Yeah… I was bored today. And watched The Breakfast Club again last night.

So, Golden Globes 2010 are now behind, with only (if I haven’t forgot anything) Oscars to look forward, and in rather unexpectedly-expected way Avatar took it home with best picture and best director. And I’m not really sure what to think about that. I mean, I really did enjoy Avatar. It was immensely fun and spectacular, but was there really the beeest movie of last year bellow all that spectacle? With such serious contenders like Hurt Locker (oh the irony if it had won) and Inglourious Basterds? Especially with the enormous recognition Avatar has been receiving.
In other news and observations (in short) – Gervais did a great job, air of fresh breath. Thou Steve Carell seemed genuinely “confused” there for a bit. Also huge “YAY” for Mad Men. And “Meh” for Glee. And kinda “Eh” about Hangover winning over (500) Days of Summer, thou I can live with that, given the nominations. Other then that nominations in my opinion were rather adequate. I mean, best actor, for example, was a total toss-up… JGL, Clooney, Damon, Downey Jr (his speech was just what I expected), Michael Stuhlbarg and Daniel Day-Lewis… id give all of them a Globe (thou Daniel Day-Lewis already has a variety of those), they all did a fantastic job.
Now then that’s behind – road to Oscars is paved.
Oh, yes, kinda ps – what made me chuckle bit was Mickey Rourke’s slight disappointment about Bullock getting Globe for best drama performance.

Years of anticipation, hype buildup, fair amount of skepticism and anywhere from 200 to 300 m $ later its finally here. Avatar. And the second coming of James Cameron. And you know what? Maybe in few months or even years ill feel different, but time waiting was well worth it. Movies like this are the tent poles of the decade. With Matrix (including it’s not so bright sequels) and Lord of the Rings trilogy at one end and Avatar at other. Its the experience that makes you love cinema, a huge celebration for why we love cinema as place of escapism, both in thematic terms and visually. It just doesn’t align in to any traditional criteria. Yes, its the same old story we all know, yes, it is predictable in many ways, BUT THAT DOESN’T MATTER. No. It’s all so well executed – from little details to huge action scenes, you just lack words to express it. Probably if you’d look up explanation of word “Awesome” its that. Feeling of awe. I know word “awesome” is overused to no end, but its that. There’s not a single shot there wouldn’t be something to gaze at it. At times I felt just like Jeff from Totally Rad Show, just getting misty eyed just from the pure visual triumph of what has been achieved. It’s more vivid than your most colorful dreams. From start to finish, when Cameron seems to bump it all to 11 with indeed mind blowing scenes both visually and action wise (see everything after destruction of Hometree) and really satisfying ending which went almost to hand to hand fight (in some way equally satisfying as Inglourious Basterds ending with Hitler’s face being tenderized with bullets, it let you feel the anger). Oh, yes, and while we are at it – Stephen Lang’s Quaritch – hes the definition of badass.

As the impression still havent settled in my head (and i dont expect them to do so for some time) ill just try to answer the big question – is this the game changer everyone’s been talking about? Well, partially. From digital film-making process it definitely is – Volume, Simulcam (or whatever you call it), new 3D cameras and whatnot. That’s just mindblowing, and I sure do hope thers tens of hours of extras whenever Bluray comes out. Also youve never seen anything like this. But from regular viewer standpoint its just better. Better CG, better 3D, better everything, but not really new.

But still the achievements are groundbreaking – uncanny valley has been crossed, you see Jake’s avatar as a real physical being, with all the subtle facial expressions and personality, just like looking at Sam Worthington with a bunch of best makeup ever, thats even makes Benjamin Button look horrible. Its not just a bunch of pixels, its actually alive, and that can be said about whole world of Pandora. It’s actually somewhere out there, 5 and something light years away. When one thought that no CGI can really visually impress him anymore after being already kinda fed up with Baysplosions, this goes extra mile to knock you off your feet. You actually forget what you are looking at somewhere 5 minutes in.

Also 3D. To be honest first I had doubts weather to see it in 3D or regular, as from the experiences I had before in big, fast action scenes things went all mushy in 3D, or in other words one got to see lots of motion blur in glorious 3D. But I belive that this and U23D are some of the best 3D experiences Ive had. So enveloping, so subtle, where nothing is being thrown at your face (*looks at Journey to the Center of the Earth*). If 3D industry needed some push, then this is it. Well, this and Pixar’s movies, that also tend to have great 3D and depth application.

All in all this is a phenomenal feat that, the way I, and lots of other people, see now, will be remembered for decades. Ambitious in so many ways, including character design, with so many opportunities to fail, but still all out solid success and triumph despite all its flaws! As Ebert said – there’s still at least one man in Hollywood that knows what to do with 300m $. Oh, and as far as monies go – thanks to amazing word of mouth movie is doing perfect – after first weekend its somewhere at 230m $ mark worldwide. And that’s a good thing, as I sure do want to see Cameron’s promised sequels, thou I have no idea what they have in store for us. Thou the possibility of Naavi going to wipe out whats left of earth sounds fun. *wink, wink*

Now off to rewatch Aliens and True Lies after then probably.

Oh, and where does this leave Avatar in my years top list? Well, nowhere. Thers a special category for this. Just like Ebert just gave Avatar “Special Jury Prize”. It stands on its own terms. Besides the beforementioned big movies of the decade.