When it comes to A-list directors naming some of their favorite movies, there have definitely been a few head scratchers over the years, and I absolutely love it.
Some examples include Martin Scorsese believing “The Exorcist II: The Heretic” is better than William Friedkin’s original, Paul Thomas Anderson loving “Men in Black III”, Stanley Kubrick calling “White Men Can’t Jump” one of his all-time favorites, Christopher Nolan endlessly quoting “MacGruber.” And, of course, we can never forget Terrence Malick’s unhealthy obsession with “Zoolander.”
Now, I’m not saying these are bad films; with the exception of ‘Exorcist II: Heretic,’ I actually like all of the films mentioned above. Many are guilty pleasures, and it’s wonderful to know that self-serious directors like Nolan, Malick and company can have a sense of good humor for silly filmmaking.
Then there’s Michael Mann and “Avatar”…
In a recent interview with Letterboxd, Mann has stated, yet again, that “Avatar” is one of the best films ever made. I thought, after it didn’t show up on his 2022 Sight and Sound ballot, that Mann’s infatuation for “Avatar” had finally dwindled. Doesn’t seem so.
The interviewer asked Mann for his “Letterboxd 4,” and the “Ferrari” filmmaker replied by name-checking “Battleship Potemkin,” “The Asphalt Jungle,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and … “Avatar”
I’ll admit that, despite its fairly conventional story, not many films this century have, as efficiently, signaled the rapid growth of the medium quite like James Cameron’s “Avatar.”
Mann has publicly stated his love for “Avatar” numerous times over the years. Part of his awe has to do with Cameron “inventing the technology himself to support his vision” for “Avatar.” A “visionary” accomplishment that no other filmmaker can claim to have done.
Moreover, in 2012, Mann went as far as to choose “Avatar” as one of his picks for BFI’s Sight and Sound poll of The Greatest Films of All Time. He wrote:
Upon the foundation of an entirely invented biosystem, “Avatar” is a brilliant synthesis of mythic tropes, with debts to Lévi-Strauss and Frazier’s The Golden Bough. It soars because, simply, it stones and transports you.
It happens that great filmmakers do find something to love about less reputable films. Now, I’m not at all trying to diss the original “Avatar” — for what it’s worth, I had a great experience, 14 years ago, watching it in 3D and I do believe that, visually speaking, it is one of the more important cinematic advancements of the last 15 years.
With that said, over the years, I’ve tried to rewatch “Avatar” at home, on a normal sized screen, without the 3D, and I just can’t get through it. The lure of the movie was never its “Pocahontas” meets “Dances With Wolves” story, but more about Cameron revitalizing 3D technology for an industry that desperately needed a boost at the box-office. “Avatar” was an event, a roller-coaster ride, whose plot barely anyone remembers.