Great call on PELHAM 123
RE: Bob Clark…I admit I haven’t seen MURDER BY DECREE, but I have seen the likes of PORKY’S, TURK 182, BLACK CHRISTMAS (nary a scare), and RHINESTONE…I stand by that choice
Schlesinger?
Darling
A Kind of Loving
Falcon & the Snowman
Billy Liar
Midnight Cowboy
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pacific Heights
The Day of the Locust
Marathon Man
sure..he hit the skids toward the end, but to include him on any list of terrible directors is outrageous
@joks & ari: most of bob clark’s stuff do suck (superbabies? from this guy?) but deathdream, murder by decree, and a christmas story are the best in his filmographyt (my personal pick being deathdream)
@david grillo: ever since he “copped-out” i didn’t want to see his other stuff anymore
@dust in love: um, the box? yeah. call me hipster but i like the box. southland was a piece of crap, granted.
@nightshift: kudos to you for thinking the rock is great stuff from a guy who makes exploding shit.
I’m surprised that Tim Burton hasn’t been mentioned yet so I’ll just toss out Ed Wood.
definitely can’t agree with that. i like most of his films.
the only ones i don’t like are Alice In Wonderland and Planet Of THe Apes.
^Um, Batman, Batman 2, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Pee Wee are all better than Ed Wood.
There, I said it.
I feel better.
Redpoppy asked what makes a terrible director, and I had the same question. “Terrible” is a strong word, and it implies that the director is completely incompetent, has no talent whatsoever, etc. A lot of the picks so far sound more like good-to-great films made by mediocre directors.
How are some of you determining whether a filmmaker is terrible or not? Imo, one can’t just look at films that aren’t excellent. Making a mediocre film doesn’t mean you’re a terrible filmmaker, does it? Now maybe if all of your films are mediocre, except for one film, then that might be a stronger case.
I don’t think Tim Burton is a terrible director. Has he made bad films? Yeah. Has he made some films that were just OK? Yep. But when I look at these films, I don’t see someone who is “terrible.” I can say he’s not that great—although he does have a personal style that is interesting. I could say almost the same thing for Gondry, except I like him quite a bit. (I do think he has made some uneven films, though. Still, that doesn’t make him a terrible director.)
When I saw this question posed, I thought of a filmmaker who made a ton of bad films (consistent enough that we could call him a bad filmmaker) yet there is one that is actually good and stands in stark contrast to the rest of the body of work.
Sort of like “how the hell did this douchebag make this good movie?”
Richard Kelly’s debut feature Donnie Darko – After this came nothing, nada, zero!
“Sort of like “how the hell did this douchebag make this good movie?””
^ Is that like a monkey typing Shakespeare?
^Exactly
Regarding Richard Kelly, I agree with others here who have said that his subsequent work has really revealed that Donnie Darko ain’t all that great to begin with.
The Wachowski’s would fall into that category with Kelly as well.
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck – The lives of others – is still young and has plenty time to producing more nonsense like the Tourist!
Can’t say it’s a great film but Bryan SInger’s The Usual Suspects is his only tolerable film amidst a lot of crap.
^Good call.
Although I do recall liking Apt Pupil when it came out. But that was a long time ago – it may be crap.
The only Burton I’ve liked is Coraline. It’s the only context where I’ve been able to tolerate his extreme emotional manipulativeness. But I haven’t see the Batmans.
What about Leon: The Professional?
Nobody who made Fifth Element can possibly claim not to be a terrible filmmaker.
Ed Wood is, by far, Burton’s best, but his gem that never gets enough credit is Sleepy Hollow. He’s got a number of other very good films, but seems to have been slipping lately.
@Jirin : But Tim Burton didn’t have anything to do with Coraline, did he? Or was that the point? lol
doublepost
My favorite Fincher film is Alien 3.
I’m not going to hold my breath for a response on this one.
^ better than Benjamin Button at least.
Oh my yes.
ben’s pushing the fincher button!! :0
Tim Burton is just terrible, and it’s not like Ed Wood is that great or anything. It’s tolerable at best.
And HOLD THE PHONE with whoever brought up Luc Besson. Léon aside, The Messenger? The Big Blue? La Femme Nikita? All insane. He hasn’t done anything relevant in quite some time, sure, but c’mon… let’s not turn this thread into who can troll the hardest and get away with it!
Richard Rush’s The Stunt Man
Oh God, I just remembered Shyamalan… how has Unbreakable not come up yet???
Santino said, When I saw this question posed, I thought of a filmmaker who made a ton of bad films (consistent enough that we could call him a bad filmmaker) yet there is one that is actually good and stands in stark contrast to the rest of the body of work.
OK, films that “stand in stark contrast to the rest of the body of work” is a little more workable.
The Wachowski’s would fall into that category with Kelly as well.
I love Bound and the first Matrix film.
Children Shoudn’t Play with Dead Things is as good as Black Christmas
Yeah I think “The Sixth Sense” is another example of a film that had a lot of hype, but never really offered all that much to begin with when you go back and watch it. I mean it’s fine, it’s not a bad movie per se, but I don’t personally see it as anything exceptional.
A lot of DGG fans are completely split on Snow Angels. I loved it but I never understood why people didn’t like it
Dan Bayer
I think terrible filmmakers are much harder to pinpoint than great filmmakers…
But, I would nominate Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. I would also be tempted to add Brazil. I’ve not been impressed with Gilliam’s other work (outside of the Python stuff, which doesn’t count as his), and that film is certainly light years ahead of everything else he’s done.