So as not to be confusing: I definitely think you should go see Avatar as soon as you can, if only because of what it does visually by creating a completely new world that is really amazing-especially the 3D, it's all very, very cool and mind blowing! That being said (SORRY LARRY DAVID AND/OR JERRY SEINFELD), when watching Avatar, I was never really invested in any of the characters or emotionally compelled by what was happening on the screen. I walked away thinking that I had never seen anything like that ever in a movie, while at the same time also very reminded of another movie from this year, that did a lot of what I thought Avatar tried to do but with much better results: Neill Blomkamp's District 9. READ MORE

Okay? Now do you believe me? And its just some jackass in Baltimore (YES, Michael Sragow!) that is bringing the ratings down from 100%.

Here are my only two beefs with District 9, the new Peter Jackson-produced scifi apartheid-invoking epic stealth blockbuster opening this weekend. One is that I do not approve when a film switches seamlessly between faux-documentary and omniscient styles. Just conceptually speaking. But it's not a problem if you don't notice it! And no, Will Leitch, I do not think in any way that the last half hour is lazy, though I agree it is slightly conventional. And yet conventionality brings narrative satisfaction! So my two beefs are minor and here I will join the crowd and be all OMG IT IS SO SUPER-GOOD I CANNOT WAIT TO GO AGAIN. YES PLEASE. The thing is? It's great! I really, really, really liked it! I also made you a giant space-time diagram to explain the components of the movie! READ MORE