Is James Cameron the greatest filmmaker so far?
 

The guy has a average rating on Rotten tomatoes of 89%. imdb.com of 7.9- from 7 films.
Not only has his movies been critically acclaimed but also have been huge box office success stories-two highest grossing movies of all time were written and directed by him. In my view what really sets him apart from other acclaimed directors is he writes his own films. He creates his on characters and scenes. Add that to the ratings and box office receipts i think he surpasses the rest of the directors.

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

No.

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

No.

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

Nope.

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

You guys are wrong. He might not be the greatest filmmaker, but he is clearly the greatest filmamker.

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

There are so many. Does it matter who is the greatest?

It does when OP's criteria set such a low bar for what counts as greatness.

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

He's the greatest blockbuster marker at the moment.

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

I think he's the worst... so far

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

The dude's last film came out seven years ago and these days its status as the most commercially successful film of all-time is in danger of being totally overshadowed by the fact that its sheer lack of significant cultural impact has made it into a laughing stock (which is only made more ridiculous by Cameron announcing that he's working on four sequels to it, which does beg the question as to who could care that much about Avatar). I'd even make the case that Christopher Nolan has surpassed him in terms of making high-quality blockbusters and I don't even like Nolan's last couple of films that much.

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

No, but I do think he might be the best action movie director of all time.

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

Obviously not. But I'll grant you two things :
- He is indeed very bankable
- He usually delivers in the third act, which many action directors don't.

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

Rotten Tomatoes...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cGU7CyByKg...2Blaughing.jpg

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

Hey, at least RT involves actual critics doling out ratings so there's a degree of legitimacy there. Citing IMDb as proof of Cameron's being the greatest just doesn't work because of the top 250, which only has three Cameron films in it. For context, Christopher Nolan has seven films in the Top 250, three of which are ranked higher than the highest-ranked Cameron film.

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmamker so far ?
 

I doubt he is the best director living on his street...

why only use imbd ?
I think the formula should be RT+IMBD+Receipts, and Jim Cameron comes out tops.

Christopher Nolan's last 7 movies average 84% on Rotten Tomatoes , and 8.4 on IMBD. Two of them have surpassed the billion dollar mark but also because they were adaptations and already had a fanbase and also that a supporting actor died before one the films was released thereby giving the film coverage just like FF7. His "solo" projects he co wrote with his brother (bar inception) are testament that if he releases five more and they get the receipts and very good reviews he can be on par with Jim Cameron.

Re: Is James Cameron the greatest filmmaker so far?
 

If you're actually trying to create a "formula" (an impossible task, IMO), you wouldn't just take box office receipts: you'd take inflation-adjusted box office receipts, in which case his single most important variable takes a nosedive.

There's also a big difference between good/bad reviews, and good/great ones. A lot of people gave Avatar a positive review, but very few thought it was a great film. Heck, some gave it a positive review just as a technical achievement. 3 out of 5 counts the same as 5 out of 5 by that metric.

Put another way: even if I thought his most recent films were good (and I don't), I don't think you can achieve greatness by just stockpiling goodness. It's about height more than breadth.

For posterity, I'm quoting this to let everyone know that it's a good joke that made sense before I fixed the error in the thread title.

This is a much more reasonable argument. The guy is very technically skilled, and is a special effects visionary. But his narratives are uninspired and his dialogue is God-awful.