Directors who fell from grace

Stereomaniac

Well some artists do follow Sick Boy's unifying theory of human life. You've got it. Then you've not got it and you can't hack it anymore.

krudler

SVG wrote: »

I'm glad there's someone else who's hoping for a Shyamalan comeback. The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable and The Village are all (whatever about the rest of their faults) so beautifully directed. I've avoided his last three but the fact that his next film isn't written by him gives me some hope.

Shyamalan can frame a shot that looks excellent but he's one of the worst culprits of not acknowledging space outside of the camera frame, something that wrecks my head in movies like the village, scary monster no longer exists because it takes a step outside frame and the character cant see it, it makes no sense. Unbreakable is his masterpiece imo, a divisive ending but when viewed in its original concept as the first "act" of a three movie arc about a superhero it works really well. its a novel idea stretching whas usually shown in 45 mins or so in a comic book movie into a full 2hr film.

SVG

krudler wrote: »

Shyamalan can frame a shot that looks excellent but he's one of the worst culprits of not acknowledging space outside of the camera frame, something that wrecks my head in movies like the village, scary monster no longer exists because it takes a step outside frame and the character cant see it, it makes no sense.

Will have to keep an eye out for that, I'm very easily distracted (perhaps the fact that these tricks work on me means that I am in a Shyamalan film, what a twist that would be!).

SVG

SVG wrote: »

I'm glad there's someone else who's hoping for a Shyamalan comeback. The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable and The Village are all (whatever about the rest of their faults) so beautifully directed. I've avoided his last three but the fact that his next film isn't written by him gives me some hope.

He really is one of those directors who should work exclusively with scripts written by other people. He has a great visual style and can stage a great set piece, he's just a very mediocre writer who seems to think that it's gimmicks that gets bums on seats.

I watched The Double a few weeks back, the latest Richard Gere film and was pleasantly surprised that they let the cat out of the bag very early on. It's obvious from the title and brief synopsis I had read that someone was going to be a double agent but it was handled so well and introduced so early on that it became a successful plot device rather than some big end twist.

Sad Professor

I actually think Shyamalan has shown himself to be a very good writer and director. His later films are just a result of his out of control ego. In comparison, as big head-headed and indulgent as Tarantino is, he still has a healthy dose of insecurity that prevents him from getting too sloppy.

Raekwon

John McTiernan: The first four films that he directed included Predator, Die Hard & The Hunt For Red October.

He then went to ruin his whole reputation by directing massive flops like The Last Action Hero, 13th Warrior & Rollerball.

mr. goodbar

John Woo - What a great director of violence and brotherhood from Better Tomorrow up to Hard boiled, he was the king of action cinema. Bullet in the Head is a film that showed he could make films with a dark and that showed violence had a price. His masterpiece for me although The killer and Hard boiled run it close. After that he's made a great film in Face/off but everything else has gone from the ok (broken arrow and hard target) to downright awful (mission impossible 2) but Hollywood has ruined him sadly.Walter Hill- Yes he created the great Deadwood but a a film director who made classic's such as Southern Comfort, The Warriors, the Driver, 48 hours and The long riders. HE's gone on downward spiral the awful another 48 hours to Johnny handsome and Last Man Standing. But from 1975 to 82 he was the man.

blatantrereg

John Carpenter yeah His films where so clearly awesome that they knew to put "John Carpenter's" in front of the titles to distinguish them from future remakes.

George Lucas for reasons everybody already knows.

Dempsey

Raekwon wrote: »

John McTiernan: The first four films that he directed included Predator, Die Hard & The Hunt For Red October.

He then went to ruin his whole reputation by directing massive flops like The Last Action Hero, 13th Warrior & Rollerball.

That was actually a good film for what it intended to be. I think alot of people missed the point of the film tbh or expected it to be different, it was miles ahead of its time in most ways bar the kid who was annoying and should have been put to death.

DrumSteve

Can't believe no one has mentioned the great Michael Winner yet.

mike65

Michael Winner did have a "golden" (okay silver plate) era from 1964 to 1974 The System to Death Wish.

krudler

SVG wrote: »

Will have to keep an eye out for that, I'm very easily distracted (perhaps the fact that these tricks work on me means that I am in a Shyamalan film, what a twist that would be!).

there's a perfect example at 1min40 into this clip:

Joaquin Phoenix is walking along the porch, 2 seconds later the monster appears and doesnt see him, he would have been standing 5 feet away! its like stuff only exists when in the frame of the shot.

SVG

mr. goodbar wrote: »

John Woo - What a great director of violence and brotherhood from Better Tomorrow up to Hard boiled, he was the king of action cinema. Bullet in the Head is a film that showed he could make films with a dark and that showed violence had a price. His masterpiece for me although The killer and Hard boiled run it close. After that he's made a great film in Face/off but everything else has gone from the ok (broken arrow and hard target) to downright awful (mission impossible 2) but Hollywood has ruined him sadly.

Have you seen Red Cliff? It's great. I hope he never goes back to Hollywood.

Sad Professor

krudler wrote: »

Shyamalan can frame a shot that looks excellent but he's one of the worst culprits of not acknowledging space outside of the camera frame, something that wrecks my head in movies like the village, scary monster no longer exists because it takes a step outside frame and the character cant see it, it makes no sense.

