Since with the argument over Jackson, I came up with an interesting game that some might find fun. Give your opinion on all of the directors. Like Jackson? Hate Lucas? Love Spielberg and hate Spielberg? Say so here, and feel free to do directors that have already been done.
Director: Peter Jackson
Notable Movies: LOTR Trilogy, King Kong
Most recent: Kong.
Movie types: Blockbusters
Opinion: Worst director ever. Wouldn't know how to make a film if Spielberg personally told him how. Couldn't be any worse.
Why: His movies are too long, and also take to long to get to any real point. They are boring also, and present little aside for special effects. Critically loved, I can't imagine why. Kong was the dumbest thing imaginable.
Verdict: Terrible Director.
Score out of ten: -5.
Also feel free to argue with mine and anyone's entry, but be nice, and kill. Posted by B34N (Member # 9597) on :
Lucas is a God among men who cant write dialogue to save his life unless it is some odd Shakespearing speak?
He's still great though. score +5
But my favorite Director would be Linklater, how can you hate a guy who gave us Dazed and Confused, Waking Life and now A Scanner Darkly. score +4
And of course there is Kevin Smith. +3
low score because of Chasing Amy
Posted by Shawshank (Member # 8453) on :
M. Night Shayamalan (or however you spell the man's nae) is the worst director. Plots are all the same- overly convoluted with a ridiculous sense of symbolism.
And what remains of the plot is destroyed by a twist that changes the entire movie that makes you realize you were watching a lie.
Learn from Hitchcock M.
Posted by Grim (Member # 9165) on :
I agree M. Night Shayamalan is a bad director. It's all the same. The Village and Signs seemed a lot alike to me, although I liked Signs way more.
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
Favorite directors:
Bob Zemekis (particularly the Back to the Future films)
Danny Devito (no, I'm not kidding)
M. Night Shamalyan (Although somebody should warn people that his new one is a lighter, sometimes silly yarn that should not be walked into with any expectation of anything like his previous movies)
James Cameron (yeah, I know he's a jerk, and I'm not saying people should have to be in a room with him. I'm just saying he makes a good movie with good clean lines and colors in his visuals and interesting characters)
Michael Moore (yeah, I know I'm a conservative and he's a flaming liberal but he makes me laugh and I hope to one day be as talented as he is)
Jon Cassar (of 24. TV directors count, right? They'd be insane not to have him direct the feature film.)
Andrew Stanton (Okay, so he hasn't directed much. Can I help it if I just like the guy?)
Christopher Nolan
Frank Capra
Richard Donner
Mixed feelings:
Quentin Tarantino (Way overrated, but directed my favorite two parts of CSI and had his fingerprints all over the excellent Sin City. But he also wrote the line that almost ruined Crimson Tide. Oh, and Tony Scott is a good director)
Brian Singer (yeah, yeah, so feelings aren't that mixed. No matter what he does, I'll never forgive him for what he did to Superman)
Brett Ratner (Still haven't seen X3, thought Family Man was okay. Don't know what talent he has besides being able to point a camera in the direction of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.)
Lucas (A fantastic collaborator. Love his stories, love his world creation. Heck, I even liked Radioland Murders. Should never, ever, ever write or direct his own scripts. I've heard various theories for why his first movies did so good. Some suggest it was his editor (his then wife) which probably has some credence, but I think he was good when actors didn't entirely trust him. When they were trying to make it themselves. Talented actors giving good performances with what they had. But then you put actors in front of a green screen and the director has to coax out the needed performance--forget it. The actors are just trusting him that he's getting what he needs, but he wouldn't know how to direct a dolphin into water. But he's got a decent mind for plot and world creation.)
Posted by GaalDornick (Member # 8880) on :
Jackson - Genius. Best director of blockbuster movies alive. Lucas - A confused genius. He's very talented, but doesn't know at what. Spielberg - A washout.
Posted by Reticulum (Member # 8776) on :
IMO, you've got the the first and last mixed around, Gaal. Take out Confused, and the second second sentence, and in IMO, you've got Lucas right. Posted by Eduardo St. Elmo (Member # 9566) on :
Reticulum: Jackson doesn't just direct blockbusters. If you've never seen Braindead, you've no right to take him down. That's a bloody brilliant movie.
Posted by calaban (Member # 2516) on :
The Frighteners.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
Reticulum, you may just be basing your opinion of Jackson on the material he's directed. LOTR is long, sometimes boring and hard to get into...and I'm a huge fan of both the books and the movie. I never saw "Kong", but frankly I don't know why they remade it.
Watch some of his other work before you decide.
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
*tries valiantly to stay away from thread*
*and succeeds!*
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote: never saw "Kong", but frankly I don't know why they remade it.
I think it was always Peter Jackson's movie-of-movies, the one he always wanted to have a crack at making I think once he had the money and leverage to do it, he just jumped on the opportunity.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
It was remade because, like all other movies being re-made, it CAN be remade and people will go and watch it!
I can think of at least three versions of Kong, and I'm sure there are more.
Posted by GaalDornick (Member # 8880) on :
"*tries valiantly to stay away from thread*"
Aw, c'mon I want to hear your opinions. What are you avoiding?
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
Peter Jackson: LOTR was great, King Kong was a god-awful pile of stinking crap. I watched King Kong based solely on my confidence in Jackson, but he's lost pretty much all of that confidence.
Steven Speilberg: Has directed some excellent movies, including some of my favorites. Jurassic Park and Saving Private Ryan to name a couple of them. Is especially notable for the sheer volume of good movies he's directed. I thought War of the Worlds was just "okay", and there were a bunch of things I didn't like about it. I won't automatically go see a movie because Speilberg was the director, but I will take notice of it.
George Lucas: I feel indebted to Lucas for creating the original Star Wars, and for the concepts of "lightsabers" and "jedi knights". That said, his direction in the prequals, along with his poor script-writing, perhaps doomed them to mediocrity long before they were even made.
James Cameron: Probably my favorite director of all time. Titanic, Aliens, and Terminator 2 are all in my top-ten movies list. My only wish is that he'd direct more movies.
Quentin Tarantino: I thought Pulp Fiction was overrated, absolutely hated Jackie Brown, and I thought Kill Bill was a waste of my time. Haven't seen Reservoir Dogs. I think he gets way too much praise.
Robert Rodriguez: Quite possibly my least favorite director. It was amazing listening to him brag about how he can make movies in very little time and with very little budget on Once Upon a Time in Mexico's special features. I kept thinking: "No wonder the movie sucked so badly!". I wouldn't have gone to see Sin City if I'd made the connection that he was the director.
David Fincher: Fight Club is probably my favorite movie. It is also one of the best-directed movies in my opinion. Unlike some, I actually really enjoyed Alien 3. I liked Se7en a lot. Didn't see Panic Room. Might be my second or third favorite director, depending on where I would rank him and Speilberg.
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