Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
10-26-11, 04:42 PM
#1
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Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
This is a thread where I would like everyone to pick directors they like/admire and list movies that demonstrate them at the top of their game, and then some that make you wonder what in the hell they were smoking while they were making said movie. I will also say that this is a matter of opinion , so please respect those of others, and refrain from making it a "Christopher Nolan is overrated/flawless" thread as well. 
Oliver Stone:
Top of Game: Platoon, Wall Street, JFK, Natural Born Killers*
WTF is this crap: U-Turn, Alexander, Wall Street 2
* I thought it was good, but still falls into the category of "What was he smoking?" on general appearance.
Oliver Stone:
Top of Game: Platoon, Wall Street, JFK, Natural Born Killers*
WTF is this crap: U-Turn, Alexander, Wall Street 2
* I thought it was good, but still falls into the category of "What was he smoking?" on general appearance.
10-26-11, 06:06 PM
#2
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
He's not a huge favorite of mine, but John McTiernan had a heck of a run with Predator, Die Hard, and The Hunt for Red October. 3 great action/suspense films.
Then later, he gave us garbage like The 13th Warrior, Rollerball, and Basic.
And then on top of that, he ends up in prison.
Then later, he gave us garbage like The 13th Warrior, Rollerball, and Basic.
And then on top of that, he ends up in prison.
10-26-11, 06:26 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
Dario Argento
Top of Game: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Deep Red, Suspiria, Tenebre, Phenomena, Opera
Crap: Trauma, Phantom of the Opera, Do You Like Hitchcock?, Mother of Tears, Giallo
Top of Game: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Deep Red, Suspiria, Tenebre, Phenomena, Opera
Crap: Trauma, Phantom of the Opera, Do You Like Hitchcock?, Mother of Tears, Giallo
10-26-11, 06:38 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
William Friedkin
Top of Game: The French Connection, The Exorcist, Sorcerer, Cruising, Too Live and Die in LA, Bug
Crap: The Guardian, Deal of the Century, Blue Chips
Top of Game: The French Connection, The Exorcist, Sorcerer, Cruising, Too Live and Die in LA, Bug
Crap: The Guardian, Deal of the Century, Blue Chips
10-26-11, 09:18 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
Brian DePalma
Top of Game: Carrie, The Untouchables, Blow Out, Casualties of War, Femme Fatale
WTF is this crap?: The Black Dahlia, Mission to Mars
Top of Game: Carrie, The Untouchables, Blow Out, Casualties of War, Femme Fatale
WTF is this crap?: The Black Dahlia, Mission to Mars
10-26-11, 09:30 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
Peter Jackson
Top of his game: Everything not called The Lovely Bones*
WTF: The Lovely Bones
* Yes, even King Kong..
Another question I should ask. Can you still be considered a great director if you've made more shitty films than good ones if your good films are considered great?
Top of his game: Everything not called The Lovely Bones*
WTF: The Lovely Bones
* Yes, even King Kong..
Another question I should ask. Can you still be considered a great director if you've made more shitty films than good ones if your good films are considered great?
10-26-11, 09:46 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
John Sayles.
Fantastic: 'Brother From Another Planet', 'Matewan'(a masterpiece), 'Lone Star'. 'Eight Men Out', 'The Secret of Roan Inish'.
Worst: 'Sunshine State', 'Casa de los Babys', 'Silver City', 'Amigo'.
Fantastic: 'Brother From Another Planet', 'Matewan'(a masterpiece), 'Lone Star'. 'Eight Men Out', 'The Secret of Roan Inish'.
Worst: 'Sunshine State', 'Casa de los Babys', 'Silver City', 'Amigo'.
10-26-11, 09:48 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
Originally Posted by Nick Danger
Jacques Tati
Crap (mostly): Play Time
Crap (mostly): Play Time
10-26-11, 10:10 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
Originally Posted by LickTheABCs
Peter Jackson
Top of his game: Everything not called The Lovely Bones*
WTF: The Lovely Bones
* Yes, even King Kong..
Top of his game: Everything not called The Lovely Bones*
WTF: The Lovely Bones
* Yes, even King Kong..
And I think I'm the only one that liked Lovely Bones.
10-26-11, 10:16 PM
#14
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
This is a great thread topic. A few favourites of mine from yesteryear;
Alfred Hitchcock
Top of his Game: Number 17 (I know nobody else likes this but I really think it is Hitch's best film), The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Shadow of a Doubt, I Confess, The Wrong Man, Vertigo, Psycho.
WTF: Jamaica Inn, Under Capricorn, Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz, Family Plot.
Carol Reed
Top of his Game: The Stars Look Down, Night Train to Munich, The Way Ahead, Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, The Third Man.
