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Welcome to Take Five, your weekly list of five random movie recommendations. Most people don't have time to watch five movies in a week. Most people don't even have five minutes to take a break and relax. Take Five is here to quicken your search for reliable entertainment (or at least movies that I deem entertaining) so you can enjoy what little free time you have. And really, who reading this article doesn't want to spend their free time watching movies? It's not like you're on sports Web site.

Though I had to take a short break from writing to take care of some family matters over the holidays, Take Five is back and I'm ready to kick off 2010 with recommendations of the best movies I've seen over the last few weeks. Starting next week, I'll return to the more typical variety of recommendations – different genres, different decades, etc. – but for now, here's what you should watch before the awards season continues and 2009 is totally forgotten.

Avatar (2009)

That's right, Avatar's biggest nemesis (that would be me) is recommending it to the public. I'm doing this because I figured I needed one last public apology to James Cameron, who – despite all my ranting – is a great director. He really does produce quality product and, above all else, profitable films. Sure, some really terrible films go on to make absurd amounts of money (apparently all you need to do is call the movie a Squeakquel), but Avatar is not a terrible film. It's flawed, didn't deserve the Best Picture Golden Globe, and shouldn't win the Best Picture Oscar; despite this, it is a technical marvel, a visual masterpiece, and has widespread appeal, something few movies can claim these days.

At this point, you pretty much have to see the movie just because everyone else in the world has. It doesn't even really matter if you like it or not; seeing it allows you the ability to jump in on any of the hundred conversations you're likely to overhear in a given day about Avatar. It's bigger than American Idol and the news that Simon won't be returning next season. It's bigger than the Super Bowl. It's bigger than... well, just about everything other than Titanic. And no matter how much I try to be the iceberg that stops it, Avatar is moving full-steam towards being the biggest movie ever. Not even accounting ticket price inflation or 3D IMAX price increases will be enough to stop people from calling this the "#1 MOVIE EVER!" It's pointless to fight it, people. Avatar is the new Gone With The Wind. The only thing that can stop it now is Gone With The Wind: The Squeakquel.

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