Directors that are good but have fallen off the map

[TheWildWhelk]

Originally Posted by drush9999

I have all those movies and AvP & Death Race on Blu-ray

AvP is the worst Alien film to grace any format since the dawn of VHS. I do have Deathrace, but it was a present and has the second and third films in the box. The problem was that 'Soldier' cost $60m to make and made back $15m. I went straight to video in many countries and the next film Anderson made was a tv movie called 'The Sight'...

[Aclea]

You obviously haven't seen AvP: Requiem. Mind you, with the pitch black photography rendering it the world's most expensive radio play, nobody actually could see AvP: Requiem...

[Cremildo]

Víctor Erice. *mic drop*

[dkelly26666]

Oliver Stone was a major force in filmmaking for years. But I don't think he's ever coming back to his glory, again.

From his scripts early on, like "Midnight Express", "Conan the Barbarian", "Scarface", "Year of the Dragon"... to his major period in directing, from 1986 until 1995, he was a real force in film.

Indeed, from "Platoon" through "Nixon", pretty much every Oliver Stone movie was treated as an event movie. That run he had: "Salvador", "Platoon", "Wall Street", "Talk Radio", "Born on the Fourth of July", "The Doors", "JFK", "Heaven and Earth", "Natural Born Killers", and "Nixon" was a golden era.

After that, he started falling off. "U-Turn" was a disaster when released, although it has a little cult following, now. "Any Given Sunday" was popular, and likable enough, but had no real substance at all. Then, he had a half decade off. Then, he came back with the towering failure of "Alexander". Since then, every film is so pedestrian and safe and bland and forgettable. "World Trade Center", "W.", "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps", "Savages", and "Snowden" were all so painfully MEH.

He's just not coming back. I think he just mellowed with age, I guess.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

I agree Oliver Stone isn't quite what he used to be but I flat out love U-Turn, Savages (especially the director's cut) and Snowden and think they rank with his best.

[dkelly26666]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

I agree Oliver Stone isn't quite what he used to be but I flat out love U-Turn, Savages (especially the director's cut) and Snowden and think they rank with his best.

I keep seeing that "U-Turn" has a loyal cult fanbase, now. It's funny, because virtually no one liked it when it first came out. I saw it in the theater when it first came out, with about 3 other people, and I always liked it OK, I just thought the last half hour or so became so ridiculous it hit campy. I haven't seen it since the 90s, yet own the Twilight Time blu ray, LOL. Maybe I should watch it, again.

"Savages" gave me hope for a comeback, and it seemed to sit real well with most younger audiences I talked to, so I had high hopes for it, but then found even it to be watered down and safe compared to what Stone would have done with something like that back in the 80s.

"Snowden" I liked OK, but it played like a TV movie to me. In fact, "World Trade Center", "W.", and "Snowden" all played like cable TV movies to me.

And he's tried so hard with "Alexander" to salvage it. It's sad, because that had been his dream project since his film school days. He tried to do an Alexander the Great movie for decades. He finally did, and it was so, so poorly received. I still haven't seen the 'Final Cut', and some say that is the best cut of the three cuts. But the miscasting, poor, campy performances of some actors and a melodramatic tone and overall corniness make it hard to take seriously no matter how he re-cuts it. It will always be flawed. Mostly, it looks great, though.


Again, though, I was such a big fan of him from the late 70s through the late 90s. Hell, I even loved "The Hand".

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by dkelly26666

I keep seeing that "U-Turn" has a loyal cult fanbase, now. It's funny, because virtually no one liked it when it first came out. I saw it in the theater when it first came out, with about 3 other people, and I always liked it OK, I just thought the last half hour or so became so ridiculous it hit campy. I haven't seen it since the 90s, yet own the Twilight Time blu ray, LOL. Maybe I should watch it, again.

"Savages" gave me hope for a comeback, and it seemed to sit real well with most younger audiences I talked to, so I had high hopes for it, but then found even it to be watered down and safe compared to what Stone would have done with something like that back in the 80s.

"Snowden" I liked OK, but it played like a TV movie to me. In fact, "World Trade Center", "W.", and "Snowden" all played like cable TV movies to me.

