Do you have a least favorite director, living or dead?

[red dog 1]

Last edited Fri Jul 5, 2019, 07:21 PM - Edit history (1)

Bob Fosse is no longer with us, but his movies are.

"Lenny" starring Dustin Hoffman as Lenny Bruce...What a joke!
Hoffman sucked - He didn't even TRY to sound like a guy from Brooklyn.
Ultimately, imo, the movie was terrible not only because Hoffman was terrible, but because it was directed by a guy who had no concept of Lenny Bruce's humor, since Fosse was actually a "dance movie director"

[jkirch]

1. quentin tarantino.

[Goodheart]

7. I second that.

Gratuitous violence was never my thing.

[Laffy Kat]

63. I used to feel the same way, I despised him.

Then by accident, I watched an interview with him and started to like him, so I watched a couple of his movies with a new eye. Still, I get why so many people have strong opinions about him and I don't love everything he does and he's certainly not for the squeamish. I watch portions of his movies peering through my fingers. "Jackie Brown" is my favorite QT movie thus far. I am looking forward to "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood".

[Brother Buzz]

92. Quentin Tarantino gets high marks from me for ONE reason.....

His outrageously wonderful music selection.

[jberryhill]

2. Leni Riefenstahl

[WA-03 Democrat]

84. Timely and funny! Well played!

[bluedigger]

3. Never liked any of David Lynch's work.

[Harker]

19. "The Elephant Man"

was pretty good, I thought, though everything else of his that I've seen irritated me.

[Bradshaw3]

29. Agree except for two

As mentioned, The Elephant Man, and also I loved The Straight Story. Neither are typical Lynch films, however, so that explains why i like them.

[TlalocW]

4. A tie - Tarrantino and Spielberg

Tarrantino is just an annoying person, and his personality translates into his movies. I had to force myself to watch the, "Kill Bill," movies, and I sat there gritting my teeth thinking, "Oh, God... he's just putting everything he thinks is, "kewl," into the film and wrapping a plot into it."

Spielberg has started annoying the hell after me with his daddy issues, and I really wish he would get some fucking therapy for them before he dies. Not every film needs a guy not ready to be a father or a bad father suddenly put in the situation of "redeeming" himself. It worked in, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," after failing miserably in, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," but that's it. I would rather watch all the Eddie Deezen parts from, "1942," on an infinite loop than have to deal with, "YOU CALL HIM DOCTAH JONES!" for two hours.

TlalocW

[Laffy Kat]

64. Mel Gibson, hands down. nt

[First Speaker]

5. Eisenstein

...OK, I'll grant you the Odessa Steps sequence. Though it does take longer in the film than it would have in real life; and that some very ordinary Hollywood talents did sequences that matched it. (See the earthquake sequence in *San Francisco*.) But the rest of his career was basically trying to keep one step ahead of a particularly cement-headed tyrant, and failing. *Alexander Nevsky* is simply a mess; the best comment on it was Stalin himself, who told Eisenstein, after seeing it, "Well, you've become a Bolshevik at last". And *Ivan the Terrible* is worse than a mess; it may be the most grotesque--and boring--movie ever made. I remember watching it in college, and as Ivan staggers around at the end, a few of us callow youths shouted at the screen, "just die, already, and let us get out of here!"...and eventually, thank goodness, he did.

[Shrek]

6. Woody Allen n/t

[targetpractice]

8. Yes.

I will not watch any of his films, despite the fact that I loved his work years and years ago.

[Wolf Frankula]

11. Woody Allen in the last 40 years

I liked him when he was trying to be Woody Allen. Then he tried to be Bergman, De Sica, Truffaut, Lang. Then it was Woody Allen masturbation fantasies. I was waiting for him to try being Kurosawa, but he never did.

Wolf

[spooky3]

27. ditto - ex hubby loved him; I found his movies dull and sexist.

He liked to pair himself with women who were much more attractive, and usually much younger, than himself.

And his personal life...ugh.

[skypilot]

9. Brian DePalma doesn't do it for me anymore.

Which is odd because CARRIE is my favorite movie. I was just watching DRESSED TO KILL on tv last night and reaffirming what a terrible movie it is. I thought it was awesome when I was 16. It has not aged well. I started giving up on DePalma after BODY DOUBLE.

[First Speaker]

10. I will make a partial exception of *The Untouchables*...

...though it has some historical howlers. (Nitti, in the film, is simply not the Nitti of history. And why were Canadian Mounties enforcing American prohibition?)

[skypilot]

12. I actually forgot that he directed that.

I saw it years ago and have forgotten everything about it except that someone gets thrown off a roof. That did happen right?

