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thismeintiel on 21 March 2018
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Insidb said:
Soundwave said:
Star Wars rip offs (err ... "borrows") liberally from sources too, the first movie is a direct take on Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress and many other obvious archetypes.

Cameron's strength is not being original, it's pure, sheer, execution. Anyone can come up with an idea, and there were many other films about Titanic for example before.

Doesn't meant shit if you can't execute and engage the audience, and that's where he is far and away beyond a lot of filmmakers.

You're missing a lot of the material that inspired Star Wars. However, it would be folly to say that the entire epic is not creative; it would be ridiculously disingenuous to say that Titanic or FernGully Dances 3D (err ... Avatar) were more creative.

If you're going to use Lucas as a bar for Cameron, I'd recommend a MUCH higher bar: Lucas just isn't a very good director, and JJ did a MUCH better job than him. Johnson, however, put together a string of set pieces like boss stages in an RPG: kill the mobs, then have an awesome encounter. The lack of cohesion isn't shocking, considering Looper was literally a looping narrative.

Saying "anyone can come up with an idea" as a reason to tout Cameron is more or less absurd. The most common Hollywood comment today is that THERE ARE NO NEW IDEAS. Clearly, not everyone can come up with an idea, much less a good idea. See...the billions of remakes that infuriate filmgoers, all the time.

Cameron is very talented, and I'm surprised you mention Alien or Terminator yet? He used to be very creative, and those movies were far better than the Rian-esque blockbusters that he is now famous for: a sinking boat and In Space, Costner can't save native peoples.

To me it seems he's more mad at the fact that his favorite director, Cameron, has not created a franchise that has the same reach and cultural impact as SW.  Or maybe that film goers haven't realized his sheer genius, yet?  Why he is choosing to take that frustration out on SW fans who don't like this new film is beyond me, though.

Cameron is a good director, but he does keep reusing the same tired "rich/military bad, poor/natives good," with little actual nuance.  Lately he has been mainly known for his two event films.  Why he is choosing one that was criticized for not being original, that had no true lasting effect on the culture, to create a franchise 9 years too late is, again, beyond me.