And he's tried so hard with "Alexander" to salvage it. It's sad, because that had been his dream project since his film school days. He tried to do an Alexander the Great movie for decades. He finally did, and it was so, so poorly received. I still haven't seen the 'Final Cut', and some say that is the best cut of the three cuts. But the miscasting, poor, campy performances of some actors and a melodramatic tone and overall corniness make it hard to take seriously no matter how he re-cuts it. It will always be flawed. Mostly, it looks great, though.


Again, though, I was such a big fan of him from the late 70s through the late 90s. Hell, I even loved "The Hand".

Yeah I actually had a similar reaction to U-Turn the first time I saw it back in 1997 but fell in love with it when I got the Twilight Time blu ray. I also hadn't seen it since before the TT blu ray. Oddly, I read a blu ray review for it when it first came out on blu ray and the reviewer had the same reaction saying that he didn't remember U-Turn being as good as it ended up being when he saw the blu ray. Maybe it's a film that has just aged really well. I've also become so much more familiar with film noir since my first viewing in 1997 as well so that most likely helped.

I thought Snowden got unfairly snubbed by the academy. I thought it was great.

De Palma is one of my top 5 directors. I haven't seen too many of his 2000s films except for Femme Fatale which I thought was really good. I think Raising Cain gets an unfairly bad rap. I think it's one of De Palma's best and scariest with a powerhouse John Lithgow performance. The director's cut is the superior version IMHO. I think Carlito's Way is his masterpiece.

[levcore]

Many would say perhaps not a "good" Director but i'm still desperate to know what happened to Stephen Sommers who has just disappeared from film making completely it seems. He had a string of successful blockbusters in the late 90's/ 00's. I mean his last big budget movie, GI Joe in 2009 at least got a sequel so it must have had some degree of success. After that he makes the more low budget Odd Thomas which despite being released in 2013, actually wrapped in 2011. So Sommers hasn't done anything for 11 years and has no projects listed. This is quite the disappearance (IMO) for a Director who was putting out mega budget blockbusters.

The listing on his IMDB page for a remake of When Worlds Collide has been there for over a decade so it's not happening and has clearly not been updated in a long time.

I get that lots of people don't like him or his movies, but his disappearance from directing can't just be dismissed as "because his movies are crap" as they were making money and The Mummy and Deep Rising at least do have a big following and IMO are genuinely good movies.

I'd love to learn what the story is here. The only thing i can recall was a story that he was fired from editing on GI Joe. However i believe he denied this AND he did an audio commentary for the movie, so it can't be true as that would have taken place after editing lol.

He'd be perfect for the MCU, i wish he'd gotten to do one of those.

[dkelly26666]

Another one that's definitely fallen off is Brian De Palma.

His early, frenetic, experimental, radical works from the 60s are interesting for a beginner, and then from "Sisters" in 1973 through "Casualties of War" in 1989, I thought he was awesome. He had one more really good film in 1993, with "Carlito's Way".

Again, a great run: "Sisters", "The Phantom of the Paradise", "Carrie", "Obsession", "The Fury", "Dressed to Kill", "Blow Out", "Scarface", "Body Double", "Wiseguys", "The Untouchables", and "Casualties of War". Most of these might not be considered 'high art', but they were damned sure entertaining, high-end exploitation.

"The Bonfire of the Vanities" was pretty terrible, "Raising Cain" was meh, "Carlito's Way" was good. After that, De Palma mostly loses me.

Some are super rotten, like "The Black Dahlia". Others are just forgettable.

His latest ("Domino") even he has disowned, and it has been universally panned. Even Paul Schrader mocked him on Facebook, LOL.

[jeffarent]

Originally Posted by dkelly26666

Another one that's definitely fallen off is Brian De Palma.

His early, frenetic, experimental, radical works from the 60s are interesting for a beginner, and then from "Sisters" in 1973 through "Casualties of War" in 1989, I thought he was awesome. He had one more really good film in 1993, with "Carlito's Way".

Again, a great run: "Sisters", "The Phantom of the Paradise", "Carrie", "Obsession", "The Fury", "Dressed to Kill", "Blow Out", "Scarface", "Body Double", "Wiseguys", "The Untouchables", and "Casualties of War". Most of these might not be considered 'high art', but they were damned sure entertaining, high-end exploitation.

"The Bonfire of the Vanities" was pretty terrible, "Raising Cain" was meh, "Carlito's Way" was good. After that, De Palma mostly loses me.

Some are super rotten, like "The Black Dahlia". Others are just forgettable.

