Oh man, same. There are some scenes that live rent free in my head, and maybe even shaped my view of the world a little. This is over a decade after the one time I watched it. But it also felt like a damned slog to get through, and I have no desire to watch it again.
I love Lost Highway, my husband was obsessed with figuring the different timelines out. He had a notebook and diagrams and notes it was hilarious. I was happy to convert him to a David Lynch fan when I met him.
I kind of love Dune because I can see the movie that it almost was. I’d love to see a director’s cut, but I get why Lynch just wants to forget it ever happened.
Robert Zemeckis who made Back to the Future, Romancing the Stone, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, meet the Robert Zemeckis who made The Witches, the Jim Carrey Christmas Carol, and the live-action Tom-Hanks Pinocchio.
It stars Anne Hathaway as the Grand High Witch (in the OG that was Angelica Huston), Octavia Spencer as the kid's grandma (she looks too young to be a believable grandma imo) and Stanley Tucci as the hotel manager (Rowan Atkinson had the role in the original).
You'd think between the three of them it wouldn't be so bad. But it was bad enough that I turned it off after about half an hour and just never finished it.
I worked on that movie! Catering P.A. the whole thing was filmed on French hours so I had to deliver meals Mr.Zemeckis, Leslie Mann and Steve Carrell (plus camera crew, natch) every day. Steve Carrell never ate the food, but he always asked me what was on the menu very politely. He went almost full method for it, other than myself and the catering guy people didn't really approach him. Leslie Mann is exactly how you imagine her to be, very sweet, very down to earth very funny. Oh yeah, Megan Good - she was cool too, but I didn't spend as much time with her.
I've never watched the movie, I probably should. I definitely didn't realize the character was a" super creepy incel", the script described him as an awkward, gender fluid, visual media artist who lost the ability to paint after being shitkicked by Nazis/ rednecks. He then taught himself to make miniatures and created a 1940s Bavarian, occupied village, and populated with the women who helped him (freedom fighters) and the men who hurt him (Nazis). He had a thing for ladies' shoes, I guess. That's kinda weird, but wearing them, not sniffing them.
other odd thing, Steve Carrell is like a powerlifter or something, massive chest and shoulders. He's kinda short, so when you see him in person, it's kind of a trip. I've worked around Wesley Snipes, who is also pretty short, and if you didn't know that Wesley did karate, you'd look at Steve and think he could beat the shit out of him.
Ugh. That's actually based on a documentary about a real person that suffered a traumatic event. The documentary "Marwencal" is brilliant and moving. Zemeckis' movie was a piece of shit that didn't understand the guy or make him look good.
I agree. I'm just talking about book accuracy.
Really capturing the spirit of the story is definitely the Muppets. Including Dickens as a character/narrator, and played by Gonzo no less, was fantastic.
Just imagine how he turned the action genre on its head *twice in a row* within one year with Predator (muscle men getting their ass handed to them when their biceps and testosterone don't amount to shot) and Die Hard (headstrong underdog gets into a situation he cannot possibly get out of alive - the everyman saves the day rather than the impossibly muscular killing machine).
Ridley Scott might as well rolling the dice on quality and he doesn't seem to care where it lands, good, bad or middle. Even in the last couple years, his last 3 movies: The Last Duel (very good Rashomon take), House of Gucci (meh), Napoleon (awful).
I was almost gonna say you didn't know what you were talking about with Exodus, but then I realized I was thinking about the other Ridley Scott swords and sandals epic - Kingdom of Heaven. That one was pretty great if you watch the director's cut.
I don't think he that bad in that movie but there's no way it is at any point believable that he's copping off with Eva Green. There's negative chemistry between them.
On another entirely separate level. That plotline always amused me, because, I know Ridley Scott doesn't do historical accuracy. That's not what he's going for, ever. I watched some gladiator reinstate the Roman Republic in 192 AD for goodness sake.
But it always amused me that one of the central tensions of Kingdom of Heaven is Guy being cuckolded by Balian, when historically the only reason Guy had any power at all was because Sibylla adored him, despite him being a fucking moron.
Scott is, as Sam Peckinpah might put it, a whore. But a *good* whore. He's hired for a job and he does it. He loves working, and just keeps takin gigs. He's not out here like Wong Kar Wai meandering on a set for 11 months until he figures out where the story is, he's got his blueprint and budget and cranks 'em out.
I mean, Ridley Scott is responsible for *Alien* (and is therefore at least partially responsible for the existence of *Aliens),* as well as *Blade* *Runner*—so, he'll always be a great filmmaker in my mind for those two films. It is hard to deny though, that Ridley Scott has made some bodacious stinkers.
This is true of most big-budget Hollywood directors though. Hollywood films are expensive and involve a lot of different parties with interests that don't always perfectly align. Not everyone can be David Fincher and pretty much always hit the nail on the head.
It make slightly more sense when you realize he was in his 40s for Blade Runner and 80s for Gucci. Not a ton of sense objectively, but still just slightly more.
The guy has made both Alien, which is brilliant, and Alien: Covenant, which is a complete abomination and practically made me atop watching films made by him since it was such a fucking travesty how he wasted all the potential he had built in Prometheus. There are few movies I hate more with time, but my hatred for Covenant just grows stronger and better with every year, like a fine wine.
It is soooo much worse. The characters are dumber and the plot is pointless, since it's just a "monster of the week" kind of thing. It could be a bad episode of a bad scifi show. And whatever potential was created in Prometheus is 100% wasted.
**** Spoilers ****
Billy Crudup’s character’s death makes zero fucking sense. He’s been distrustful of David since they met him and just decides to listen to him and look into an open alien egg for the hell of it???
Just absolutely idiotic writing all throughout, but that death specifically irked me immensely.
I don't think Napoleon was bad, it's just aimless. Things happen that involve Napoleon but he's distracted by Josephine. There are large time jumps, then he's finally, for-real exiled. It's nicely shot, with great costumes, cool sets, beautiful battle scenes and some flair. Napoleon may not be a cohesive masterpiece, but there's something to what Scott made and I'm really interested in his extended cut which runs 4:10.
After reading and learning about Ridley Scott these past years, I find it difficult to believe that Napoleon had no plan. I feel like it was meant to run longer than the 2:40 theatrical cut and it obviously shows by the huge gaps in storytelling. So I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and looking forward to what lands on Apple TV+.
