“I spoke to a person who saw Avatar and he said the action scenes delivered everything you’d expect from Cameron, even in this digital form. Visceral, detailed, a ‘first-person shooter’ experience on the biggest game screen ever hoisted.

“The simple, predictable story was deemed as almost perfunctory, as if adding too much storytelling and exposition would have amounted to a sensory overload. After all, no one discusses 2001: A Space Odyssey in relation to its plot. Star Wars either.

“What we have is: Boy meets alien through marines, boy loses aliens and marines, boy fights marines and gets girl.

“And I was also told that despite all the trappings of special effects, blue people and CGI skies, Sigourney Weaver still manages to register strongly with warmth and a commanding presence.” — an HE friend who gets around and knows people.