The Big Picture · Review · Rankings
December 16, 2022/ 85 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Chris Ryan
Sean and Amanda review 'Avatar: The Way of Water,' then Chris Ryan joins to rank all nine James Cameron features.
10 films across 2 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’largely spoiler-free
13 years after the original and three hours and ten minutes long. Sean lands mixed: the third-hour action rips like old-school Terminator 2, but the middle hour among the Metkayina runs leisurely. Shot in 3D at variable high frame rate: the underwater motion-capture looks real, the above-water shots sometimes read like a video-game cut scene.
The James Cameron Rankingsbest to worst
No. 1. Amanda's pick; the room concedes. Cameron's first turn as box-office king: Best Picture, DiCaprio and Winslet launched.
No. 2. The nerds' choice over Titanic. Good for its whole runtime, though it builds on Ridley Scott's original.
No. 3. The T-1000 morph still looks like the effect other movies chase. Not perfect, but exceptional.
No. 5. The last real technical leap in movies, per Sean; nobody pops it back in, per Chris.
No. 6. The one with a sense of humor the Avatar films lack. Looks terrible streaming on Peacock, no Blu-ray.
No. 7. Asterisked: no Blu-ray release, hard to rewatch. A lot of The Way of Water lives here.
No. 8. Bigger, maybe a greater technical feat, but not better than the first.
No. 9. Cameron's disowned debut, a sequel to a Roger Corman knockoff. The piranhas fly.
Also mentioned raised along the way
High-frame-rate precedents The Hobbit: An Unexpected JourneyGemini ManBilly Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Box-office comps Top Gun: MaverickBlack Panther: Wakanda ForeverAvengers: Endgame
Cameron documentaries (not ranked) Aliens of the DeepGhosts of the Abyss
In passing AlienPiranhaJawsThe Perfect StormDances with WolvesThe Hurt LockerAladdinOppenheimerBarbieInceptionFour Weddings and a FuneralBedazzledZodiacThe Social Network
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The White Lotus
Podcasts Blank CheckThe WatchThe RewatchablesPlain EnglishGamblers
Video games FIFA World Cup Launch Edition
Ads NetflixFanDuelNOS EnergyCarvanaWhole Foods Market