Marc Forster. I don’t get it. It all seems so hacky and safe. A little like Paul Haggis. I imagine them in their homes pouring over books like “Save the Cat” and screenwriting books by Syd Field.
It’s all the textbook stuff that you see in his film that irks me. Music swells, Clear dramatic arcs. Plot points that you can see a mile away. What’s worse is that he seems to be the studios choice as the Go-To-Guy for “Art-sy” cinema.
Bah! Give me a Lars Von Trier over that hack any day.
(sidenote: while I don’t agree with anyone who posts Von Trier as overrated. I do understand – and for the life of me cannot think of a compelling rebuttal)
Wes Anderson. The instances of insight into human behaviour and relationships are there; the quirky humour has its moments too. But on the whole you have to wait too long for both. And in between is nothing very much.
This will probably make a lot of enemies for me: STEVEN SPIELBERG.
I 110% agree with you on Spielberg. Kill me for saying it, but I did not like E.T.
Oh my, bashing Spielberg, that’s really stepping out on a limb. Sort of like saying you hate “Titanic.”
I don’t hate Titanic, but I don’t care for it much either.
E.T.? Do you really think that’s his crowning acheivement? Why don’t you just call him out for HOOK?
He also made JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS…, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, THE COLOR PURPLE, EMPIRE OF THE SUN, SCHINDLER’S LIST, and MUNICH. Check ’em out.
Jaws is good, Close Encounters is mediocre, Raiders of the Lost Ark was O.K., the Color Purple was good, Empire of the Sun sucked, Schindler’s List was good, and Munich sucked. His best movie was Jaws. And when I mentioned E.T., it’s just a movie that everyone seems to love that I don’t like at all. Plus he hasn’t done anything that good since Svaing Private Ryan, and for some people to call him one of the best directors of all time is just dumb.
He may not be one of the best of all time, but between E.T., Schindler, Saving Private Ryan and Empire of the Sun there’s little question in my mind that he’s a great one.
Guy Ritchie
john ford
Rob Reiner gets way too much respect in my opinion. You get Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman together to make The Bucket List? Come on…
Wow —this is a great thread.
Wes Anderson and Oliver Stone.
Speilberg, to the extent that he tries to make “big” or “serious” films with a message. For rollicking popcorn entertainment, he’s been pretty masterful.
Lucas
Peckinpah, no contest.
Spike Lee
Agreed 5. Pointless.
Luc Besson, Spike Lee, Lucas, Spielberg
«I haven’t seen a single Robert Altman film that I’ve liked, and that includes Nashville and Short Cuts.»
The player is very good, see it.
Spielberg
Steven Spielberg. This man is the most overrated man on the face of the earth.
I don’t think figures as prominent as Speilberg or Lucas can be called “overrated”: their fame is of such size that they will generate plenty of criticism and backlash. I think the standard of “overrated” needs to depend upon a filmmaker’s estimation among critics and cinephiles. Plenty of films are huge successes while at the same time being, to most people, clearly pretty bad (Indiana Jones 4, anyone?) In short, Lucas and Spielberg are hated by far too many people to be called overrated.
At the same time, I don’t think Marc Forster can be called overrated either: everyone thought STAY was terrible! And many say the same of the new Bond.
Therefore, to be overrated, a director must have a strong reputation among critics and people who write about movies.
So enough with these lightweights, for most overrated director, I nominate: MAX OPHULS.
He is beloved by virtually every film critic there is. David Thomson adores him; Andrew Sarris calls “Lola Montes” the greatest film ever made. But I think this is all bunk.
I find his films trite, precious, boring, and on occasion, visually hideous. Lola Montes is universally hailed for its extravagant visual beauty: I think it is garish, chintzy, and disgusting to look at. All of his films are celebrated for their sweeping, ornate camera movements. I find his framing and his placement of actors to be awkward and obtrusive. And in “Letter to an Unknown Woman” there is a scene where the lovers enter this amusements park ride; basically a carriage that has scroll paintings of landscapes roll past the window. This was one of the few occasions when I have literally found a movie painful, yes, somehow, physically painful to look at on the screen.
Max Ophuls: most overrated director EVER.
i love Ophuls!!!!!!!! And the carriage scene in “Letter From An Unknown Woman” is pitch perfect. The movie is a masterpiece. What’s so painful about that scene? If you don’t mind me asking
I don’t know what it was, maybe it was the whirring sound that did it. The scene just struck my neurons with pain. The way the actors are shoved to the edges of the frame while this black-and-white smear of painted landscape whirs by, and then just holding on that awkward shot for most of the scene: that is the prime example of how I find Ophuls’s framing to be horrendous.
OK, so no Lucas and Speilberg.
I don’t get Jane Campion at all.
I love love love Ophüls, how could anyone say such a thing? Though I will say that I prefer his earlier work to Lola Montes. It has a slightly different feel to it.
I know people will poo poo this remark, but I’m going to say Tarantino is an overrated director.
I agree that Spielberg and W. Anderson are as well.
david fincher
Jake Howell
I haven’t seen a single Robert Altman film that I’ve liked, and that includes Nashville and Short Cuts.