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 In other words, I want a movie that takes place in outer space; that deals with politics on a grand scale; that focuses upon relatable human characters who are trying to make it in a big, dangerous universe.

 

So basically you want the Ender series, of which many of us have been waiting a long, long time for it to be made into a movie.

I think the movie looks decent. What surprises me most is I don't hear a lot of people talking about the allegory for what the movie is supposed to mirror, which is how the settlers and US Government unjustly wiped out the Native Americans and took their land.

I think the 'message', while inspired by the Vietnam War as the movie was originally written nearly 15 yeas ago, is rather universal - many countries and governments have forced natives off of their land through means both unethical and bloody for their resources. England, Germany, America, etc. I've always found people's reactions to these facts interesting.

In any case, I'll reserve judgement until I've seen the film. From what I've been able to read so far, it sounds like it will mirrior Titanic - a massive box office success that no one wants to admit they enjoyed.

I will give credit to the original Star Wars (episode 4) as being they type of science fiction that I like.  SW does have more than a little fantasy to it, but the original movie nailed it (particularly Han Solo).  As far as I am concerned, every SW movie since the first has been on a slow decline in quality and vision, tending more towards an after school cartoon than a serious story.

I can't believe that you are still dissapointed about ewoks are all these years. Get over it.

Oh, I'm 'over it'...all of Star Wars' 'it'.  Lucas pretty much ran a good start into the ground at this point.

As for Star Trek, again, good call.  My only problem with ST is that it is getting really boring now.  Yes, the "reboot" was well done and had some of the sci-fi vision I'm looking for, but I am just really tired of revisiting the same characters over and over and over and over....

Star wars is not "pure" sci-fi, but thats what makes it so good.

That's a matter of opinion. 

The isn't more sci-fi of the kind that you like because there isn't a big enough audience for it to be marketable.

Didn't you just say that SW and ST were the type of sci-fi I am looking for?  Those blockbusters would seem to indicate that there is an audience for that type of sci-fi.  What is more, if you add in three of the most classic sci-fi stories of all time - 2001, Alien (and Aliens, for that matter), Blade Runner - not only is there an audience for more serious sci-fi, but audiences seem to value such tales much more than all the softball sci-fi we've been drowning in lately.

Is this Dances with Wolves, with aliens?

I was a bit disappointed when I found out that this is going to be a straight to DVD movie, but I am grateful for the effort.  Hopefully, this movie will sell well and act as a piece of sales literature for a big studio production.  God knows if Transformers can get its own franchise, 40K deserves one of its own! 

Thats purely a matter of opinion. Original trilogy was good, empire imo is better the the first one and is more darker the the first one. Luke vs Vader was dark so the cartoony ewoks getting killed lightnened the mood, but were a bit annoying.

Star wars is the exception, not the rule. I can't think of any other films with space dogfights and/or giant starships that were made recently except for ST. The rest are really old.

Space sci-fi is simply too deeply associated with geek culture and so Hollywood doesn't want to touch it which is why ST was so surprising. I think that, a successful and popular ST reboot was the necessary step needed for more space sci-fi movies to be made. We will see more I bet.

Apparantly, the 40k movie is simply to see how well a 40k movie would sell and if it goes well, they're planning on making a full feature length film I've heard. Ultramarine is just the start.

What do you have against Scottish Ninja Commandoes?

Just got back from seeing this. Wow. Also, the picture I posted in my OP is from the Video game, not the movie. The film will melt your face.

First up, this isn't an action movie. It's exactly the story you're expecting, with a massive finale. It's Avatar's weakest link; the story is predictable and most of the characters are stereotypes. It's been done before. However, it's never been done like this and despite the familiarity of the story and characters, it works.

The visuals are worth the hype: the promotional crap doesn't do this film justice on any level. Once it's up and running, you're there on Pandora with the characters. It just sucks you in with it's awe and wonder and you don't want to miss a second of it. I won't go gushing on; these are the best visual effects I've ever seen and you're going to want to see this on the big screen.

All the comparisons with the Iraq and Afghan war are off mark, as far as I'm concerned. This movie has more in common with Dances with Wolves than any real life events. Talk of the 9/11 imagery is also off; if you want to see that imagery you'll find it whereever you look. Avatar tells the tale we've heard before in a new way and tells it damn well; this isn't a two and a half hour long geopolitical commentary and not once during the film did I think "Oh, ok, that's referencing [event]". It's more about Humankind as a whole, rather than any single country, and how we think that we have a right to do what we do. Again, however, it's nothing we haven't heard before.

It's a great movie, made by someone who loves movies for people who love movies. It's going to change the visual effects game, but the story telling game is going to remain the same. There's talk of a sequel, and I'm hoping the talk is true; I'd love to see what Cameron and crew can come up with next. I just hope they spend a little more time on the plot on their second trip to Pandora. I'm giving this four stars.

I really liked the concept of babylon 5 but couldn't bear more than 20 minutes before I wanted to gauch my eyeballs out. Not neccerially bad acting but very bad photography. Close-ups were shunned for some reason which made the whole thing totally undramatic.

oh ok thats good to know, maybe ill try again.  

Seconded: Remakes are the cancer of Hollywood...and Hollywood have had cancer for close to 10-15 years now....

I say we need more cyberpunk movies; dark, gritty admosphere, a lone hero bathing in shades of grey...tehcno-bitches too!