Avatar

Steven Spielberg was quoted as saying that this “the most evocative and amazing science-fiction movie since Star Wars,” and while I have to be honest and say it isn’t in my top 3 all-time favorite movies, it does make the top 5 as #4 (after I get it on DVD and watch it at home, I’ll decide whether it can inch out #3).

While Cameron has done his best to spin the movie as something that defies catagorization, the truth is, Avatar combines a lot of previous concepts. If he’d done this movie back in the 70s when he first imagined it (leaving aside that he wouldn’t have been able to do it with the kind of effects that made it believable today, let alone with the ability to tell the story as close to his vision as he has) I think a couple of the ideas shown in Avatar would have been fairly revolutionary SciFi material. Today, we’ve seen a lot of these concepts over and over. But that’s ok. Avatar is a lot like Braveheart meets Dances with Wolves.  (Braveheart ranked #5 among the top grossing R rated movies for 1995, approximately 75 million gross national review, with the #1 R rated movie of 1995 pulling down just over 100 million.  Dances with Wolves of course earned several nominations and is considered by many to be an epic story.)  In short, both movies were quite good (although Braveheart cost 72 million to make, so the movie would not have been anything close to a success if you discount the revenue from foreign theatres.) and Avatar is definitely a must see in my book.

Hopefully it will make enough to justify it’s 300 million production budget.

While I don’t want to spoil the story for my friends who keep up with this notebook, I’d like to at least strongly encourage you to go check it out for yourself.  And, when you go see it, make sure you see it in 3D.  I’ve seen the preview clips on my HD TV at home and I saw it in 3D in the theatres.  3D really does a lot to sell the movie.

(And no, despite how much I loved the movie, I will not be picking up the video game… ok, maybe… but most likely not.  I really don’t have time to play MMOs as much as I used to, and my interest in them had waned before I even met my future wife.)

I will, however, be looking forward to checking it out in IMAX 3D after we get through the holidays (2h 40m is a lengthy period to watch again within the same weekend…it’s a huge chunk of my day.)