Do you think James Cameron is over-rated?

[dark_b]

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/11/ff_avatar_cameron/2/

“I just realized I made a $200 million chick flick where everyone dies. What the hell was I thinking?” he confided to a friend at the time. “I’m going to have to rebuild my career from scratch.”

“I had my ****-you money,” Cameron says. “It was time to go play.”

Cameron kept a razor blade on his editing desk with a note: Use only if film sucks.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

I'm on the fence. While I love Aliens, Terminator 1 and 2. I hate True Lies and am currently being annoyed with all this Avatar hype.

Plus I heard he was a gigantic dick to his cast and crew.

 

[Octoberist]

hate True Lies? hmmm. I think it's probably the funnest action movie that I've seen since Die Hard.

 

[Evil Twin]

My thoughts as a director of action, special effects, and splashy visuals Cameron has few peers in the history of cinema. He's also very good with actors, albeit he has the reputation for being a tyrant on the set.

OTOH, I tend to think that he's overrated as a writer. Especially with dialogue. I'd really like to see his take on a script that he didn't develop personally.

 

[Dark Donnie]

hate True Lies? hmmm. I think it's probably the funnest action movie that I've seen since Die Hard.

Agreed

 

[Aesop Rocks]

hate True Lies? hmmm. I think it's probably the funnest action movie that I've seen since Die Hard.

Oh don't get me wrong, it's a fun movie to watch.

After the Nuke, I kind of want the movie to be over with.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

I started talking about this in the Terminator Salvation thread but I decided to start a new thread so I wouldn't derail that one. I am a firm believer that Jame's Cameron is over-rated and the passing of time seems to have made him seem like a much better director then he really is. I'll go through his popular films and give my reasons

1. Terminator: A good movie that does well as a futuristic 80's movie. I doubt it'd be considered the classic that it is if there was no T2. I think if Terminator stood alone it wouldn't be considered on the same level as other sci-fi classics like Blade Runner

4. Terminator 2: Now this is a classic, it dates itself in some ways but almost every movie does. This is the movie that redefined action and sci-fi films.

I think seeing what other director's have done with the franchise, has shown just how good of a director Cameron is. Terminator 3 was basically the same story as T2, but not nearly as good. Sure the first movie suffers from bad effects, but it was the early '80s and fairly low budget, the story and tension in that movie is great though.

5. True Lies: Dumb action movie that tries to hard to put comedy in every scene it can. Now I get why some of you may like this movie, it's kinda fun, Jamie Lee Curtis was hot, nice action. But if this film was made by someone like Steven Sommers all that would be talked about is how dumb it is and what a crappy director Sommers is. But for some reason Cameron can get away with it.

Again, I think True Lies is a movie that shows Cameron's ability as a director, Steven Sommers or Michael Bay would try to make too many lame jokes that don't work. Cameron, on the other hand, had the same lame jokes, but somehow made them work. The movie just works so well blending action and comedy. Also, I remember seeing it for the first time in theaters having no idea who directed the movie, so it wasn't some hype about it because it was James Cameron's latest movie.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

T2 is the same story as T1 as well. It wasn't the story that made T3 suck. It was the horrible execution. I mean the mutt who directed it changed the iconic blue color scheme, can you believe that ? When I saw the first shot of Arnold in T3 without him bathed in blue lighting I knew it was gonna suck.

As for the topic, Cameron is only overrated when one claims he is a great script writer.

 

[terry78]

What separates True Lies from all the other campy action flicks is that it actually does have heart. Arnold plays himself in pretty much every movie he does, but Cameron was able to bring some more out of that performance.

 

[Octoberist]

Yeah, True Lies was strangely enduring. The characters were all likable, which is a rare thing in action films.

 

[terry78]

I think it was because this was probably the first movie where Arnold played somewhat of a hapless guy who wasn't always a badass. He was, but he got into wacky situations and couldn't always talk or shoot his way out.

 

[A&W]

abyss was real good
terminator was real good, t2 was amazing
true lies was awesome

aliens is a forever classic

titanic was a very good movie. unfortatnetly it's success was at a level far above what it actually deserved causing bitter critics to judge the movie more harshly than they would have been had it's success not been so huge.

we also gotta give credit to Cameron for inventing this new 3d technology which is mind blowingly real.

 

[xmangambit]

Erm Cameron is Under-rated, tha amount off teenyboppers i meet who dont appreciate Terminator and Aliens physically disgusts me, specially when they talk to me abut films like AvP being "good"!


1. Aliens: 10/10

My most favourite Cameron film of all time! Great story, builds the charatcers so you know them and get an emotional connection with them, like most of his films. The claustrophobia that echo's the first film stranded on a planet with no help from anyone. The panic and tension as they try and escape. The final battle! My Fav film ever actually! great quotes great visuals, nothing can out do it, and many have copied, Halo, Starship Troopers etc, will never match this epic masterpiece.

