James Cameron announces his retirement from movie directing.

Actually this is an old story from the 90s. After the release of True Lies Cameron decided to switch occupations to become a contractor. His first major construction job was titled Titanic to be followed years later by another construction job called Avatar. Cameron is actually a talented and creative guy, and it's a shame he gave up making movies. The Terminator is a genuine classic, and Aliens, Terminator 2, and True Lies are certainly above average action films. Judging by his future work schedule it appears this career shift is permanent. How unfortunate.

What the hell did anyone really like about Avatar?

Two-and-a-half plus hours of giant Smurfs frolicking in a cartoon forest is not my idea of entertainment. How this dreadful mess of a movie became the most successful in history is a mystery that reduces the JFK assassination to the level of a Murder She Wrote episode. Obviously technology is at the core of its success, but it wasn't that special. Nothing in this mega-budget monstrosity can top the speargun in Friday the 13th Part 3. James Cameron was so preoccupied with depth of field he neglected to add a little depth of intelligence. The plot has been called simplistic, but I think dimwitted would be more apt. Was anyone else rooting for the marines? On the plus side Avatar does offer the most spectacular battle with a tree ever "filmed".  I never thought I would say this, but I prefer Titanic, and I hate Titanic. The Terminator remains Cameron's one great cinematic achievement. I predict he will never top it.