[First Speaker]

18. No. That was Nitti who was tossed off the roof in the film...

...and while he was the subject of an attempted police hit in that period--Max Allan Collins' novel, *True Detective*, has a good scene of that--the real Nitti died a decade later, a suicide when it looked like he would finally go to prison...

[mr_lebowski]

31. I think the poster meant 'that did happen in the film' ;) (nt)

[jmowreader]

22. SOME historical howlers? Oh my...

Here's the thing: The Untouchables was a good movie. But it has about as much in common with Eliot Ness's book - yes, there is one - as Abraham Lincoln does with the current GOP. EVERYTHING was wrong.

There are a couple of scenes that could have been a lot of fun to watch:
* Ness confiscated a LOT of Capone's beer trucks. They were going to auction them off, but they lost the contract on the garage they stored them in. A new contract was found, and to get the trucks to the new garage Ness had them polished up, called Capone and told him to be in front of his hotel at a certain time, then drove all the trucks past him just to piss him off. (It worked, too!)

* Toward the end of Ness's work, he had managed to shut down the flow of beer (Capone's main source of income, and Ness said Capone made quality beer) into Chicago so well the Capone gang was bringing one barrel at a time in the back seat of a car to each customer. Ness's crew was following the cars around and destroying the beer as it arrived at the speakeasy.

* Ness confiscated a still in a dairy barn. They were sweating bullets until the perps bailed out of jail because only one Ness team member knew how to milk cows.

[MicaelS]

13. Body Double would have been much better if..

He had hired real Adult Film Star Anette Haven. I never accepted Melanie Griffin as a porn star.

[skypilot]

14. I have never been a fan of MG in general.

I don't dislike her but she has never been a "draw" for me. After BODY DOUBLE I started to think that DePalma needed to make a straight-up porno and get it out of his system.

[MicaelS]

24. That would have been fine with me. n/t

[mr_lebowski]

33. I saw Dressed to Kill in the theater at like 12 ... went w/my stepmom ...

We were horror movie buffs ... she'd take me to R-rated horror stuff pretty often ... starting at about 11 I think ... lol ... I liked it then, think there might've been some boobies at some point. Star was Angie Dickinson, yeah?

Anyways, yeah, De Palma has been very hit/miss over the years, usually misses.

[skypilot]

45. I tend to like his 70s movies.

THE FURY is the last movie he did that I liked at the time and still enjoy today.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

15. I don't think I'd bother with another M. Night Shyamalan movie.

[Harker]

16. Andrei Tarkovsky.

Several others already mentioned are dishonorable mentions.

Animal cruelty for the sake of "art" is utterly disgusting.

[ProudLib72]

20. Uh oh!

I did enjoy Andrei Rublev, though. Solaris, no! Stalker, no!

[Harker]

23. Andrei Rublev

is a snuff film, as is "Apocalypse Now."

[red dog 1]

25. Was there any animal cruelty in "Apocalypse Now"?

(I'm just curious)

[Harker]

48. Yes, Red...

Coppola incited and filmed the slaughter by machete of a water buffalo in the climactic scene.

Having been shot abroad, thus not monitored, The American Humane Assoc. tagged the film "unacceptable."

The cow abuse and horse murder scenes in Andrei Rublev are appalling. I'm still pissed off 15 years later.

[red dog 1]

66. Thanks for that

I liked the film...I guess I forgot about that since the final scene was so.....explosive!

(Copola didn't have to kill a water buffalo to make that scene good)

[Harker]

68. I'd watch it once a year but for that.

Initially, word was he filmed the scene documentary style, but when I learned that he caused it, that was it.

The horse whose head wound up in Woltz's bed in "The Godfather" was already dead. Still ugly, but not a disqualifier.

Do I seem fussy?

[oasis]

21. D.W.Griffith.

[Fix The Stupid]

26. ANYTHING by that hack Speilberg.

He thinks his audiences have an IQ level of 5.

He dumbs everything down to the point of absurdity.

Can't stand his movies.

[mr_lebowski]

35. I quite liked Minority Report, myself & first 3 Indy Jones movies ...

And E.T. is a great kids film, c'mon!

And Private Ryan was a pretty good flick ...

[Fix The Stupid]

39. Ahh yes... Saving Private Ryan..where do I begin?

The dialogue is fit for a 3rd grader..."Why don't you ask the capn' where he's from?"..juvenile.

The scene where Uppam is clinging onto the Tom Sizemore character and Sizemore's character says "Don't worry cap'n, he won't get out of my sight". You have a FUCKING enlisted soldier so scared he is hugging his superior officer - and the other guys didn't frag his ass right there? Like that would have EVER happened in real life? Insulting to soldiers everywhere... Then he ends up being the one who shoots the nazi (that they let go, by the way, in another stupid scene) that kills Hanks character? C'mon...

