I AM KING OF THE WORLD! Ranking James Cameron's Films

[TiQuinn]

Uwe Bol.

Uwe Bol or we riot!

 

[payn]

Uwe Bol or we riot!

Nothing says quality like recasting your lead in every sequel!

 

[Bedrockgames]

4. The second-hardest rankings were the Avatar films. It's really difficult to reconcile how amazingly successful (box office) they are, and how much they push the boundaries of what is possible in cinema, with ... how little attention is paid to things like "plot" and "character," which means that each film seems to dominate the year its released, but barely registers in the overall consciousness later.

Yeah, Avatar movies happen, they are huge and a big deal in that brief moment, then no one really seems to talk about them the way they keep asking about Titanic, Terminator or Aliens. My personal thoughts on them is I really enjoyed watching them when they came out, but they impacted me more like a night at the circus than at the movies (in that it was always thrilling to go to the circus, but the experiences never lingered as strong memories the way a movie that hits you does). And I don't think I have the same emotional reaction to characters in an avatar movie that I did in Titanic or The Abyss (and I can't stand the Abyss but I at least have feelings about the characters).

 

[Bedrockgames]

I vote nay on

Uwe Bol or we riot!

I vote Nay. Let's do Chor Yuen !!!!!!!

 

[Stalker0]

4. The second-hardest rankings were the Avatar films. It's really difficult to reconcile how amazingly successful (box office) they are, and how much they push the boundaries of what is possible in cinema, with ... how little attention is paid to things like "plot" and "character," which means that each film seems to dominate the year its released, but barely registers in the overall consciousness later.

I think its a pretty human response that when you do something truly groundbreaking, special, and unique.... something so far beyond the normal experience, we let a LOT of things slide.

Avatar was one of the few movies I have seen not just twice in theaters, but like 5-6 times. I was mesmerized by it. But yeah....you are not wrong its extremely weak on plot and characters. I think the argument is....I have seen directors give me good plot, and I have seen directors give me good characters. But I had never seen a fantasy world come to life like avatar made Pandora. Sure avatar could have been even greater if it had given me plot and characters, but do you actually need that for greatness when you can point to something that no one else could do or thought was possible at the time?

 

[Deset Gled]

Yeah, Avatar movies happen, they are huge and a big deal in that brief moment, then no one really seems to talk about them the way they keep asking about Titanic, Terminator or Aliens.

Y'know, people have been telling me that no one talks about Avatar for 8 years now. It's not too surprising; the movie obviously doesn't have the marketing strength of Star Wars or Marvel movies. But it is interesting to note how much people talk about how no one talks about Avatar

Also, the Disney park based on Avatar was a lot better than I expected it to be.

 

[MGibster]

The second-hardest rankings were the Avatar films. It's really difficult to reconcile how amazingly successful (box office) they are, and how much they push the boundaries of what is possible in cinema, with ... how little attention is paid to things like "plot" and "character," which means that each film seems to dominate the year its released, but barely registers in the overall consciousness later.

Like I said, I haven't seen Avatar, but one thing I've always marveled at was how little a cultural footprint it seems to have left given how popular the original was. It's like a sugary candy you might enjoy while eating and then promptly forget about it until someone serves you the sequel.

 

[ART!]

I'd move the Avatar movies lower, and The Abyss higher.

I've seen the first Avatar movie, and maybe made the mistake of not seeing it in 3D when it came out, because I found it mostly trite and dull. Also, as pretty as it is, a lot of what I see are the clever shortcuts Cameron took in realizing the aliens. On the one hand they're smart shortcuts/tricks, but once I noticed them or had them pointed out I can't unsee them. I'll list them below in spoilers, because I don't want to ruin anyone's enjoyment of that movie.

The Abyss is just a personal favorite, even though I find the very ending (either of them) unsatisfying. I'm a big fan of...whatever genre it is where people in extreme environments already have to face basic maintenance and lifestyle challenges, and then the $#!+ hits the fan. Add to that Cameron's strengths.

Spoiler: visual stuff in Avatar that bugs me

1. The Na'vi (because they're naive - get it?!) are gangly because if they had more human-like proportions their movement would be harder to make look natural.
2. For similar reasons, their facial features are just barely alien enough to eliminate uncanny valley problems.
3. Their hair is like little tendrils, becuase hair is hard to animate.
4. When they walk around in the forest the ground glows, because it's hard to make cgi figures interacting with complicated (real or cgi) objects like leafy plants and grass look natural. A lot of that has to do with shadows, so making it glow eliminates that problem.
5. I feel like there's one more thing, but I can't come up with it right now.

As a visual artist these shortcuts are very noticeable, and seem like really obvious shortcuts, but are arguably really smart/clever decisions. I appreciate that to push the efffects envelope you have to do stuff that doesn't quite work.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I'd move the Avatar movies lower, and The Abyss higher.

I've seen the first Avatar movie, and maybe made the mistake of not seeing it in 3D when it came out, because I found it mostly trite and dull. Also, as pretty as it is, a lot of what I see are the clever shortcuts Cameron took in realizing the aliens. On the one hand they're smart shortcuts/tricks, but once I noticed them or had them pointed out I can't unsee them. I'll list them below in spoilers, because I don't want to ruin anyone's enjoyment of that movie.

Nice! I loved the rundown.

It reminds me of something that an artist friend told me when looking at various drawings. She said, "Notice if they work really hard to avoid drawing the feet."

Once I heard that, I haven't been able to view a lot of amateur art the same way.

 

[ART!]

Nice! I loved the rundown.

It reminds me of something that an artist friend told me when looking at various drawings. She said, "Notice if they work really hard to avoid drawing the feet."

Once I heard that, I haven't been able to view a lot of amateur art the same way.

Yeah, I had someobody point out to me a long time ago that it looked like I was avoiding drawing hair, and they were right. I was mostly drawing superheroes, and it turns out I was almost exclusively drawing characters whose costumes included full hair coverage!