James Cameron sucks now, that's why I won't see Avatar and didn't see Titanic
My wife, true love? She has never seen Titanic, nor did she ever wish to see it. Now that's alright in my book.
Remember in South Park where they try to save films from their directors? It goes one step further. Letting directors have too much control. On one hand, you think about studios who use groupthink and marketing to ruin art. But the other is when there is complete control. That's any film my Michael Bay and/or Jerry Bruckheimer. Steven Spielberg as of late. Or the first three Star Wars films that Lucas did. Geez.
Ok, reference time. Look at Cameron:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron
In my mind, he went from the best 80's filmmaker to the worst filmmaker since then. I don't even need to see Titanic to know it's drivel. Hell, he's pretty much admitted as much. He used it to finance other projects, like his documentaries and different ways to improve filmmaking. But let's look at the 80's:
-The Terminator: Fantastic. Awesome in it's simplicity. The movie starts and just keeps going. It explains enough without explaining too much. It fires the imagination. The effects were very good. The casting was good. I liked the performances of the actors. I mean, he played Schwarzenegger to his strengths. In retrospect, I wish that the film had no sequels.
-Rambo: First Blood Part II: Ok, I really liked First Blood. One of my favourites. There was a movie that needed no sequel. However, the Rambo character was too intriguing to leave on the shelf. Stallone knew it. And the 80's needed Rambo, given the political climate and uncertainty of nuclear war, communism and our POWs. Now the movie is ultimately Stallone's story, but Cameron made the baby. Stallone raised it.
-Aliens: Yes. I think to most people, this is probably the best one. Aliens3 is my favourite, followed by Alien and then Aliens. But it's not a huge gap. They are all awesome. But Aliens is probably the most important because of the themes it explores in regards to women, especially at the time. Whereas Terminator showed women to be resilient and survivors, Aliens took it further and juxtaposed maternity from friendly and unfriendly perspectives. Clearly, he understands nature - wild and human. Plus, the movie just rocked.
-The Abyss: Again, one of my all-time favourite films. This is the only one of his movies I actually own. While he got some good performances out of the actors in Aliens, admittedly there were some issues with his style. The Abyss, he just killed. Everyone did a great job. The story was unique. The effects were amazing. He was able to tap into emotion in really novel ways. I don't think he's gotten the recognition he deserves for the "neutrality" of the film. Good storytelling is when you can enjoy a tale over and over again from different perspectives. He did that. Good vs evil? Man vs nature? Love vs loss? What is about? It doesn't matter. It's whatever you got out of it that time.
Then it all goes to complete shit. And this explains why I never saw Titanic, if you are wondering. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me five times in a row, you're never getting another fucking dollar from me.
At some point, it all went to his head. And he began to do whatever he wanted. Like Lucas, he needs some restraint. I think about Lucas and technology and how he did the old Star Wars films vs the new ones. The old films were good because of the limits of technology. It made for better storytelling. It had to. The technology wasn't there. But with unlimited ILM/Skywalker Ranch at his fingertips, the new films were just awful. I mean, Natalie Portman is one of the best actors of my generation and even he could not get a performance out of her that didn't make me laugh. Ewan McGregor directed himself, you can tell.
Well, Cameron is like that, but worse. With money and control, he could do whatever he wanted. And he did, and it sucked.
-Point Break: Now there have been a few films where I laughed out loud during the presentation and even heckled, but I would say Point Break was the one where I popped that cherry. Easily one of the stupidest fucking pieces of shit ever. You can see Cameron just getting involved with this to bank money for T2. He wrote it, his wife directed it and they both cursed us with Keanu Reeves. This is where "extreme" became a dirty word.
-Terminator 2: Judgment Day: Yes, I am deadly serious. I absolutely fucking hated this movie. Hated it. Here you have Cameron with all of the money in the world. What does he give us? Liquid metal. I guess it's like Vegas. Flashing lights and loud noises are enough to impress people? Well, in the early 90's it was liquid metal. Without that special effect, perhaps we would have had a different story. One in the vein of the first film. This is also where he started to rip off children's tales. To me, T2 was Old Yeller: Robot Edition. Seriously. Put all of the effects aside. What are you left with? A Boy And His Robot. Who he has to kill or let die. And by the way, Edward Furlong is a terrible actor and was a terrible choice. The only saving grace there is that we got Robert Patrick out of it.