The scene where they show Sizemore's character putting the tin of sand in his backpack? And the camera just HAS to capture the other tins of sand from his other battles? So fucking stupid...and Speilberg thinks we're not smart enough to make the connection..that's why I hate his movies.

Everything about that movie screams "campy" to me. That American audiences lap that bullshit up is another disturbing aspect as well.

[mr_lebowski]

42. I didn't say 'great' ... I see your point ... Oh, and also Schindler's List

was a powerful film, despite it's historical inaccuracies. He got some excellent performances from the leads Neeson, Kingsley, and especially Fiennes.

[Fix The Stupid]

44. Yeah..I'll give you Schindlers List - good movie. n/t

[mr_lebowski]

46. Minority Report is pretty free from your standard Speilberg tropes

that you're complaining about ... it's a straight-up, gritty, & unsentimental thriller. Cruise does well in it, and the supporting cast of Max Von Sydow, Colin Farrell, and Samantha Morton (the precog Agatha he frees at the end) put in excellent performances, IMHO.

Also, Lois Smith (American TREASURE if there ever was one) and Peter Stormare's cameo are GOLDEN.

Of all of his movies, that's the ONE I'd say ... I really dug. Schindler's ... I respect, but the 2 times I've seen it was plenty.

[Harker]

49. The whole "Mickey Mouse" substory was...

especially Mickey Mouse in an eye-rollingly sappy movie.

[Thyla]

28. Lars von Trier n/t

[TexasBushwhacker]

56. Yup n/t

[Bradshaw3]

30. Wes Anderson

I know many like him but I have tried and never made it through any of the ones I watched. Just seem pretentious, which is why I don't like most of Lynch's films. Think he is highly overrated.

[mr_lebowski]

37. Yeah, I definitely (usually) like him ... The Royal Tenenbaums is a particular fave ...

I tend to like really random humor ... and he's pretty good at that.

Which is probably also why I love the Coen Brothers, and Python.

Surprised some TOTALLY WRONG AND TASTELESS person ... hasn't chosen Coen's yet, come to think of it, lol

[Bradshaw3]

41. I love the Coens and the Pythons

I expected to like Wes Anderson and have tried several of his movies. Never made it through a single one, and some I really disliked.

[mr_lebowski]

43. Really? No Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, or Grand Bupapest Hotel?

I liked all them ...

To each their own though

[Bradshaw3]

47. Sorry, really disliked Rushmore

Got through maybe 20 minutes of Grand Budapest Hotel. Now, I thought the Big Lebowski was OK when I first saw it but since then it has gone up to the top 3, maybe the best of their movies. But doubt if I'll ever watch another Anderson movie.

[RussellCattle]

32. Michael Mann. Those long transitional sequences with no dialog...

...and tedious soundtrack music are just too much to bear.

[red dog 1]

34. Welcome to DU!

[RussellCattle]

57. Thank you. It's been nice "meeting" you folks.

[BlueDawn]

36. Elia Kazan and Guillermo del Toro.

Really love Elia Kazan movies....and am totally intrigued by Guillermo del Toro.

[mr_lebowski]

38. You may've missed the point of the thread ;)

It's LEAST favorite ...

Del Toro is great, as is Alejandro González Iñárritu

[red dog 1]

75. Welcome to DU!

[lunamagica]

40. James Cameron

[yuiyoshida]

50. Akira Kurosawa

もちろん!!! The Seven Samurai

[muntrv]

51. Mel Gibson after "Passion Of Christ." I could do without him.

[red dog 1]

78. Mel Gibson is an anti-Semitic idiot.

But I did like him in "What Women Want"

[pangaia]

52. Akira Kurosawa

[edbermac]

53. Bob Fosse did NOT direct the Buddy Holly film.

Steve Rash was credited as director.

[red dog 1]

65. Thanks for the correction

I don't know why I thought Fosse was responsible for that piece of crap.

[MaryMagdaline]

54. *** I completely misread the assignment. Thought it was

Last edited Fri Jul 5, 2019, 09:46 PM - Edit history (1)

Favorite director!!!
My TelePrompTer failed.

Favorite:
Whit Stillman:
Metropolitan
Last Days of Disco
Barcelona

[skypilot]

70. Oh god! HIM!!!

I have only seen Metrpolitan and it made such an intensely negative impression on me that I have avoided all his other films and can recognize his influence about halfway through a trailer for one of his movies before it is revealed that he is the writer/director. I read on ImDb that his mother was an impoverished former debutante. Somehow that seems to explain him and his films.

