Hold....hold on a second Ben. I have to....(whew!)....I have to regain my balance. I almost fainted when I read your list. That's better. Okay....

Ridley Scott? Really? No....really? Did you actually WATCH half of those movies? (Thelma and The Other Lesbian DID suck, tho. I'll give you that). But "Alien"?!? "Blackhawk Down"?!? Freakin' "BLADERUNNER"?!?!?!?

I'm open to most of the others on the list, but Hitch? I've seen "Rear Window" about two dozen times. "Rope". "The Birds". "Vertigo". "The Trouble With Harry" (hysterical film!). "North By Freakin-Northwest"!!!

Ben. Hitch made like 60-plus films and at least a third of those are considered bonafide classics even by us non-Hollyweird types.

Sigh.

Steven:

Great report. I live in a similar, albeit much smaller city (about 60,000) in the southeast. The predominant industry up until 15 years ago was textiles but those went way south (thank you NAFTA!). But don't worry! The void left by the egress of those textile companies was quickly filled with that super-modern, "progressive" industry of ENTITLEMENTS.

My town and county has become famous (or rather, INFAMOUS) for being one of the surest places in this state to hand out public assistance. I'm a police officer by profession and I would conservatively estimate that a quarter of the people I interview tell me that they are "on disability" or that they don't have a job but they "get a check".

Somewhere along the road of this city's development the city counsel's political compass veered from Center Right to Center Left. The concept of what each citizen can do to help themselves was supplanted with what can the city do for the poor, out of work citizens. The ever increasing liberal make-up of the counsel ensures that free-market solutions are shoved aside in favor of typical "progressive" fixes.

Instead of attractive tax incentives and aggressive recruitment for potential new businesses/industries, this city has instead poured its money "into the communities" (re: more welfare and entitlements). Have a city block that needs rejuvenation? Why try to attract private enterprise that can bring in business dollars and jobs when we can instead increase "community outreach programs" and build more parks and athletic fields for "disenfranchised" youths? Need money to pay for more police officers and/or fire fighters? Let's raise utility rates!

Speaking of "youths", a side benefit of this governmental compassion, as you may have guessed, is an increase of the crime rate. Last year, a colleague and I looked at the crime stats and discovered that the city had a higher murder rate, per capita, than Obamaville (that's Chicago to the ill-informed). Property crimes are epidemic and if you don't want your business getting robbed, stay away!

Needless to say, it's definitely an "adventure" being a cop here.

So, how would the average conservative address these problems? The aforementioned free-market approach, a reduction in entitlements and and aggressive crime reduction program. What does our left-leaning counsel do? ANNEXATION, BABY!!

City officials have used this state's infuriating forced annexation laws (often referred to as "municipal theft") on several occasions when the city finds that its coffers are depleted. Simply put, if you need more money, annex unincorporated areas that are doing well financially. Result? A lot more tax revenue and some very pissed off property owners who, for the most part, explicitly built or purchased their homes and businesses outside urban areas.

So what can we do? I don't know. I just try to keep the honest people left in the city (including my family) safe. I just hope that we don't get to the same level as Detroit. I also fervently pray that our country doesn't turn into the left's version of "utopia".

It occurred to me that I have seen "Avatar" before. Twice, to be exact. Only those times it was titled "Dances With Wolves" and "The Last Samurai". Only without bright blue....uh...EVERYTHING.

Don't get me wrong. The visual/technical aspects of this film are amazing. I caught myself more than once saying, "Oooooo!" and "Ahhhhhh!" The creatures were very well done and the planet itself was a true spectacle (The floating mountains? Come ON!! That was cool!!). But, the fact that the creatures were Smurf versions of our animals (Birds? Check! Hyenas? Check! Monkeys? Check! Bigger birds? Check check!) only reinforced the cliche factor. Perhaps if Cameron had gone more far out with the fauna....? I don't know.

The N'avi...N'ahv...N'aiv...(screw it!) the blue guys were also well-made. With their big Cheshire Cat eyes and tall, lean bodies, I was like, "Screw this diet I'm on! Let me have my own Avatar!!" But once you get past their appearance, you soon realize that there is nothing new on the inside. The Elves from "The Lord of the Rings", the Native Americans from the aforementioned "Dances With..." and, yes, those freakin' Ewoks all have the same basic genome (to steal a plot device from the film) as our blue protagonists.

As far as the "political" angle of this picture, I have to agree with other posters. Simply, it wasn't a problem until the last third or so. I learned a long time ago that as a conservative, to enjoy about 90% or more of the products that come out of Hollyweird I had to try to forget about the left-leaning slants of the creators. I mean, I actually enjoyed the "Bourne" series even though I wouldn't be surprised if Comrade Damon had a sickle and hammer tattoo on his tushy.

That said, this movie kind of hits the viewer on the head with a fluorescent blue hammer. Sully's little rant about THEM (that would be us or rather U.S.) taking what they want from the poor down-trodden of the world (you know...all those sad, insignificant subjects in our VAST global empire?) came across as EXACTLY what it was; a warn, tired and frankly ignorant cliche.

