Director James Cameron takes audiences to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization.

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But when you think about it, there is something heroic about keeping up a battle even if it is doomed to fail, simply because it is the right thing to do.

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At the heart of the Yale- and Bocconi University-educated economics professor, there rages a battle between the heroic Super Mario and his evil twin, Commissar Monti, each side trying to get the upper hand.

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The Roomba's tune is heroic, John Phillips Sousa, a battle charge, which seems appropriate.

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Too often bosses, like generals, dislike being away from the heat of battle, and use their past heroic status to undermine their successors and lobby for their own return.

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And the one heroic figure that stands up for all Russians today in the opinion polls is Marshal Zhukov, the victor of the Battle of Kursk in 1943.

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