Directors who don't live up to their promise [Archive]

lovejuice

10-26-2009, 10:39 PM

The idea for this thread is so unoriginal I'll be surprised if no one's ever attempted it before. So feel free to merge the thread if one's already existed.

Who among relatively new directors do you think don't quite live up to their earlier promise? Not to mention old hands like Coppola or Lucas.

Three names from the top of my head:

Alex Proyas - Haven't seen Knowing, but even if I'm a big fan of I, Robot, I still think the guy needs to make an extraordinary film. If not on par with Dark City, at least on The Crow level'd have been nice.

Rob Marshall - I will hold my full judgement until Nine.

Stephen Daldry - I have the biggest beef with this guy. How can someone who directed Billy Elliot and The Hours end up making The Reader? Granted, the problem was already in the source material, but that he didn't do anything with it puts all the blame on him.

Sycophant

10-26-2009, 10:41 PM

I don't have any off the top of my head, but that may be because I'm just too discombobulated by all the capital letters in a lovejuice post/thread.

lovejuice

10-26-2009, 10:44 PM

I don't have any off the top of my head, but that may be because I'm just too discombobulated by all the capital letters in a lovejuice post/thread.
like my top novels thread, when i'm making the original post, i'll try to make it as reader friendly as possible. ;)

balmakboor

10-26-2009, 11:38 PM

This choice may seem strange and, don't get me wrong, I like most of his films, but I don't think Robert Rodriguez has ever since matched the charm and lyricism of El Mariachi.

eternity

10-26-2009, 11:55 PM

This choice may seem strange and, don't get me wrong, I like most of his films, but I don't think Robert Rodriguez has ever since matched the charm and lyricism of El Mariachi.

Robert Rodriguez is the perfect choice.

EyesWideOpen

10-27-2009, 12:02 AM

This choice may seem strange and, don't get me wrong, I like most of his films, but I don't think Robert Rodriguez has ever since matched the charm and lyricism of El Mariachi.

I don't like El Mariachi yet I love Sin City and liked Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn and Once Upon a Time In Mexico so I'd say I disagree.

balmakboor

10-27-2009, 12:10 AM

I don't like El Mariachi yet I love Sin City and liked Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn and Once Upon a Time In Mexico so I'd say I disagree.

Wow! I guess we do disagree. Totally.

I wear a smile the whole time I watch El Mariachi. I thought Desperado was a very disappointing sequel and, for me, the harder he tries, the less I like him. Sin City and Planet Terror are probably my least favorite of his movies.

My favorite Rodriguez movie after his first is Spy Kids. Oh, and I also like Bedhead.

Mysterious Dude

10-27-2009, 12:32 AM

M. Night Shyamalan

The Wachowski brothers - I haven't seen Speed Racer, but those sequels were sure disappointing

Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez - of The Blair Witch Project

Fernando Meirelles

balmakboor

10-27-2009, 12:57 AM

Does Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck count by virtue of the fact that he hasn't done anything since The Lives of Others? Not quite the case of not living up to your promise through a succession of weaker films, but through a lack of any further films.

By that reasoning, I'd call Charles Laughton the biggest disappointment in movie history.

balmakboor

10-27-2009, 01:10 AM

Okay. Not sure if you're implying it's unreasonable for me to have thrown in von Donnersmarck into this thread, but I was really just looking for an excuse to discuss his inactivity.

Although, he is apparently going to direct Angelina Jolie and Sam Worthington in The Tourist (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118010085.html?categoryId=1 3&cs=1), a remake of Anthony Zimmer (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411118/).

Naw, I was just looking for a way to mention Laughton.

Dukefrukem

10-27-2009, 02:36 AM

M. Night Shyamalan

The Wachowski brothers - I haven't seen Speed Racer, but those sequels were sure disappointing

Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez - of The Blair Witch Project

Fernando Meirelles

You should see Speed Racer asap.

Derek

10-27-2009, 02:41 AM

Yxklyx

10-27-2009, 02:45 AM

Wow! I guess we do disagree. Totally.

I wear a smile the whole time I watch El Mariachi. I thought Desperado was a very disappointing sequel and, for me, the harder he tries, the less I like him. Sin City and Planet Terror are probably my least favorite of his movies.

