My answer for Owen Gleiberman

My wife pointed me to this article in which Owen asks "Did anyone else find Avatar’s storyline as lacking as I did? And, maybe more to the point, how much does story matter in a visually driven contemporary blockbuster? Does it matter less than it used to? And, if so, is that a good thing or a bad thing?"  True to my description at the top I'm not going to register to answer his questions, but I'll answer them here.

The short answer is yes the story does matter.  Without a good story you don't have a good movie.  With a good story you have a chance for a good movie.

However the story is not everything.  You remember that movie with a great story, but terrible acting and cinematography?  Me neither.  I do remember a great movie with a good story, and great acting, but had no special effects.  The movie was "12 Angry Men".  In it the acting was so good that you don't even realize that the whole thing was done in one room.

In a way that movie was the opposite of Avatar.  Avatar had stunning visuals while 12 angry men didn't.  Both had a decent story.  12 Angry Men had great acting while Avatar didn't have access to that level of acting.  Both movies were entertaining, but in different ways.