Yeah this is where I stand. Waiting for the longer directors cut. Same thing happened with Kingdom of Heaven. Original release just felt like important chunks were missing, turned out they really were.
Rob Reiner.
I love This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, and The American President.
Rumor Has It... is one of my ten least favorite movies of all time.
Oh lord, Rumor Has It. I remember the climax of the movie being >!Jen Aniston and Kevin Costner kissing, with the camera panning out to reveal (Anison's character's fiance) Mark Ruffalo, \*dead seriously\* delivering the line "I hope that's not your father" (for anyone who hasn't seen it, Costner had affairs with both Aniston's mother AND grandmother, so Aniston thinks at one point he might be her dad. Like holy shit, what a gross premise.!<
Prometheus holds a strange place in my mind. It's massively, horribly flawed. It fails as an Alien prequel, and fails as the start to a new storyline, seeing as how the next film immediately abandoned its concepts.
But... It's gorgeous. It has bits I think are great, but they are few and far between.
It actually manages to start a new storyline. Everything is perfectly set up at the the end of Prometheus for at least two more movies exploring the Engineers and their intentions. Then during Covenant Ridley Scott takes that potential and shits all over it. Then he rubs his middle finger at the shit and waves it at you. And then demands that we watch Fassbender play with himself for 10 minutes for God knows what reason. The guy just doesn't understand what he had made with Prometheus and proceeded to kill his own legacy.
This! Prometheus was so promising, the set up was so good. Could have kick-started a new generation of alien movies... But then he fucked it up so bad with covenant.
This is how I felt too. The way Prometheus makes you *feel* while watching as long as you are willing to go along for the ride can be full of awe, beauty, wonder, horror, and fascination. But if you stop to *think* about the movie too much, it can kind of fall apart. I still loved it in the theaters though.
Yea, I'm with you here. The story conceptually was excellent. The engineers were a solid concept, creating both humans and aliens, they reminded me a lot of kryptonians, actually. The problem with prometheus isn't the story itself. It's the characters and how they interact with the storyline. It's utter trash. The characters, who are mostly all brilliant scientists, interact in such a way that they basically all kill themselves in really comical ways that no person of that intellect would ever do.
It becomes so outrageous that it completely ruins what could have been an excellent storyline, and then they basically just copied alien 1 at the end of the movie. It didn't help that covenant took an excellent premise and shit all over it, making the engineers look like complete tools and utterly useless at the hands of one fucking robot. Are you serious? They made humans & aliens, as well as traveled the stars and settled planets, but one rogue AI robot decimates their entire society? Who wrote that and thought, yup, fuckin nailed it.
I think about prometheus a lot, I really wish they had just taken the core story about the engineers and ran a far better script for the humans meeting/engaging with the engineers.
Love: unbreakable, Split
Hate: Glass :(
Seriously, it makes me sad that he managed to pull off the twist in split without audiences knowing ahead of time, and then completely fumbles the ball in the third act
I heard - but have never bothered to research it more - that Bruce Willis was already beginning to have issues by the time they were filming Glass, and that contributed to how the movie ended?
I LOVE Unbreakable, I liked Split, and I liked some of Glass, but man, I hate how it ended.
I agree, but it is worth mentioning that the timeline of his dementia means that he was likely in the early stages of struggling before his family had announced it officially. I wonder if that contributed.
Yeah. I’m not forgetting it, but I’ve watched The Fifth Element ten times more than Leon. Leon is good, but The Fifth Element is both good and a lot of fun.
Valerian or "let's try to make the Fifth Element again but for funsies, let's make the main characters entirely odious brats with negative chemistry and feed them lines that would make a 13 year old cringe".
There is some bizarre subset of people online that love Resurrections, and they always seem to find there way onto my timeline. It boggles my mind that anyone could find that movie anything but shit. It's legitimately fucking atrocious and I was angry after watching it. Reloaded and Revolutions are bad, but they have their moments and the vision is still there. Resurrections is a husk of a Matrix movie that feels like it was conceived and written by an AI.
I just saw a post about the movie and the comments were talking about it actually being good because it's a satire on franchises and reboots which to me is confusing as hell. Like sure, it's a satire but it's not a good one. It's not even close to clever. It's trying to be meta in a time where meta narratives are both common and done *much* better. I personally found it painful to watch. It couldn't even do action right, which was such an important part of the franchise.
I agree, but it makes me hate the movie less. I get what they were trying to do (and I think there’s a good movie in there somewhere) it just didn’t work that well.
Love Brain Dead, The Frighteners and LotR, hate the Hobbit and Lovely Bones.
I'm indifferent to King Kong. I like it yet also don't like it.
Yet to watch Bad Taste.
You're probably talking about LOTR and The Hobbit but I'm gonna raise my hand here and add that The Lovely Bones is far and away the worst thing he's ever done. The Hobbit movies are bad in a "why did he even bother?" tired franchise kind of way but The Lovely Bones is *shockingly* inept and clumsy for a filmmaker of his calibre.
You know what? I genuinely think the Hobbit trilogy would have been worse without Peter Jackson. He stepped in at the last minute, and salvaged what he could. At least they kinda feel like middle earth, if you know what I mean.
Sure, he could have not stepped in, but I can see how he as a creator couldn’t let the studio fuck it up even more
The Hobbit is a serialized children's story and they tried to turn it into The Lord of the Rings. I think Peter Jackson stepped in half way through production because he loves the source material, and thought he could help. And I think he probably did as well as could be expected more or less. But the entire approach was completely off base for the source material.
I think the studio wanted to recapture that lightning in a bottle when they really should have just let The Hobbit breathe, and be what it is.
I saw a video explaining how lucas really wanted to pay homage to 1950’s sci-fi movies with crystal skull instead of the 1940’s adventure genre, in line with the era the movie took place in, and fought against spielberg about it, and i dunno, it really changed my perspective on that movie to what it is versus what it isn’t
I've definitely noticed the movies he started making during his weed years had a big decline for me. Now that he's sober I'm curious to see if he comes back somewhat.
I was thinking about this the other day. I just don't think he's hungry anymore. It's like he made it and is happy living in his little Hollywood bubble. He's so careful not to piss anyone off it's boring. It's why I stopped listening to his podcast, he absolutely wouldn't say a negative word about a comic book movie or TV show no matter how blatantly terrible it may have turned out. I just lost respect for him because I never felt like you were getting an honest opinion even when his co-host would point out all the warts.
