And this week’s (Oct 25-31/13) movie of the week is… Terminator 2: Judgment Day!

Happy Halloween everyone. As you celebrate by painting your face or covering it with a mask, perhaps you will remember the movie that was responsible for making 1991 so awesome (along with Seinfeld’s debut, Hurricane Bob, the San Jose Sharks, Nelson Mandela and Mikhail Gorbachev): Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

I was in college and my friends told me that though they had already seen it, they wanted to see it again and that I had to see it. I knew this movie was great, even to the point of being what few movies get to be: important. The reason I knew this, and why most people did, was that it lived up to its hype. How many times have you said that you didn’t like a certain movie because all the hoopla surrounding it ruined the experience for you? It happens all the time. Not with this one, though. This one sits high on the IMDb top 250 at #35 beating out Saving Private Ryan, Lawrence of Arabia, and Citizen Kane.

To me, the greatest element of this movie comes in the form of a single person, and it’s not Schwarzenegger. It’s the movie’s writer, producer, and director, James Cameron. I do not say this because I am a big time fan of Cameron. I just believe that this is the key ingredient to this movie’s success. It all started in 1977 when he, a truck driver at the time, watched Star Wars in the theatre. After that experience he quit his job to go into the movie-making business.

One thing that can be said of Cameron is that he is an innovator. This is the man who gave us not only Terminator, but Titanic, Aliens, and Avatar–all game changing movies. You know the unwritten rule that “the original is always the best”? As in, most sequels aren’t as good as the first movie. This is true of Jaws, Rocky, Back to the Future, and many (most) others. There are, however, exceptions; and Cameron seems to be a master at it. He not only made this sequel, he also wrote Rambo: First Blood Part 2 and (as mentioned earlier) Aliens. Even more impressive is that all three of these movies were released within a year of each other. And to get the results he wants he takes unbelievable risks. This particular movie cost him $100 million. Titanic cost almost $200 million. He is the guy who traveled to the bottom of the Mariana Trench to explore it, just because no one had ever done it and he, therefore, wanted to. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly ranked him #3 in the list of the 50 smartest people in Hollywood. Currently the highest grossing movie of all time is one of his, Avatar, and it has brought in over $2.7 trillion. The second highest you ask? That’s his too. Titanic has raked in $2.1 trillion worldwide. And if none of the above impresses you, consider that all but one of his films has been either nominated for or won the Academy Award for best visual effects.

But let’s not forget so many other things that made this movie great. There was such creativity in this story and its characters. Most notably, the T-1000 character was nothing short of awesome. Everyone was talking about this indestructible villain in the early 90’s. The concept was intriguing and menacing at the same time. The action in the film was not only heart-pounding and visually stunning, it avoided the trap of becoming “over the top.” And the cherry at the top: “Hasta la vista, baby.”

Congratulations Terminator 2: Judgment Day, this is your week.

And the Oscar goes to: Best actor: Johnny Depp. I’m going with my brother on this one. As good as Arnie was, I do believe Johnny was better as Captain Jack “Keith Richards” Sparrow. Best actress: Linda Hamilton. Her reaction to seeing the Terminator when she was escaping the loony bin was enough to get this vote. Best quote: “Hasta la vista, baby.”

And in case any of you were wondering what the #3 highest grossing film was, it is The Avengers, which almost won movie of the week. How awesome would it be to have a sequel with Hulk taking on the Terminator!