-True Lies: Here we get to the point where his pro-feminism stance is as subtle as a brick to the face and about as enjoyable as well. This movie is a "tweener", between a comedy and an action film. Quentin Tarantino? Now there's someone who does it right. This movie was like The Last Action Hero: Stupider II. In fact, he supposedly had something to do with The Last Action Hero. I don't know what, but it's one of the few movies I have not been able to watch from start to finish. What's funny is that Cameron wrote, directed and produced this film and failed at all three. The script was retarded. I couldn't have cared less about the characters or their story. It wasn't funny enough to be a comedy and it wasn't exciting enough to be an action film.
I take that back. One of the unintentionally funniest things in the film were the bad guys. I will never forget this. "Crimson Jihad" was the ridiculous name of the terrorist group Arnie was fighting. Are fucking kidding me? CRIMSON JIHAD? What ignorance. What laughable stupidity.
The action sequences were boring and silly. The characters were stiff and wooden. He had no control over Tom Arnold whatsoever. Hell, the casting sucked as well. But he got nothing out of his performers...I don't know if I can ever call them actors. Eliza Dushku is painful for me to watch to this day.
And of course he bankrolled this cinematic abortion. His money, right? No one to tell him "no", right?
Crimson Jihad. lololololol
-Strange Days: Let me say something. I see a film, I stay until the last credit has rolled. I will give myself a bladder infection rather than get up in a movie to go piss. I plan watching a film so that I don't have to use a toilet at all. I am that serious about the movie experience. And I said I walked out on Last Action Hero? Same with Strange Days. It took me many attempts to watch this on TV in brief snippets to finally get through this laughable turd of a film. This was a movie that tried too hard to be artsy and just ended up being laughable. The ending was stupid. It tried to be visually interesting but was about as fun as watching a Missy Elliot video on MTV. I've had more fun watching slot machines run a diagnostic than the supposed "awesome ending" of this film. Note that he and his wife did this one as well.
And that was it for me. I was done with him. He was no longer the filmmaker he was in the 80's. The next movie he made was of course, Titanic. Even if I had interest in the subject matter (I did not), I still wouldn't see it. The masses of addicts showing up at the movie day after day made it even less palatable to me. I would call myself an elitist, except that hating James Cameron doesn't make you an elitist, it just makes you reject ridiculous filmmaking that has the gall to present itself as something to be taken seriously.
What did he make after that? Solaris? Sorry, I'll take Event Horizon, thank you very much. T3? Very little to do with it. Which is probably why I liked it more than T2. But that's just me. Everyone else hated it. Avatar?
Yes, Avatar. Remember where I said that T2 was Old Yeller? This is Pocahontas. DISNEY'S POCAHONTAS. I am very much all about the presentation of a film and the cinematic experience. For me, it's an event. I wanted to experience Avatar. But I had to be sure. So I read the script and the spoilers. It was motherfucking Pocahontas AND it was preachy as all hell. Again, thanks Cameron. The subtlety of the brick to the face yet again. You should have borrowed the Imperial Senate from Lucas and had George Bush as a Sith Lord while you were at it. Asshole. We aren't that stupid, James. We don't need you to brainwash us to your causes. You're like a grown-up weaboo, wanting to be something you're not and can never be.
BONUS
How about his TV work?
Dark Angel: Wow, where do I start with this? A strong female character? In your show, James? Wow. Oh, and you named her ambiguously as Max. But then you added Guevara, like Che. Wow, isn't that cute. I bet you earned yourself a "Che looking up" messenger bag for life from the tourist association of every place on the planet that sells those to ignorant college kids. Then, you set it in Seattle. Wow, how trendy of you. Thanks, James. Just what we in Seattle wanted at the time - more attention. How glad I was when that dumb show got canned.
