Avatar

From Beggar's Canyon, March 30:

Looming over the entire year is Avatar. ... James Cameron has not released a picture since Titanic in 1997. He is the greatest sci-fi action director of all time. He has spent the last decade developing 3D camera technology and time travel from his hyperbaric compound beneath the antarctic ice cap.

From an e-mail I sent, December 7:

Remember that this is the guy who gave us The Abyss, Aliens, Terminator and T2; he personally ushered in the CGI era. ... I don't know if Cameron is going to start a second FX revolution with Avatar, but he thinks he is, and if I had to put my money on someone it would be him. If anyone can make 3D a viable technology it is him. However, it is probably easiest to imagine Avatar becoming a $400 million disaster. We shall see.

From Ebert's Little Movie Glossary, 1994:

Noble Savage Syndrome. Thrown into the company of a native tribe of any description, the protagonist discovers the true meaning of life and sees through the sham of modern civilization. Wisdom and sensitivity are inevitably possessed by any race, class, age group, or ethnic or religious minority that has been misunderstood. Such movies seem well intentioned at first glance, but replace one stereotype for another...

Charles Stardom, upon exiting theater tonight:

"Oh man, this ain't no Ferngully!"