My favorite Rodriguez movie after his first is Spy Kids. Oh, and I also like Bedhead.

Planet Terror is far and away my favorite Rodriguez. Love it love it LOVE IT!

balmakboor

10-27-2009, 02:50 AM

Planet Terror is far and away my favorite Rodriguez. Love it love it LOVE IT!

I'll forgive our differences. I too thought Silent Light was pretty great.

Qrazy

10-27-2009, 03:31 AM

I would disagree with Robert Rodriguez only because he never showed promise.

I'm going to go ahead and generalize this to nearly every director listed so far.

---

I started a similar but slightly different thread a while ago (http://www.match-cut.org/showthread.php?t=1651&highlight=happened).

One name that immediately springs to mind for me is Truffaut. I think three of his earliest work are excellent and then he just began to churn out mediocre cinema there after.

Raiders

10-27-2009, 03:51 AM

Definitely James Mangold. Heavy is a great little film and though heavily flawed, there's a lot of promise, and formal rigor, in Cop Land. Since though it has been a slow trudge through mediocrity.

Also, George Sluizer. I actually haven't seen anything outside Spoorloos and its American bastardization, but nothing appears very notable and the sheer fact he made the American remake is bad enough.

Bob Clark would be another. His two 1974 horror films show skill and perversity I don't think he would ever even look at again.

Derek

10-27-2009, 04:25 AM

I'm going to go ahead and generalize this to nearly every director listed so far.

This may very well be true, but I have no interest in seeing anything Marshall has made. Dark City is good, but I'm baffled by those who see it as a modern classic. And while Billy Elliott was alright, it doesn't surprise me that Daldry has further entrenched himself in treacly Oscarbation.

Mysterious Dude

10-27-2009, 04:35 AM

One name that immediately springs to mind for me is Truffaut. I think three of his earliest work are excellent and then he just began to churn out mediocre cinema there after.
I think I can agree with this, though I love The Wild Child.

I actually think both Truffaut and Godard produced their best work during the French New Wave. Once the Wave was over, they went their separate ways, and their films became much weaker.

MadMan

10-27-2009, 04:55 AM

Bob Clark would be another. His two 1974 horror films show skill and perversity I don't think he would ever even look at again.Hey now A Christmas Story was great. Black Christmas is indeed also excellent, though.

M. Night ShyamalanHe started out great, and then trailed off, so I kind of agree.

Robert Rodriguez is the perfect choice.Despite being a fan of many of his movies, I agree. The guy has yet to make a great film.

Qrazy

10-27-2009, 05:35 AM

I think I can agree with this, though I love The Wild Child.

I actually think both Truffaut and Godard produced their best work during the French New Wave. Once the Wave was over, they went their separate ways, and their films became much weaker.

Yeah I like Small Change and Day for Night also but I don't think they're as good as his early stuff and he has a lot of other films which are perfectly adequate but could have been so much more inspired.

Dead & Messed Up

10-27-2009, 06:01 AM

How about George Lucas? Started out with the intriguing THX, the nostalgic American Graffiti, then the energetic Star Wars.

And then he made those goddamn prequels.

lovejuice

10-27-2009, 06:06 AM

M. Night Shyamalan owns the thread. So does Sam Mendes.

chrisnu

10-27-2009, 07:16 AM

Michael Winterbottom?

Benny Profane

10-27-2009, 01:30 PM

Richard Kelly.

balmakboor

10-27-2009, 01:37 PM

Richard Kelly.

When did he show promise?

Dukefrukem

10-27-2009, 01:38 PM

What about Brett Ratner? Money talks and Rush Hour were funny films.... the rest of his work is junk.

Benny Profane

10-27-2009, 02:08 PM

When did he show promise?

I take it you're not a Donnie Darko fan. I happen to love it.

balmakboor

10-27-2009, 02:40 PM

I take it you're not a Donnie Darko fan. I happen to love it.

Yeah, it didn't do much for me.

But wow! I just read some early reviews for The Box. I thought Kelly would take such a simple and interesting concept (as opposed to the complicated and clunky concept for Southland Tales) and find a way to redeem himself. But he seems to have found many ways to fuck it up.

Too bad, one of my daughters came up to me after seeing the trailer the other day and asked if I knew about this cool sounding new movie. She was fascinated by the moral dilemma it poses.

