Avatar II

James Cameron is an elemental film storyteller. He knows how to define clear good and bad guys, how to crank up a story over the long haul, how to deliver a happy ending.
TITANTIC fulfilled this promise and so does AVATAR.

This said, I'm not a fan of the latter. The 3D was engaging for a while but in the end I would have sacrificed the visual 3D for getting rid of the glasses. Since I'm not a great fan of the action genre, the action scenes went on far too long for me. I got bored early. The story was, well, generic and predictable, a story told often enough successfully in the past that it was sure to work yet again. I guess we'll always be attracted to the Noble Savage. All in all, there may have been a 90 minute movie in these two and a half hours that could have held my interest.

Far more interesting is the film as cultural phenomenon. I hope this is not the future of filmmaking. As a matter of fact, I feel like the remedy to AVATAR is to watch, as soon as possible, something like THE LAST PICTURE SHOW or WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, which I happen to be taping soon. I feel like running to the nearest basement theater to see an Albee play in the round playing to a full house of 100.

Well, at my age I hardly need another reminder that I do not share the tastes of the mainstream. Cameron is skilled and knows his audience. I just happen not to be a part of it.