In the end, I have two words to describe James Cameron:
Crimson Jihad
Remember in South Park where they try to save films from their directors? It goes one step further. Letting directors have too much control. On one hand, you think about studios who use groupthink and marketing to ruin art. But the other is when there is complete control. That's any film my Michael Bay and/or Jerry Bruckheimer. Steven Spielberg as of late. Or the first three Star Wars films that Lucas did. Geez.
Ok, reference time. Look at Cameron:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron
In my mind, he went from the best 80's filmmaker to the worst filmmaker since then. I don't even need to see Titanic to know it's drivel. Hell, he's pretty much admitted as much. He used it to finance other projects, like his documentaries and different ways to improve filmmaking. But let's look at the 80's:
-The Terminator: Fantastic. Awesome in it's simplicity. The movie starts and just keeps going. It explains enough without explaining too much. It fires the imagination. The effects were very good. The casting was good. I liked the performances of the actors. I mean, he played Schwarzenegger to his strengths. In retrospect, I wish that the film had no sequels.
-Rambo: First Blood Part II: Ok, I really liked First Blood. One of my favourites. There was a movie that needed no sequel. However, the Rambo character was too intriguing to leave on the shelf. Stallone knew it. And the 80's needed Rambo, given the political climate and uncertainty of nuclear war, communism and our POWs. Now the movie is ultimately Stallone's story, but Cameron made the baby. Stallone raised it.
-Aliens: Yes. I think to most people, this is probably the best one. Aliens3 is my favourite, followed by Alien and then Aliens. But it's not a huge gap. They are all awesome. But Aliens is probably the most important because of the themes it explores in regards to women, especially at the time. Whereas Terminator showed women to be resilient and survivors, Aliens took it further and juxtaposed maternity from friendly and unfriendly perspectives. Clearly, he understands nature - wild and human. Plus, the movie just rocked.
-The Abyss: Again, one of my all-time favourite films. This is the only one of his movies I actually own. While he got some good performances out of the actors in Aliens, admittedly there were some issues with his style. The Abyss, he just killed. Everyone did a great job. The story was unique. The effects were amazing. He was able to tap into emotion in really novel ways. I don't think he's gotten the recognition he deserves for the "neutrality" of the film. Good storytelling is when you can enjoy a tale over and over again from different perspectives. He did that. Good vs evil? Man vs nature? Love vs loss? What is about? It doesn't matter. It's whatever you got out of it that time.
Then it all goes to complete shit. And this explains why I never saw Titanic, if you are wondering. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me five times in a row, you're never getting another fucking dollar from me.
At some point, it all went to his head. And he began to do whatever he wanted. Like Lucas, he needs some restraint. I think about Lucas and technology and how he did the old Star Wars films vs the new ones. The old films were good because of the limits of technology. It made for better storytelling. It had to. The technology wasn't there. But with unlimited ILM/Skywalker Ranch at his fingertips, the new films were just awful. I mean, Natalie Portman is one of the best actors of my generation and even he could not get a performance out of her that didn't make me laugh. Ewan McGregor directed himself, you can tell.
Well, Cameron is like that, but worse. With money and control, he could do whatever he wanted. And he did, and it sucked.
-Point Break: Now there have been a few films where I laughed out loud during the presentation and even heckled, but I would say Point Break was the one where I popped that cherry. Easily one of the stupidest fucking pieces of shit ever. You can see Cameron just getting involved with this to bank money for T2. He wrote it, his wife directed it and they both cursed us with Keanu Reeves. This is where "extreme" became a dirty word.
-Terminator 2: Judgment Day: Yes, I am deadly serious. I absolutely fucking hated this movie. Hated it. Here you have Cameron with all of the money in the world. What does he give us? Liquid metal. I guess it's like Vegas. Flashing lights and loud noises are enough to impress people? Well, in the early 90's it was liquid metal. Without that special effect, perhaps we would have had a different story. One in the vein of the first film. This is also where he started to rip off children's tales. To me, T2 was Old Yeller: Robot Edition. Seriously. Put all of the effects aside. What are you left with? A Boy And His Robot. Who he has to kill or let die. And by the way, Edward Furlong is a terrible actor and was a terrible choice. The only saving grace there is that we got Robert Patrick out of it.
