James Cameron

After winning the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for Titanic in 1997, James Cameron basically quit making feature films. He did get involved with some television work, namely creating the tv show, Dark Angel. But for the last 10 years or so, the bulk of James Cameron's creative efforts have been spent making movies for IMAX about deep sea diving and treasure hunting. Many of them are in 3D.

This all about to change however as James Cameron is directing this year's upcoming film, Avatar. He's back working in my favorite genre, science fiction, and this is a movie written by him as well, so I have high hopes that it will be awesome.

Terminator 2 will always live on my top 10 list of favorite movies of all time. No matter how often I watch it, I'm constantly moved by the humanity of this movie. It's far more than an action movie and I think it is Cameron's best work. The Abyss is also excellent, but Terminator 2 nudges it out.

So these are my favorites -- all sf genre, naturally. :)

There are now four Terminator movies and one tv show, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. James Cameron, the creator of the franchise, stopped having any involvement with them after T2, however. So he's not to blame for the fact that both Terminator 3 and Terminator Salvation never quite live up to the potential.

My favorite character is Reese, but of the two films that Cameron directed, Terminator 2: Judgment Day is my favorite and Reese only appears in that for a minute or two -- and he was left on the cutting room floor in the theatrical cut, but thank God for extended releases on DVD, eh? One of the most moving scenes in that movie is the daydream Sarah has about Reese telling her that she needs to go to John and offering a reminder that the Future is Not Set.

As for The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I think it does a better job than both T3 and Terminator Salvation in conveying the essence of the story that James Cameron had begun with his first two films. If you don't have it on DVD, you should buy it. It only ran two seasons and they were both excellent. I found the series finale particularly satisfying (but I certainly won't spoil you for it if you haven't seen it.)

Alien is a great movie by one of my other favorite directors, Ridley Scott. It's scary and creepy and extremely unsettling. First time I saw it, I actually had to leave the theater for a few minutes at one point just to calm myself down.

But Aliens is a whole different experience -- the scares are still there, but this time Ripley is a pissed off badass leading a whole team of badasses. Instead of a horror movie we get a kick butt action movie. I love it. As far as I'm concerned the rest of the Alien "Quadrilogy" doesn't even exist. It's all about these two movies. And I have to say, that being an ass-kicking action lover at heart, I prefer Aliens to Alien. Plus it has Michael Biehn in it. Always good for bonus points.

I really love this movie. I had to fight with myself for a minute about whether to put this before Aliens or not. Ultimately it doesn't really matter what order they are in. There's a lot going on in The Abyss. It isn't just a first encounter story, it's about love and hope and trust too.

Avatar is James Cameron's next feature film. It's been a long wait! I saw the preview recently however and so far it looks amazing. We'll have to see how the storyline is though.

Avatar is about a former Marine who joins up with an alien army to fight a human invasion. The film stars Sam Worthington, who you just saw in Terminator Salvation and he is certainly that movie's saving grace, so I'm looking forward to seeing him in something else.

Other cast members include Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Zoe Saldana, and Giovanni Ribisi.

Avatar is going to be an IMAX 3-D film. You can watch the HD trailer below. It's pretty trippy :)