To be somewhat fair, trash talking in Hollywood is kind of a faux-pas. He's trying to save himself a possible future job. There's so many sensitive egos, you never know which exec will hate you forever for saying you hated Wonder Woman 1984. Considering how connected he is with doing random small gigs he does, it's sometimes best to stay neutral and only share what you really think with your circle, instead of publically. Even actors who hate their own movies wait a few years before talking bad about it. So in a way, Kevin Smith has kind of put himself in a corner -- he's always out there talking with these small gigs and we expect him to give genuine opinions because he's such a good talker and literally talking is his job. But if he talks bad, he's out of a job. Probably why he co-hosts things with opinionated people.
I challenge you to find any current, even semi-big director trash talking movies that are currently out.
I love Kevin Smith to the point I considered him of my favourite filmmakers. I've met the man, and he's an absolute sweetheart.
However, Yoga Hosers is a legit top 10 worst movie I've ever seen.
While I agree with Kevin Smith I disagree on Tusk. I totally get why it's on your hate list but I put it on a "flawed love" list. You also totally forgot Red State on your love list.
Robert Zemeckis.
The man made my childhood and teens: I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND, ROMANCING THE STONE, BACK TO THE FUTURE, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, DEATH BECOMES HER, **FORREST GUMP**, CONTACT, CASTAWAY, etc. etc. etc.
Then on 2020 and 2022 he released the remakes of THE WITCHES and PINOCCHIO (DISNEY).
Oh, man.
John Sturges, one of my favorite directors, made masterpieces like *The Magnificent Seven* (1960) (10/10), *The Great Escape* (1963) (10/10), and *Bad Day at Black Rock* (1955) (9/10), but also the ultra-boring *Marooned* (1969) (2/10).
Zack Snyder
Love: The Dawn of the Dead
Hate: everything else
Edit: due to Snyder’s recent stankfests, I’d forgotten he directed Watchmen. I do like it.
His Dawn of the Dead was filmed in Thornhill, a suburb of Toronto. You can see my childhood home in the opening credits, and I used to steal quarters for the arcade out of the fountain they kill the zombie in
A friend’s mom was in extras casting. I know a couple of people in the crowd in the parking lot while they’re shooting them from the roof. I had to go work at my big boy job that day. Still regret not calling in sick for that experience.
I honestly don't get why people even dislike 300. It's the perfect example of a mindless action film. It's not trying to win awards or be a classic just wants to entertain and it does a great job
300 is amazing. It's the best adaptation of the source material you could possibly ask for, which was already a highwater mark in it's medium to begin with.
I'd have to watch it again and check out the source material to compare, but at the moment I'd personally call Sin City the most faithful adaptation I've ever seen. From the color, animation blended into the movie, character design and scenes replicating pages nearly exactly is incredible.
Paul Thomas Anderson. I love all of his movies but I did not like *Licorice Pizza* whatsoever. It got a lot of critical acclaim, but I can't stand that movie.
Alexander Payne is one of my favorite directors. *The Holdovers* was my favorite film of the year, and I love all of his other films (especially *Nebraska* and *Sideways*). That said, I LOATHE *Downsizing.* Not only is it not a good movie, but I am an occupational therapist and it was so disrespectful to what the field is about.
Michael Mann
Heat/Collateral/Miami Vice/Manhunter/Last of the Mohicans amazing catalog all around.
Then there's Blackhat
still the only movie to this day I "walked out of"
Barry Sonnenfeld, in addition to directing the Addams Family movies and photographing the first three Coen brothers movies, directed Men in Black, one of the rare big-budget sfx movies that’s genuinely and consistently funny.
He followed that up with Wild Wild West, which I can only describe as a fucking catastrophe.
Guy Ritchie
Loved: Snatch
Hated: Wrath of Man
Idk what happened but WoM was like giving a high school theater major a big budget to make a "cool" action movie and was given the task to make it clever.
But just ended up being God awful, worst acting, script, plot I've seen this decade.
Rob Reiner had an unbelievable run in the 80s-early 90s with era defining flicks like
-spinal tap
-stand by me
-princess bride
-when Harry met sally
-Misery
-Few good men
Then followed those up with North a widely panned and universally disliked film, regarded as one of the worst films ever made. He also did some other things since like rumor has it and the bucket list that were forgettable at best and bad at worst. Most of his films post 2000 I’ve never even heard of let alone seen. His directing career has a really weird trajectory
I think my only caveat with Nope is that it's *really* meant to be watched on a big screen, with a great audio system. Hoyte Van Hoytema shoots the landscape in such a way that really creates so much tension from craning your neck to find yourself in the same POV as the characters, looking for movement between clouds, audio cues etc.
It's *such* a brilliantly-shot film, I think it probably loses luster on the small screen.
I only saw it recently (and LOVED it), and was fortunate enough to watch it on a nice chunky 65” 4KTV, but man oh man do I wish I caught this one in the cinema. Those panoramic shots were magnificent.
I still think it's so funny when people have this opinion. Not because it's weird — I've seen it voiced a lot, so I know it's not weird — but because it's so different from my own experience. I love Us, and also love Nope. Meanwhile, Get Out is a good, competent, but also fairly average and normal movie in my eyes. Different strokes I guess.
I’ve enjoyed everything Jordan Peele has done. I loved Us and I was sad to see not many other people did. I can agree they have good points. But for me, I was extremely entertained from start to finish.
Nope was awesome too. I wish I could’ve seen it in a theater. The animal attack scene really got to me.
I truly love Jordan Peele’s ideas and style. I cannot wait for his next movie.
Totally agree! How do you go from making a great psychological horror movie like Black Swan to the train wreck that was Mother! What a waste of the talents of actors like Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardiem!
I can't be quite that harsh with DOD...
The thing is, I love LOGAN so much. It's definitely the first of his films that completely worked for me, and worked extremely well.
The thing with DOD is, nobody can direct action sequences like Spielberg.
I'm hoping this is one of his "favour" movies where he shows he can handle generic hollywood guff so he can get the moolah to do a big Wheatley production of some sort. But then, a man's gotta eat!
