(Season 9)
Starring: Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi, Randy Jackson, Ellen DeGeneres, and Ryan Seacrest
Website: americanidol.com

American Idol historically broke the ground for many reality/talent search shows for years to come.  This show will take you on a cross country journey to auditions that bring out some of the countries Superstars and Super freaks of singing!   Each night (usually Tuesdays and Wednesdays)  the contestants sing a song (uasally from a choosen catagory) and viewers vote by calling in or texting to keep their favorite in the competition.  Each week 1 or 2 contestants go home because they have the least amount of votes.  This all leads up to an epic finally between the two finalist of the show. The contestants must face (sometimes) harsh criticism from the four judges  Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi, Randy Jackson, and Ellen DeGeneres.  This season is the 9 consecutive year the show has aired.  And with the unexpected retirement of one of the more popular judges Paula Abdul the show has slightly declined.  The new judge Ellen DeGeneres was a breath of "fresh air" in the beginning because of her comical presence on the show.  However her act has gotten old and to me she does not add a great musical opinion to the show.  But that is just a minor dead bug on the windshield that is American Idol.  The show is a great watch for the entire family and with special artist performing every elimination show their is a good variety.  I recommend this show for any music lovers or average person but not for a easily bored people out there.  -DB & SB     

Director : James Cameron
Website: avatarmovie.com
Premier: December 18, 2009

Review
When I saw the trailers for this movie I thought it was another one of those B movies with low budget animation and a predictable story line.  Boy, was I wrong!  Avatar took place in 2154.  During this time earth has discovered a far off planet called Pandora.  On Pandora there is a native tribe called the Na'vi who are blue skinned humanoids and every one of them is at least an average of 7 feet.  But Pandora is not just home to giant blue people it is home to a valuable metal called unobtanium and the mother load of this is coincidentally right on the Na'vi's home land.  So before the humans barge in to the Na'vi's home they try the diplomatic approach which is to create human and Na'vi hybrids/robots (which are able to be controlled by humans) called Avatars and send them in to the Na'vi's home land to gain their trust and get them to move so humans can get their unobtanium.  The main character of the story is Jake Sully who is a former marine who has lost the ability to use his legs and is confined to a wheel chair.  Jake's twin brother who was trained to control one of the Avatars died right before he was suppose to go to Pandora.  So with Jake having the same DNA as his brother he is asked to go and replace him.  And without spoiling anything Jake befriends a Na'vi named Neytiri and as he gets more and more into being an avatar he begins to question what he was sent there to do.  This movie was great, it had everything,  the animation was ahead of its time!  Overall I would give this movie a 4.5 out of 5 and I definitely recommend seeing it! -DB