Avatar

The Boy is in town for the Christmas holiday so that means it's time to go to the movies.  This afternoon we headed out with the masses to take in James Cameron's latest epic, "Avatar."  I read about one-third of the New York Times' review of this movie on Friday before stopping myself.  The gushing nature of it began to worry me.  The NY Times never likes anything suitable for the masses.

I am not taken to hyperbole but "Avatar" may be the movie experience of my lifetime.  It's simply stunning.  The special effects are beyond belief, the story line while not epic is very, very good, as is the acting.  Although it's hard to critique a movie that's 95 percent computer generated acting.  Looking back on my life I would say this film is groundbreaking in the same way George Lucas changed the game with his initial "Star Wars" treatment.

Cameron hit a homerun a dozen years ago with "Titanic."  This is a grandslam.  Don't be put off by the 3D.  It truly enhances the entire movie watching experience.  Don't be put off by the science fiction aspects of this.  As I was telling the Boy on the drive home from the theater, Cameron has created an amazing variation of a cinematic favorite, the American western.  Instead of John Ford's enduring vistas in Monument Valley, Cameron has created his an entire world of breath-taking beauty and unnerving danger.  It's Cowboys versus Indians only this time Mother Nature holds the winning hand. 

I never go to movies in the theatre more than once, but I may have to make an exception this time.