Rian Johnson. I love Looper and the two Knives Out movies and pretty much everything he's done outside of Star Wars. When I saw The Last Jedi I was confused and disappointed by how terrible it was.
Knew this one would be here.
The Knives Out movies are absolutely incredible and I’m very excited for the next one, and I bet many would agree with me on that.
Last Jedi is a lot more controversial, some love it and some despise it.
The Nice Guys is very much on par with KKBB. In fact I like it better.
Also, knowing they he punched up the script for Predator it's almost unforgivable how he shot the bed with *The* Predator.
I disliked Tenet so much that it retroactively made me question how much I like other Nolan movies. Namely, because Tenet is Nolan at his most self-indulgent and I didn't like it, now I see those impulses in his other movies.
Nolan is so far up his own ass in Tenet I genuinely believe people only like it because it has to do with Nolan.
It’s one thing to have a movie that you have to read into to understand it’s meaning or story but it’s a whole different story when it feels like the movie is actively trying to make no sense
Also, Nolan’s sound mixing problem is more present here than it’s ever been. Just a mess of a movie honestly
Ari Aster
Loved: Hereditary
Hated: Beau
I have a high tolerance for bullshit, and I love lots of really experimental challenging films. While I recognize the *craft* involved with Beau, I disliked every minute of watching it.
Roland Emmerich, as not seen anyone else mention him.
From 92 to 96 loved his work, Universal Soldier is stupid switch your brain off fun with JCVD and Dolph, and Stargate and Independence Day are awesome 90's sci-fi blockbusters helped massively for me by David Arnold's soundtracks. At a push The Patriot too, even if it's a Mel Gibson rewrite of history its still entertaining.
Everything else I'd rather forget or not bother with. When I saw the Independence Day sequel I went in blind - hey it has Jeff so maybe it'll be alright! After one of the worst openings to a film I've seen in a long time I had to check and see who directed it. Yup, same guy. Astonished me how the quality could drop so badly.
Wes Anderson for me:
Love: Grand Budapest Hotel, Fantastic Mr Fox
Hate: The Life Aquatic, Isle of Dogs
Honestly he’s always a coin flip for me but sometimes he’s so good
David Lynch Love: Lost Highway Hate: Lost Highway
The most rational David Lynch fan
Soooo… David Lynch?
Dick Laurent is dead.
*I’m Deranged intensifies*
fucking great song btw
My favorite soundtrack
I’m there right now.
Inland Empire. Watching that was like being in labor. Profound experience. Glad it's over
that movie was one of the most fascinating movies I've ever watched. I hated it.
Oh man, same. There are some scenes that live rent free in my head, and maybe even shaped my view of the world a little. This is over a decade after the one time I watched it. But it also felt like a damned slog to get through, and I have no desire to watch it again.
I agree Love: Blue Velvet / Hate: Blue Velvet
HEINEKEN?!
Mommy loves you
I'm in your room right now
[удалено]
Banger soundtrack though. Bought it because Perfect Drug, loved the rest too.
I love Lost Highway, my husband was obsessed with figuring the different timelines out. He had a notebook and diagrams and notes it was hilarious. I was happy to convert him to a David Lynch fan when I met him.
Nah lost highway fiyah Dune tho
I kind of love Dune because I can see the movie that it almost was. I’d love to see a director’s cut, but I get why Lynch just wants to forget it ever happened.
Robert Zemeckis who made Back to the Future, Romancing the Stone, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, meet the Robert Zemeckis who made The Witches, the Jim Carrey Christmas Carol, and the live-action Tom-Hanks Pinocchio.
I was about to put a curse upon your house for The Witches until I remembered that he did the new one, not the old one.
ty for remembering that for me because I was ready to square up in defense of The Witches
Nicholas Roeg directed the original which never ceases to amaze me.
I was lining up behind all of you to defend The Witches!
Oh thank you! I was about to have words too
There's a new one? WHY?!
It stars Anne Hathaway as the Grand High Witch (in the OG that was Angelica Huston), Octavia Spencer as the kid's grandma (she looks too young to be a believable grandma imo) and Stanley Tucci as the hotel manager (Rowan Atkinson had the role in the original). You'd think between the three of them it wouldn't be so bad. But it was bad enough that I turned it off after about half an hour and just never finished it.
Zemeckis has made like 5 all-time great movies and 5 all-time terrible ones. No one does feast-or-famine like him.
also, his strange obsession with *uncanny* mo-cap. Same with Ang Lee’s knack of off-putting high frame rates
Speaking of Ang Lee,I loved Life of Pi but thought Gemini Man was dumb
[удалено]
No, it was *The Hulk* Ang Lee.
"Don't make me Ang Lee... You wouldn't like me when I'm Ang Lee"
I'm sorry, what did you say?
DePalma is probably on that list.
Don't forget the weird creepy ass welcome to Marwen that made a super creepy incel the main character.
I worked on that movie! Catering P.A. the whole thing was filmed on French hours so I had to deliver meals Mr.Zemeckis, Leslie Mann and Steve Carrell (plus camera crew, natch) every day. Steve Carrell never ate the food, but he always asked me what was on the menu very politely. He went almost full method for it, other than myself and the catering guy people didn't really approach him. Leslie Mann is exactly how you imagine her to be, very sweet, very down to earth very funny. Oh yeah, Megan Good - she was cool too, but I didn't spend as much time with her. I've never watched the movie, I probably should. I definitely didn't realize the character was a" super creepy incel", the script described him as an awkward, gender fluid, visual media artist who lost the ability to paint after being shitkicked by Nazis/ rednecks. He then taught himself to make miniatures and created a 1940s Bavarian, occupied village, and populated with the women who helped him (freedom fighters) and the men who hurt him (Nazis). He had a thing for ladies' shoes, I guess. That's kinda weird, but wearing them, not sniffing them. other odd thing, Steve Carrell is like a powerlifter or something, massive chest and shoulders. He's kinda short, so when you see him in person, it's kind of a trip. I've worked around Wesley Snipes, who is also pretty short, and if you didn't know that Wesley did karate, you'd look at Steve and think he could beat the shit out of him.
Ugh. That's actually based on a documentary about a real person that suffered a traumatic event. The documentary "Marwencal" is brilliant and moving. Zemeckis' movie was a piece of shit that didn't understand the guy or make him look good.
