RAVE - Avatar

The only way James Cameron could've improved this film was by re-directing $5m from the production budget into my new car budget. No-one would've noticed that tiny amount sliced from the film's cost, but I would now be staring at a Bugatti Veyron in my driveway.

Instead, I am left to marvel at a movie that has changed the playing field, moved the goalposts and gone to the top of the League. All pretty good stuff for a film that has nothing to do with sports.

It already looks like the $300-500m (no-one's admitting just how much was spent) will show a healthy return, seeing as every man and his robot dog has already caught this movie.

In 3D IMAX this was a mind-bending, almost hallucinatory experience. Now I know what it's (allegedly) like to be Pete Doherty of Babyshambles. On the down-side, I'm not sure if 3D actually improved the film. The trailers - none of which was 3D - all looked brighter and sharper, suggesting that the 3D glasses or the 3D itself made the movie less sharp. Strangely, I might have been happier with the regular, 2D version.

The final scenes were curiously reminiscent of Buzz Lightyear fighting a couple of steroid-laden Trojans (from Troy, not condoms, you asses).

A fabulous film in every sense of the word, with a genuinely fresh way of delivering a sci-fi tale. I read somewhere that Cameron thought that no previous team had got the CGI facial movements right, and looking at Avatar I believe him. He eclipsed all earlier efforts at creating "natural" looking alien life, whatever that means. Next time I enjoy a close encounter of the third kind, I'll be looking extra close to see if the six eyes are real.

If you haven't already seen Avatar, cut along to your nearest multiplex asap, or you'll have nothing to talk about on New Years Eve.