[MaryMagdaline]

71. His father worked for the JFK administration

Left his wife and son high and dry.

I love his sense of humor, poking fun at the upper class but upholding moral ideals of the upper class. He is like Jane Austen. Not quite as wickedly funny but makes me laugh. BTW Metropolitan is a takeoff on Mansfield Park. He had a character in metropolitan making fun of the character in Mansfield Park who is the carbon copy of the girl he eventually falls in love with. (MP is itself a takeoff on king Lear).

The earnestness of youth is so great in his movies. The scene where the young urbanites (doomed to failure) can’t figure out how to rent a car to go rescue the girl they’re both in live with ... hilariously sweet.

If you hate all of his movies, you’d probably hate Damsels in Distress, which makes me laugh every time I see it.

He has only a few fans out there ... I’m one of them.

[skypilot]

72. I won't go all out and trash him...

...in my reply since you like him and I have seen only one of his movies but I have to say that one of the things I disliked so much about Metropolitan was that the movie and all of the characters in it seemed so self-serious. I didn't come away with the impression that he was making fun of them. I saw it in the theater when it first came out and I was in my mid-20s. Maybe a lot of it went over my head. Or it's just not my thing. I have nothing against movies or stories about high society or high society wannabes (I love Gosford Park) but I have to pass on Stillman.

[MaryMagdaline]

73. No worries. He's a specific taste. Just not yours.

[pansypoo53219]

55. oliver s tone. won't watch any. greed is not good.

[pansypoo53219]

61. more reason to avoid.

[red dog 1]

67. Wasn't that movie based on Jim Garrison's work on the JFK assassination?

I think Jim Garrison was on the right track.
Two Republican governors refused to extradite key witnesses Garrison wanted to question.
(Ohio Gov. Jim Rhodes and CA Gov. Ronnie Reagan)
Garrison's case floundered after those two GOP assholes refused his extradition requests.

[Number9Dream]

58. Coleman Francis; Ed Wood; Roger Corman

[red dog 1]

76. Ed Wood films are so bad that they're good....If that makes sense.

Imo, Johnny Depp did a great job as Wood in the movie "Ed Wood"

[Number9Dream]

90. Agreed, the "Ed Wood" movie was quite good.

Depp was good, Martin Landau was terrific as Bela Lugosi, and George "The Animal" Steele as Tor Johnson.

[red dog 1]

91. Martin Landau was outstanding as Bela Lugosi.

Johnny Depp is one of my favorite actors.

[DFW]

62. Alain Renais

For making "Last Year at Marienbad," France would have been justified in temporarily re-introducing the death penalty.

[Harker]

69. I'm creating a little love/hate subcategory...

Jim Jarmusch... loved many. "The Limits of Control" exceeded mine. I'll try some that came after when I regain my composure. Ten years on, and I'm still aggrieved.

[Polybius]

74. I misread the title to "least favorite dictator, living or dead?"

I couldn't wait to see everyone's answer lol!

[montanacowboy]

77. Kubrick

A genius

[red dog 1]

81. This thread is "Do you have a LEAST favorite director?"

[Miles Archer]

79. David Chase

Just watched the entire Sopranos run front to back...one episode per night for as long as it took. I watched the series when it originally aired, so this was probably the 10th time I've done a "marathon."

The genius of the show was that there were no "sympathetic characters"...every single one of them was deeply flawed, sometimes teetering on the brink of redemption and abruptly retreating into their "old ways."

They all had "plus marks" in the "positive" column of their personalities, but it was up to the viewer to decide if the pluses outweighed the minuses.

It was honest. Somewhere around season 2, TV Guide interviewed some "real life wiseguys" and asked them if the show was accurate. The only critique they had was that Christopher...whether he was Tony's cousin or nephew or whatever...would have been "one for the trunk" in real life. Other than that, they signed off on its accuracy.

[red dog 1]

82. So, you LIKE David Chase?

[This thread is "Do you have a least favorite director?"]

[Miles Archer]

85. OOOPS. My bad.

Yes, I like David Chase.

I'll go sit in the penalty box now.

[red dog 1]

87. Nah, this is the DU Lounge, there's no penalty box here.

I like David Chase too.
I have all six seasons of The Sopranos, and have seen them all many times.
(I can't stand Dr. Milfi)

[Clash City Rocker]

80. The Farrelly brothers

The fact that their infantile movies have made so much money is a major annoyance to me.

[Karadeniz]

83. Nora Ephron, Rob Reiner, Elaine May.

[red dog 1]

88. Rob Reiner?

You didn't like "Stand By Me"?

[Cicada]

86. Kubrick

[Mendocino]

89. He's not really a director but

Kirk Cameron. UGH!