George Lucas obviously. I also feel that james cameron (the original terminator movie was great, but everything else, especially aliens (completely terrible movie imo compared to the first), was incredibly over rated) and david fincher are a bit over rated.
Another vote for Martin Scorcesse for American directors. Other than that I would like to add Apichatpong Weerasethakul
and Carlos Reygadas.
David Lynch.
Fincher and Coppola.
soderbergh
Peter Jackson
nuff said
David Fincher
Oh, and Michael Mann. I don’t know how I forgot him. He’s worse than Fincher.
Tarantino or Tim Burton.
In no particular order…they are all overrated in their own, unique way.
1) Charlie Chaplin. That’s right, I said it. I never got The Tramp and never will. And The Three Stooges did a better job of making fun of Hitler than Chaplin did in that Great Dictator movie.
2) Noam Baumbach. Pretentious filmmaker about pretentious people.
3) Whit Stillman. Pretentious filmmaker about pretentious WASPs.
4) Michel Gondry. Just Pretentious
5) QT. I liked Reservoir Dogs but Pulp Fiction was all hype and style over substance.
6) Michael Moore. Preaching to the choir. Big Deal.
7) Marty Scorsese. Yes, his record is pretty darn good but come on movie critics, admit it when he makes a stinker and/or overreaches with Gangs of New York or Age of Innocence.
8) Tim Burton. He may tackle different stories but his films all end up looking the same: Male and female characters with Bride of Frankenstein hair, heavy Goth make up. Wacky production design. Same old, same old.
i saw someone write that chaplin was a far better director than kubrick
that person should be shot
Most Overrated Movie Directors:
Jean-Luc Godard: I already stated my case earlier.
George Lucas: worshipper of cold, lifeless digital technology.
Gus Van Sant: next to Hostel, his films were some of the torturous experiences in my life.
Sherry Millner: coma-inducing hack
Terrance Malick: all beauty and no substance makes this director a dull boy.
Michael Moore: Mr. me, me, all of me. And if you don’t like it, bite me.
Lars Von Trier: “Look, my films are showing explicit nudity”. Big deal. So did Basic Instinct.
Kevin Smith, Spike Lee, Oliver Stone,Robert Altman, & Ron Howard.
Terry Gilliam
and Speilberg should not be on this list (Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, The Color Purple, Jaws, Raiders, Saving Private Ryan, Munich…..just to name a few)
Michael Bay: The king of cheese!
Peter Jackson: When will the rest of the world realize he was put on this earth to make Lord of the Rings and nothing more?
I don’t particularly like people like Ron Howard or Michael Bay either but I don’t consider them held in particularly high regard so I wouldn’t put them top of my list.
People who should be put in the firing line however are:
Robert Altman (haven’t seen Nashville because it’s not available on DVD in UK, but the others haven’t really inspired me)
The Coen Brothers (there’s some joke here I’m not in on, absolutely hated The Big Lebowski; Fargo, Blood Simple, Barton Fink, O Brother all simply okay; Burn After Reading was fantastic but most of their fans hated it, why?)
Clint Eastwood (Some okay ’uns again, but Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River are horrendously tedious)
Kevin Smith and Terry Gilliam are other names I’ve seen mentioned I’d second but once again don’t seem to be as eagerly adored as the above.
I agree on Speilberg being an overrated director, he is all you ever here about..it is always “speilberg this” and “speilberg that” Ok, Schindlers List is an excellent film and indeed he has done awesome work, but the man does have a couple of flops to his name as well
(Indiana Jones: Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull was god awfull). An it should be known, Speilberg was the first director I had ever heard of, so naturally I would have thought he was the best..now I think otherwise.
how can u say that Kubrick is an overrated director?
Alfonso Cuaron.
I’m sorry but I find his films absolutely boring and half the time, pointless.
These threads are depressing, because at least one person is going to hate each director that you love.
So, may as well toss my two cents in while I’m here.
Spielberg is obvious. We all know about him though, so let’s move on.
James Cameron. What has this guy actually done? Robert Zemeckis – lol.
Kevin Smith. Clerks was kind of cool when you think about how it was made – but let’s be honest, it’s an amateur, terribly acted, only sporadically funny film. Dogma, on the other hand, should never have even been made. I am yet to see anything by Smith that justifies his reputation.
