Avatar meets Downey and they abide no one

Avatar (2009) It costs $300 million and was pretty good.  I don't need to say much because so much has been written already so I'll say this: It's a well put together event/spectacle and represents and advancement in fx like Terminator 2 and the Matrix did when they were released.  If you like "WOW!!" movies, see this.  If you don't, your loss.  The plot got ripped by respectable critics but there is nothing wrong with the plot.  It isn't complex and you know the good guys are going to win but there isn't anything wrong with a predictable plot, just as long as it isn't cheesy or contrived like a child's movie.

And yes, there is a romance to accompany the action.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)  Again, this movie has been getting okay reviews but again, who are these people who go to these movies?  Holmes is a solid movie with a script that is funny and smart.  The mystery is a bit lame and why it doesn't center on Moriarty is a mystery but the bromance between Holmes and Jude Law's Dr. Watson is fantastic.  Downey plays Holmes as an eccentric genius who is alienated from society because of his brilliance and he does the things he does just to feel anything besides boredom (ala Fight Club).  The director Guy Ritche has finally made a good movie after a ton of duds and should be given credit for making an appealing movie that doesn't pander to the LCD.

Law Abiding Citizen (2009) Gerard Butler's family has been murdered and he's secret/ex CIA, Jamie Foxx is a DA who cops a deal with the bad guy.  Butler gets pissed, waits awhile, then proceeds to murder in the name of revenge.  Good idea, bad execution.  The actors are fine, it's the script and the movitation of the characters.  I know it's just an action movie but characters still need to be believable and Foxx's charecter commits (spoiler alert) murder at the end of the movie.  I don't buy that a stand up anal retentive DA is goingt to commit murder, no matter the circumstance, least of all the one presented in the movie, as for Butler's beserko charecter, he's entertaining but even he started to do things that weren't consistent with who he is supposed to be.  This movie suffers from a bad script and a bad ending.   Ugh, the ending was awful, just awful.  Butler is too smart to go down like he did in the end, NOT BELIEVABLE.  Skip this one, even though Stephen King ranked this as one of his ten best in this week's Entertainment Weekly.  Ugh.