It's been a long time since I sat down in a theater to see a James Cameron film. The last time, I was sitting with my sister in the Park Road Theaters - the main screen there was massive back then, before they subdivided the space and put in smaller screens - and we munched popcorn and talked about Aliens, Ridley Scott, The Abyss, the advances in technology, and the media coverage of Titanic. It was to be a disaster of a movie, if one was to believe the critics. A gigantic waste of time and money.
We all know how that turned out.
Here it is ten years later, and the critics are still saying the same things: rumors of grossly inflated budgets, wooden dialog and weak characterizations. I don't understand the cynicism or the hate. The guy's an artist. He makes the movies he wants to make. He's a world builder, and a visionary.
You want a Scorsese movie, go see a Scorsese movie. You want to see what 500 million dollars worth of cutting edge film technology will get you? Go see Avatar. Cameron can put together an action sequence like no other film-maker in the world. Remember the 30 minute scramble through the guts of the Titanic as they try to escape the ever-rising waters? Remember when Ripley and the marines discover the aliens inside the terra-forming complex the first time, and their narrow escape in the battle tank? Remember the bridge scene from True Lies with Jamie Lee Curtis, Arnold and the Harriers? I could go on and on.
And tonight I get to go see a world no one has ever seen before, because until now it's only existed in an artist's head - and has been created by a team of amazingly talented men and women who share in his vision.
My three kids will be on the edge of their seats - and I''ll be right there with them. Grinning and gripping Alex's hand. We get to hear a new James Horner score. We get to see fabulous new creatures.
Art fires your imagination and takes you places you've never been before. Art lifts your heart, and fuels your soul, and sprinkles the seeds of growth and new ideas. These things blossom into fresh artistic works, books, paintings, music, poetry - and sometimes helps create new artists.