Support NeoGAF

[jdforge]

A celebration of some of the most prolific movie directors of our time.

Each must have a minimum of 6 movies released as Director.

Movies are to have been released between 1970 to present day.

Next up is James Cameron. A Canadian born Director known for his blockbuster science fiction movies.

Premise of the thread is to cast your vote for which of his movies you think is his very best piece of work in the Directors chair. It would also be appreciated if you could state why you feel that particular movie is his best.

Poll stays open for 10 days.

Tim Burton Results
1 - Beetlejuice

2 - Batman

2 - Edward Scissorhands

 

[ClanOfNone]

I enjoy most of Cameron's work, but Aliens is a personal fave and always will be.

 

[JimmyRustler]

Love all movies he made but it's really hard to not go with T2.

 

[Great Hair]

 

[DKehoe]

I've never seen The Abyss. I should fix that.

 

[jason10mm]

How do you have a poll when every film is perfect?

You gotta branch out to "James Cameron helped the script and maybe suggested a lens to use" before you come close to a bad film with his name associated with it.

 

[AJUMP23]

I put Aliens because of the ones listed that is my favorite. True Lies is a lot of fun and deserves a lot of credit.

Avatar is is his most overrated movie and is a terrible film.

 

[jdforge]

How do you have a poll when every film is perfect?

You gotta branch out to "James Cameron helped the script and maybe suggested a lens to use" before you come close to a bad film with his name associated with it.

Not sure if all his movies are perfect. But I love The Terminator, The Abyss and Aliens. Is Moira Rose in Piranha 2: The Spawning?

 

[Aggelos]

How about Xenogenesis?

"Xenogenesis is a 1978 Canadian-American science fiction short film that was the directorial debut of James Cameron. It stars William Wisher Jr. and Margaret Umbel."

Xenogenesis (film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[T8SC]

The GOAT.

 

[Great Hair]

I've never seen The Abyss. I should fix that.

watch the documentary right after.

The Making of 'The Abyss'

Science fiction and fantasy entertainment blog, all about film, television, comic books, and wonder woman admirers.

www.aspaceblogyssey.com

James Cameron's 1989 film, 'The Abyss' has "widely been regarded as the toughest film to shoot in movie history." When I read that, I remember thinking to myself, "really?" 'The Abyss' was a good science fiction movie, but it's not one of my favorite SciFi films. It's not even one of my favorite Cameron films, that honor goes to the original 'Terminator.' But then I remembered Steven Spielberg and the making of 'Jaws.' In 2011, Spielberg said that 'Jaws' was the most difficult film he ever made...and Spielberg has made a lot of films. So if filming a movie on the water is difficult, how much more difficult would it be to make a film entirely under water? Evidently, it's pretty darn hard.

 

[CHEROKEEE]

watch the documentary right after.

The Making of 'The Abyss'

Science fiction and fantasy entertainment blog, all about film, television, comic books, and wonder woman admirers.

www.aspaceblogyssey.com

its such a CRIME, that ABYSS hasnt been released on BluRay TO THIS DAY !!

I watched the Special Edition DVD I bought back in 2000 countless times already... but all these blue toned Underwater Scenes SCREAM for a proper HighDef release since the lowres DVD format is obviously overstrained with the task and sadly plagued with lots of grain and artifacts

 

[Ionian]

How do you have a poll when every film is perfect?

You gotta branch out to "James Cameron helped the script and maybe suggested a lens to use" before you come close to a bad film with his name associated with it.

Avatar is perfect? I assume you're joking.

'Oh they liked it awesome! Wait what, they started to get sick of it on a second viewing? Said I stole a classic plot and just made everyone blue?'

'Means they're still talking about it, I will make not one sequel but three!'.

 

[T8SC]

Avatar is perfect? I assume you're joking.

A perfect movie/theatre experience, especially in IMAX.

 

[Ionian]

A perfect movie/theatre experience, especially in IMAX.

Unfortunately missed out on that part, watched it on DVD. If it's only good in a pimped out cinema, then it's not that good. Story was atrotious.

 

[T8SC]

Unfortunately missed out on that part, watched it on DVD. If it's only good in a pimped out cinema, then it's not that good. Story was atrotious.

