I have had this song stuck in my head off and on for about 2 weeks. It is Duty Free by Cracker. Then I was listening to A Little Piece of Heave by Avenged Sevenfold this morning and the one thing these very different songs have in common is storytelling. They each tell a story instead of giving you just a catchy tune with a hook.

Storytelling is as old as human history. The first time one dude looked at another dude and said “Let me tell about something I saw…” story telling was born. In its birth that story was told from a singular perspective and heard in another and then probably retold and that story got to live on in many perspectives in many forms and probably several versions.

The point of that ridiculousness is this. There is no new way to tell a story, there is a good story told the right way and there is everything else. Storytelling is the heart of a film. At the heart of every story are the characters.

You can make any story prettier by wrapping it in pretty colors or big awe inspiring explosions or even by throwing in some steamy sex, but unless you have a good story to tell with decent characters you are dressing up a toothless two bit crack whore and asking for $1,000 an hour. Oh come on you love that visual and you know it.

I went to a 3D showing of AVATAR on New Year’s Eve. I really enjoyed this film. In my opinion this film is a visual and technical masterpiece that is something I have always dreamed of seeing on the big screen and will allow for films that take place in places you will never find on this planet to made easier and cheaper over time.

Mark my words this is an important film that will take the locks off doors that have been closed to filmmakers in the past and give them a way to truly look for and find an original story to tell. This film from a standpoint of James Cameron giving future filmmakers a wonderful and needed new direction to take films in the digital age, was well worth every last cent sunk into the making of this movie. It was sure as hell worth the money I paid for 4 people to see it in 3D. You people know if I am happy about spending money that is the highest compliment I can pay.

This is the kind of film that makes you wish you could have a big enough TV and wand watch it in 3D at home when you buy it on BluRay and don’t care how much it costs. It is a beautiful piece of visual storytelling art. Some of the plot points and characters may feel familiar, but trust me you have never seen a story told like this before.