I’ll come back to Bresson; he’s loved by many whose taste and knowledge i admire- for so long i was at a loss, a regular torture, but now i can live more comfortably with what i assumed was my problem. He should have prostrated himself every morning to Murnau’s Sunrise. His proud heroine nun in Les Anges du Péché (one of his better films, that i’ve recently seen, made before his trademark “mature” style, i’m grateful to it, it’s crucial and reinforced my understanding, and it should be in auteurs site library), sorry, as i was saying, his proud heroine nun has to prostrate herself and can give criticism better than she can take it, she’s proud but at least she’s not cynical, she doesn’t have false humility and she’s full of vitality and passionate intensity. Her mission is to help an unrepentant, devious and sinful woman prisoner to the path of righteousness. Bresson made it his mission to cleanse cinema of its sins, he too was well aware of the faults of others, and he aimed to do so with a modest style. But what condescension and arrogance, what foolish mannerisms, what cynicism in his view of many fellow humans in that “modesty” and in his “pure” austere denial of the riches and vitality of the world and cinema. His later films especially can give me the screaming heeby-jeebies. So, no, i’m not so comfortable after all- at least when not alone with my thoughts, but getting it off my chest in intelligent circles, yes it’s like a burden i have to keep getting off my chest, like in a confessional, i feel shamed, like a despicable sinner for saying it, the fool who couldn’t see the light, the naughty nun in the convent who found the gospel hard to believe and just a little absurd…
No, damn Rosenbaum, with his Bresson is the director all his most knowledgeable colleagues admire most; disdained and doomed or not i will be myself, it is not in my nature to revere or worship the divine Bresson, his Truth is not my truth, and tonight i shall dine with the Devil.
Kubrick.
I’m not saying that he’s a bad director, but an OVERRATED one, which is a huge distinction.
To be considered overrated, a director would have to be highly rated by either the critics, the public or their peers. By that criteria, I would have to say that Martin Scorcese is, by far, the most overrated director of all time. I would put Spielberg at #2.
Spielberg is far more influential than Scorcese, but he wasn’t taken seriously before Schindler’s List. That means over half of his CV was not highly rated by critics.
Scorcese, meanwhile, has been a critic’s darling almost from the very get go. It’s easy to understand why he is overrated. He has a distinctive voice and his movies are very cinematic with his almost masturbatory use of camera movement.
Based on the amount of success achieved relative to his actual talent I think Ron Howard knocks everyone else out of the park as far as being overrated goes.
Rumplesink, I would have to agree, though I have liked a handful of Howard’s movies. However, he will always hold a special place in my heart because of his involvement in Arrested Development.
How could I forget Ron Howard! What a dull director, yet so highly-praised as an artist! Boggles the mind…
FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
& SPIKE LEE
TERENCE MALLICK
@ LARRYTALBOT
I’ll point to “Jaws” as a solid reason for Spielberg to not be considered an overrated director. That movie made him “important” 18 years before he made “Schindler’s List.”
And how could Marty Scorsese on the whole be considered overrated? If you had to base his career off just “Mean Streets,” I could see a point. You could take a swipe at him for “The Aviator” too, simply because its best scenes came during Hughes’s Senate hearings. And personally, I think “Goodfellas” is a solid movie, but I don’t quite understand how it attained its exalted status.
For me though, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “After Hours,” “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “The Departed” exempt Scorsese from any overrated director label.
David Lynch (For me, the most overrated director working today)
Quentin Tarantino (I do enjoy his films, but I also do think he’s overrated)
Michel Gondry (IMO, he is really not THAT great..)
Terry Gilliam (has some really great films, but also some very lame ones)
Hmm. Gondry disappointed me big time with Be Kind Rewind, but I loved Eternal Sunshine and The Science of Sleep. You’re only as good as your last film, though. ;)
Quentin Tarantino. Was the king of independent movies. Miramax claimed it built the studio. But that was Pulp Fiction and so many years have passed and given us what? Jackie Brown (ok) and Kill Bill ( a little long and bloated for my liking )
M.Night. Once again Sixth Sense, had everyone gasping that he was the second coming. for those of us that had seen Carnival of Souls , this movie surprise twist, not so much of a twist!! Followed up by Unbreakable ( i liked, becasue i wasnt expecting much ) then what happened ?
Is it because, we are looking for the NEXT genius, that we quickly elevate the newest director to heights they can’t reach?
Michael Bay
@Jake: Close Encounters is not mediocre. Just sorting that out for you.
John Ford.
Visually, his films are exceptional. Usually, they’re well edited and concise…
but I think the dialogue is poor, the acting bad, and my god they can be cheey, and not in the Capra way, which I tend to find somewhat endearing. I think it’s much easier to appreciate his films if you do not speak English. Perhaps then the acting and dialogue can be overlooked.
Osmond, Truffaut overrated? What kind of grass are you smoking?!! All most of us do is stab at people’s work when we ourselves haven’t done jack. Let’s be more positive please.
Also Blue K, don’t even start with Kubrick. Please. You have NO idea of what you’re saying.
Osmond, Terrence Malick too! Now I know you’re incomprehensibly high! Make a film first and see how hard it is. THEN criticize.
David Fincher.
I just find most of his films to be really kind of ‘meh’. Se7en was very good and Zodiac was pretty decent, but I haven’t really enjoyed his other work and usually it boils down to his directing choices as one of the biggest reasons I didn’t like it.
Woody Allen, he just doesn’t do it for me.
@Phil— Lynch is not overrated he is insane and he chows it, a lot.
In Fact just go to a mental ward, and start looking for directors, because thee greatest directors are bat-shit insane
Wes Anderson!
Spielberg, Lucas, Howard,
Guy Ritchie sucks
Alfred Hitchcock
Haneke overrated? your killing me
@ GREGORIO SCHEPEPLER OSSANDON
HITCHCOCK?!
I forgot to add David Fincher also – he’s not bad, but really not that great.
@John Smith: And Yes, David Lynch is insane, but that doesn’t mean he’s not overrated….
As for people who hate Kevin Smith: I agree, he’s made some bad films. Clerks is basically a student film (though if he’d had the balls to keep the original ending it could have been something amazing). Dogma, while I very much enjoy it, is hardly a classic. His best movie might actually be Chasing Amy, so that tells you something. But what’s always made Kevin Smith so beloved is his personality. If you watch any of the “Evening With Kevin Smith” DVDs, he’s a fantastically interesting person, and oddly well educated in film. The way he discusses film and understands it makes him, basically, just like the people on this site. But he’s also understanding of, and fully embraces, the populist mentality, and makes films that he thinks will be entertaining rather than overly challenging. He also does great work in the comic book medium. I’ve really never met anyone who considers him a great director, but he’s certainly a great guy, and it’s easy to see how today’s comedies, especially the Judd Apatow catalogue, owe quite a bit to him.
I have to say, I think far too many people are basing their opinions of directors based on their egos. To use a music analogy, Kanye West is the most pompous man in music today. But until he makes a bad album, I can’t say he’s an overrated musician. He’s an ass, but a good musician. It’s the same for directors.
Thus, I’ll clarify some statments I made earlier. Terry Gilliam is overrated, in my opinion, because I think his films are nonsensical and poorly written and often too tedious to even finish watching. My earlier defending of Kevin Smith was not to defend him as a director; he’s not a very good director, and he’s been very overrated. I was simply explaining why many people still love him.
NEONBEAR
every director that a large group of people like, but not me.