Alejandro Jodorowsky. You have to accept his films for what they are, but Holy Mountain was pretentious as all hell and Santa Sangre was worse. The ‘panic movement’ has a lot to answer for – Arrabal’s I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse is absolute drivel.
I’ve only seen one film by Robert Bresson (Au Hasard Balthasar), but I was absolutely flabbergasted that anyone could think that it was a great film. Considering that’s supposed to be one of his greatest works, I’m not sure how interested I am in checking out his other stuff. Did anyone else feel the same way about that film?
Michael Moore.
And, last but not least, Martin Scorsese. Maybe I’m just prejudiced against gangster films, but Goodfellas was average.
What makes this thread depressing is it encourages people to just toss off names like they were tossing an empty plastic bottle of water on a landfill. Each one of these choices deserves a weighty discussion, not just a name drop.
Ron Howard.
Okay, maybe that one doesn’t require a weighty discussion….
In terms of fame and public awareness Spielberg must be the most overrated director in history.
I went and saw The Soloist tonight and it also made me realize that I forgot to mention Joe Wright. I have yet to be impressed with one of his films. Pride and Prejudice was basically turned into a vehicle for Keira Knightley by heavily changing the plotline, Atonement was a boring thriller with an unnecessary World War II subplot and The Soloist was a mediocre clone of Resurrecting The Champ but with music instead of boxing.
Next time I see the words “Directed by Joe Wright”, I think I’ll stay away.
Finally someone got to name jodorowsky!!
Paul Thomas Anderson or David Fincher
I enjoyed Zodiac and liked Punch Drunk Love and Magnolia enough but I just don’t get what the big deal is. As both of these directors have progressed they’ve seemed to lose a certain amount of heart. I don’t find anything extremely interesting or beautiful about their work. They seem to rely heavily on performances rather than crafting something unique and layered. This is, of course, my humble little opinion. I just think they’re good at making movies but nothing special.
M. Night and Ron Howard. And I’m throwing in Diablo Cody, even though she isn’t a director (although I’m sure she’ll try it at some point!).
And Wes Anderson has become highly overrated. When a directer explicitly says he’s just trying to duplicate his previous work over and over again, that’ s when I started to lose respect for him as an artist. You gotta challenge yourself and if you’re just going to try to remake Tenenbaums over and over, I’m not interested. I’ll just stay home and watch Tenenbaums.
The same can be said about M. Night and Ron Howard. Pretty much any director who doesn’t challenge themselves is a weak filmmaker and overrated.
you’re mother
Jaspar Lamar Crabb
I don’t know if Ron Howard is really over-rated…his movies usually get mixed to good reviews…he’s an efficient director who’s made a few really efficient films: Ransom; Cocoon; A Beautiful Mind. I think by efficient I mean bland.
And I don’t think Woody Allen’s direction has ever really been RAVED about…sure, his writing has, but his actual direction (the Zelig experiment, hand-held nightmare of Husbands & Wives and occasional choice of B&W aside, his direction is usually pretty much the same in each film)
10 Truly OVER-rated (and it’s just my opinion so don’t be all over my #&!*! about it)
1. Lars von Trier (the sweat shows)
2. RW Fassbinder (unrelentingly boring, but somehow deemed a master by early ‘80s critics/art school boys)
3. Clint Eastwood (good call Sean Walker)
4. Barry Levinson (since maybe Bugsy…it’s been crickets…was he overrated or did he gives us all he had Diner through Bugsy?)
5. Marc Forster (maybe one movie away from being the new Ron Howard)
6. Penny Marshall (critics embraced her with Big and Awakenings….why?)
7. Ridley Scott (a real enigma…responsible for masterworks like Alien, The Duellists, Bladerunner, Black Hawk Down as well as overpraised hack work like Gladiator and Thelma & Louise)
8. Terence Malick (granted Badlands is brilliant and one of my all-time favorite movies, but Days of Heaven is snail-paced and both The Thin Red Line and The New World were beautiful but empty)
9. Alan Rudolph (the critic’s darling who is clearly a brilliant casting director – Julie Christie, Anthony Perkins, Divine, Jennifer Jason Leigh – but while he gives plum roles to unexpected actors, his films are usually dull … and the recipient of critical raves!)
10. Robert Redford (his directing is fine, but that’s it…an OSCAR for Ordinary People? c’mon)