Avatar

The thing about Avatar is, that in a year, the graphics will look outdated.  Anything that wows, that pushes the envelope, does so partially because there is no reference point.  

Avatar was groundbreaking for, among other things, bringing life to faces. Motion capture on facial expressions elevated it to a level of you-forget-it's-cgi. And that's significant. 

James Cameron was also doing something mystical and deliberate with the movements too. There was something going on there which I can't quite put my finger on. 

And Michelle Rodriguez should've been in Aliens. I know James Cameron well enough, she was destined to be a Colonial Marine. That's why he cast her in this. She just feels right. 

I saw Avatar in 2-D and even had that kind of immersive effect, the "Avatar virtual world withdrawal and depression" that they were reporting about in the news, with some people, after seeing it in 3-D. (Boy, I miss the days of cheerfully going back to the theatre 2, 3, 5, 7 times to see a movie over and over again. Like fans of this movie were doing. It's nice to believe in something again.)