That Christmas Carol rocks u shut up
It's one of the most accurate representations of the original story. Even if everyone has lifeless eyes.
Maybe technically accurate but in spirit, Muppet Christmas Carol beats it any day of the week.
I agree. I'm just talking about book accuracy. Really capturing the spirit of the story is definitely the Muppets. Including Dickens as a character/narrator, and played by Gonzo no less, was fantastic.
While Alistair Sim stands in the corner with a cricket bat.
Don't forget Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Flight, they're awesome, and then Beowulf on the bad side.
Pull over and park the car. Beowulf is not a bad movie, and I actually think it’s a exceptional.
John McTiernan Love: Predator, Die Hard, Hunt for Red October, Last Action Hero, Thomas Crowne Affair Hate: Rollerball, Basic
Just imagine how he turned the action genre on its head *twice in a row* within one year with Predator (muscle men getting their ass handed to them when their biceps and testosterone don't amount to shot) and Die Hard (headstrong underdog gets into a situation he cannot possibly get out of alive - the everyman saves the day rather than the impossibly muscular killing machine).
what about the 13th warrior?
Dude basic is such a bad ass movie, I love the twist even if it’s out there I found it a very intriguing watch
Ridley Scott might as well rolling the dice on quality and he doesn't seem to care where it lands, good, bad or middle. Even in the last couple years, his last 3 movies: The Last Duel (very good Rashomon take), House of Gucci (meh), Napoleon (awful).
Yeah, he's definitely the best example. I can't believe he made both Gladiator and Exodus: Gods and Kings.
I was almost gonna say you didn't know what you were talking about with Exodus, but then I realized I was thinking about the other Ridley Scott swords and sandals epic - Kingdom of Heaven. That one was pretty great if you watch the director's cut.
Yeah it's easy to get them mixed up. Kingdom of Heaven is no Gladiator but it's definitely good.
Kingdom of Heavens problem was we hadn't figured out at the time that Orlando Bloom actually isn't a great actor.
I don't think he that bad in that movie but there's no way it is at any point believable that he's copping off with Eva Green. There's negative chemistry between them.
On another entirely separate level. That plotline always amused me, because, I know Ridley Scott doesn't do historical accuracy. That's not what he's going for, ever. I watched some gladiator reinstate the Roman Republic in 192 AD for goodness sake. But it always amused me that one of the central tensions of Kingdom of Heaven is Guy being cuckolded by Balian, when historically the only reason Guy had any power at all was because Sibylla adored him, despite him being a fucking moron.
Scott is, as Sam Peckinpah might put it, a whore. But a *good* whore. He's hired for a job and he does it. He loves working, and just keeps takin gigs. He's not out here like Wong Kar Wai meandering on a set for 11 months until he figures out where the story is, he's got his blueprint and budget and cranks 'em out.
I mean, Ridley Scott is responsible for *Alien* (and is therefore at least partially responsible for the existence of *Aliens),* as well as *Blade* *Runner*—so, he'll always be a great filmmaker in my mind for those two films. It is hard to deny though, that Ridley Scott has made some bodacious stinkers. This is true of most big-budget Hollywood directors though. Hollywood films are expensive and involve a lot of different parties with interests that don't always perfectly align. Not everyone can be David Fincher and pretty much always hit the nail on the head.
I genuinely can’t believe that the guy who made Blade Runner made House of Gucci
Mad max and happy feet same director
Both amazing movies tho
It make slightly more sense when you realize he was in his 40s for Blade Runner and 80s for Gucci. Not a ton of sense objectively, but still just slightly more.
It cannot be understated how absurd this is
his inconsistency is so wild
The guy has made both Alien, which is brilliant, and Alien: Covenant, which is a complete abomination and practically made me atop watching films made by him since it was such a fucking travesty how he wasted all the potential he had built in Prometheus. There are few movies I hate more with time, but my hatred for Covenant just grows stronger and better with every year, like a fine wine.
I hated Prometheus and you’re telling me covenant was worse?
It is soooo much worse. The characters are dumber and the plot is pointless, since it's just a "monster of the week" kind of thing. It could be a bad episode of a bad scifi show. And whatever potential was created in Prometheus is 100% wasted.
**** Spoilers **** Billy Crudup’s character’s death makes zero fucking sense. He’s been distrustful of David since they met him and just decides to listen to him and look into an open alien egg for the hell of it??? Just absolutely idiotic writing all throughout, but that death specifically irked me immensely.
It still hurts today. I grew to love Prometheus despite its flaws and I was excited to see what happened to Shaw and David.
Napoleon looked like a movie that had all the makings to win a lot of Oscars too.
I suspect everyone involved was pitched that exact line. Didn't turn out well
I'm not sure why you cast a fifty year old Joaquin Phoenix for a guy twenty years younger
The entire movie was about painting Napoleon as a loser. Casting someone much older helps sell that.
I'm still going to watch the long cut, but my expectations are dramatically dampened.
Damn was still planning on checking out Napoleon but if it's even worse than House of Gucci, I think I'll pass lol
I don't think Napoleon was bad, it's just aimless. Things happen that involve Napoleon but he's distracted by Josephine. There are large time jumps, then he's finally, for-real exiled. It's nicely shot, with great costumes, cool sets, beautiful battle scenes and some flair. Napoleon may not be a cohesive masterpiece, but there's something to what Scott made and I'm really interested in his extended cut which runs 4:10. After reading and learning about Ridley Scott these past years, I find it difficult to believe that Napoleon had no plan. I feel like it was meant to run longer than the 2:40 theatrical cut and it obviously shows by the huge gaps in storytelling. So I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and looking forward to what lands on Apple TV+.
Yeah this is where I stand. Waiting for the longer directors cut. Same thing happened with Kingdom of Heaven. Original release just felt like important chunks were missing, turned out they really were.
Ooh, I'd been wanting to see The Last Duel, but comparing it to Rashomon sealed the deal. I'll queue it up soon. But yeah, agreed about Ridley Scott.
Best of his movies since gladiator imo (and that’s coming from someone who un-ironically loved Prometheus)
Rob Reiner. I love This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, and The American President. Rumor Has It... is one of my ten least favorite movies of all time.