WTF: A Kid for Two Farthings, The Key, The Running Man, Flap, Follow Me.
John Ford
Top of his Game: The Lost Patrol, The Informer, The Prisoner of Shark Island, Young Mr Lincoln, How Green Was My Valley, 3 Godfathers, Wagon Master, Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance (hell of a resume.)
WTF: Steamboat Around the Bend, What Price Glory, The Wings of Eagles, Donovan's Reef, Cheyenne Autumn, 7 Women.
Terence Fisher
Top of His Game: To the Public Danger, Horror of Dracula, The Mummy, The Brides of Dracula, The Gorgon, The Earth Dies Screaming, The Devil Rides Out, Frankenstein Must be Destroyed.
WTF: The Last Page, Spaceways, The Man Who Could Cheat Death, Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace.
Val Guest
Top of his Game: The Quatermass Xperiment, Quatermass 2, The Abominable Snowman, The Camp on Blood Island, Yesterday's Enemy, Hell is a City, The Day the Earth Caught Fire.
WTF: Give Us the Moon, Mr Drake's Duck, Penny Princess, The Boys in Blue.
Tod Browning
Top of his Game: The Unholy Three (1925 version), The Unknown, Freaks, Mark of the Vampire.
WTF: Dracula (good bits direct by Karl Freund), Miracles for Sale.
Alfred Hitchcock
Top of his Game: Number 17 (I know nobody else likes this but I really think it is Hitch's best film), The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Shadow of a Doubt, I Confess, The Wrong Man, Vertigo, Psycho.
WTF: Jamaica Inn, Under Capricorn, Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz, Family Plot.
Carol Reed
Top of his Game: The Stars Look Down, Night Train to Munich, The Way Ahead, Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, The Third Man.
WTF: A Kid for Two Farthings, The Key, The Running Man, Flap, Follow Me.
John Ford
Top of his Game: The Lost Patrol, The Informer, The Prisoner of Shark Island, Young Mr Lincoln, How Green Was My Valley, 3 Godfathers, Wagon Master, Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance (hell of a resume.)
WTF: Steamboat Around the Bend, What Price Glory, The Wings of Eagles, Donovan's Reef, Cheyenne Autumn, 7 Women.
Terence Fisher
Top of His Game: To the Public Danger, Horror of Dracula, The Mummy, The Brides of Dracula, The Gorgon, The Earth Dies Screaming, The Devil Rides Out, Frankenstein Must be Destroyed.
WTF: The Last Page, Spaceways, The Man Who Could Cheat Death, Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace.
Val Guest
Top of his Game: The Quatermass Xperiment, Quatermass 2, The Abominable Snowman, The Camp on Blood Island, Yesterday's Enemy, Hell is a City, The Day the Earth Caught Fire.
WTF: Give Us the Moon, Mr Drake's Duck, Penny Princess, The Boys in Blue.
Tod Browning
Top of his Game: The Unholy Three (1925 version), The Unknown, Freaks, Mark of the Vampire.
WTF: Dracula (good bits direct by Karl Freund), Miracles for Sale.
10-26-11, 10:27 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
Two off the top of my head.
Robert Altman-
Great stuff- Nashville, Mash, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, 3 Women, The Player, Short Cuts.
? Stuff- Dr. T and the Women, O.C. and Stiggs, A Prairie Home Companion.
Tim Burton
Good stuff- Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Big Fish
? Stuff- Batman Returns, Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Charlie and Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland.
Robert Altman-
Great stuff- Nashville, Mash, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, 3 Women, The Player, Short Cuts.
? Stuff- Dr. T and the Women, O.C. and Stiggs, A Prairie Home Companion.
Tim Burton
Good stuff- Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Big Fish
? Stuff- Batman Returns, Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Charlie and Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland.
10-26-11, 10:27 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
John Boorman
Top of Game: Point Blank, Hell in the Pacific, Deliverance, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, The General, Hope and Glory, The Tailor of Panama
WTF?: *Zardoz, *Exorcist II :The Heretic, Where The Heart Is
* I actually LOVE Zardoz and Exorcist II for various reasons, but I can't defend them in a general sense, since they are wildly uneven, and poorly written with some terrible sequences. Though the art direction, cinematography, production design, and direction is wildly inventive and deliciously brilliant in places.
Top of Game: Point Blank, Hell in the Pacific, Deliverance, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, The General, Hope and Glory, The Tailor of Panama
WTF?: *Zardoz, *Exorcist II :The Heretic, Where The Heart Is
* I actually LOVE Zardoz and Exorcist II for various reasons, but I can't defend them in a general sense, since they are wildly uneven, and poorly written with some terrible sequences. Though the art direction, cinematography, production design, and direction is wildly inventive and deliciously brilliant in places.