 

[EviLore]

its such a CRIME, that ABYSS hasnt been released on BluRay TO THIS DAY !!

I watched the Special Edition DVD I bought back in 2000 countless times already... but all these blue toned Underwater Scenes SCREAM for a proper HighDef release since the lowres DVD format is obviously overstrained with the task and sadly plagued with lots of grain and artifacts

There is a HD master on HBO Max. Looked great.

 

[T8SC]

There is a HD master on HBO Max. Looked great.

Shame its only the theatrical cut, pretty sure it's the same version as Amazon has on Prime Video.

Also:

 

[IDKFA]

Voted T2. Possibly the greatest action movie ever made.

Titanic was a close second. I know it's popular to shit on that film, but I consider it one of the best films ever made. Cameron did such a good job of showing what a harrowing experience it would have been if you were on the Titanic at the time.

 

[kunonabi]

1. Aliens - movie has no business being as excellent as it is. I know Ripley gets brought up alot but her writing and Weaver's performance really elevate the movie to something special.

2. The Terminator - Still the best in the series to me. T2 just loses me in the 3rd act.

3. True Lies - practically a perfect action comedy.

 

[Kilau]

He raised the bar.

Aliens for me, but that isn’t to say I don’t love other movies on the list.

 

[Aggelos]

its such a CRIME, that ABYSS hasnt been released on BluRay TO THIS DAY !!

I watched the Special Edition DVD I bought back in 2000 countless times already... but all these blue toned Underwater Scenes SCREAM for a proper HighDef release since the lowres DVD format is obviously overstrained with the task and sadly plagued with lots of grain and artifacts

It's a promise made by James Cameron that it is on his to-do list, along with True Lies. Whether Cameron is gonna do them eventually, that's.... the jury is still out on that.

Spoiler

 

[SpiceRacz]

 

[Ionian]

T2 was a launch title for Commodore for it's console to compete with Nintendo and Sega. It was just a C64 with no keyboard, same board as the C64 and all, that already had a cartridge port since it launched, that failed spectaculary. Feel sorry for any kid who got one for Birthday/Christmas. It was shit, the T2 game was pretty but you could buy that anyway on cassette/disk.

So then they went CD, buried the company in debt and sold off to Escom. who I doubt ever made a profit. Then sold off again and again. Terminated the company and all by a Polish dude that was in Aushwitz and survived while family members didn't (he had left the company far earlier anyway, bought Atari I think).

EDIT: Point being their console was the start of their termination.

 

[jason10mm]

Even if you don't like the film (like Avatar for a lot of folks) you can't deny the perfection in the visual presentation, editing, attention to detail, internal consistency, character development, and understandable motivations in every Cameron directed film and a lot of the ones he helped with.

Sure, stuff like Terminator: Dark Fate drop the ball but if Cameron spent time on it and helmed it, he makes nothing but perfect films, perhaps with themes or topics you just don't like. Avatar in 3D in imax was just just a jaw dropping experience, the only flaw (maybe) in that film was when folks held up 2D photographs that also had the 3D effect applied to them, unless they were intended to be some sort of Harry Potter "moving picture" that was a technical oversight. Otherwise any director would be famous for making just ONE cameron quality level film, much less as many has he has done. Alas his ideas and technical skill often can't be realized with a less demanding director. Alita is a good example I think, Rodriguez' very fast shooting style is at odds with Camerons exacting directorship.

 

[MacReady13]

Even though it is still listed as a James Cameron film, I don't consider Piranha 2 a film properly directed by James Cameron.

Either way, I still think his 1st proper film, The Terminator, is his best film. I'd say T2 and Aliens are tied as his next best with The Abyss Special Edition being 3rd on that list. It's criminal we don't have a proper version of The Abyss on Blu Ray/4K yet. It truly is an under appreciated classic sci/fi love story.

 

[El Pistolero]

The guy is a technical God! Even the movies of his that I do not find that interesting (Avatar) do push the boundaries of the mediun, at least visually. I am a bit torn regarding what comes next, because as excited as I am to discover what insanity Cameron has in store with the sea world of Avatar 2 (to me, the series is a sort of spectacular odyssey/ VR voyage), it pains me to realize that he will most probably be stuck on Pandora until the end of his career...

 

[Aggelos]