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.

Movie Otter's Overlooked Gems: The Frighteners (1996)

Once upon a time Peter Jackson made humorously malevolent horror films before abandoning his idiosyncratic style for the world of mega-budget commercialism. The Frighteners, his stepping stone to the big time, somehow has been trapped in a limbo bridging the two distinct identities of Jackson. Anyone who knows Jackson only by his cumbersome and endless Lord of the Rings trilogy might be surprised at the brisk pacing of The Frighteners. The film never stops to breathe.

Jackson gives the genre of the dead new life by combining Ghost with Natural Born Killers by way of The Sting, and he manages to steer through its cliche ridden mine field unscathed. Michael J. Fox, in one of his best adult roles, is Frank Bannister, a paranormal scam artist. His ability to communicate with the dead is fodder for an ingenious con game. Bannister sends his ghost buddies to haunt a designated house, and he saves the day by "cleaning" the house for a fee. The comedic premise turns darker as he becomes the suspect in a series of mysterious deaths perpetrated by the ghost of a deranged mass murderer, Johnny Bartlett (Jake Busey). Bannister's climactic confrontation with Bartlett is heightened by the seamless juxtaposition of images of Bartlett's earlier murder spree.

Packed within its concise structure is a narrative of surprising complexity. This isn't Ghostbusters spoofery for the masses. Cult icon Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator) is a standout as a psychopathically squirrelly FBI agent, proving that this truly great character actor should be utilized more often by mainstream Hollywood. R. Lee Ermey has a goofy cameo as a crazed military ghost not unlike his signature role in Full Metal Jacket, and it surprisingly never feels obtrusive. Maybe the ending veers a little too close to heartwarming, but that is a minor quibble for a film that is among the very best of its genre.

Idea for a movie.

It is a heartwarming tale of an Indiana father struggling to keep his family together after the sudden death of his beloved wife. The story follows the daily struggles of a single father trying to juggle his job and day care, while welfare threatens to break up his family by taking away his two children. It will be titled Hoosier Daddy.

Quentin Tarantino doesn't get enough credit for stealing from John Boorman

Tarantino might be Hollywood's most successful rapper. His movies spout endless words about nothing, and he samples from all his favorite movies. Pulp Fiction, his hip hop masterpiece, samples from so many sources it is probably impossible to identify them all. One moment deserving far more attention is his urban version of the anal rape scene from Deliverance. You might think this is a bit of a stretch, but Tarantino does throw in a little clue. One of his hillbilly rapists is named Zed. Why would Tarantino pick such an unlikely name? No, it has nothing to do with Deliverance, but it does relate to another Boorman film. Zed is the name of the protagonist played by Sean Connery in Zardoz. Coincidence? Of course not.

Queen Borat

I'm sure many Queen fans are horrified by the casting of Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury, but I am equally horrified that Queen has so many fans. Is Queen music really classic rock, or is it show tunes with guitars? Cohen is probably as close to the right type as anyone will find, and he can certainly project the right flamboyance. Now there is reason to endure a biopic of one of the most consistently annoying bands in rock history.

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.

DVD curiosity

Many movies are available in both widescreen and fullscreen on DVD, but the fullscreen version is often labeled "standard version". Why is the butchered version considered to be standard?