10 Bad Films By Great Directors

It's a long time since James Cameron felt like an important director. A visionary who once gave us three of the best sci-fi/action films of all time (The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and Aliens), Cameron now spends his time being one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood.

He hasn't made a film since this, 2009's Avatar, a film which has seen its status lessen dramatically over time—the initial furore over its revolutionary 3-D technology ensured the film garnered nine Oscar nominations at the 2010 Academy Awards.

Technology aside, Avatar is a hackneyed picture. Not content with basically moving the story of Pocahontas to space and butchering its true meaning, Cameron also fills the film with a sickly sentimentality, reducing a supposed story of class-struggle to nothing more than the throes of a young couple who have done nothing to earn the seriousness with which they conduct their tepid love affair (see also: Titanic).But where Titanic's spectacle more than made up for its insipid narrative, Avatar's soon wears off. Cameron has apparently written Avatar 2, 3, and 4, so expect this once great director to continue to tarnish his legacy.