Some Points about James Cameron since it is apparently OK to discuss this in GD

[Mike 03]

First of all, James Cameron has made some GREAT movies, no question: TERMINATOR 2, THE ABYSS, TITANIC.

TERMINATOR 2 was clearly anti-war.

AVATAR is a technological marvel, but it is easy to produce something like that for 250 million dollars.

But AVATAR was made to satisfy people with an IQ of 40. It is nowhere near as philosophically stimulating or morally challenging as his earlier works. It would be further evidence to me that the Academy Awards mean nothing if the movie that makes the most money wins Best Picture every time, especially when it is beautiful but empty. I felt the same way about CHICAGO.

Even James Cameron said he did not deserve to win best picture for AVATAR, and that Kathy Bigelow was more deserving.

[Skittles]

1. Kathryn had James look over the Hurt Locker script

he told her to go for it

[Orrex]

2. Then, in fairness, she should let him look at her Oscar

[DJ13]

3. I think Avatar should have won for one reason alone

It has elevated the technology of immerse 3D film making to a level thats on par with the cinematic camera and lighting techniques that made Orson Welles film Citizen Kane a masterpiece.

The cinematic techniques created and implemented in Avatar will outlast the importance of the Hurt Locker in the years to come.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. The technological advances were mind-boggling and heart stopping.

There is no doubt about that...but I do not think that is how the judging for "Best Picture " goes.

I agree with your conclusion. While "Hurt Locker" may have won the Oscar, it will be "Avatar" that will mark the beginning of a new age of technological innovation and creativity in movie making. It will without doubt have a more long-lasting and remarkable affect
than "Hurt Locker". The latter will always be on the list of Best Pictures, but "Avatar" will always be in a class of its own.

[Electric Monk]

10. It did win for best Art Direction, Cinematography, and Visual Effects.

People seem to be forgetting about that.

[3waygeek]

5. "But Avatar was made to satisfy people with an IQ of 40"

If that's the case, why do conservatives hate it so?

[Tailormyst]

6. Your comments come off a bit pompous

I enjoyed Avatar with my children, my fiance and a friend, none of whom are clinically retarded. It was beautifully done and we had a wonderful time talking about the animation/technology/photography at dinner afterwards. Movies are about entertainment and Avatar, for us, fit that bill. For you it did not and that's okay. No need to insult those who did like it.

[Touchdown]

11. A bit?

May I refer to you as Taylormyst: Master of understatements, Sir?---> EDIT: Oops! Ma'am!:dunce:

[Atticus]

12. What she said! nt

[Inspired]

7. I loved Avatar and my IQ is considerably higher than 40, thank you very much.

[David Zephyr]

8. Avatar was a wonderful film

James Cameron is a gracious guy.

By the way, my IQ is 162 and I loved Avatar. So your 40 point IQ standard fails with at least one person.

I know a lot of people in "the industry" here in Los Angeles. They'd made up their minds clear back in December that The Hurt Locker was their favorite film.

One does not diminish the other.

They both are great films.

[Touchdown]

13. Mine is 134 and I loved it as well.

So that makes 2.

[quinnox]

9. James Cameron isn't all bad

Aliens and The Terminator are both great science fiction movies. The rest of his output, meh. Haven't seen Titanic or Avatar, they just don't appeal to me.

[Swede]

14. I loved the movie.

Why you feel it necessary to denigrate people that enjoyed it,says a lot about you.

[Touchdown]

15. Terminator... morally challenging?

To prevent nuclear war and annihilation of the human race by cyborgs we created through violence and mayhem because there is no other alternative is far from morally challenging.

I'll give you the message of The Abyss, but Titanic's message is "Forget the diamond. It's the people that mattered."... not that deep either. As an extension, True Lies' moral challenge is how to scare the shit out of your wife so she can have excitement in her life again. Avatar's message, while delivered with a sledgehammer, is much more morally challenging than either of his big hits, or TL for that matter.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. Wait, you also think Chicago was 'empty'?

This is pretty amazing. Chicago is based on a historical case, the main characters are actual people and the events as well, did you know that? It is all about corruption on every level in that time and place, up to and including execution of innocents and lionization of the criminal. There are also songs. And a hanging. Bribery, murder. Empty? Not really. Plus, Fosse!
You are very much off base on both films. But Hurt Locker also a fine film. Bigelow can direct a picture. I always like her movies. I'll agree on that.
But the idea that making Avatar is easy is delusional. There might be someone other than Cameron who could make it, but I doubt it. He remade how movies are made, by making a really good movie.

[Cass]

17. My family and I loved it. I guess that means we are functional morons in your book just because we

enjoyed it. I don't why you feel the need to insult people who like a movie that you don't.

If its so easy to produce something like this then why are you sitting here tossing out insults instead of making a "morally challenging, philosophically stimulating" movie that meets your exacting standards? Let me know when your contribution to the film world is nominated for an Academy Award.

[Shell Beau]

18. I haven't seen it,,and you are certainly free to feel it wasn't

Oscar worthy or even nearly his best picture, but many smart people (if that even matters) enjoyed it.

I will say I am happy that a woman finally won for Director, but I haven't watched her movie either. I can't say which one deserved to win because I haven't seen them all, but I also don't call people dumb because they like something I don't.

[cayanne]

19. Actors do not vote for those who replace actors in their movies.

The Navi were computer generated and thus not actors.

[Texasgal]

20. I'm just kinda perplexed why this

award has become such an issue?

I's kinda funny what DU get's all wired up about. :shrug:

[UTUSN]

21. Well, there's always feeling for the EX. I'm checking what EBERT says. n/t

[BuddhaGirl]

22. I LOVED Avatar and I loved its message of interconnectedness

we need more of these types of messages IMHO

http://www.odemagazine.com/blogs/intelligent_optimist/14114/avatar_and_its_holistic_promise

"Avatar and its Holistic Promise

For a box office hit, Avatar is the most successful movie ever. I was one of the last to help James Cameron’s creation reach that tipping point as it took me several weeks to get myself to the movie theater. I have never felt drawn to science fiction because - for reasons not clear to me - such movies always seem to involve a lot of violence. I had not read much about the Avatar phenomenon and I only went after two trusted friends pressed me to go. They were right. Avatar is a beautiful film with an inspiring message.

However what inspires me most is that a film with this kind of message is able to reach more people in the world than any other movie before. The inspiration of Avatar is that there is another world where love rules and where relationships between people and between people and nature are fundamentally respected. And it is that world that after a violent battle prevails over the destructive disconnected greed of our present dominant culture. Avatar portrays the beauty of holism - that word that has defined the new age movement since the sixties. Holism attracted hippies then. It now attracts masses worldwide. That is the message of Avatar.

To be clear: holism is not some distant dream. It is our everyday reality. We live in an interconnected world. That has always been the case. Ancient cultures were aware of that. Whatever is left of those still live by these principles today. It is only our Cartesian perspectives from the past few centuries that have spread a different message: that we can chop up reality and make a lot of money while selling the pieces. It has been an overwhelming and intoxicating message that still rules the world from Wall Street to the slums of Sao Paulo and from hunger and disease in Africa to environmental pollution.

It was science that led Descartes and his contemporaries to the fragmented approach of reality. Yet modern science is increasingly telling a different story. In the past decades scientific discoveries in physics and medicine have presented more and more proof of the interconnected reality of our existence. Since Einstein, in the past century, science is telling us that we are living in a holistic world indeed."