Indeed. Avatar-bashing is soooo 2009. I loved it, saw it three times already and if I find the time I'll probably gonna see it again soon. But Cameron better make a new film son or else even his fans (ie. me) are gonna whine about the milking of this big blue cashcow ourselves.
But to stay on topic, recent movies I saw:
Un Prophet [FR, 2009]
Last year's festival darling. But it's totally deserved. Really gritty and downbeat prison drama in which a lowlife petty crook tries to stay alive while at the same time he wants to move up in the gang he hangs with. Almost sounds cliché nowadays, but it's well wordt checking out. Beautifully filmed, almost like a documentary, and well acted. 4/5
The Expendables [USA, 2010]
Stallone's vehicle finally made it to the cinema! And I couldn't help really liking it. :-)
It's an 80's throwback movie done in a good way: just a bunch of 50 year old built-like-brick-shithouses hard-ass MF'ers busting eachother's heads (basically. There is a story, but it doesn't matter).
It's gritty, loud, tough, simple but hella fun. Dolph Lundgren, Sly Stallone, Jesse Ventura, Bruce Willis, Ahnold, they're all there. Joined by (not that much) younger Jason Statham (Willis' only real credible successor) and Jet Li. And despite the iconic leads I noticed that all are actually playing roles for once. They're not just being themselves like in their prime, they're actual characters. I liked that.
To be honest, I did felt a bit let down at first by the possibly-epic bout between Lundgren () and Li (black belt karate vs. Wu-shu champ, plus like half a meter difference in length) but that was over way to quick. But like I said, they don't play themselve, so it was kind of cool in the end.