Ep.48: James Cameron - Top 8 Movies
Intro
Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.
Today's episode will be on a man that dropped out of college but became “King of the World” in his chosen field of directing. James Cameron has pretty much done everything in the film industry and to this day, holds two spots of the top three grossing movies of all time.
Today’s mnemonic is on James Cameron’s top 8 movies.
So, with no further ado, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.
Wikipedia Summary
James Francis Cameron CC (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, Cameron is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly making use of novel technologies. He first gained recognition for writing and directing The Terminator (1984) and found further success with Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and the action comedy True Lies (1994). He wrote and directed Titanic (1997), Avatar (2009) and its sequels, with Titanic earning him Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. A recipient of various other industry accolades, two of his films have been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Cameron co-founded the production companies Lightstorm Entertainment, Digital Domain, and Earthship Productions. In addition to filmmaking, he is a National Geographic sea tourist and has produced many documentaries on the subject, including Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) and Aliens of the Deep (2005). Cameron has also contributed to underwater filming and remote vehicle technologies and helped create the digital 3D Fusion Camera System. In 2012, Cameron became the first person to do a solo descent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Earth's ocean, in the Deepsea Challenger submersible.
Cameron's films have grossed over $8 billion worldwide, making him the second-highest-grossing film director of all time. Three of Cameron's films are amongst the top four highest-grossing films of all time; Avatar (2009), Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and Titanic (1997) are the highest, third-highest and fourth-highest-grossing films of all time, respectively.[1] Cameron directed the first film to gross over $1 billion, the first two films to gross over $2 billion, and is the only director to have had three films gross over $2 billion.[2][3] In 2010, Time named Cameron one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Cameron is also an environmentalist and runs several sustainability businesses.
Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron]
Mnemonic
James Cameron – Top 8 Movies Mnemonic – TAP TREAT
(Picture a large golden tap on the Titanic that when you open chocolate treats come out)
1. Titanic - 1997
2. Aliens - 1986
3. Point Break - 1991
4. The Terminator - 1984
5. Rambo - 1982
6. Escape from New York - 1981
7. Avatar - 2009
8. True Lies - 1994
Five Fun Facts
1. Cameron was born on August 16, 1954, in Kapuskasing, Ontario in Canada. He then moved to California in 1971.
2. He was obsessed with science fiction as a child and had strong intentions of becoming a successful filmmaker. Seeing Star Wars in 1977 spurred him to leave his job as a truck driver and pursue the film industry.
3. The inspiration for the robot Terminator actually came to him in a dream while he was shooting Piranha II.
4. In 1989 The Abyss was considered one of the most expensive films of that time, at around $41 million. Titanic then came in 1997 which cost around $200 million dollars, but earned more than $1 billion dollars, along with 14 Academy Award nominations, and in the end taking home 11!
5. Cameron is used to winning, however, in 2010 he was up against his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow for a Best Director Oscar. His was for Avatar and hers was for The Hurt Locker. Bigelow ended up taking the Oscar and no doubt leaving a little “hurt” for James.
6. Bonus Fact: Cameron sank to a new low, or at least holds the record for the deepest dive in a one-man craft in the Mariana Trench in an area called Challenger Deep, which is the deepest part.
This was recorded on 26th March 2012 and the depth was 10,908 metres (35,787 feet).
The vessel Deepsea Challenger (DCV 1), was actually designed and built in Sydney, Australia by research and design company Acheron Project Pty Ltd.
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Three Question Quiz
Q.1. The movie Titanic has a duration of 2 hours and 40 minutes? Is this the same time that it took the Titanic to sink? True or false
Q.2. Which film is the highest grossing film for Cameron? Options are Titanic, Avatar or Aliens
Q.3. For which film did Cameron win his first Best Director Oscar?
Bonus Q. How many times has James Cameron been married?
Mnemonic Recap
James Cameron – Top 8 Movies Mnemonic – TAP TREAT
(Picture a large golden tap on the Titanic that when you open chocolate treats come out)
1. Titanic - 1997
2. Aliens - 1986
3. Point Break - 1991
4. The Terminator - 1984
5. Rambo - 1982
6. Escape from New York - 1981
7. Avatar - 2009
8. True Lies - 1994
Three Question Quiz Answers
Q.1. The movie Titanic has a duration of 2 hours and 40 minutes? Is this the same time that it took the Titanic to sink? True or false
A. True
Q.2. Which film is the highest grossing film for Cameron? Options are Titanic, Avatar or Aliens
A. Avatar – 2.84 billion as of February 2022
Q.3. For which film did Cameron win his first Best Director Oscar?
A. Titanic
Bonus Q. How many times has James Cameron been married?
A. 5 times.
Sharon Williams on Valentine's Day 1978 until 1984
Gale Anne Hurd in 1985 until 1989
Kathryn Bigelow on August 17, 1989, until 1991
Linda Hamilton, on July 26, 1997, until 1999
Suzi Amis on June 4, 2000
Word of the Week
vanguard
[ van-gahrd ]
noun
the forefront in any movement, field, activity, or the like.
Example
James Cameron is at the vanguard of modern directing.
Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]
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References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron_filmography