And, I think Nolte mentioned this in his original review, but the fact that the film refers to the bad guys as "mercenaries" working for "the corporation" is pathetic and cowardly. If you're going to have your villains speak with American accents, operate like the U.S. military (ranks, terminology, euphemisms, etc...) and have them operate military machinery AT LEAST have the balls to look into the eyes of the VAST MAJORITY of U.S. service men and women who have served with HONOR and COURAGE over the last 200 years while you spit in their faces. Call them "Colonial Marines" or "The 5th Panoran Army Infantry" or whatever. Just don't insult their intelligence.

One of my most vivid memories was when I was a young man at the Military Police School at Fort McClellan, AL. It was October of 1991 and I was in the base theater with a buddy watching "Terminator 2". I remember the cheers from the audience (all Army folks) and the sheer enjoyment and break from reality those two hours gave me. And best of all, there wasn't a "message" in sight (unless you count "Robots will eventually enslave the world" and I think WE ALL can get behind that!). What would those soldiers and other countless military folks and the families who love them think if they could magically fast forward 18 years and see Cameron's latest in a double feature?

Watching "Avatar" I couldn't help but think about the that day in '91 with a sense of regret. It's a free country and James Cameron has every right to make whatever kind of film he feels like. Will I watch his next film (if he makes one)? Sure. But, I can only hope that Cameron concentrates more on the popcorn factor and less on the social commentary.

PS: How many folks here would like to see this same technology on a "Halo" movie. Wow.

"You want my property? You can't have it!"

'Nuff said.

Yet ANOTHER example of the libtards using one of our stories/traits/beliefs and successfully bastardizing it for their own use. I'm getting sick of it. I just wanna poke 'em in the collective eye!!

Okay. I have a liberal "friend" I work with who said something to the effect, "Oh come on! Those kids singing are just celebrating a black man making it to the white house! You're PARANOID man!" I had, of course, mentioned that the "Barack Hussein Obama! MMMM, MMMM, MMMM!" videos gave me the heebie jeebies and makes me long for the days before I knew about the existence of child molesters, serial killers and Nancy Pelosi.

Anyhoo, I tried to reason with...oh...let's call him "Lefty"....and, naturally, my strategy was about as effective as convincing my German shepherd that my cat was not a chew toy with incredible life-like movements and kung fu grip. I pointed out that if indeed the point of that song was to promote black pride and accomplishment then why wasn't Dr. King mentioned at least once and how come the big ole "O" was hanging in the background like some all-seeing Orwellian eye? I TRIED to explain to Lefty that this wasn't about pride in the first African-American president, but rather a text-book example of the "cult of personality". Lefty's response?: You're a Beck bitch."

Brilliant.

So, when confronted with a turnip that apparently is incapable of verbal debate, I showed him this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ossLaWkEBF4

I think I saw a twinkle...NAY! A glimmer of understanding. But alas, after a second, it was gone. The programming was thick on this one. Sigh.

Lefty called me some names that were....DESCRIPTIVE....and told me that I needed to stop watching "FAUX News". Double sigh.

If Letterman had to debate Rush it would take MAYBE 10 minutes before a whistle sound would start coming from that gap in his teeth and blood would start trickling from his ears. Blatant, pseudo-intellectual, unprincipled liberalism in the face of rational thought is like Dracula in Tijuana: POOF!!! Only instead of turning into piles of ash, these "entertainment" nosferatools morph into petulant 5-year olds with grass covered all-day suckers and accounts on MoveOn.org.

Were you also mortified about the "amateur hour" response by the people who are ACTUALLY RESPONSIBLE for emergency response? (i.e. state and local authorities). The Democratic LA governor and Democratic New Orleans mayor dropped the ball and, in classic Democratic/Liberal fashion expected the federal government to clean up the mess. It's the same mentality that you apparently possess and it's the main reason that you on the left will never take personal responsibility for your actions: "We're victims!! Do stuff for us!!"

I was amazed by the different reactions from people in the gulf coast area during and after the storm. While the folks in NO (predominately liberal) were screaming and waiting for the government to solve their problems the people in the other parishes and in the rural areas (primarily conservative) banded together and helped each other like neighbors.

I was down there after the storm and I saw the horrific damage. I saw how different people responded. It is what it is.

So, in lieu of a reasoned response, go ahead with your snarky comment and YouTube clips.

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."--Albert Einstein

OR

"Lord help me, I'm just not that bright."--Homer Simpson

Yeah! What Vox said!!!

Seriously tho, you made the points I was gonna make and probably better than I could have. Good job!

Oh, and if Mr. Moore and our fellow poster J. Michael had their way, then I think Jabba the Director would have cut his movie at the State Film Making Concern #4 instead of in what I'm sure was a state of the art, privately owned facility and J would have been writing his "insightful" (ahem!) response at the State Internet Connection and Governmental Observation Institute #23. That's if, of course, he had enough broadband rations for the 15 minutes he used to write it.

I'm just saying.