Good director, bad film

[jpgray]

David Lynch - Dune

[terrya]

1. Robert Altman - "Ready to Wear"

Ugh. That was a travesty.

[querelle]

2. Stanley Kubrick - Eyes Wide Shut

What a terrible way to end a stellar career.

Q

[MonkeyFunk]

19. sigh

I absolutely love that movie. Really really love it.

But I wasn't wild about 2001: A Space Odyssey. :shrug:

[terrya]

22. Personally, I'd say that Kubrick's worst was "The Shining"

I thought that "The Shining" was a whole lot of nothing.

But that's just me.

[MonkeyFunk]

25. I sort of agree with you

My main problem with it is that I WANTED Shelley Duvall to be hacked to pieces.

[Richardo]

37. Once again, you and I are on the same page, terrya

Although 'Eyes' sucked royally, too x(

[Shell Beau]

66. The BEST horror movie ever!!!!!

x(






:P

It is the BEST horror movie! Or close to it! ;)

[Shakespeare]

41. Around here, we called it "Sucks Out Loud."

I saw it in Hollywood at the Chinese on opening night. The audience was not kind.

I'm a huge fan of Kubrick, but boy did this one ever go wrong. I like to think he wasn't finished with it before he died, and what we saw on the screen wasn't what he had in mind. Plus, I find Cruise just unwatchable no matter WHAT he's in.

[edbermac]

45. Boooo! After his first two movies SK never made a bad film.

His first, Fear and Desire was amateurish by his own words, Killer's Kiss had some excellent camerawork but was a little lame storywise, but then he made The Killing and never looked back.

Check these links for some nice interpretations of EWS.

http://www.indelibleinc.com/kubrick/films/ews/reviews/harpers.html

http://kentroversypapers.blogspot.com/2006/03/eyes-wide-shut-occult-symbolism.html Cult symbolism in EWS

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0096.html

http://www.jeffreyscottbernstein.com/kubrick/visualaids.html

http://www.movienavigator.org/eyeswideshut.htm

Interesting reading if you're into film analysis.

[kwassa]

62. "Eyes Wide Shut" is Kubrick's most misconceived film

I thought it was awful, from the concept on through.

[terrya]

3. John Huston - "Casino Royale"

Ok, Huston was only one of 5 directors on that ridiculous mess. But still...he DID have a hand in it.

That mess made me really appreciate how good the remake is.

[jpgray]

4. Night of the Iguana is one of my favorites, though

Those cabana boys are hilarious. :D

[terrya]

6. I liked it, also.

Probably my favorite John Huston film is "Prizzi's Honor". Great film and terrific performance from Jack Nicholson. :-)

[LTR]

64. That was a producer flick

Huston did what he could. But the movie was basically out of his control. Charles Feldman had the movie rights and wanted to do it legit, like one of the official EON flicks. Only problem was he wasn't willing to pay what Sean Connery wanted to do it (roughly $1 million - a lot for that time). Since nobody at that time would care about a Bond flick without Connery, Feldman decided to do it as a send-up. The whole thing turned into a mess, since Peter Sellers and Orson Wells were being complete shits, there was no organization or cohesive plan to the whole thing, and the budget was skyrocketing (wound up around $12 million). They wound up using five directors, over ten writers, lots of big-named actors and several people playing James Bond. In the end, they just decided to splice the whole fiasco together and hope for the best. It was a complete mess. Later, Feldman ran into Connery and admitted that he should have just given him the salary he wanted, save a ton of money, make it straight and avoid all the headaches.

The 2006 Daniel Craig version has nothing to do with the 1967 version, except for a card game and Bond himself. It is not a remake, only an official Eon adaptation of Fleming's book (they got the rights to it in 1997). And for the new version, they wisely decided to stay as true to it as possible. The result was one of the best Bond flicks ever made.

[Little Wing]

5. David Fincher - The Game

[mark414]

7. Robert Rodriguez - Spy Kids

Alfonso Cuaron - Harry Potter (i think it's the 3rd one)

[tigereye]

33. hmm, I actually thought Spy Kids was less cutesy

and had some cultural awareness to it, as compared to most films like that.