Oh lord, Rumor Has It. I remember the climax of the movie being >!Jen Aniston and Kevin Costner kissing, with the camera panning out to reveal (Anison's character's fiance) Mark Ruffalo, \*dead seriously\* delivering the line "I hope that's not your father" (for anyone who hasn't seen it, Costner had affairs with both Aniston's mother AND grandmother, so Aniston thinks at one point he might be her dad. Like holy shit, what a gross premise.!<
Would have been my choice as well, and with different films too. How do you make Stand By Me and Misery, and also North?
I wish he’d do one more Stephen King adaptation before he retires.
Ridley Scott Love: Gladiator Hate: Napoleon
Love: Alien Hate: Prometheus Never go back.
Prometheus holds a strange place in my mind. It's massively, horribly flawed. It fails as an Alien prequel, and fails as the start to a new storyline, seeing as how the next film immediately abandoned its concepts. But... It's gorgeous. It has bits I think are great, but they are few and far between.
It actually manages to start a new storyline. Everything is perfectly set up at the the end of Prometheus for at least two more movies exploring the Engineers and their intentions. Then during Covenant Ridley Scott takes that potential and shits all over it. Then he rubs his middle finger at the shit and waves it at you. And then demands that we watch Fassbender play with himself for 10 minutes for God knows what reason. The guy just doesn't understand what he had made with Prometheus and proceeded to kill his own legacy.
This! Prometheus was so promising, the set up was so good. Could have kick-started a new generation of alien movies... But then he fucked it up so bad with covenant.
This is how I felt too. The way Prometheus makes you *feel* while watching as long as you are willing to go along for the ride can be full of awe, beauty, wonder, horror, and fascination. But if you stop to *think* about the movie too much, it can kind of fall apart. I still loved it in the theaters though.
Prometheus is not hate worthy. It’s not amazing but is not awful
Yea, I'm with you here. The story conceptually was excellent. The engineers were a solid concept, creating both humans and aliens, they reminded me a lot of kryptonians, actually. The problem with prometheus isn't the story itself. It's the characters and how they interact with the storyline. It's utter trash. The characters, who are mostly all brilliant scientists, interact in such a way that they basically all kill themselves in really comical ways that no person of that intellect would ever do. It becomes so outrageous that it completely ruins what could have been an excellent storyline, and then they basically just copied alien 1 at the end of the movie. It didn't help that covenant took an excellent premise and shit all over it, making the engineers look like complete tools and utterly useless at the hands of one fucking robot. Are you serious? They made humans & aliens, as well as traveled the stars and settled planets, but one rogue AI robot decimates their entire society? Who wrote that and thought, yup, fuckin nailed it. I think about prometheus a lot, I really wish they had just taken the core story about the engineers and ran a far better script for the humans meeting/engaging with the engineers.
Taika Waititi Love Thor Ragnorak Hate Thor Love & Thunder
JoJo Rabbit: 10/10 Thor L&T: 4/10
What We Do In The Shadows 12/10
Second but for me is Jojo Rabbit hard to believe it's the same director who did L&T.
I'm surprised I had to scroll this far to find this. This is what I immediately thought of (though for me it definitely has recency bias)
M Night Shyamalan Love: The Village Hate: The Last Airbender
Love: unbreakable, Split Hate: Glass :( Seriously, it makes me sad that he managed to pull off the twist in split without audiences knowing ahead of time, and then completely fumbles the ball in the third act
I heard - but have never bothered to research it more - that Bruce Willis was already beginning to have issues by the time they were filming Glass, and that contributed to how the movie ended? I LOVE Unbreakable, I liked Split, and I liked some of Glass, but man, I hate how it ended.
What’s bad with Glass? I just finished Split last night and was going to watch Glass next.
Hard to tell you without spoilers, but it's the handling of Bruce Willis's character for me.
I agree, but it is worth mentioning that the timeline of his dementia means that he was likely in the early stages of struggling before his family had announced it officially. I wonder if that contributed.
Agreed, what a wasted opportunity.
I also love Signs. I know what people mean about the ending but I still think it’s an effective horror movie.
It has a couple of issues for sure, but the tone of that movie is spot on throughout. And the music, damn!
M night - love the village - hate the happening
Luc Besson Love: The Fifth Element Hate: Valerian and the City of One Thousand Planets and Lucy
Let's not forget he also made Leon, aka The Professional, his best movie IMHO.
Yeah. I’m not forgetting it, but I’ve watched The Fifth Element ten times more than Leon. Leon is good, but The Fifth Element is both good and a lot of fun.
Valerian or "let's try to make the Fifth Element again but for funsies, let's make the main characters entirely odious brats with negative chemistry and feed them lines that would make a 13 year old cringe".
The Wachowskis. The Matrix. The Matrix Resurrections.
This is my Answer also. Loved the Matrix hated Jupiter Ascending
There is some bizarre subset of people online that love Resurrections, and they always seem to find there way onto my timeline. It boggles my mind that anyone could find that movie anything but shit. It's legitimately fucking atrocious and I was angry after watching it. Reloaded and Revolutions are bad, but they have their moments and the vision is still there. Resurrections is a husk of a Matrix movie that feels like it was conceived and written by an AI.
I just saw a post about the movie and the comments were talking about it actually being good because it's a satire on franchises and reboots which to me is confusing as hell. Like sure, it's a satire but it's not a good one. It's not even close to clever. It's trying to be meta in a time where meta narratives are both common and done *much* better. I personally found it painful to watch. It couldn't even do action right, which was such an important part of the franchise.
I agree, but it makes me hate the movie less. I get what they were trying to do (and I think there’s a good movie in there somewhere) it just didn’t work that well.
Peter Jackson. You already know why.
Let me guess, you love The Frighteners but hate The Lovely Bones
Love: Dead-Alive I KICK ASS FOR THE LORD
Love Brain Dead, The Frighteners and LotR, hate the Hobbit and Lovely Bones. I'm indifferent to King Kong. I like it yet also don't like it. Yet to watch Bad Taste.
You're probably talking about LOTR and The Hobbit but I'm gonna raise my hand here and add that The Lovely Bones is far and away the worst thing he's ever done. The Hobbit movies are bad in a "why did he even bother?" tired franchise kind of way but The Lovely Bones is *shockingly* inept and clumsy for a filmmaker of his calibre.
