Manovich, what is cinema

I enjoy Manovich's dedication to putting everything into the spectrum of new media. he brings up some good points about why and when to allow the computer to enter the playing field. I think a lot about whether or not we have lost something that the old film makers had, because we are leaning so heavily on new technology. I was underwhelmed when I saw Avatar, the story was kind of bland, the acting was for a large part mechanical. I think that film making has become too transfixed on all the fancy effects they can make and have forgotten to work their actors and writers as hard as their render engines. Sure, 10 years ago, it didn't matter if the story was stupid and the acting was terrible, people were obsessed with CG effects, and the films were successful. but now, I think the more traditional standards of what makes a good film are returning. As far as the non- everyone sit in the dark and watch this narrative for 90 minutes-film, I don't know if the same applies. here is a silly article I read a while back about it. http://www.siliconatelier.com/intelligentstage/publications/cit/cit.html