-True Lies: Here we get to the point where his pro-feminism stance is as subtle as a brick to the face and about as enjoyable as well. This movie is a "tweener", between a comedy and an action film. Quentin Tarantino? Now there's someone who does it right. This movie was like The Last Action Hero: Stupider II. In fact, he supposedly had something to do with The Last Action Hero. I don't know what, but it's one of the few movies I have not been able to watch from start to finish. What's funny is that Cameron wrote, directed and produced this film and failed at all three. The script was retarded. I couldn't have cared less about the characters or their story. It wasn't funny enough to be a comedy and it wasn't exciting enough to be an action film.
I take that back. One of the unintentionally funniest things in the film were the bad guys. I will never forget this. "Crimson Jihad" was the ridiculous name of the terrorist group Arnie was fighting. Are fucking kidding me? CRIMSON JIHAD? What ignorance. What laughable stupidity.
The action sequences were boring and silly. The characters were stiff and wooden. He had no control over Tom Arnold whatsoever. Hell, the casting sucked as well. But he got nothing out of his performers...I don't know if I can ever call them actors. Eliza Dushku is painful for me to watch to this day.
And of course he bankrolled this cinematic abortion. His money, right? No one to tell him "no", right?
Crimson Jihad. lololololol
-Strange Days: Let me say something. I see a film, I stay until the last credit has rolled. I will give myself a bladder infection rather than get up in a movie to go piss. I plan watching a film so that I don't have to use a toilet at all. I am that serious about the movie experience. And I said I walked out on Last Action Hero? Same with Strange Days. It took me many attempts to watch this on TV in brief snippets to finally get through this laughable turd of a film. This was a movie that tried too hard to be artsy and just ended up being laughable. The ending was stupid. It tried to be visually interesting but was about as fun as watching a Missy Elliot video on MTV. I've had more fun watching slot machines run a diagnostic than the supposed "awesome ending" of this film. Note that he and his wife did this one as well.
And that was it for me. I was done with him. He was no longer the filmmaker he was in the 80's. The next movie he made was of course, Titanic. Even if I had interest in the subject matter (I did not), I still wouldn't see it. The masses of addicts showing up at the movie day after day made it even less palatable to me. I would call myself an elitist, except that hating James Cameron doesn't make you an elitist, it just makes you reject ridiculous filmmaking that has the gall to present itself as something to be taken seriously.
What did he make after that? Solaris? Sorry, I'll take Event Horizon, thank you very much. T3? Very little to do with it. Which is probably why I liked it more than T2. But that's just me. Everyone else hated it. Avatar?
Yes, Avatar. Remember where I said that T2 was Old Yeller? This is Pocahontas. DISNEY'S POCAHONTAS. I am very much all about the presentation of a film and the cinematic experience. For me, it's an event. I wanted to experience Avatar. But I had to be sure. So I read the script and the spoilers. It was motherfucking Pocahontas AND it was preachy as all hell. Again, thanks Cameron. The subtlety of the brick to the face yet again. You should have borrowed the Imperial Senate from Lucas and had George Bush as a Sith Lord while you were at it. Asshole. We aren't that stupid, James. We don't need you to brainwash us to your causes. You're like a grown-up weaboo, wanting to be something you're not and can never be.
BONUS
How about his TV work?
Dark Angel: Wow, where do I start with this? A strong female character? In your show, James? Wow. Oh, and you named her ambiguously as Max. But then you added Guevara, like Che. Wow, isn't that cute. I bet you earned yourself a "Che looking up" messenger bag for life from the tourist association of every place on the planet that sells those to ignorant college kids. Then, you set it in Seattle. Wow, how trendy of you. Thanks, James. Just what we in Seattle wanted at the time - more attention. How glad I was when that dumb show got canned.
In the end, I have two words to describe James Cameron:
Crimson Jihad