Which once-great director has sunk to the lowest quality output in recent years?
08-01-08, 05:13 PM
#26
DVD Talk Gold Edition
A lot of the directors mentioned, like Depalma, have been hit or miss over the years. There are two that I can think of that were so good in their prime, it was inconceivable to me that they could direct the kind of crap they make now. One is the already mentioned George Lucas. But I consider the biggest offender to be Oliver Stone who (I'm convinced at some point while directing JFK) went completely crazy and never returned to normal. His name alone used to make me want to see a film, and now it makes me run away.
Honorable mention should go to John Landis. A guy who consistently directed comedies that many would consider absolute classics. Well, there's no better example of his deterioration in quality than Blues Brothers followed by Blues Brothers 2000.
Honorable mention should go to John Landis. A guy who consistently directed comedies that many would consider absolute classics. Well, there's no better example of his deterioration in quality than Blues Brothers followed by Blues Brothers 2000.
08-01-08, 05:27 PM
#27
DVD Talk Legend
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Behind the Orange Curtain
Posts: 20,085
Likes: 0
Received 7 Likes
on
7 Posts
Originally Posted by Paul1957
Hate to say it but, Dario Argento
08-01-08, 06:10 PM
#28
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Formerly known as "Solid Snake PAC"/Denton, Tx
Posts: 39,239
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes
on
4 Posts
John Woo, his HK days were just amazing. Once he hit here it was either studios that fucked around with his work or just him giving rein and failing at his own project. I wonder if his first Chinese film since the HK days will be of greater worth?
08-01-08, 07:09 PM
#29
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally Posted by Matt Millheiser
Keeping in line with recent threads...
... and boy-oh-boy there are a bunch. The first one that jumps to mind is Rob Reiner, who brought us This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men (not all of them four-star classics, but at the very least they range from very good to CLASSIC)... and then... we have North, The American President (it has its fan, but its liberal rubbish), Ghosts of Mississippi, The Story of Us, Rumor Has It, Alex & Emma, The Bucket List... yikes.
... and boy-oh-boy there are a bunch. The first one that jumps to mind is Rob Reiner, who brought us This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men (not all of them four-star classics, but at the very least they range from very good to CLASSIC)... and then... we have North, The American President (it has its fan, but its liberal rubbish), Ghosts of Mississippi, The Story of Us, Rumor Has It, Alex & Emma, The Bucket List... yikes.
08-02-08, 01:21 AM
#31
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally Posted by clckworang
I know he certainly has his fans (and haters), but how about Kevin Smith?
But I agree that George Lucas should be the winner of this thread.
08-02-08, 06:00 AM
#32
DVD Talk Hero
I'll go with Friedken. Bug nearly put me to sleep in theaters, and felt over the top and cheesy in delivery. the one plus to that movie was seeing Ashley Judd in the buff, but even that wasn't really worth it. after it ended, i actually ended up yelling out 'i want a fucking refund' the other 5 people in the theater agreed with me.
08-02-08, 08:28 AM
#34
DVD Talk Godfather
Originally Posted by Doughboy
I agree with a lot of the choices on here.
I'll add Cameron Crowe to the list. Vanilla Sky was alright, but felt totally superfluous when the far superior original(which also starred Penelope Cruz) was readily available on DVD. And Elizabethtown was a waste of time.
I'll add Cameron Crowe to the list. Vanilla Sky was alright, but felt totally superfluous when the far superior original(which also starred Penelope Cruz) was readily available on DVD. And Elizabethtown was a waste of time.
I'll probably get slammed for this but I'd say Tarantino. Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction are great, but he hasn't impressed me since. Jackie Brown, Four Rooms, and Kill Bill failed to leave a mark. I haven't seen Planet Terror yet. I did enjoy his episode of C.S.I. though.
08-02-08, 09:10 AM
#35
DVD Talk Godfather & 2020 TOTY Winner
How about Roland Joffe? He received back-to-back Oscar noms for The Killing Fields and The Mission, but was last seen gathering a Razzie nom for the torture-porn film Captivity. 
08-02-08, 09:25 AM
#36
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Traverse City, MI
Posts: 3,955
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by GoldenJCJ
Ever since Titanic James Cameron has given us nothing but not-so-spectacular documentaries. I'm still waiting from another great acton film from him. Don't mention the upcoming Battle Angel or Avatar these things are being made at a Quentin Tarantino-esque snail's pace. Neither of which has me too excited anyway.
08-02-08, 10:09 AM
#37
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by GreenVulture
Am I the only one who thinks The Hunted is pretty underrated? It's an efficient action movie that boasts a fairly brutal climatic fight, lots of gorgeous outdoor photography, a pair of nice, low-key performances from Jones and Del Toro and a refreshing lack of useless subplots to bloat the film's runtime. It's a like a slightly more upbeat variation of the down-and-dirty thriller, a genre Friedkin is particularly adept at (The French Connection and To Live and Die in LA).
08-02-08, 11:30 AM
#38
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2002
Location: In the Singularity of a Black Hole
Posts: 494
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
You know I hate to suggest him, but what about Steven Soderbergh?
sex, lies, & videotape in '89, then had a great run of films starting in the late 90's with Out of Sight, The Limey, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven.
Since then, Full Frontal, Solaris, Ocean's 12, Bubble, The Good German, and Ocean's 13.
I don't think he's had a huge dropoff but there has been a little bit of a dip nonetheless. The Che Guevara biopic looks very interesting though. Also, can't really fault the guy because he's at least directing films fairly frequently. Some output is better than no output which is the case with James Cameron.
sex, lies, & videotape in '89, then had a great run of films starting in the late 90's with Out of Sight, The Limey, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven.