Grouchy

10-27-2009, 04:39 PM

haven't been in Argentina writing a 2,000-page novel
I'm not sure if this is a reference to something I don't get. Francis Ford Coppola?

Ezee E

10-27-2009, 05:24 PM

The Box strikes me as a way for him to pay off past debts. I haven't read reviews of it, but it looks like just about any hired director could have been behind it.

Watashi

10-27-2009, 06:07 PM

Just off the top of my head:

Sam Mendes
Baz Luhrman
Tony Kaye
Wolfgang Peterson
Neil Marshall
Alex Cox
Irvin Kershner
Philip Kaufman

balmakboor

10-27-2009, 06:19 PM

Alex Cox - YES
Philip Kaufman - NO

I think Kaufman more than lived up to his early potential with The Right Stuff and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. That he hasn't made much of consequence since falls more under the category of "falling off the map" rather than failing to get "on the map" in the first place.

That Cox never followed up Repo Man and Sid & Nancy with the masterpiece they promised is something that still makes me cry.

Ezee E

10-27-2009, 06:40 PM

Neil Marshall made a direct-to-DVD film better than nearly any other werewolf movie I can think of, and also what I may consider the best horror film this decade. Doomsday fell short, but I'm still seeing anything he does.

megladon8

10-27-2009, 06:47 PM

Wes Anderson

Dukefrukem

10-27-2009, 06:59 PM

speaking of the Wachowski Brothers, how come they don't have any upcoming projects??

Wes Anderson

:rolleyes:

Eleven

10-27-2009, 07:38 PM

That Cox never followed up Repo Man and Sid & Nancy with the masterpiece they promised is something that still makes me cry.

Straight to Hell and Walker are, if not as as good as those, still fun and subversive. Three Businessmen is slight but engaging thanks to the two leads (one of which is Cox himself). I've heard good things about Highway Patrolman. Even if his first two end up being his best, he's had an interesting run and provided a consistent vision.

Also, via Wikipedia:

Searchers 2.0 --named for, but in no way based on The Searchers -- ...marked his return to the comedy genre. A road movie and a revenge story, it tells of two actors, loosely based on and played by Del Zamora and Ed Pansullo, who travel from Los Angeles to a desert movie screening in Monument Valley in the hopes of avenging abuse inflicted on them by a cruel screenwriter, Fritz Frobisher (Sy Richardson)...

...For his next microfeature, he wrote a fresh attempt at a Repo follow-up, although it contained no recurring characters, so as to preserve Universal's rights to the original. Repo Chick was filmed entirely against a green screen, with backgrounds of digitial composites, live action shots, and miniatures matted in afterwards, to produce an artificial look. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Sept 9, 2009.

megladon8

10-27-2009, 07:44 PM

:rolleyes:

Explain?

Raiders

10-27-2009, 07:48 PM

Explain?

You first. I would say his third and fourth movies are better than his first two and his most recent (not counting Fantastic Mr. Fox) was still pretty good.

megladon8

10-27-2009, 07:51 PM

You first. I would say his third and fourth movies are better than his first two and his most recent (not counting Fantastic Mr. Fox) was still pretty good.

I felt The Royal Tenebaums was his peak.

His career looks like a plot chart for a novel.

Bottle Rocket - 6.5
Rushmore - 7
The Royal Tenenbaums - 10
The Life Aquatic - 7.5
The Darjeeling Limited - 6

I want more Royal Tenenbaums quality stuff.

Dukefrukem

10-27-2009, 07:53 PM

You first. I would say his third and fourth movies are better than his first two and his most recent (not counting Fantastic Mr. Fox) was still pretty good.

I would agree with you, although I have not seen Fox yet.

I feel Wes Anderson is such a cliche answer and was waiting for someone to post it.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (95)
The Royal Tenenbaums (94)
Rushmore (93)
Bottle Rocket (89)

Seeing how you liked RT Meg, I don't know how you didn't enjoy Life Aquatic or Rushmore.

megladon8

10-27-2009, 07:57 PM

I would agree with you, although I have not seen Fox yet.

I feel Wes Anderson is such a cliche answer and was waiting for someone to post it.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (95)
The Royal Tenenbaums (94)
Rushmore (93)
Bottle Rocket (89)

Seeing how you liked RT Meg, I don't know how you didn't enjoy Life Aquatic or Rushmore.

A cliché answer? That doesn't even make any sense.

And if you look at my scores, I did enjoy those movies. I just didn't love them. "Enjoy" doesn't just mean a rating of 8+.

Dukefrukem

10-27-2009, 08:02 PM

A cliché answer? That doesn't even make any sense.

And if you look at my scores, I did enjoy those movies. I just didn't love them. "Enjoy" doesn't just mean a rating of 8+.

Put it this way, he's a director that I assumed someone would put in this thread because of the praise most of his movies get on these forums. Someone like you, who would put his name down, who "enjoys" his movies, but feel he hasn't lived up to his promise? Now how does that make sense?

At what point does a director not live up to promise on a 1-10 scale? A 7? You want all his movies to be 10s??

megladon8

10-27-2009, 08:06 PM

Put it this way, he's a director that I assumed someone would put in this thread because of the praise most of his movies get on these forums. Someone like you, who would put his name down, who "enjoys" his movies, but feel he hasn't lived up to his promise? Now how does that make sense?

At what point does a director not live up to promise on a 1-10 scale? A 7? You want all his movies to be 10s??

When I know he's capable of something like The Royal Tenenbaums, yes, I would like more of his films to live up to that quality.

And The Fantastic Mr. Fox looks and sounds terrible.

Dukefrukem

10-27-2009, 08:10 PM

When I know he's capable of something like The Royal Tenenbaums, yes, I would like more of his films to live up to that quality.

And The Fantastic Mr. Fox looks and sounds terrible.

I believe his potential is staying relativity consistent. I'm a lover of his work and he needs to use Bill Murray more.

I will agree Fox does not look appealing whatsoever, but I'll go in open minded.

megladon8

10-27-2009, 08:13 PM

Grouchy

10-27-2009, 08:13 PM

balmakboor

10-27-2009, 08:46 PM

Like Eleven seems to be hinting at, Alex Cox's career has turned so much into obscurity that we can't be really sure that he's not living up to his promise - I mean, how many people have seen those two movies?

Good point. Other than his first two, I've only seen Straight to Hell (which lived up to its title) and Walker (which for me was a total botch of a fine idea).

lovejuice

10-27-2009, 10:28 PM

Baz Luhrman
Wolfgang Peterson

peterson is a good call. like proyas, he has turned into a hired director. both should be allowed to develop their own personal projects. i hope they still have "it" in them.

kinda disagree with luhrman. australia is a big disappointment, but he belongs more to an obscurity case. not to mention that he seems to be quite prominent in the theatre scene in his home island.

I think Kaufman more than lived up to his early potential with The Right Stuff and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. That he hasn't made much of consequence since falls more under the category of "falling off the map" rather than failing to get "on the map" in the first place.

and I love Henry and June.

Derek

10-27-2009, 10:49 PM

The Royal Tenenbaums is the only one of his films which I didn't get that annoyingly cutesy, indie-film faux-quirkiness from. Thankfully, he does it better than anyone else, but it's still there - particularly in Rushmore and The Darjeeling Limited.

Wow, I love RT, but I'd say it has more "cutesy, indie-film faux-quirkiness" than any of his other films.

Spun Lepton

10-27-2009, 11:11 PM

As far as horror directors go, I think Rob Zombie has a Great Film waiting for him somewhere. He just needs to get over this "it's gotta be BRUTAL" mentality that seems to go along with all his half-assed stories.

Dukefrukem

10-27-2009, 11:12 PM

Spun Lepton

10-27-2009, 11:25 PM

Tyrannosaurus Rex

Is it BRUTAL?
YEAAAAAH?
Motherfucker motherfucker YEEEAAAAHHH!!
It's gotta be brutal YEAH motherfucker YEAAAHH!!!
YEAAHH!!

Sycophant

10-27-2009, 11:40 PM

speaking of the Wachowski Brothers, how come they don't have any upcoming projects??

They've been pretty hands-on producers on Ninja Assassin.

Also, they made Speed Racer.

Also, El Mariachi is the best movie in the Mexico trilogy, but I still don't like it. The other Rodriguez films I've seen are better.