Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

Have you ever watched a film by a particular actor or director (or screenwriter or even producer) and been bowled over by how much you loved the film? And then you started going through that person's filmography and found that you liked less and less each successive movie you watched?

This happened to me with Peter Strickland's films. I first watched In Fabric (2018), which I loved, so I went to look for another movie of his and got a hold of Berberian Sound Studio (2012). I liked that one well enough but didn't find it as satisfying. Afterwards, I gave The Duke of Burgundy (2014) a go and found myself struggling to like it.

I'm trying to recall if the opposite has happened where I have a middling or downright negative reaction to someone's film and then liked more and more the successive movies of theirs that I watched. If that has happened at some point then it's eluding me at the moment, which isn't to say that it hasn't happened to anyone else here.

So how about it? Whose filmography impressed you more (or less) as you went through it?

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

I think Christopher Nolan's Batman movies are overrated. They are still good but I don't think people are right to say they are the best comic book movies ever made. My favorite Batman movies will always be the Burton films.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

In some ways this has happened to me with Christopher Nolan. I really liked his Batman trilogy at the time. Also liked films like Memento and The Prestige quite a bit.

I would say I liked Inception, but it was the first of his films that I wasn’t quite as into, especially on repeat viewings. I’ve seen Interstellar and Dunkirk, but each only once and I have little desire to revisit them. I still want to see Tenet, but I’m not as excited about it as I once would have been.

As far as an actor, I’d say Bruce Willis. Mainly for the fact that he’s been in some classic films, but so often especially in the latter part of his career it feels like he’s just phoning in a performance

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

I hate to say it but after starting out with some of my favorite movies ever Steven Spielberg hasn’t made a movie I’ve liked in years. Ready Player One shows just how far he’s fallen. It should have been a wonderful adventure filled with a lot of nostalgic touches. Instead it’s the cinematic equivalent of a dead fish.

I might also add Quentin Tarantino as well since I’ve liked each one of his movie less and less since Jackie Brown. I still like his films a lot but his newer films don’t compare to his 90s Crime movies. That said, I think Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a masterpiece and his best film since Pulp Fiction, so he might not count.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

Todd Solondz: I loved his first 2 films, (Welcome to the Dollhouse & Happiness), and I kept waiting for him to make another film that would come near those heights but I have given up now. I am still interested in seeing his films though, just my expectations are low.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

I finally watched RP1 just recently and was stunned to discover it was done by Spielberg. It was an amusing ride but pretty soulless.

The whole time I kept thinking it could have worked better as a Tron 3.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

Stephen Sommers: definitely a gradual fall-off for me from THE ADVENTURES OF HUCK FINN (1993) and THE JUNGLE BOOK (1994) to THE MUMMY (1999) and the utter dreck that was THE MUMMY RETURNS (2001). Not that I was supremely enthusiastic about either of the first two films, but I thought they showed promise.

He's the only one I can think of like that.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

That's a great call on Spielberg. He's grown more and more out of touch with movie audiences over the years. I wonder how much time he actually spends these days on a "Steven Spielberg" movie. When you are worth billions, the all-consuming drive to make a movie just isn't the same as a young 20-something filmmaker directing classics like Jaws.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

Oliver Stone for the win.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

Spielberg is iffy now days when it comes to the spectacle projects like BFG and Ready Player One. Still though he’s made things I do like all throughout his career. He definitely has projects that are weaker than others, but I still like newer stuff from him too like Lincoln and Bridge of Spies. Even The Post was decent.


I almost said him too. To me he’s always had more misses than hits though. I like his early stuff like Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July. JFK is alright too. The last thing he did I sort of liked was Savages, which is somewhat newer but still was pretty much only a one time watch.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

Independent of this thread, I was going through some old DVDs and was surprised to find that Jon DeBont directed the "Tomb Raider" sequel. It struck me that while I thoroughly enjoyed "Speed" and "Twister", his other three films were fairly awful. Actually, I was surprised to find that he only directed five films and pretty much has nothing in his IMDB listing but a couple of Cinematography credits in the last two years.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

Maybe it misses the theme of the thread but I grew less interested with each Nic Cage movies since 2009 since 95% of them are direct to home video.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

Back in the early 1990s, my position was that the three best contemporary American filmmakers (outside of genre filmmakers like Walter Hill) were Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone and Spike Lee. By the end of the 1990s, I didn't feel that way about any of them--and they've only gotten worse since.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

The most parabolic career in contemporary movies has to belong to Cameron Crowe

Fast Times (writer) > Say Anything > Singles > Jerry Maguire > Almost Famous (pinnacle). Then Vanilla Sky > Elizabethtown > We Bought A Zoo > Aloha .

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

I'd put Vanilla Sky as his best movie. I also really liked Elizabethtown.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

Val Kilmer. I think his last great was Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in 2005. I actually like Felon too, but that too was prior 2010. I used to love seeing him in the movies. Ever since Real Genius. Actually, probably knew then went back and realized who he was even though pretty sure, saw RG in theaters. Too bad.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

Amazing how getting throat cancer and losing the ability to speak properly can totally kill your acting career.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

Eh, but even prior to that I would agree that Kilmer had been going downhill for quite a while. Oldboy is accurate with that pick if you ask me. He went from a decently big actor in the nineties to not doing much of note. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang really probably is his last noteworthy movie.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

Ridley Scott started out with an absolutely amazing one-two punch with Alien and Blade Runner, but has been uninspiring for decades now, Thelma & Louise being his last great film. Even his more highly lauded modern films like Gladiator and The Martian, I found to be soulless paint-by-numbers dreck. He doesn't seem to have any inspiration left in him.

I love this one also.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

After M. Night Shyamalan broke out with The Sixth Sense, I was impressed with the follow-up Unbreakable, and after Signs I thought, Holy moly, this guy is shaping up to be a top-tier filmmaker, and then I never liked anything he did after that. Thought The Village was plain stupid, and Lady In The Water seemed like a bizarre act of hubris. Never saw that Last Air Bender movie but felt like that was the nail in the coffin.

Next would be Paul Thomas Anderson, everything he's made since There Will Be Blood seems to go out of its way to be cryptic and unsatisfying to the audience. I feel like he doesn't respect my time as a viewer.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

Curious if you saw Phantom Thread. I thought that was pretty straightforward and accessible. Not nearly the Fuck You to the audience that The Master was.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

I'm gonna get shit but whatevs...

The Coen Brothers - Loved Raising Arizona. Laughed my ass off. Next closest film of theirs I loved was Fargo.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

How about Rob Reiner? Had a really nice string going from This Is Spinal Tap through Misery. The American President came out in 1995 and was good. Everything he's done since has been dogshit.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

:lol: Oh god, what was that one that was just Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer fighting with each other for nearly 2 hours? The Story of Us, maybe? That was worse the North. It was completely miserable.

Re: Actors & Auteurs whose films you've liked progressively less (or more)
 

I really need to watch North again one of these days. I saw it when it came out in '94 and really enjoyed it. I'm not sure why it is universally reviled.

Skipped Phantom Thread when it was at the show, but I might watch it on Netflix soon.