Bingo!
Sometimes good movies can be great if you switch your brain off and just enjoy the ride. LOL
When you look to movies for political views etc, you'll just be disappointed most of the time. Movie makers and actors aren't qualified any more than anyone else. I'll let them entertain me though, that's what they're really for IMO.

Film makers and actors may not be more qualified than us ordinary folk when it comes to expressing political views but they sure get a lot more attention than us when they do.

And as for turning your brain off and not searching for political undertones in a movie, that would work or not work depending entirely on what movie it is. You don't think that a movie like "Wall Street" or "V for Vendetta" has a political ideology behind it? By the same token, it would be absurd to try and find a political agenda behind "The Hangover" or "Thor".

I believe the future films will take place in the same "universe" and actually the same solar system as Avatar, but not the same actual moon.

My guess is that the tech that allowed them to make human/Na'avi hybrid avatars would allow them to make human/whatever hybrid avatars elsewhere, especially if they're water-breathers. So perhaps we'll see a new trilogy separate from Avatar.




The Jedi Master

I mean I still enjoyed watching it in 3D because the CGI and tech is impressive and it's an immersive visual experience, but the story is cheap fluff, acting indifferent, themes tired and unoriginal. Thus it does annoy me when something like Avatar gets hailed as a "great film". In the special effects / minor technical categories, perhaps; otherwise completely underwhelming.

Wouldn't be lining up to pay money for at the theatre again though, unless perhaps I was taking my young kid to look at the pretty butterflies and flying dinosaurs.

Over-hyped and under-delivered; some of the same criticisms could be levelled at Prometheus of course. Although I do wonder how much the superior and relentless marketing we have these days is to blame for unrealistic expectations.

There's probably something ageist to be said about director's better years being behind them, too.

On the "political messages are everywhere" thing, perhaps, but when there's nothing else of substance to distract you from it, it just grates. Not as if there was a dull moment in Aliens or T2 to be distracted by such!

It's fair to say Avatar wasn't a grand space opera with deep characters and a complex plot, but then movies like Dune just don't do it for the average movie-goer. 2001 was a rare bird. Even the story in Blade Runner wasn't REALLY all that deep, it's the environment it's told in that makes that movie so incredible. I would imagine that's what they were going for in Avatar, it just wasn't as interesting an environment. LOL Deep and complex rarely works in 2-3 hrs.
It sure would be nice to see the deep and amazing sci fi books get made into movies of LOTR quality, but I don't know if that will happen, or if it's really possible on the big screen.

The problem of politics in movies, for me, is that my own views and politics are almost ALWAYS under attack...not by the fictional character, but by the writers and producer's "message" they want to deeply imbed in the movie. I wouldn't mind so much if it was only SOME of the time, and my own views got roughly equal coverage in other pieces...but that just doesn't happen anymore.

It's EASY to dismiss such notions if the messages don't insult you. But for me, before I go pay for a movie, I check online to see if I'm gonna be getting suckerpunched by the "message". And if the answer is "probably", I absolutely REFUSE to pay for that movie in any form.

Why wouldn't I pay for a movie I'd disagree with politically? First, because it's exposing me to propaganda I do not wish to see. Second, I earned my money through hard, difficult, dangerous and unpleasant work...AFTER TAX...why should I pay some Hollywood lackeys who sit in air-conditioned rooms all day long with some of the easiest jobs in the world, to lecture me about how I'm supposed to feel about a situation?!? Third, paying for a propaganda piece I don't agree with, will only encourage them to make more such propaganda. Fourth, and by FAR the most important reason I will REFUSE to pay for a movie that's going to push a political message...they WILL take part of my money and donate it to a political party and campaign that I don't want to support. Hollywood today IS a "Super-PAC"!

I used to not mind it in the 80's and 90's, but that was VERY mild when they did that back in those days. Today it's like they are beating you over the head with a hammer...no, I will NOT pay for that. No matter how glittery and shiny the latest 3D effects are.

Avatar was shiny and glittery...and yes, I watched it in the theatres because we went to it opening night. That's the last time I'm paying money for Hollywood to scold me and my beliefs.

I'd never see a movie if I did that. Or read a book, watch a tv show, play a game, talk to anyone...
What some may call propaganda, I may view as a farce instead. Again, that's why I just go to be entertained.

I understand your point but wouldn't you agree that different types of films are made with different intentions? For example, would you say a film like "Kingdom of Heaven" or "W" were made purely for entertainment? Both of these films have very specific political and ideological viewpoints that they are presenting.

The unfortunate fact is that most people who work in Hollywood and entertainment in general are left of center and that applies especially to film script writers. The bias is there no doubt but I think in general that bias is kept to a minimum in most films. Of course, it all depends on what kind of film it is. Any film that has a premise set in the modern day Middle East is pretty much guaranteed to have a left of center tilt. See "Green Zone", "The Kingdom", "Lions for Lambs".

I don't go to see movies like that--we don't get to go that often, so any movie better be a good bet for a fun night. Rarely watch them at home either though. Couldn't tell you which way those two swing on whatever topic. I think I saw the start of Kingdom, but can't remember the rest. W just not my kind of movie, like most Oliver Stone movies. Not that I'm a simpleton, but if I'm going to sit through a couple of hours, I want to be entertained, not merely subjected to someone's opinion. Apocalypse Now managed to be a good war movie, but surely has other facets. Mainly, it's entertaining, which is why it's good--you can take from it what you want. Not due to being some vehicle for Coppola to preach to the audience.
Some consider movies to be art, but I'm not so sure when it comes to big budget flicks. The idea of hundreds of people working for a year or more merely for a director to convey an opinion to the public is a little absurd to me.