James Cameron Doubles Down – For some reason Cameron caused a bit of an uproar when he said that “Wonder Woman” wasn’t a ground breaking film. This caused Patty Jenkins to lash out at him for having an opinion, and that has now lead to this response. Cameron is quoted as saying;

Yes, I’ll stand by that. I mean, she was Miss Israel, and she was wearing a kind of bustier costume that was very form-fitting. She’s absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. To me, that’s not breaking ground. They had Raquel Welch doing stuff like that in the ’60s. It was all in a context of talking about why Sarah Connor — what Linda created in 1991 — was, if not ahead of its time, at least a breakthrough in its time. I don’t think it was really ahead of its time because we’re still not [giving women these types of roles].

Linda looked great. She just wasn’t treated as a sex object. There was nothing sexual about her character. It was about angst, it was about will, it was about determination. She was crazy, she was complicated. … She wasn’t there to be liked or ogled, but she was central, and the audience loved her by the end of the film. So as much as I applaud Patty directing the film and Hollywood, uh, “letting” a woman direct a major action franchise, I didn’t think there was anything groundbreaking in Wonder Woman. I thought it was a good film. Period.

I was certainly shocked that [my comment] was a controversial statement. It was pretty obvious in my mind. I just think Hollywood doesn’t get it about women in commercial franchises. Drama, they’ve got that cracked, but the second they start to make a big commercial action film, they think they have to appeal to 18-year-old males or 14-year-old males, whatever it is. Look, it was probably a little bit of a simplistic remark on my part, and I’m not walking it back, but I will add a little detail to it, which is: I like the fact that, sexually, she had the upper hand with the male character, which I thought was fun.

Opinion: I’m personally agreeing with him, however not for the same reasons. The notion that “Wonder Woman” was some kind of film ahead of it’s time, or was groundbreaking or any other catchy slogans and sayings is just flat out wrong. When you have Ellen Ripley leading the way in the 70’s as a bad ass, then how can you say Gal Gadot did something revolutionary? IF it wasn’t for Sigourney Weaver, would we be having this conversation? It’s like saying Kevin Durant is better than Michael Jordan, because Durant won a title with Golden State. Weaver did it in an era where women weren’t considered the biggest audience for entertainment and advertisers. Let’s stop pretending that what “Wonder Woman” did was as impressive, if not more so impressive than what “Aliens” or “Terminator 2” did. Those were groundbreaking films.

X-Men: Phoenix in Two Parts? – Fox has done a lot wrong with the “X-Men” franchise, but this might be good. According to Oliva Munn, the upcoming Phoenix film might just be in two different parts. Now, take this with a WAY tiny bit of salt, but Universo X-Men claims that an extra told them, that all the extras were being brought back for more shooting on the second part of the film. The Phoenix story is actually two stories. So the idea that it would be in more than one movie makes sense. However, while Munn can be taken as a legit source, a ‘random extra’ does not a great second source make, and in this business if you don’t have a conformation source, all you have is a rumor.

Quick Hits – James Cameron’s sixth installment of the “Terminator” franchise is set to debut on July 26th, 2019 with original characters allegedly leading the way. Michelle Williams is apparently being looked at to play a role in the upcoming “Venom” film, starring Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed. Variety claims that Disney made ABC give “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” a fifth season.