rollercoaster, but no more than that.
I found myself bored stiff after 90 minutes and was ready to kick some blue ass. To bad it didn't work out that way. Maybe in the sequel: The Earth Strikes Back, or Return of the Avatar Drivers.
Whatever.
Posted by: Avaturd | December 23, 2009 at 07:19 AM
Hi Guy's,
He’s just pumping up his Hollywood buddies. Means about as much as a Rex Reed review...
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