Cuaron also brought out the adolescent angst in the HP characters. Granted HP is nothing like y tu Mama Tambien. ;)

[LTR]

65. True, "Spy Kids" was crap

Rodriguez did it to encourage parents to take their kids to that rather than "Desperado," which he felt was not suitable for the young ones (which makes perfect sense). Later, the Spy Kids flicks (and "Once Upon A Time In Mexico") became a way for him to experiment with using HD video rather than film to shoot his movies. All his movies since have been shot digitally.

[Frank Cannon]

8. Michael Mann, "The Keep" nt

[JCMach1]

9. Dune--- yuck... David Lynch does launch a stink bomb from time to time

[jpgray]

10. John Frankenheimer - "Year of the Gun," "Island of Dr. Moreau,"

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

11. State and Main - David Mamet

[swag]

12. Martin Scorsese - "Last Temptation of Christ", "Casino"

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

13. Kill Bill 2 - Quentin Tarantino

[MonkeyFunk]

20. Feh on you

I loved Kill Bill 2 even more than the original, which I really really loved!

[MonkeyFunk]

21. Kundun

bleh

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

23. IMHO, there's about 45 minutes that could have been edited out.

The first one was great. The second was so drawn out, especially the scene where Uma is buried.

[Merrick]

30. Don't forget the prequel

Unless watching two hours of kicking and punching is your idea of quality entertainment. At least the Karate Kid had a romantic subplot.

[terrya]

14. George Cukor - "Rich and Famous"

Cukor was a good director. "Rich and Famous", his last film, was pretty crappy.

[ghostsofgiants]

15. Steven Soderbergh, "Full Frontal"

[RedStateShame]

42. I thought that film was alright, but it was an "industry film."

That having been said, I was initially drawn to the film because it had A) Catherine Keener, and B) A Bob Pollard & Doug Gillard song, "Do Something Real," featured during the credits.

[Orsino]

16. Terry Gilliam: The Brothers Grimm

What an awful mess, with some embarrassingly bad acting. It looked pretty cool, though.

[unpossibles]

39. ok, I agree with this one

so many people have listed, I loved!

Dune!? Granted the book is far, far better, but I loved it.
The third Harry Potter movie is the best one so far.
have not seen Eyes Wide Shut yet, but I loved 2001.

sigh. I have a pretty broad taste in movies though, and can enjoy some awful ones almost as much as great ones, although it helps if it's bad enough to be funny and not just boring.

[terrya]

17. William Friedkin - "Cruising"

Friedkin can do some good work. "Cruising" is a hideous, reprehensible piece of cinematic shite.

[soleft]

24. Will Friedkin "The Guardian"

[devilgrrl]

18. Ang Lee - The Hulk

I can't believe he directed that crap. :crazy:

[Shakespeare]

46. I still can't figure that one out, either.

C'mon, this is the guy who did The Ice Storm....???

[MAGICBULLET]

26. The Great Dictator - Charlie Chaplin

[Merrick]

29. As "Seven Samurai" is Kurosawa's worst

and Annie Hall was the low point of Woody Allen's career.

of course you're entitled to your opinion - I know all I have to do to get my girlfriend pissed is to reiterate my opinion that Werner Herzog's "Heart of Glass" sucks ass. She thinks it's beautiful and gripping while, although I like Herzog, that movie sucks all kinds of ass.

[MAGICBULLET]

31. **yawn**

What does 7 Samurai or Annie Hall have to do with the Great Dictator? not sure I understand. I'm comparing this with any of Chaplin's previous 80-something films. I do admit, it had the classic shot of Chaplin playing with the globe while dressed as Hitler. I will view it again and see if I like it more. But as a Chaplin fanatic I would have to say I love City Lights, The Kid, The Immigrant, Gold Rush or The Circus.

[Merrick]

32. Most acclaimed films by other celebrated directors

was my point, pointing out the irony that you should choose Great Dictator as one of Chaplin's bad movies considering its considered one, if not his biggest masterpiece. Personally I loved it, but again, I'm not impugning your opinion, I just found it interesting.

