Dancing With the Last Avatar

This past week has been filled with rehearsals and a skit that I wrote and directed for my church. All in all, it was a great experience, and it was well received by the Chinese and English speaking congregations. I think a lot of people were surprised that I would write and direct a skit that is performed in Cantonese and English when I don’t speak Cantonese. That, of course, is the by-product of casting some great performers who are wonderful to work with. 

I closed out my weekend by watching “Avatar,” James Cameron’s beast of a movie. The run time is a robust two hours and 30 minutes, give or take. The visual effects do not disappoint, but that was expected. Most reviews I saw said that it delivered on Cameron’s promise to change film making forever. The storyline is entertaining, but it’s not one that hasn’t been done before. “Dances with Wolves” and “The Last Samurai” were both movies that had similar plots. Having seen those movies, it almost felt like the characters in Avatar didn’t have an arc because I knew how it was going to play out. From the beginning you could sense who was evil and who was not, and they fulfilled their cinematic destinies to a tee.

Nevertheless, it was a thoroughly enjoyable film, and I happened to see it in 3D. I would recommend that this is a must-see movie in the theater because the experience simply won’t be the same at home.

If you haven’t seen the trailer, here it is.[tags]avatar, avatar review, james cameron, 3D movie, iMax theatre, avatar trailer, must-see-movie[/tags]