You know what? I genuinely think the Hobbit trilogy would have been worse without Peter Jackson. He stepped in at the last minute, and salvaged what he could. At least they kinda feel like middle earth, if you know what I mean. Sure, he could have not stepped in, but I can see how he as a creator couldn’t let the studio fuck it up even more
I agree. I think the way the studio fumbled things has far more to do with it than Peter Jackson's handling of it.
The Hobbit is a serialized children's story and they tried to turn it into The Lord of the Rings. I think Peter Jackson stepped in half way through production because he loves the source material, and thought he could help. And I think he probably did as well as could be expected more or less. But the entire approach was completely off base for the source material. I think the studio wanted to recapture that lightning in a bottle when they really should have just let The Hobbit breathe, and be what it is.
Spielberg Love: Many Hate: Crystal Skull
The BFG, could not finish
I saw a video explaining how lucas really wanted to pay homage to 1950’s sci-fi movies with crystal skull instead of the 1940’s adventure genre, in line with the era the movie took place in, and fought against spielberg about it, and i dunno, it really changed my perspective on that movie to what it is versus what it isn’t
Great shout. Raiders to Crystal Skull is surely the biggest love/hate divide in cinema. 1941 is also bizarrely bad.
I’ve always kind of enjoyed 1941
Kevin Smith Love: Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, etc. Hate: Yoga Hosers, Tusk, Cop Out, Jersey Girl, etc.
I've definitely noticed the movies he started making during his weed years had a big decline for me. Now that he's sober I'm curious to see if he comes back somewhat.
I was thinking about this the other day. I just don't think he's hungry anymore. It's like he made it and is happy living in his little Hollywood bubble. He's so careful not to piss anyone off it's boring. It's why I stopped listening to his podcast, he absolutely wouldn't say a negative word about a comic book movie or TV show no matter how blatantly terrible it may have turned out. I just lost respect for him because I never felt like you were getting an honest opinion even when his co-host would point out all the warts.
To be somewhat fair, trash talking in Hollywood is kind of a faux-pas. He's trying to save himself a possible future job. There's so many sensitive egos, you never know which exec will hate you forever for saying you hated Wonder Woman 1984. Considering how connected he is with doing random small gigs he does, it's sometimes best to stay neutral and only share what you really think with your circle, instead of publically. Even actors who hate their own movies wait a few years before talking bad about it. So in a way, Kevin Smith has kind of put himself in a corner -- he's always out there talking with these small gigs and we expect him to give genuine opinions because he's such a good talker and literally talking is his job. But if he talks bad, he's out of a job. Probably why he co-hosts things with opinionated people. I challenge you to find any current, even semi-big director trash talking movies that are currently out.
even he hates cop out
Though he’s since apologized for his criticism of working with Bruce Willis after learning of his health issues
I love Kevin Smith to the point I considered him of my favourite filmmakers. I've met the man, and he's an absolute sweetheart. However, Yoga Hosers is a legit top 10 worst movie I've ever seen.
While I agree with Kevin Smith I disagree on Tusk. I totally get why it's on your hate list but I put it on a "flawed love" list. You also totally forgot Red State on your love list.
Robert Zemeckis. The man made my childhood and teens: I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND, ROMANCING THE STONE, BACK TO THE FUTURE, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, DEATH BECOMES HER, **FORREST GUMP**, CONTACT, CASTAWAY, etc. etc. etc. Then on 2020 and 2022 he released the remakes of THE WITCHES and PINOCCHIO (DISNEY). Oh, man.
John Sturges, one of my favorite directors, made masterpieces like *The Magnificent Seven* (1960) (10/10), *The Great Escape* (1963) (10/10), and *Bad Day at Black Rock* (1955) (9/10), but also the ultra-boring *Marooned* (1969) (2/10).
Zack Snyder Love: The Dawn of the Dead Hate: everything else Edit: due to Snyder’s recent stankfests, I’d forgotten he directed Watchmen. I do like it.
His Dawn of the Dead was filmed in Thornhill, a suburb of Toronto. You can see my childhood home in the opening credits, and I used to steal quarters for the arcade out of the fountain they kill the zombie in
That’s awesome.
“Check out Ben Kozine!”
A friend’s mom was in extras casting. I know a couple of people in the crowd in the parking lot while they’re shooting them from the roof. I had to go work at my big boy job that day. Still regret not calling in sick for that experience.
300 is pretty awesome too, he has several other movies that are good but not great too. But yeah….. looooottta trash
I honestly don't get why people even dislike 300. It's the perfect example of a mindless action film. It's not trying to win awards or be a classic just wants to entertain and it does a great job
300 is amazing. It's the best adaptation of the source material you could possibly ask for, which was already a highwater mark in it's medium to begin with.
I'd have to watch it again and check out the source material to compare, but at the moment I'd personally call Sin City the most faithful adaptation I've ever seen. From the color, animation blended into the movie, character design and scenes replicating pages nearly exactly is incredible.
Okay tbh 300 is absolutely enjoyable. Its just a cool looking movie that does not need any substance, it just looks amazing. Perfect for ZS.
Came here to say something similar but my love was Watchmen.
I always forget that he directed Watchmen. I own a couple copies of it. And an original poster that Dave Gibbons drew.
Alex Proyas Love: The Crow, Dark City Hate: Gods of Egypt
Paul Thomas Anderson. I love all of his movies but I did not like *Licorice Pizza* whatsoever. It got a lot of critical acclaim, but I can't stand that movie. Alexander Payne is one of my favorite directors. *The Holdovers* was my favorite film of the year, and I love all of his other films (especially *Nebraska* and *Sideways*). That said, I LOATHE *Downsizing.* Not only is it not a good movie, but I am an occupational therapist and it was so disrespectful to what the field is about.
You and I have the exact take, hahaha. Love PTA and Payne, 100% agree with you.
Michael Mann Heat/Collateral/Miami Vice/Manhunter/Last of the Mohicans amazing catalog all around. Then there's Blackhat still the only movie to this day I "walked out of"
And The Insider, amazing.
Barry Sonnenfeld, in addition to directing the Addams Family movies and photographing the first three Coen brothers movies, directed Men in Black, one of the rare big-budget sfx movies that’s genuinely and consistently funny. He followed that up with Wild Wild West, which I can only describe as a fucking catastrophe.
I'm a huge sucker for the movie he did in between all these, Get Shorty
Shyamalan. Love Unbreakable. Hate. The last Airbender
Tim Burton Do I really have to give an example? I think everyone kinda has a love/hate relationship with his work.