Nolan is guilty of this as well. Like in TDK when Batman appears right next to the Joker during Dent's fundraiser.

p to the e

Raekwon wrote: »

John McTiernan: The first four films that he directed included Predator, Die Hard & The Hunt For Red October.

He then went to ruin his whole reputation by directing massive flops like The Last Action Hero, 13th Warrior & Rollerball.

He directed Die Hard with a Vengeance in between these as far as i remember but yeah, it was his only decent one surrounded by a load of poo. The whole prison thing wouldn't have helped either.

I think Costner should get a mention for going from Dances with Wolves to Waterworld and the awful Postman. He made a good go at a comeback though with Open Range.

SVG

krudler wrote: »

there's a perfect example at 1min40 into this clip:

Joaquin Phoenix is walking along the porch, 2 seconds later the monster appears and doesnt see him, he would have been standing 5 feet away! its like stuff only exists when in the frame of the shot.

Ha! That's amazing.

I suppose I never think about these things in films like that- like when Batman can appear and disappear out of nowhere. There's a certain suspension of disbelief.

mike65

krudler wrote: »

there's a perfect example at 1min40 into this clip:

Joaquin Phoenix is walking along the porch, 2 seconds later the monster appears and doesnt see him, he would have been standing 5 feet away! its like stuff only exists when in the frame of the shot.

Wonder does he storyboard, that process if done well catches errors of choreography, sequencing, cause/effect and so on.

Sad Professor

It's not a mistake. Directors do this deliberately. It's very common in horror films, but has become a cheap and overused trick.

SVG

Sad Professor wrote: »

It's not a mistake. Directors do this deliberately. It's very common in horror films, but has become a cheap and overused trick.

I think so too. It does make something seem kind of supernatural, like it can appear out of nowhere, which is appropriate here. It doesn't really stand up to scrutiny but that's a problem with the whole film.

foxyboxer

No mention of John Landis yet?

Some excellent and popular early movies in his career. Animal House, Blues Brothers, American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, Spies Like Us. Coming to America.

Then progressed onto rubbish like The Stupids and Blues Brothers 2000. It seems that his reputation was forever tarnished by the fatal accident during filming the Twilight Zone movie.

mike65

Sad Professor wrote: »

It's not a mistake. Directors do this deliberately. It's very common in horror films, but has become a cheap and overused trick.

SVG wrote: »

I think so too. It does make something seem kind of supernatural, like it can appear out of nowhere, which is appropriate here. It doesn't really stand up to scrutiny but that's a problem with the whole film.

Then there is no room for complaint, with the supernatural you can make it up as you go.

John Landis and Walter Hill (mentioned earlier) are both good examples. Prolifically good then prolifically poor with the odd moment.

mikhail

This must win the thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BMgegut3UM

Mickeroo

mike65 wrote: »

Then there is no room for complaint, with the supernatural you can make it up as you go.

If you've seen the village you'll know

they're not supernatural

:pac:

I was going to say Barry Levinson and Oliver Stone but they've already been mentioned. Michel Gondry is also a good example.

I think it happened to John Landis too, made some great films particularly The Blues Brothers and American Werewolf in London then went on to make some pretty poor films in the 90's and the last ten years.

Now that I think of it the majority of directors are guilty of this slump in the latter parts of their careers, very few have been consistent. Even the Coens had a slump before they returned to form with no country for old men.

Robert Rodriguez has also made some awful sh1te in the last few years, namely his kids movies but he still seems to be making decent enough adult b-movies.

Sad Professor

Bogdanovich is another. One of the best directors of the '70s, ultimately destroyed by his own egomania. He ended up doing tv movies for a few years and now he just does DVD commentary tracks and a bit of acting to pay the bills.

Theboinkmaster

Surprised nobody's mentioned Spielberg yet, hasn't made a great film in nearly 20 years, considering how high he set the bar.

Also the ultimate fall from grace - Troy Duffy what a goon. The documentary Overnight is well worth a watch

Sad Professor

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

Surprised nobody's mentioned Spielberg yet, hasn't made a great film in nearly 20 years, considering how high he set the bar.

Well the thread is about directors who fell from grace, not directors who everyone just got tired of. Spielberg has made plenty of good to excellent films in the last 20 years. I'd rank Catch Me If You, Munich and Minority Report amongst his best films.

Technocentral

Very surprised he hasn't been mentioned but Woody Allen must be the number one candidate surely? From around 1970 - 90 he made some of the funniest, smartest and downright entertaining films ever made, (Annie Hall is the funniest film ever and Crimes and Misdemeanor's the best mixture of comedy and tragedy in any film ever IMO) then he started his downhill descent to utter crap like The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Midnight In Paris is only a slight return to former glories.

Technocentral

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

Surprised nobody's mentioned Spielberg yet, hasn't made a great film in nearly 20 years, considering how high he set the bar.

Also the ultimate fall from grace - Troy Duffy what a goon. The documentary Overnight is well worth a watch

Nonsense, He made four of his best in the last 20 years:

2005 Munich
2002 Minority Report
1998 Saving Private Ryan
1993 Schindler's List

Nolanger

No mention of John Boorman? Is it because he lives here or no-one knows any of his stuff? Like a lot of directors mentioned his best work was from the early 1970s. Has made some awful things over the years including Exorcist 2 and Tiger's tail.

OldeCinemaSoz

When William Friedkin decided to re colour co-ordinate
THE FRENCH CONNECTION for BR, my respect was lost.

:mad: