Director James Cameron wants to be King of the World from a more rural perch.

The man who gave us “Aliens,” “Terminator” and “Avatar” is packing his bags and leaving the U.S. indefinitely. Destination: New Zealand.

Cameron has successfully applied to buy 1,067 hectares (2,636 acres) of farmland in New Zealand. In an application filed with the New Zealand Overseas Investment Office, Cameron says he and his family “intend to reside indefinitely in New Zealand and are acquiring the property to reside on and operate as a working farm.

Cameron’s claim to fame was transforming Arnold Schwarzenegger into a killing machine with the “Terminator” franchise. In recent years, he became the undisputed box office champ with two of the highest grossing films of all time, “Avatar” and “The Titanic.” He also routinely stands on a soap box to support environmental causes, but his personal choices hardly match his green rhetoric.

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NEW ‘TERMINATOR’ FILM TO BE R-RATED

That’s the ONLY news on ‘Terminator 5.’ Nothing else is really happening, just a tweet from the woman funding the film.

This might be heresy, but I thought “Terminator 3″ was damn good and could care less about the rating. The story was tight, held my attention, surprised at the end, and contained all kinds of superb action scenes. “Terminator: Salvation,” on the other hand, was utter crap; a third act right out of a Sy-Fy Channel movie.

Worry about the storytelling. Let that process take you to the rating, not the other way around.

MONTY PYTHON MEMBERS SET TO REUNITE FOR SCI-FI COMEDY ‘ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING‘

“Life of Brian,” “Meaning of Life,” and “Holy Grail” are all brilliant, but something happens to these guys as they get older. They lose their comedic edge and just get meaner towards “safe” targets, and an obvious political correctness seeps into their work:

“a group of aliens who endow an earthling with the power to do ‘absolutely anything’ to see what a mess he’ll make of things — which is precisely what happens. There’s also a talking dog named Dennis who seems to understand more about the mayhem that ensues than anyone else does.”

Who knows where this could lead, but let’s hope that self-importance is off limits. As a Christian and Catholic, it’s an honor to get my butt kicked by the boys in the trio of films listed above because the films are clever, not mean-spirited, avoid preaching, and come from a  less fascist time when it was still okay to make fun of everyone.

Because liberals ruin everything, that’s just not the case today.

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The “Terminator” films are about the takeover of the world by machines, and unfortunately the series has itself manifested that phenomenon, being increasingly taken over by special effects and action sequences at the expense of identifiable human concerns.

Terminator Salvation, the fourth film in the apocalyptic action series, is heavy on action and sensational visual effects, but weak on the things that originally made this series so popular. It will please audience members who don’t expect too much from it.

Terminator Salvation is the first in the series without Arnold Schwarzenegger as a primary character, and the series has moved increasingly away from the personal, intimate approach of the first installment (in which the fate of Sarah Connor was at the center of the story and her relationship with Kyle Reese is at the forefront). (more…)

Should the fourth installment live up to its promise, that promise being the casting of Christian Bale as John Connor, the Terminator franchise will be on the way to being the one of the best and most consistent action/adventure franchises since Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan lived in sin as Tarzan and Jane way back when such things were frowned on. And if director McG and his screenwriters are able to tell their story honoring the mythology of what came before without tripping over the inherent logic issues involved with time travel, well then, they’ve already bested “Melorose Kirk-Can-Drive? Trek.”

Of course, should Ewoks arrive to aid John Connor, all bets are off.

My love for “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” (2003) puts me in the minority, I know, but you have to embrace how different the three installments are from each other to truly appreciate it. “Terminator” (1984) is a brilliant piece of storytelling, but also a gloriously 80’s action film from soundtrack to clothes to hairstyles to mandatory gratuitous sex scene. “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” on the other hand, is arty and existential, with mind-blowing, big budget action scenes. But let’s just admit out loud that a certain viewing mood is required in order to avoid using the word “overlong.” Finally, the third chapter shakes off everything that made two so special, but not necessarily in a bad way. The action scenes are still outstanding, but the plot is simpler and had the casting of John Connor been stronger, people might have warmed up more towards the Governor of California’s final starring role. (more…)