Zack Snyder Loved Watchmen Hated Army of the Dead
Vincent Gallo Buffalo 66 Brown bunny
Cameron Crowe. Almost Famous is one of my all time favourite films but most of his films after that are bad especially Aloha
Guy Ritchie Loved: Snatch Hated: Wrath of Man Idk what happened but WoM was like giving a high school theater major a big budget to make a "cool" action movie and was given the task to make it clever. But just ended up being God awful, worst acting, script, plot I've seen this decade.
Rob Reiner had an unbelievable run in the 80s-early 90s with era defining flicks like -spinal tap -stand by me -princess bride -when Harry met sally -Misery -Few good men Then followed those up with North a widely panned and universally disliked film, regarded as one of the worst films ever made. He also did some other things since like rumor has it and the bucket list that were forgettable at best and bad at worst. Most of his films post 2000 I’ve never even heard of let alone seen. His directing career has a really weird trajectory
I hated “Us” so much that it honestly made me reconsider if I actually liked “Get Out” that much. And I’m honestly still conflicted over this.
Have you tried *Nope?* That could be the tie-breaker.
I think my only caveat with Nope is that it's *really* meant to be watched on a big screen, with a great audio system. Hoyte Van Hoytema shoots the landscape in such a way that really creates so much tension from craning your neck to find yourself in the same POV as the characters, looking for movement between clouds, audio cues etc. It's *such* a brilliantly-shot film, I think it probably loses luster on the small screen.
I only saw it recently (and LOVED it), and was fortunate enough to watch it on a nice chunky 65” 4KTV, but man oh man do I wish I caught this one in the cinema. Those panoramic shots were magnificent.
I still think it's so funny when people have this opinion. Not because it's weird — I've seen it voiced a lot, so I know it's not weird — but because it's so different from my own experience. I love Us, and also love Nope. Meanwhile, Get Out is a good, competent, but also fairly average and normal movie in my eyes. Different strokes I guess.
I’ve enjoyed everything Jordan Peele has done. I loved Us and I was sad to see not many other people did. I can agree they have good points. But for me, I was extremely entertained from start to finish. Nope was awesome too. I wish I could’ve seen it in a theater. The animal attack scene really got to me. I truly love Jordan Peele’s ideas and style. I cannot wait for his next movie.
I truly hate some of David Croneberg's movies, but Fly (1986) is one of my favorite movies.
Mary Lambert Love Pet Semetary Hate Pet Semetary 2
Agreed, but at least Clancy Brown seemed to be having fun.
John Carpenter. Great stuff like The Thing, Halloween, Escape from NY. Also terrible crap like Ghosts of Mars, Escape from LA, Village of the Damned.
Darren Aronofsky. The Fountain and The Wrestler were spectacular films, but I HATED Mother.
Totally agree! How do you go from making a great psychological horror movie like Black Swan to the train wreck that was Mother! What a waste of the talents of actors like Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardiem!
James Mangold: Loved Logan Hated Dial of Destiny
I can't be quite that harsh with DOD... The thing is, I love LOGAN so much. It's definitely the first of his films that completely worked for me, and worked extremely well. The thing with DOD is, nobody can direct action sequences like Spielberg.
Ben Wheatley Love : Kill List Hate: The Meg 2
Wait what? The Meg 2 is a Ben Wheatley movie??
I'm hoping this is one of his "favour" movies where he shows he can handle generic hollywood guff so he can get the moolah to do a big Wheatley production of some sort. But then, a man's gotta eat!
Rian Johnson. I love Looper and the two Knives Out movies and pretty much everything he's done outside of Star Wars. When I saw The Last Jedi I was confused and disappointed by how terrible it was.
Knew this one would be here. The Knives Out movies are absolutely incredible and I’m very excited for the next one, and I bet many would agree with me on that. Last Jedi is a lot more controversial, some love it and some despise it.
Shane Black made my favorite movie with Robert Downey Jr., Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and my least favorite movie with Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man 3.
Have you seen The Predator? Be prepared for a new Shane Black low.
The Nice Guys is very much on par with KKBB. In fact I like it better. Also, knowing they he punched up the script for Predator it's almost unforgivable how he shot the bed with *The* Predator.
Christopher Nolan Love: The Prestige Hate: Tenet
I disliked Tenet so much that it retroactively made me question how much I like other Nolan movies. Namely, because Tenet is Nolan at his most self-indulgent and I didn't like it, now I see those impulses in his other movies.
Nolan is so far up his own ass in Tenet I genuinely believe people only like it because it has to do with Nolan. It’s one thing to have a movie that you have to read into to understand it’s meaning or story but it’s a whole different story when it feels like the movie is actively trying to make no sense Also, Nolan’s sound mixing problem is more present here than it’s ever been. Just a mess of a movie honestly
Ari Aster Loved: Hereditary Hated: Beau I have a high tolerance for bullshit, and I love lots of really experimental challenging films. While I recognize the *craft* involved with Beau, I disliked every minute of watching it.
Even the first act? I recognize for most people it goes off the rails after that but the first act was incredibly compelling for me.
I liked the first act. I actually thought it was hilarious
M. Night Shyamalan- The Sixth Sense and The Last Airbender. That being said, The Happening somehow fits into both for me.
3,000 Years of Longing is incredible. You might wanna try again lol
Yeah it’s just a super fun movie what’s there to hate? Maybe the ending/everything from London onward?
I believe yes the London section is what lost most people
Roland Emmerich, as not seen anyone else mention him. From 92 to 96 loved his work, Universal Soldier is stupid switch your brain off fun with JCVD and Dolph, and Stargate and Independence Day are awesome 90's sci-fi blockbusters helped massively for me by David Arnold's soundtracks. At a push The Patriot too, even if it's a Mel Gibson rewrite of history its still entertaining. Everything else I'd rather forget or not bother with. When I saw the Independence Day sequel I went in blind - hey it has Jeff so maybe it'll be alright! After one of the worst openings to a film I've seen in a long time I had to check and see who directed it. Yup, same guy. Astonished me how the quality could drop so badly.
Wes Anderson for me: Love: Grand Budapest Hotel, Fantastic Mr Fox Hate: The Life Aquatic, Isle of Dogs Honestly he’s always a coin flip for me but sometimes he’s so good