Some people make it in Hollywood by producing a few small projects in the beginning, carefully getting a small following, but not James Cameron. His career has been the stuff of legend, one of those ideal Hollywood careers almost from the get-go. From directing to producing, big-budget thrillers are Cameron's mainstays, and you could even say that he single-handedly defined the genre. Thanks to his keen eye for a successful story, Cameron's films break box-office records and amass millions of dollars, making him one of the most profitable directors ever. Though he's set the bar high, he's not content to walk away, and although the films he's already made are among the greatest ever created, Cameron invented new technology for his films and even then had to wait until technology caught up with his imagination to create his latest film, Avatar. So let's take a look back at his numerous directorial efforts and pick the best from a list of near-perfect films.

Last Place (Tie): Aliens of the Deep (2005) and Ghosts of the Abyss (2003). C'mon, nobody saw these documentaries unless they were home "sick" from work, eating whatever they could find in the fridge and flipping through the cable channels. Aliens of the Deep concerns itself with the search for intelligent life by exploring the ocean, and Ghosts of the Abyss has to do with Bill Paxton and James Cameron digitally exploring the sunken Titanic. Both are documentaries that Cameron put out in between recovering from Titanic and plotting the elimination of human actors by making Avatar.

6th Place: The Abyss (1989) – Cameron honed his interest in under-water cameras and techniques in his first real directorial effort to combine his interests, and we see the first explorations of his obsessions with aliens and nautical disasters. In this science-fiction film, Americans attempt to rescue a sunken submarine but discover there's a whole lot more going on under the surface of the water. Pretty good, but still feels like Cameron as a director is finding his footing.

5th Place: True Lies (1994) – James Cameron continues his love affair with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and this movie is just kind of fun. Don't get me wrong, it's filled with explosions and Schwarzenegger being a badass, but really this movie is kind of about how important families are. Schwarzenegger plays a spy masquerading as a salesman who must hide his identity from his wife (Jamie Lee Curtis) and daughter, but when terrorists make their presence violently known, he must risk it all to save his family. True Lies is especially fun if you watch it thinking about how Schwarzenegger would one day become the governor of California. Added bonus: the fabulous Tia Carrere from Wayne's World is in it!

And where will Avatar fall? My guess is somewhere after the Terminator films in order of importance. The basic premise is decidedly futuristic. In 2154, a young Marine is sent to another planet and soon becomes a key player in the battle between the gentle creatures that live there and the encroaching human race. Avatar is the first feature to be released from James Cameron since Titanic, though Cameron has been working on the film in one way or another since 1994. Avatar is alleged to change the entire way we think about film, as it is comprised of an elegant combination of live-action, as well as computer-generated, actors. Avatar will either be remembered as an incredible mess of a story, or the most important film of Cameron's career. If you want to win big, you have to bet it all, and Avatar is James Cameron betting it all.