Since then, Full Frontal, Solaris, Ocean's 12, Bubble, The Good German, and Ocean's 13.
I don't think he's had a huge dropoff but there has been a little bit of a dip nonetheless. The Che Guevara biopic looks very interesting though. Also, can't really fault the guy because he's at least directing films fairly frequently. Some output is better than no output which is the case with James Cameron.
08-02-08, 12:22 PM
#39
Moderator
I love Soderbergh, but Erin Brockovich and Traffic were fairly mediocre, and Ocean's 12 was fantastic. Along with The Limey it could well be his finest effort.
08-02-08, 12:42 PM
#40
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2002
Location: In the Singularity of a Black Hole
Posts: 494
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
Originally Posted by wendersfan
I love Soderbergh, but Erin Brockovich and Traffic were fairly mediocre, and Ocean's 12 was fantastic.
Like you I do like Ocean's 12, we're in the minority though.
08-02-08, 03:24 PM
#41
DVD Talk Special Edition
Originally Posted by Kenshiro
Hmm. The first six I listed were all better films than the last six IMO. Erin Brockovich is the weakest of the first six.
Like you I do like Ocean's 12, we're in the minority though.
Like you I do like Ocean's 12, we're in the minority though.
I'd have to nominate the Coens. Despite their recent Oscar win, I just haven't liked anything after The Big Lebowski. I guess it's hard to please everyone when you start off with a resume like Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, and Fargo.
Michael
08-03-08, 01:52 AM
#42
DVD Talk Godfather & 2020 TOTY Winner
Originally Posted by wendersfan
I love Soderbergh, but Erin Brockovich and Traffic were fairly mediocre, and Ocean's 12 was fantastic. Along with The Limey it could well be his finest effort.
Traffic mediocre? Ocean's 12 fantastic? Be sure to say "Hi" to Bizzaro Superman for me when you return back to your home planet.Soderbergh has been coasting for a while. Still the word on Che was very positive at Cannes, so he may be on an uptick now.
08-03-08, 05:04 AM
#44
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: So Cal
Posts: 7,071
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by Kenshiro
You know I hate to suggest him, but what about Steven Soderbergh?
sex, lies, & videotape in '89, then had a great run of films starting in the late 90's with Out of Sight, The Limey, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven.
Since then, Full Frontal, Solaris, Ocean's 12, Bubble, The Good German, and Ocean's 13.
I don't think he's had a huge dropoff but there has been a little bit of a dip nonetheless. The Che Guevara biopic looks very interesting though. Also, can't really fault the guy because he's at least directing films fairly frequently. Some output is better than no output which is the case with James Cameron.
sex, lies, & videotape in '89, then had a great run of films starting in the late 90's with Out of Sight, The Limey, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven.
Since then, Full Frontal, Solaris, Ocean's 12, Bubble, The Good German, and Ocean's 13.
I don't think he's had a huge dropoff but there has been a little bit of a dip nonetheless. The Che Guevara biopic looks very interesting though. Also, can't really fault the guy because he's at least directing films fairly frequently. Some output is better than no output which is the case with James Cameron.
I agree though that Full Frontal, Ocean's 12, The Good German, and Ocean's 13 were all disappointing. Ocean's 12 was so bad I had to leave before I even saw the spectacularly bad conclusion.
In re: Solaris... well, when someone admits that if you don't like the first 10 minutes you won't like the movie at all, you know it's not going to be very good.
08-03-08, 12:16 PM
#45
Moderator
Originally Posted by Decker
Traffic mediocre? Ocean's 12 fantastic? Be sure to say "Hi" to Bizzaro Superman for me when you return back to your home planet.Traffic was OK. Given its source material it could have been a lot more, but Soderbergh tried to condense a miniseries worth of plot into a 2+ hour feature, plus, he shot and edited it himself. It was just to much, even for him, and it showed. There was no flow, and the stylistic differences between the segments seemed like a gimmick rather than something that helped the narrative flow (which it most certainly didn't).
I'm tired of arguing the merits of Ocean's 12 here. Either you got it or you didn't. If you went in expecting a paint by numbers heist film you'd be disappointed. It was never intended to be that.
08-03-08, 02:31 PM
#46
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally Posted by GoldenJCJ
Ever since Titanic James Cameron has given us nothing but not-so-spectacular documentaries.
I know he was never great, but Robert Rodriguez came out strong, El Mariachi, Desperado, and Sky Kids (yes, I just said Spy Kids). But its painful watching his flicks now. I'm glad that he gets to do his own thing now, I just haven't enjoyed watching it.
08-03-08, 09:47 PM
#47
DVD Talk Godfather & 2020 TOTY Winner
Originally Posted by wendersfan
I'm tired of arguing the merits of Ocean's 12 here. Either you got it or you didn't. If you went in expecting a paint by numbers heist film you'd be disappointed. It was never intended to be that.
08-03-08, 11:06 PM
#48
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Too snarky for September '08
Posts: 231
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by wendersfan
I love Soderbergh, but Erin Brockovich and Traffic were fairly mediocre, and Ocean's 12 was fantastic.
do you like being different just for the sake of being different? even soderbergh has admitted it to being crap and I'm gonna have to agree with him.
08-03-08, 11:11 PM
#49
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Too snarky for September '08
Posts: 231
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by Superboy
In re: Solaris... well, when someone admits that if you don't like the first 10 minutes you won't like the movie at all, you know it's not going to be very good.
08-04-08, 07:26 AM
#50
Moderator
Originally Posted by RTisBetter
do you like being different just for the sake of being different?
Last edited by wendersfan; 08-04-08 at 07:31 AM.