Is it weird that I thought this was Most Overrated Dictators. I just clicked on it to see what the hell people would say -
“Yeah, that Mussolini, people always talk about him, but what did he do really?”
Meyer, I’ve posted to this thread, and I looked real fast just now and thought the same thing.
Anyway, I agree with the Mussolini nod. He didn’t even really make the trains run on time.
Lynch is most definetly up there. He gets away with making mediocre films which are visually interesting but thematically empty. He’s described his writing style as grasping for ideas for images and stringing those images together through a lose story. And for this he gets called a genius. Occasionally he directs films for which there is an actual story written, such as The Elephant Man and the Straight Story. Those are probably his best films, and they are quality due mostly to the writing, but the direction is flat out mediocre.
I disagree with the previous sentiments about John Woo, as Woo’s Hong Kong action films, Hard Boiled, The Killer, and A Better Tommorow 2 feature some of the most visceral action scenes I’ve ever seen in a film. His talent ran dry when he was drafted by Hollywood to make quintessentially Hollywood action films. Somewhere along the way he seemed to get the notion that slow-mo = genius, when most of his Hong Kong films didnt feature much slow-mo at all.
Spielberg takes the cake though. The man is great at making money, no question about that. But his annoying habit of trying to concoct fairy tales that appeal to adults as well as kids seem to fail most of the time. Of his films, i can say that i really only enjoyed Jaws, Duel, and Minority Report. The latter would’ve been flawless if they had cut an ending or two, and stopped drilling the big plot revelation into the heads of the audience. He has an terrible habit of insulting his audience’ intelligence.
Let me have the pleasure of being the first to nominate Ang Lee
Even though I have only seen 2 of his films(Crouching tiger hidden dragon and The Hulk),it was sufficient evidence for me to nominate him.
I agree, although The Ice Storm had it’s moments.
Ang Lee? Have you seen Eat Drink Man Woman? Great movie.
Brian De Palma
Well Nightime I have only had the (mis)fortune of watching 2 Ang Lee movies and I dont think I was majorly impressed with what I saw.
IMHO “Crouching tiger…” was more creative in the marketing sense than in the direction sense.Well I am sure watching a wider spectrum of his movies might change my opinion about him.But frankly I dont have to guts to do so.
RickJay I was reading this to Leechboy and he asked for a cite, please? Apparently he can’t think of a better self-contained film than Spanish Prisoner (and now he is muttering something about well structured).
For my part I have to say most of the directors at La Trobe Uni’s Student Theatre are overrated but I’m told they are still learning and I should be nice.
I thought Magnolia was a monumental waste of time.
OK, Spielberg, no doubt!! And another guy who isn’t necessarily praised for his directing by critics, but just has too much of a fan base is Kevin Smith. After Clerks it’s just been downhill. It was fun for a minute, but after I saw that newest one with the long title I’m not gonna bother typing, I almost decided I hate him. George Lucas isn’t praised by critics for his “directing” either, but ask the average un-film-educated people and they’ll say he’s one of the best directors. They don’t know he’s only directed (I’m not bothering to check) I think 5 movies. And the last two were so poorly directed that it’s hard to even count them. Oh, and Spike Lee. Really, what is great about his directing?? I don’t get it.
But onto more important things: David Lynch is not praised by film critics very often. He’s usually shitted on by most and avoided by others. His stuff is not for people that aren’t Lynch fans. With the exception of course of The Elephant Man and The Straight Story (which barely anyone seems to have ever heard of). If you wanna talk about an overrated Lynch film though: Wild at Heart! This won best film at Cannes and is horribly painful for me to watch. This coming from someone who loves his stuff. Watch Lumiere & Company and tell me David Lynch didn’t create the most interesting and probably only short worth even watching on there. And about P.T. Anderson, he’s brilliant. He’s very different, but I’ve never seen characters as real as the ones in his movies.
I agree. As a long time Lynch fan, I really expected to like this. But I didn’t. It’s strange that this film got him more praise than some of his other (better) films.
My vote’s on Stanley Kubrick. Granted, I’ve never seen a film by him I didn’t like, but I’ve never really fallen in love with him the way many people seem to do.
I’ll vote for Tim Burton, the epitome of style over substance.
Oh, and I didn’t see Magnolia, but I’m glad to find I’m not the only one who didn’t like Punch Drunk Love. I hadn’t even heard of it before I saw it and I just assumed it would have been a critical disaster - I couldn’t believe it afterward when I heard it had got such great reviews.
Huh? That’s crazy-talk. I also am tired of people bashing Woo for his Hollywood studio films when they haven’t seen the reason he was imported in the first place, but he used PLENTY of slow-motion in his older films. I haven’t done a survey to see if there’s been any change, but to say his HK films “didn’t feature much slow-mo at all” seems nuts, unless when you say “most” you’re counting the old kung fu and comedy flicks. His action style hasn’t really changed at all, it’s just now neutered by the MPAA and the fact that Hollywood action movies aren’t about anything.
Oh, I will also throw in with Altman (boring, self-satisfied artsy-fartsy crap) Lynch (look at me, I’m craaazy! Liked Twin Peaks, though) and DePalma, who just plan… well, sucks. Scarface was good-bad, everything else was bad-bad or couldn’t even catch my interest.
I only saw the light-show portion of 2001 and it pretty well put me off the movie forever, but otherwise I’ve found the Kubrick films I’ve seen very enjoyable.
He isn’t really overrated anymore, but he was once: Ed Burns. An even worse director (and writer) than he is an actor.
I never understood the people who celebrate Clint Eastwood’s directing either.
Meanwhile, it’s fascinating to see what other people hate, especially since Dr. Strangelove, Crimes & Misdemeanors, Goodfellas, and The Player are among my favorite movies.
(I also really dug Punch-Drunk Love…)
I have to second Scorcese and Kubrick.
I’m surprised that nobody has said:
Michael Bay
If you sat through Armegaddon, or The Rock, you’ll know what I mean.
Another vote for Tim Burton. I thought ED WOOD was great but the rest of his stuff barely watchable. MARS ATTACKS managed to have Jack Nicholson (in two roles for no apparent reason), Martin Short, Glenn Close, Sylvia Sidney, and a long list of other very capable actors and waste every single one of them- the Martians were given better roles than the humans.
Apparently some people don’t know the definition of “overrated.” For someone to be overrated, a lot of people have to think they are better than they are. I doubt this is the case with Bay.