10-26-11, 10:29 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
Many good ones have already been covered. A few more:
Michael Haneke
●Top of his game: Funny Games (1997), The Seventh Continent, Benny's Video, The Piano Teacher, 71 Fragments of a Chronology..., Cache
●WTF is this crap?: Code Unknown
Andrei Tarkovsky
●Top of his game: Stalker, Solaris, Nostalghia
●WTF is this crap?: The Sacrifice
Claude Chabrol
●Top of his game: L'Enfer, La Femme Infidele, Une Partie De Plaisir, Cry of the Owl, La Ceremonie, Nada, This Man Must Die, Blood Relatives
●WTF is this crap?: Les Biches
Bob Clark
●Top of his game: Black Christmas, Deathdream, Murder by Decree, A Christmas Story
●WTF is this crap? Everything else
Peter Watkins
●Top of his game: Punishment Park, The War Game, Privilege
●WTF is this Crap?: The Journey
Carroll Ballard
●Top of his game: Never Cry Wolf, The Black Stallion
●WTF is this crap?: Fly Away Home
Michael Haneke
●Top of his game: Funny Games (1997), The Seventh Continent, Benny's Video, The Piano Teacher, 71 Fragments of a Chronology..., Cache
●WTF is this crap?: Code Unknown
Andrei Tarkovsky
●Top of his game: Stalker, Solaris, Nostalghia
●WTF is this crap?: The Sacrifice
Claude Chabrol
●Top of his game: L'Enfer, La Femme Infidele, Une Partie De Plaisir, Cry of the Owl, La Ceremonie, Nada, This Man Must Die, Blood Relatives
●WTF is this crap?: Les Biches
Bob Clark
●Top of his game: Black Christmas, Deathdream, Murder by Decree, A Christmas Story
●WTF is this crap? Everything else
Peter Watkins
●Top of his game: Punishment Park, The War Game, Privilege
●WTF is this Crap?: The Journey
Carroll Ballard
●Top of his game: Never Cry Wolf, The Black Stallion
●WTF is this crap?: Fly Away Home
10-26-11, 10:32 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
Originally Posted by foofighters7
? Stuff- Batman Returns
I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I think Batman Returns is one of his best films and is superior to Batman.
10-26-11, 10:36 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
Originally Posted by Numanoid
And I think I'm the only one that liked Lovely Bones.
10-26-11, 10:55 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
Clint Eastwood
Top of His Game: Mystic River, Unforgiven, Pale Rider, The Outlaw Josey Wales
WTF is this Crap: Hereafter, Blood Work, True Crime, The Rookie
Stuart Rosenberg
Top of His Game: Brubaker, The Laughing Policeman, Cool Hand Luke
WTF is this Crap: My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys, Let's Get Harry, The Amityville Horror, Love and Bullets
Top of His Game: Mystic River, Unforgiven, Pale Rider, The Outlaw Josey Wales
WTF is this Crap: Hereafter, Blood Work, True Crime, The Rookie
Stuart Rosenberg
Top of His Game: Brubaker, The Laughing Policeman, Cool Hand Luke
WTF is this Crap: My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys, Let's Get Harry, The Amityville Horror, Love and Bullets
Last edited by Charlie Goose; 10-26-11 at 11:02 PM.
10-26-11, 11:09 PM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
Tobe Hooper
Top of Game: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Eaten Alive, The Funhouse, Salem's Lot, Poltergeist, Lifeforce, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II
Bad
Bad: Spontaneous Combustion, Invaders from Mars, Crocodile, Mortuary, The Mangler
Top of Game: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Eaten Alive, The Funhouse, Salem's Lot, Poltergeist, Lifeforce, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II
Bad
Bad: Spontaneous Combustion, Invaders from Mars, Crocodile, Mortuary, The Mangler
10-27-11, 01:51 AM
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Re: Great Director/Horrible Director:Best and Worst
Originally Posted by Charlie Goose
Clint Eastwood
Top of His Game: Mystic River, Unforgiven, Pale Rider, The Outlaw Josey Wales
WTF is this Crap: Hereafter, Blood Work, True Crime, The Rookie
Stuart Rosenberg
Top of His Game: Brubaker, The Laughing Policeman, Cool Hand Luke
WTF is this Crap: My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys, Let's Get Harry, The Amityville Horror, Love and Bullets
Top of His Game: Mystic River, Unforgiven, Pale Rider, The Outlaw Josey Wales
WTF is this Crap: Hereafter, Blood Work, True Crime, The Rookie
Stuart Rosenberg
Top of His Game: Brubaker, The Laughing Policeman, Cool Hand Luke
WTF is this Crap: My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys, Let's Get Harry, The Amityville Horror, Love and Bullets
He makes all kind of movies except horror. So he's gonna hit or miss.
