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Soundwave on 19 March 2018
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Insidb said:
Soundwave said:

Avatar is a legit decent film, even if people don't want to admit it. Cameron is a very clear story teller and very good at grounding his large spectacle films with relatable characters and his direction of action is masterful. Yes he uses traditional motifs, but it works damn well.

My fiance who dislikes fantasy/sci-fi movies watched Avatar from start to finish and was completely into it, she had never seen it before. That was a month ago. In regular ol' 2D running off Blu-Ray at our home. Another friend of mine took his father to see Avatar and his dad sees like 1 movie a decade at the theater and his dad loved it. Cameron knows story structure and character and how to build emotion.

Avatar and Titanic have a BIGGER reach than Star Wars. Just because Star Wars has a nerd community that voraciously backs it doesn't mean its audience is bigger. The box office backs that up too.

And both are better films than any Star Wars film post-1983. I'd say Return of the Jedi and Avatar are about equal, but Avatar is better than any of the subsequent Star Wars movies. And Titanic is a tour de force. I hate that time period, but once you've seen that movie you damn well feel like you've been on that bloody ship, which is an amazing feat. And it wasn't just teenage girls watching it lets be honest, everyone and their grandma (literally) went to see that movie. 

Star Wars has been largely a disappointment from 1999 onwards, not one of the Star Wars films post OT is a legitimate great film. I guess you could even start with 1997 as a lot of those Special Edition changes from Lucas were really crappy and angered fans big time right from there. 

We get it: YOU hate Star Wars and love James Cameron's outdated ripoff of FernGully.

"Traditional motifs" must be code for "unoriginal:" see "Titanic" and "Avatar."

One is about a historical event, the other is a 3D remake.

Actually I prefer the OT Star Wars. 

And the OT Star Wars using "traditional motifs" all over the place, lol, go read a Joesph Campbell book. 

Cameron is a better director than Lucas (maybe it was close in the 70s, but Lucas lost it and was a joke by the 90s/2000s) and JJ Abrams, Rian Johnson, lol puleaze. These guys wish they could make a movie as good as Terminator 2. 

Cameron's films move people on a global scale in a way that even Star Wars cannot. There's no shame in giving the man his due. The way he shoots action but keeps things very much rooted to the main characters is amazing too. 

James Cameron understands story structure, building tension and emotion, he is simply good at what he does. 

Star Wars has been mediocre/average to bad since 1997 and Star Wars was never some unstoppable box office force, it's been humbled multiple times by other IP like E.T. (the movie event of the 80s), Titanic (the movie event of the 90s), Star Wars prequels got wrecked by multiple IPs in the 2000s,  etc. 

I'd say Avatar persists in pop culture too, just not in such an annoyingly aggressive way that it's thrown in your face. I was at Disney World just a few months ago and the new Avatar ride there is a freaking 3-4 hour wait, and the crazy thing is it's worth it. Obviously some people still care. 

If we're gonna talk "pop culture" impact, what pop culture impact has Star Wars had past the OT? Is Jar Jar a classic character? Would normal/regular people know who Darth Maul is? Count Dooku? General Grevious. Get real. The Matrix had more impact on pop culture than the Star Wars prequels did (it was spoofed way more and referenced way more).

Last edited by Soundwave - on 19 March 2018