In 1984, The Terminator hit the box office. In 1991, Terminator 2 made box office record. In 1997, there was Titanic; the most expensive movie during that time. Titanic grossed 1.8 billion dollars and became the highest grossing movie. Who wrote and directed those movies? It’s James Cameron. Now it has been more than one decade since Titanic. What was happening with James Cameron? The answer – he was developing Avatar.

As the first decade of the 2nd millennium reaches the end, Avatar has been the best movie I’ve seen for the decade. It’s released on perfect time, Avatar closes the decade by being the best film and opens the new decade by being the revolutionary of Hollywood.

Avatar contains 60 percent Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI). By watching Avatar, the audience cinematic experience will be taken to whole new level. Okay, maybe I said that because it’s the first time I watched movie in 3D. However, watching Avatar brought me to new mystical world; it’s beyond imagination. I hate fantasy movies but the imaginary in this movie is too fantastic. The moment you see Pandora, you will love the atmosphere and it will keep charming you until the movie ends. By the way, 3D glass are not comfortable for me. I must get used to it.

The development of Avatar is groundbreaking. I saw the “Making Of” on Star World Channel, weeks ago. The CGIs are absolutely realistic and the only reason you can say they’re fake is for not existing in our world. Just forget about Terminator Salvation, Transformers 2 and even 2012. Avatar is different and better than any other movies made to impress audience with CGIs. This movie delivers what those movie promised.

James Cameron maintained his way of making films. You can watch never seen effects, are almost everywhere in the entire movie. The movie was inspired by science fiction books James Cameron had read since his childhood. Pandora is his own imaginary world and he touches every essence of it. The details are sharp and you will keep your eyes on the landscapes. I believe he constantly improved Pandora over the years during development.

Avatar is an epic adventure that drives the audience visually and emotionally. It’s very rare to have beautiful movies like Avatar (and previously, we had Pixar’s Up) because they have the ability to touch our heart. Besides being love story, Avatar contains brilliantly crafted action sequences. The climax battle scenes are totally mind blowing. While the war between human and Navi rages, you will be supporting the Navis. I guess Avatar will be remembered for the next decade for the breathtaking action sequences. Furthermore, Avatar has great musical scores and matches each scene it’s made for. I’m looking forward to get the tracks.

Most critics said Avatar story has been copied from variety other works. I agree but that doesn’t matter for me. Almost every movie that comes out have similarity with other movies. Pocahontas is one of the adaption for this movie. Though you might find same old thing in Avatar story but the way it’s presented to us will make you praise the movie. James Cameron blended different movies into one. While Pandora can be the creative creation, the rest of the movie is total innovation.

Personally, I love the story line. It’s simple yet keeps the audience entertained for 2 hours 40 minutes. Everything is easy to understand and the movie holds your attention from start until the end. I love every minute of this movie and that resulted in feeling time went too fast.

James Cameron first wrote the script in 1994 and it had leaked on the internet. You can guess the outcomes then. He said the movie was not produced earlier because the technology needs to catch up to allow him use Performance Capture and film them in 3D. Performance Capture is using real cast movement to make the CGI version of them. It’s not only copies the physical movement but the facial expression as well. The Navis in Avatar are casted by real human but in the camera, it shows CGIs. This technology was available earlier but not good enough to make this movie and at the same time, it was too expensive.

Jake (casting by Sam Worthington) takes us on adventurous roller-coaster ride while Neytiri takes us on emotional roller-coaster ride. Neytiri (casting by Zoe Saldana) is the best character in the movie. Her expressions and movements resonates her emotion. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana has signed for possible sequels. Other great supporting casts are Sigourney Weaver, Joel Moore, Michelle Rodriguez and more. I love the part Michelle Rodriguez said, “I didn’t sign up for this shit.” Some critics says the dialogues in Avatar are cheesy. However, I’m okay with it.

Everyone should watch Avatar. The movie gives the audience more than the trailer had to offer. Watch it in 3D (or at least 2D) while it’s still in cinema. I don’t think DVD will deliver any better experience than I had in cinema. Besides that, DVD might have contents not suitable for children. James Cameron said there might be certain edition of DVD will arrive with scene of Navi making love. Most probably it will be Jake and Neytiri.

Avatar is good choice of movie to watch with anyone. It’s the tale that captures the mind and heart of every age. Avatar makes you feel good, joy and sorrow. The humors will make you laugh out loud. Avatar gives you the opportunity to witness the turning point of film making technology. If you’re young, Avatar will be memorable for you and if you’re old, you’ll thank James Cameron. ;)

Rating: 10/10

Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world and in here is the dream. – Jake Sully

Now, for some personal post relating to Avatar movie. I’ve been using the name Avatar in Internet Relay Chat (IRC) for years. Some IRC chatters I chat with are too attracted to Navi and Pandora. Here are lines from some of the conversations I had.

Anonymous: Do you know Pandora?
Avatar: Yes, it’s my new hometown.
Anonymous: I love Pandora. Can you take me there?
Avatar: I’m sorry. Pandora doesn’t exist.
Avatar: Even if it exist, it would’ve been destroyed by now.
Anonymous: … That’s true.

Here’s another transcript, conversation with someone who really loves Pandora.

Anonymous: Pandora!
Anonymous: Any beautiful creature there?
Avatar: Not any but MANY!!!
Anonymous: Can you speak Navi language?
Anonymous: Can you speak some?
Avatar: If I speak, you won’t understand.
Avatar: I’m still learning.

