Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver

Director: James Cameron

Genre: Action/Adventure

It's 2:30 a.m. and I just got home from watching Avatar.  All I can say is WOW!!  It was amazing...pretty much all I thought it was going to be and more.  James Cameron has an awesome imagination and the visuals in this film were crazy.  I found out this movie has been 14 years in the making!  That's crazy huh?  It took that long for Cameron to develop the technology to bring his vision to life.  In addition to the visuals he also ties everything together with a classic love story (which we've seen in some of his other films...umm Titanic anyone?) and it doesn't come off as being cheesy or corny.  It was great!

When I got home tonight I couldn't stop thinking about the movie so I went to Rotten Tomatoes to look up some reviews of the film.  It got an 83%.  That's pretty good for a big budget movie like this one.  Here is what some of the critics had to say:

"I have seen the future if movies, and it is Avatar."  Tom Long

"It extends the possibilities of what movies can do.  Cameron's talent may just be as big as his dreams."  Peter Travers

The good reviews go on and on.  Seriously if you only go see one movie over this holiday break, make it this one.  I loved it.  I want to go see it again on 3D, maybe on Sunday!  Man, I won't be able to sleep tonight because I can't stop thinking about how good it was.  I better try though because I have a wedding tomorrow ;)

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Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Burgess Meredith

Director: John G. Avildsen

Genre: Drama

I posted on my twitter page last week that I was about to watch this movie for the first time.  I know what you're thinking, "You've never seen Rocky before!?!?"  Yeah, that was the general reaction that I got.  I've seen bits and pieces before like the famous run up the "Rocky Steps" but never the whole film.  I'm glad I finally set down and watched it.

I thought the movie was great...very inspirational.  I can tell that this story has been copied in tons of other films since 1976, it's a classic story.  I love great storytelling and it definitely delivered.  I was so hooked I stayed up till 4:00 am watching parts 2 & 3 on my netflix Roku player.  My initial reaction was "Rocky was robbed...Apollo totally lost that fight!" so I had to stay up and see how the next few fights ended.  The first was unquestionably the best but the rest were entertaining as well.

Over the last few weeks I've been thinking about how much I love films and consequently, I have been watching about 2-3 movies a day!  I've been getting lots of great ideas for scripts of my own and have been inspired to direct another short film; something I haven't done since I graduated college in 07.  I'm really looking forward to getting back into it!

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Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Clark Gregg, Minka Kelly

Director: Marc Webb

Genre: Romantic Comedy

This was one of my favorite movies of the summer!  I take that back...it's probably the best film I've seen all year!!  With a year filled with GI Joe's, X-Men Origins, Transformers & Harry Potter, 500 Days was very refreshing to watch.

I love smart, witty comedies.  I'm also a sucker for a good love story.  This one has both.  This is a great piece of storytelling from Marc Webb, guiding us through his unique take on the classic story of boy meets girl in a fun, modern fashion.  I also thought the visuals and artwork in the film were amazing!  The cinematography was excellent and complemented the story very well.

The two leads, Zooey & Joseph, do a very convincing job of portraying their characters in 500 Days.  I think the average guy can relate to Joseph throughout the film and he was very entertaining to watch.  I've been a fan of Zooey's for a while now, ever since I saw her in "Yes Man" and she didn't disappoint me in this one either.  I think she's going to be one of the big stars in Hollywood to look out for.

Definitely go check this out if you haven't seen it.  Everyone I've told to go see it so far has come back to tell me I didn't steer them the wrong way.  Oh, and I almost forgot...the soundtrack to this movie is awesome!  I downloaded it on iTunes after seeing the movie and the song selections are great.  Makes me want to go and see it again ;)

Cast: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino

Director: Zack Snyder

Genre: Comic Book Adaption

Yesterday I went to the movies and caught an early showing of Watchmen!  It's probably a good thing that I saw this movie in the afternoon because its almost 3 hours long...be prepared.  Still, the movie was so good that I hardly noticed and I'll tell you why.

Zack Snyder pays tribute to the old mystery style films in his adaption of this 80's comic.  It's so much more than just a "comic book movie," it plays out more like a literary novel.  The storytelling is incredible and is filled with interesting, complex characters.  Literally every single hero in the film was flawed, which was cool to see for a change.  I was left thinking there was no character in this movie to root for and there and there were few fun surprises thrown in there as well.

This is definitely not a family movie, so parents be warned.  There were a few scenes in it that were pretty graphic though I felt that they did contribute to the plot.  Overall I liked the film a lot and I felt this was a good blockbuster to kick 09' off with!!  Go check it out!

Film: Revolutionary Road

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Michael Shannon, Kathryn Hahn

Director: Sam Mendes

Genre: Drama

So a few days ago I saw a film that I just can't seem to stop thinking about.  I'm not quite sure why that is...probably because I haven't seen a good character driven picture in a while.

I really appreciate Sam Mendes as an artist.  There aren't many directors out there that can do what he does. His movies are all driven by strong characters, brought to life by the brilliant actors he gets to play them.  American Beauty is the most distinguished example of this.  It's pretty hard to forget Kevin Spacey's performance...

Anyway, Winslet and DiCaprio don't disappoint in this movie either.  They take what they were given with the script and truly embody their characters...it's a complete 360 from Jack and Rose from Titanic over 10 years ago.

Even though I'm not married, I could relate with the story and I think many people will.  Thats one of the reasons I think it is so good.  It's very easy to get complacent and this movie is a visual reminder of that.  I'm not saying that their situation was good or bad, it all depends on the individual.

So go check it out!  The story just flows through perfectly and is very entertaining.  Trust me, its one of this year's best films so far.