-
[QUOTE=Beaddle;4682285]He is an amazing blockbuster director, which is what the thread is about.[/QUOTE]
But Spielberg delivers blockbusters with substance, Cameron delivers them with shiny effects. Avatar is a prime example.
-
In terms of changing the game with blockbusters both directors are about equal. Jurassic Park is what popularized CG in movies and led to things ranging from the Star Wars prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, while Jaws created the very idea of the blockbuster and Saving Private Ryan changed the entire videogame industry by inspiring the Medal of Honor and early Call of Duty games.
-
[QUOTE=jetengine;4682283]Nearly all of that though is down to him being a tech king, not a particularly amazing director.[/QUOTE]
I am not the biggest fan of Cameron myself but I would never say that his stuff is down to just technique. The truth is that Cameron has a canny instinct about the audience, he also has fiendishly good instincts for casting. He's made unknowns like Schwarzenegger, DiCaprio and Winslet into worldwide movie stars. Likewise not all of Cameron's movies are gearhead stuff. Titanic was the biggest love story in the world. It didn't sell just for the sake of VFX, it sold on the romance between Winslet and Dicaprio's characters.
When has Steven Spielberg ever made an unknown into a movie star? He's never done that you know. Most cases he works with established name stars. In JAWS, it's basically popular character actors and leading men of the 70s. Harrison Ford was discovered by first Francis Ford Coppola and then George Lucas, before Spielberg came alone. In the 90s he worked with Tom Hanks. Then for a couple of movies in the 2000s, he worked with Tom Cruise. Largely because those were big name actors of the time, and personal interest.
[QUOTE=sunofdarkchild;4682347]In terms of changing the game with blockbusters both directors are about equal. Jurassic Park is what popularized CG in movies and led to things ranging from the Star Wars prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, while Jaws created the very idea of the blockbuster and Saving Private Ryan changed the entire videogame industry by inspiring the Medal of Honor and early Call of Duty games.[/QUOTE]
Terminator 2 used CGI before Jurassic Park did and it's the movie that really turned heads to what CGI could do
[url]https://film.avclub.com/the-cgi-era-begins-in-earnest-with-james-cameron-s-bloc-1798255527[/url]
Spielberg has been more versatile than Cameron and has always had more to say and more to do and has been consistent but Cameron has always been more the trailblazer than Spielberg.
-
I've admittedly seen little of Cameron's work, but, in my observations, I've yet to see anything he's done as a craftsman that Spielberg doesn't do better. Also think Spielberg captures emotions in a way that Cameron doesn't.
-
I'd have to say Spielberg. Cameron is great on his own and has made some of the most profitable movies in history, but he hasn't made nearly as many movies as Spielberg.
I think his problem is he gets lost in both side project and his own technology. He did Titanic, and then he spent a few more years diving the wreck (and gave us Ghosts of the Abyss). He did Avatar, then dived again and gave us another documentary about the deep ocean. And he's spent the last decade perfecting the technology to make the sequels to Avatar.
Honestly, at this point I respect Cameron more for being an explorer than for being a film maker.