[Merrick]

27. Michael Haneke - Time of the Wolf

[jpgray]

34. What did you think of Cache?

[Merrick]

49. I really liked it

Different topic, and not as brutal, but definitely ranks with the trilogy he did on social alienation engendered violence - Seventh Continent, Benny's Video and Funny Games. All were brilliant, and almost as gut wrenching as that French lunatic Gaspar Noe's sick, but also great films.

[Merrick]

28. Mel Brooks - Robin Hood: Men In Tights

also see: pretty much everything after 1974 other than Spaceballs

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

47. Aw, come on...

History of the World was great!


It's the Inquisition, what a show
The Inquisition, here we go
We know you're wishin' that we'd go away....
But the Inquisition's here and it's here to staaaaaaay

[Merrick]

50. Okay, I'll give you that one

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

51. You were intimidated by the giant friggin' picture, huh?

Works every time....

[Shell Beau]

67. Men in Tights was hilarious!!! I love parodies though!!

[RedStateShame]

35. Robert Altman: Popeye

What.....the.....hell?!

[terrya]

36. Oh, man...I forgot "Popeye"

That project was...unfortunate. To say the least.

[blondeatlast]

38. Guy Ritchie: Revolver (godawful), Swept Away nt

[Richardo]

40. Francis Ford Coppola - Godfather III

Which I have still not watched more than 5 minutes of.

[terrya]

43. And another one I forgot! "Godfather III" proved that Sofia Coppola...

is a really talented director.

[jpgray]

44. I have yet to see a good Sofia Coppola movie in any form

Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation didn't do much for me. :( Lots of people I know liked 'em, though.

[LTR]

57. I didn't think she was as bad as everyone else thought

Granted, the romantic scene in the empty restaurant kitchen with Andy Garcia was terrible, but she was pretty decent throughout the rest of the flick. Seemed like a real person, rather than a typical actress.

GIII wasn't that great a movie, but it's kinda grown on me.

[Katina]

48. Ingmar Bergman's

The Touch... horrible film

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

52. Are we discussing good director, bad direction?

As in a poor performance?

Or a good director, with good direction, who had to deal with a bad script, acting, editing, etc.?

Your example of Dune has me thinking of the former, in which case I'd have to say everything Spielberg's made in the last ten years.

[jpgray]

53. Bad direction results generally in a bad film, but any form of badness will do

I think budget constraints and difficult material for cinema had a lot to do with Dune's failures. The changes from the book were weird(ing modules? Messianic rain?) also.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

55. Right.

But there's plenty of films out there that were bad and it wasn't the fault of the director.

I'm sure there are great films out there that succeeded despite an incompetent director, but I'll have to think about that.

Ah, Star Wars comes to mind. We now know Lucas can't direct. He ripped off other people's shots. Less than memorable performances from otherwise fine actors, and for crying out loud- he's got people using the actor's real names instead of the character's names. But it's a damn good movie despite that.

[jpgray]

56. I like "it Conquered the World" quite a bit, despite Roger Corman's involvement

But then I have a high tolerance for cheese. And Cleef. :D

[Pale Blue Dot]

54. Cameron Crowe - Elizabethtown

A total self-indulgent, overlong piece of crap.

[LTR]

58. Alfred Hitchcock - Topaz

Not really a bad film, but pretty boring. It didn't have that Hitchcock spark.

It didn't seem like a Hitch flick.

[LTR]

59. John Carpenter - Christine

The book was mesmerizing. The movie was slasher shite.

[Shell Beau]

68. I read the book! I guess I am glad I didn't see the movie!!

[LTR]

60. Oliver Stone - Alexander and U-Turn

Alexander was boring and lifeless, though the visuals were nice. U-Turn was the dreariest thing I've ever seen. Just an ugly, nasty flick.

[begin_within]

61. 1 year after bestowing "Au Hasard Balthazar" on the world, Robert Bresson dumps "Mouchette" on it

[terrya]

63. Sidney Lumet - "The Wiz"

This is a director who has had a magnificent body of work...and then he tackled this.