James Cameron

krudler

Since he recently did an AMA on reddit which was a good read: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/22uz4m/i_am_james_cameron_ama/

Got me thinking I must rewatch his back catalogue, I thought Avatar was a mess, a technical marvel sure but a retread of an oft-told story. I don't really care about the sequels at all tbh I'd much rather he went off and did something else. Whatever you think of Avatar and Titanic he has made some fantastic action films over the years, and is one of the few directors who places a big emphasis on strong female leads in a action/sci-fi films, a genre mostly dominated by male ones.

So barring Pirahna 2 which I wouldn't subject myself to, its a Jim Cameron week for me, watching Terminator tonight.

Joeface

The Abyss is a must , along with Aliens (but that's on film4 for every 6weeks and yes I watch it every time). True Lies is Ok . Whats surprising is as a Director of such "Note" he has a very short back catalog.

krudler

Joeface wrote: »

The Abyss is a must , along with Aliens (but that's on film4 for every 6weeks and yes I watch it every time). True Lies is Ok . Whats surprising is as a Director of such "Note" he has a very short back catalog.

After Titanic he was off doing his deep sea diving stuff, I think he's had a record number of dives down to the wreck and he has some kind of solo deep sea record too if I remember right. Out of his movies Terminator, T2 and Aliens are absolute action movie gold. The Abyss is well worth watching and the story behind the production is absolutely compelling, I could have done without all the sea alien stuff and it would have worked just as well as a straight thriller but it's still a great watch.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

James Cameron doesn't do what James Cameron does for James Cameron. James Cameron does what James Cameron does because James Cameron is James Cameron!
- James Cameron

pixelburp

I think even now, only 4 years later, Avatar has aged quite poorly; its reliance on CGI will only eventually date the movie into oblivion. True Lies was on TV a while back and while some of the finale's FX were a bit ropey, the sheer physicality of all the stunts and set-pieces kept the film timeless and believable and really act as stark contrast with the directors latter work (the same timelessness can't be claimed about the pre-911 Arab terrorist plot haha).

I think James Cameron, up to and maybe including Titanic, has shown himself the master of action cinema. Someone like John McTiernan might come close, but Cameron possibly leads by a nose by dint of a slightly healthier CV. I've always admired his hands-on approach to cinema that comes across in the eventual end-product; he seems like a director that's happiest when mucking about the technology and industrial design of his films, and as such he seems to understand how to frame and shoot the action that little bit better. Anyone who forgives Michael Bay for his style of vomit-inducing cinema should be forced to sit-down and watch Terminator 2, or even True Lies, to properly understand how you shoot coherent action.

Sure, his scripts frequently let the side down but in all honesty, the worst you can say about them is that they're perfunctory and serviceable. Titanic was riven with cliche, but given the films scope, maybe that was the right approach.

As for his best work, I'd say it's The Abyss, hands down. All the elements that make a James Cameron film great dovetailed together. Even the aforementioned cliches helped rather than hindered the film with fantastic, raw performances from Ed Harris and Elizabeth Mastrantonio stereotyped 'couple who are separated but still love each other' (albeit aided by the traumatic experiences on-set)

All that said, if you want that sense of 'Feet of Clay' about Cameron, go google searching for his infamous Spiderman script (Cracked did a great video on this). It's truly terrible / hilarious stuff.

krudler

He said on his AMA that True Lies 2 was abandoned post-9/11 as after that the idea of fundamentalist terrorists wasnt entertaining anymore.

I definitely agree about the coherent action stuff, his framing of action shots is brilliant, no over reliance on shakey cam and frenetic editing. One of my favourite sequences in his movies is the chopper/SWAT van chase in T2, there's this superb shot where the camera follows the chopper all the way down to the freeway flying a few feet off the deck as it's weaving between cars and it's done in one single shot. And it looks real because it is real, same as the pilot skinning over one of the overpass bridges, it's that kind of moment you can't capture with CGI as you know there's zero danger or physical element to it instead of a gifted stunt pilot risking his life to pull it off.

Aliens is a masterclass as well, it could have been easy to make another alien loose on a ship horror movie but he took it in a totally different direction, and the pacing of it is absolutely brilliant. It's well over an hour into it before we even get a glimpse of the creatures but everything past the power being cut and the marines trying to escape the facility is just non stop action until the end credits there's barely a beat between the action setpieces.

Theboinkmaster

To be fair he's made 3 of my my top films of all time:

Terminator 2
True Lies
Aliens

I could watch those 3 films all day long. Have T2 and aliens on blu and believe true lies out later this year so can't wait.

Joeface

Aliens is master classes alright , an awful lot of Horror and Sci-Fi ppl fail to learn from this , All the Alien sequels had a tendency to show the Creature a soon a possible , Look how far into Aliens you are before you fully see them, That adds to the terror/fear , even in the seen where "they're coming out of the god damn walls" you see very little just flashes.

Not Cameron's but Predator got this right also.

Damn it now I have to watch Aliens again to night . extend version