Here’s Live Messenger conversation with another friend. I saw her Personal Message said “I love Avatar.” So I sent her IM:

Avatar: Who? Me?
Friend: No! The movie!

LOL.

Update: Original Avatar screenplay, written by James Cameron has been released in digital version (Adobe PDF) by FOX Studio. Download Avatar Screenplay here. I’m not sure if it has 100 percent of the movie, I cannot find certain quotes.

Update: Avatar won Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture (Drama) and James Cameron won the award for Best Director.

Update: As of January 26, 2010; Avatar have officially made Global Box Office Record with $1.859 Billion. It has overtaken Titanic and became highest grossing movie ever. Titanic ($1.843 billion) on the 2nd spot and Avatar on the 1st spot.

Update: As of February 02, 2010; Avatar grossed $2.04 Billion. The first movie ever to be reach the $2 Billion mark.

Update: As of March 01, 2010: Director James Cameron’s 3D Blockbuster says farewell after being on Top Box Office for 11 weeks. The movie surpasses worldwide Box Office record James Cameron had from 1997’s Titanic. Now, Avatar’s worldwide gross reached US $2.5 Billion. It’s huge success for James Cameron.

Most of us knows the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes. He’s well known for his ability solving mystery by observing small details.

The movie had an attractive trailer and I thought the movie will be great because the early reviews was too positive. So I went to watch it with high expectation. While I was watching, I realize I was wrong. There’s too much talking and barely anything else to be enjoyed.

Sherlock Holmes was created around 1890 and this movie looks classical with modern filming technology. It can be seen from the trailer itself, I do like this kind of movies. However, Sherlock Holmes did not deliver to the expectation. I personally think The Legend Of Zorro, Shanghai Knights and Public Enemies have better visuals to display previous century. Sherlock Holmes sets in old London and I believe they should have worked more on the visuals.

I felt sleepy and the only reason I was awake was because of the humors. There aren’t many but they have it all in right places. Maybe to keep people to be awake, LOL. Watching this movie felt like reading plain novel for the sake of reading.

Sherlock Holmes has adventure, mystery and some action. All these different elements mixed up without balance in one detective movie and runs for two hours. I would classify this movie nothing but drama. I could not find anything to admire about this movie except for the acting and humors.

Rating: 2/10

There’s no magic. Only tricks. – Sherlock Holmes

The poster does not look cool, neither does the trailer. I decided to watch this movie after I saw “Behind The Scenes” footages on Sony’s AXN Channel. Well this movie does give everything promised on the footage. The tough training the cast (especially Rain) went through is totally worth it.

The introduction part contains too much flashbacks. It shifts frequently between Raizo’s past and present time. This movie is easy to understand and the story line seems to be written in simple way. The original script wasn’t good enough and they decided to make new draft, six weeks before the production. The total writing hours of the new script was only 53 hours. The whole movie runs for about 100 minutes with some predictable points.

This movie is extremely violent. The blood splits everywhere. The ninjas in this movie are heartless killer and they kill brutally, with or without sword. There’s line “I have no heart” by Raizo, before Kiriko proves we all do have heart and his heart is looking for him. Hmm…

This movie doesn’t have good story line and acting. However, Ninja Assassin deserves high rating because of the action flicks and stunts. Most probably they spent too much concern on the ninjas scenes and not the casting. Bloody battles are largely included. It’s fast paced too, so I should say fast and furious, lol. But this time, it’s about ninja and their martial arts.

This movie is about revenge, most action movies these days are about the same thing. There are two sides seeking revenge. One caused by love and another caused by betrayal. Both collides and the movie has an excellent cinematography. Fast motion and slow motion are all used in right timing.

Rating: 7/10

Wherever you are, wherever you may go, you must never forget who you are and how you came to be. – Ozunu

Here’s the most hyped movie of the year. There’s high demand for it on the box office. I watched it and I think it’s 100 times better than any summer movies we had this year, except for Fast & Furious. The reason I’m comparing it with other summer movies mainly because this movie was originally scheduled for the summer. However, they changed the release date because there’s possibility of getting higher profits on November. Besides that, they spent more time on production which I believe was worth it. The trailer on YouTube reached 8 million views in about 6 months and has about 51,000 comments and average rating of 4.5 by 22,000 users. Once I saw the trailer, it was hard to resist the movie. :P

It’s the most breathtaking catastrophe movie until now! The movie runs for 2 hours and 40 minutes. There are plenty of of valuable lessons we can learn from this movie. It touches variety themes such as love, friendship and family. I can eloborate that part but don’t want to reveal anything, hehe. It has good choice of casts and actings are quite emotional. All of them whom I haven’t seen on the big screen.

The visual effects are stunning and it’s the most remarkable element in this movie. They look realistic, unlike in other movies where you can easily discover they are computer generated. Certain scenes are really horrific.

I like the soundtrack video, “Time For Miracles” by Adam Lambert. I’m not Adam Lambert fan but I know he’s great singer. Below here, I have posted the official music video. There are extra scenes from the movie, an additional to the trailer.

Most critics and reviews compares this movie with another movie called A Day After Tomorrow. It has the same director and involves catastrophic effects. I haven’t seen that movie, I don’t really much like these kind of movies. However, 2012 turns to be good choice for November entertainment. :)

By the way, catastrophic means sudden violent change on the earth’s surface.

Rating: 9/10

Today we are one family. – President Thomas Wilson