His latest ("Domino") even he has disowned, and it has been universally panned. Even Paul Schrader mocked him on Facebook, LOL.

Raising Cain - the directors cut with the scenes arranged in the right order is great. The theatrical cut was a result of the studios getting in the way of the editing.

[dkelly26666]

Regarding John Carpenter, I don't think he 'fell off', really, so much as he lost interest and was having a really hard time in the new century getting anyone to finance his films, anymore, and so he just lost interest and walked away.

"Ghosts of Mars" was pretty bad; he did two "Masters of Horror" episodes that were pretty effective; and he did one little low budget film, "The Ward", that was predictable and contrived. But other than that, he simply hasn't done much of anything for the past 20 years.

Again, though, man did he rock in his heyday. He had a few missteps here and there, but mostly he was awesome from "Assault on Precinct 13" through "Vampires".


As for Cronenberg, I have loved most of his stuff, even the newer stuff. "A Dangerous Method" was a little bland, but OK, and I feel like I should watch "Cosmopolis" again. I had LOVED "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises". And, I just don't get the hate for "Maps to the Stars", either. It is vintage Cronenberg. Truly had me squirming at times just like old school Cronenberg. (People make fun of that damn fake looking fire scene; but it's a small flaw to me).

[-JKR-]

John McTiernan

Incredibly unlucky, but a true master of cinema. His eye for staging, blocking and editing are second to none. He creates a visceral feel even for the simplest of scenes, while keeping a keen eye for the actors' work.

[Bugg]

John Sayles was on fire in the 80's & 90's but he had a string of forgettable films in the 00's, then just kind of vanished.

[Rayjg]

Whatever happened to John Waters? Did he retire or is he painting (Lynch) or writing novels (Cronenberg, Cimino-RIP)?

[jeffarent]

Oliver Stone-last good film was Any Given Sunday
Clint Eastwood- haven’t like anything he has done since Mystic River.

[RossyG]

Hal Hartley had a big name on the arthouse circuit (here in the UK, at least) in the 90s. But his career seemed to fizzle away.

[ImBlu_DaBaDee]

Joe Dante
Martin Campbell
Robert Zemeckis (I know he still works, but oh my how the mighty have fallen)

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by ImBlu_DaBaDee

Robert Zemeckis (I know he still works, but oh my how the mighty have fallen)

What an amazing run of films up to and including Forrest Gump.

Since then...

(DISCLAIMER: And yes I know Contact, Beowulf, The Walk etc will have their fans, but they're hardly in the same league as Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit in terms of being mega hits, influential in their time and still fondly remembered today).

[s2mikey]

Zack Snyder - IMO, his 2004 Dawn of the Dead & 300 were solid movies. All crap since those.

John McTiernan - others brought him up too. He's had some winners for sure but where has he been.

Patty Jenkins - I thought she did a fabulous job with Wonder Woman but the second WW film was an atrocious pile of steaming turds loaded with peanuts. Nothing of late either.

And....get ready for the film gurus to chase me down with a pitchfork but I am putting Ridley Scott on this list. Sorry. The dude is behind some of my favorite films of ALL time like Alien, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven DC & Blade Runner. But, what has he done lately thats really memorable or has a strong consensus as being really good? Nothing. Nothing at all. He has driven the Alien franchise into the dirt. Any of his other tries at the medieval, sci-fi or sword and sandals genre films are pretty bad. Time to hang up the cleats, Sir Ridley. I love you man.... but really.... its over.

[John1701D]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

Zack Snyder - IMO, his 2004 Dawn of the Dead & 300 were solid movies. All crap since those.

John McTiernan - others brought him up too. He's had some winners for sure but where has he been.

Patty Jenkins - I thought she did a fabulous job with Wonder Woman but the second WW film was an atrocious pile of steaming turds loaded with peanuts. Nothing of late either.

And....get ready for the film gurus to chase me down with a pitchfork but I am putting Ridley Scott on this list. Sorry. The dude is behind some of my favorite films of ALL time like Alien, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven DC & Blade Runner. But, what has he done lately thats really memorable or has a strong consensus as being really good? Nothing. Nothing at all. He has driven the Alien franchise into the dirt. Any of his other tries at the medieval, sci-fi or sword and sandals genre films are pretty bad. Time to hang up the cleats, Sir Ridley. I love you man.... but really.... its over.

Mostly agree but Watchmen was great.