Directors that are good but have fallen off the map

[craigbarr2003]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

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

No major studio is touching him after the Pellicano disaster and all the subsequent lawsuits causing his assets to be liquidated. His only shot would be on the indie circuit with independent financing, but that's a really difficult game and one I'm not sure he wants to play being in his 70's now, and probably most of the money he would make from that might be garnished anyway (I'm not sure the status of some).

[unberechenbar]

Alex Proyas
Duncan Jones
Gore Verbinski

[-JKR-]

Originally Posted by craigbarr2003

No major studio is touching him after the Pellicano disaster and all the subsequent lawsuits causing his assets to be liquidated. His only shot would be on the indie circuit with independent financing, but that's a really difficult game and one I'm not sure he wants to play being in his 70's now, and probably most of the money he would make from that might be garnished anyway (I'm not sure the status of some).

He has tried to get several indie projects off the ground without success, including a war movie starring Nicolas Cage and a sci-fi pic starring Uma Thurman.

[scribe1964]

There are so many. It's a lot harder for directors who don't write. When their careers falter, they're offered crap. And unfortunately, a lot of writer/directors fall into ruts or lose their creativity as they age and they end up repeating themselves or putting out lazy scripts. De Palama, Michael Mann and Coppola are examples of this.

[MovieReviews331]

Martin Brest (Quit after Gigli)
Martin Campbell (Stopped making big-budget films after Green Lantern)
Barry Sonnenfeld (Switched to TV after Nine Lives)
Stephen Sommers (Nothing since 2013)

[Zivouhr]

Stephen Norrington directed:
Blade
League of Extraordinary Gentleman

He had potential but left the film industry it seems. Probably too many issues he had to deal with.

Originally Posted by MovieReviews331

Martin Brest (Quit after Gigli)
Martin Campbell (Stopped making big-budget films after Green Lantern)
Barry Sonnenfeld (Switched to TV after Nine Lives)
Stephen Sommers (Nothing since 2013)

Martin Brest also directed the classic action/comedy Midnight Run (DeNiro as the bounty hunter taking in the Duke played by Charles Grodin).

[Jaymole]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

Stephen Norrington directed:
Blade
League of Extraordinary Gentleman

He had potential but left the film industry it seems. Probably too many issues he had to deal with.

That film ended the careers of both Sean Connery and Norrington as Connery had such a horrible time making the film he chose to retire.

[Martoto]

I enjoyed The League...

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by John1701D

Mostly agree but Watchmen was great.

I have to give that another try. I remember when it came out I watched like a 1/3 of it and struggled to get into it. Didn’t want to make the commitment. But, I’ve gone back to try films again years later that I didn’t like and ended up liking them. So, I should try this again.

[-JKR-]

It always amazes me how Jan de Bont made one of the absolute best directorial debuts and 1990s movies with Speed, followed that up with the insanely entertaining Twister, and then managed to **** up every subsequent movie.

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by -JKR-

It always amazes me how Jan de Bont made one of the absolute best directorial debuts and 1990s movies with Speed, followed that up with the insanely entertaining Twister, and then managed to **** up every subsequent movie.

All three of them.

[earthwormjim]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

Stephen Norrington directed:
Blade
League of Extraordinary Gentleman

He had potential but left the film industry it seems. Probably too many issues he had to deal with.

He also directed this film https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109575/ . Excellent movie.

[tangerinewolf]

If not already mentioned:

John Carpenter (yeah, he was executive producer on those so-called Halloween remakes, sequels, or whatever they are. I think he's actually making more money on his CDs and downloads.)

Dario Argento

[moreorless]

Originally Posted by Socko

Paul Verhoeven:
He made 3 hits in the US, then 2 flops and 1 box office disappointment.
After that he made the great Black Book and now he's doing french movies.

what I wouldn't give for a Arnie/Verhoeven return. King Conan or something

I suspect the issue there is that Hollywood has become a lot less friendly to his kinds of films meaning he's needed to shift back to the euro arthouse scene.

Beyond a general shift towards less contentious films a lot of his early sucess was working with Orion and Caralco who were outside of the big studio system.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by moreorless

I suspect the issue there is that Hollywood has become a lot less friendly to his kinds of films meaning he's needed to shift back to the euro arthouse scene.

Same thing happened to Adrian Lyne and Brian De Palma...both purveyors of lurid, sex-drenched suspense thrillers who found their sleazy sensibilities out of touch with an increasingly sheepish, adolescent audience staring in the early 2000s.

[JoeKryten]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

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.

The Martian says hi. Whether you like it or not both the critical and popular consensus is "really good". I'm not into most of his other recent films but I did like The Counselor more than most.

[moreorless]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

Same thing happened to Adrian Lyne and Brian De Palma...both purveyors of lurid, sex-drenched suspense thrillers who found their sleazy sensibilities out of touch with an increasingly sheepish, adolescent audience staring in the early 2000s.

Really I think the switch started a decade before that, by the mid 90's erotic thrillers were starting to decline.

[earthwormjim]

This guy https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001317/.

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by JoeKryten

The Martian says hi. Whether you like it or not both the critical and popular consensus is "really good". I'm not into most of his other recent films but I did like The Counselor more than most.

Ehhh. Maybe. But no one talks about that film at all anymore and its not anywhere near the quakity of his real classics. That movie felt like one of those films that critics *had* to like. But, thats cool if you liked it.

[Jorvic]

The Last Duel is an excellent film. So Ridley Scott (saw his name earlier in the thread) doesn't belong anywhere near this list.

Parts of The House of Gucci are also good. Might be a bit uneven, but it's far from a bad film.