2. Terminator: 9/10

Solid story, nice on the run, cyborg/futuristic-kept modern without getting carried away film. Set the way for many films after that couldn't quite match it. Again had a tense and uneasyness of trying to escape something that wouldn't stop.

3. The Abyss: 9/10

Awesome Epic film! Underwater madness, that no one could ever replicate, Deep Blue Sea tried it, but never quite had that same feeling of being stranded deep below. Cameron here managed again to make you feel tense with amazing characters, Michael Biehn absolutely did an amazing job!! Also the resurrection seen of Bud's wife after he's forced to drown her to save her, always bring's me to tears!

4. Terminator 2: 10/10

Epic sequel, Cameron once again shows that sequels can be better than originals! This was amazing! Stepped up visuals, stepped up the story, and who can forget when Connor tries to order him to stay at the end, heart melting stuff for such a Hard violent film.

5. True Lies: 8/10

Good action film, comedy great! Well done! prefer his sci-fi stuff but this is still better than all that mediocre **** out there.

6. Titanic: 9/10

Absolutely loved this film, as a kid I read so many books on the Titanic, when I actually saw this trailer i was like whoaaaa I got the book of that and the images look like they were ripped from the book. very well done, you can see Cameron has a passion for the Ocean and looked very meticulously at the details of the Titanic and aded a Love story, what more could you want?

So in my 20 years of watching my first Cameron film I've noticed that this guy is the master of film, he is always innovating and always pushing, he has a deep sense of philosophy in his films and symbolism and messages! Guy is God! Peace

 

[Raiden]

James Cameron made one of my favorite movie of all times with Aliens, so even though he made a chick flick with Titanic, he's alright in my book. Besides, Winslet was naked in Titanic so it wasn't all bad.

 

[Dark Victory]

Coming from someone who was literally raised on Cameron's films, no. As a child, his films were just as adventurous as my mind had been and I could go on a journey with each viewing. I can't tell you how many times I've seen his films -- at least ten for each. Now, looking back, his films definitely aren't as fantastic as they used to be when I was a child, but I'll be damned if I said they weren't entertaining.

Terminator - 8/10

Aliens - 9/10

The Abyss - 8/10

Terminator 2 - 9.5/10

True Lies - 8/10

Titanic - 9/10

 

[lzzy]

Cameron overrated? No. Actually, he's not as publicly known as, say, Speilberg or Lucas. But he's well respected because not only has he made landmark films, but because he's also recognised as an artist and writer. His films aren't Michael Bay fluff. People say he's not so good with dialogue, I disagree. A few fluffy lines in Titanic doesn't equal being a bad writer. Most of his lines have become famous quotes:
"Game over man, game over!"
"I'll be back" practically defines Schawrzenegger
"Get away from her you *****!"
"Come with me if you want to live"
"I'm king of the world!"
I'm sure you can make a whole thread of Aliens quotes (I've actually seen it here before).
I think that because he hasn't made a sci-fi film since '88 a lot of sci-fi fans disregard him. He made an action/comedy flick and romance/disaster flick in the 90's. So what, he'll do what he wants and he'll do it damn good too.

 

[dark_b]

Cameron + fake gun = win

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/mov...oundtable-the-moment-i-became-a-director.html

 

[Aesop Rocks]

As a writer, yes.

 

[dark_b]

how can he be overrated as a writter when almost everytime someone admits that he needs help with the writting?

 

[Aesop Rocks]

You've read his Spider-Man script, right?

 

[Hannibal Smith]

Cameron is ok but in my view is no Spielberg who has given us a lot greater films. Cameron is on a list that has P.J, S.S, just more say 10 in line maybe 9th.

 

[dark_b]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnEDuiYq7_4
Weaver and Lee Curtis on Cameron

Socially Challenged hehehehehheeh. how true hehehehhehe

 

[spider-neil]

cameron is my favorite director ever, so imho no way is he over rated.
no one (NO ONE) can touch him when it comes to action and his action movies always have heart.

 

[Tequilla]

Cameron is not overrated , he has a brilliant career and he really knew how to make movies that the audience loved. The problem is since 97 he hasn't made anything good. Lets hope he comebacks one day...

 

[xwolverine2]

the so called action in avatar was pretty lame...

his earlier films arent overrated.. he was a great director.
but that was a decade ago, if with all the money and time in the world avatar is the best he can do then i think he's forgotten what it means to be a great director.

let's be honest..if avatar didnt make as much money as it did it wouldnt have been even nominated.. let alone gotten all the oscar buzz as if to say it was actually anywhere near better than any of the nominies of that year.

definatly a huge step down for him but i wouldnt write him off yet though.

one things for sure is that he's a complete *****ebag though... especially with this whole 3d thing.