January 18, 2010 Avatar

One of the things that I have experienced over the last year is an increased ability to cry. Obviously, this isn’t something that I going to brag about the next time I go out with the boys, but it is certainly real. As I have gotten older, I have become more emotional, but I have now reached new heights in tear flow.

Now, don’t misunderstand, I’m not sitting alone on the couch in total darkness sobbing to myself. It actually isn’t even directly related to the fact that I have cancer. It is all about TV and movies. I can’t go to a movie anymore and not find something to get teary-eyed about.

I notice that “Up” won a Golden Globe award on Sunday as the best animated movie of the year. I could have saved them all the time of counting the votes. I could have used my “tear index” to tell them the winner. I’m watching an animated movie about an old man, a kid and some animals and I am breaking down in the theater. I am now crying because a cartoon character died in the lead character’s past. Yes, a cartoon character.

This leads me to a discussion about “Avatar.” If you are not a moviegoer or have lived in a cave for the last six months, Avatar is the latest from James Cameron that has already grossed over one billion dollars worldwide. I had been eagerly awaiting it’s arrival at the box office, but through a series of circumstances took almost a month before actually viewing the blockbuster.

It became a joke in our household as I insisted on viewing the film on an IMAX screen in 3D. Just a regular viewing was not going to be enough for me. I told Julia that it was going to be a “once in a lifetime experience.” I was mocked for over a week after making that claim, but nothing was going to stop me from enjoying the movie to the max.

I have been a science fiction fan since my early teenage years. I remember watching “ 2001: A Space Odyssey” and just being mesmerized. I have followed in my father’s footsteps and had been reading scifi books for several years when “2001” hit the movie screen. My dad only read the sports page in the Dayton Daily News and science fiction books. I still have hundreds of those books stored in my basement.

As a result, it was in my blood. The fact that “Avatar” was a science fiction that was being directed by Cameron, had me at the edge of my seat for months waiting for it to arrive. You think kids look forward to Christmas, you should see me waiting for a James Cameron science fiction movie.

The day finally hit and I insisted on getting to the theater nearly an hour in advance. The last thing I wanted was to be in row 1 looking up at a six story screen. Again my actions were ridiculed, but I pushed forward. Finally, the movie started and 60 seconds into it I had a panic attack. Because of the 3-D and the movement of the camera I immediately started getting sick. My world was coming to an end.

You see, about 10 years ago, something happened to me that caused me to get a headache and upset stomach when I watch home videos that I have made of the boys if there is any significant movement on the video. No problem making the video, just watching. I was now panicking that my once in a lifetime experience would turn into a pool of vomit at my feet.

Luckily the action settled down and the once in a lifetime experience turned into even more. For the next two hours and forty minutes I became a part of the movie. The move is so vivid, so amazing that you cannot help but be drawn in. It makes you become alien and root against the humans. I’m not going to spoil the movie by telling you any more, but take it from me and even my skeptic, non-science fiction loving wife, the movie is unbelievable.

For much of the 160 minutes, I sat there, an emotional mess, crying one minute and rejoicing the next. I cannot even describe what I felt, it was so profound. I know that sounds utterly ridiculous, but I was so drawn into the action that I felt like I was part of it and it was my family, my race, my religion I was viewing.

After we exited the movie, I was amazed at how I felt. I now know what heaven will look like, save the wild man eating beasts of the planet, Pandora. The cinematography was so unbelievable that it had to be heaven. The wonders of the planet were so lifelike that you could imagine what they smelled and felt like. I have never seen anything like it in over 50 years of movie going.

I realize that I am a geek and most of the rest of you are not, but I cannot suggest any more strongly to see this movie. It is as much a love story as an action movie. Just go to be part a “once in a lifetime experience.” You will not be disappointed.