Your favourite director... criticise them

[Dowdsy McDowds]

The thread about Kevin Smith in the Bar Room raised an interesting point. Or rather, Nate did;

I never heard anyone bitching about Scorsese. Then again, I never look for it.

We all have directors whose work we'll either watch more or hold in higher regard than others, so its time to give ourselves a challenge and see things from another perspective.

Whoever your favourite director(s) is(are), I'd like to hear some criticisms of either their work or style that you can face up to.

For now, I'm off to see Skyfall so I'll give my thoughts when I return.

Enjoy!

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Well, I guess I'll be the first to criticize Scorsese in here. Not for his style or a bad film, but for an Oscar win. He didn't deserve the Oscar for Best Director in 2007. The Departed was good, but Letters From Iwo Jima was better, and Clint Eastwood deserved that award. Scorsese's Oscar win in 2007 was nothing more than a pity prize from the Academy.

I guess they finally decided to give Scorsese that one Oscar win, or they were trying to make up for the travesty in 2003, when he lost to Chicago. I dunno, but either way, Clint Eastwood should've won that Oscar, because Letters From Iwo Jima was the superior film.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

As the Sheriff took Marty, I'm gonna allow myself a wee vent about Tarantino.

First off, he is a very good director. Quite often I hear criticism of him due to his "stealing" of ideas and constant pop-culture references, which I can understand whether I agree or not. Let's not pretend that he's the only director that does this though nor that he will be the last. That's not my complaint however.

His use of dialogue in his first few films , specifically Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, is what made his reputation, or was at least a major factor. The one film that seemed to get a lot of backlash for its dialogue was Deathproof, mainly because of the scene with the 4 women in the diner where they just talk inanely about Zoe Bell's career. We get it Tarantino, you love Uma Thurman and as she wasn't available you bigged up her stunt double, but so fucking what? The whole Grindhouse experiment was essentially a love letter to B-movies from the 70s and 80s, but you had to do more than just adding scratches to the footage and dropping audio now and again. Rodriguez's Planet Terror captured the essence a lot better.

I feel lonely with this opinion, but Inglorious Basterds was an absolute chore to sit through. QT has stated that each time he makes a film, he wants it to be among the best of the genre. Basterds is a far way from being anywhere NEAR the top of the war film genre despite the best efforts of Christoph Waltz... until that fucking face turn at the end. Seriously, what the fuck was with that?
The Nazi hunter crew headed up by Brad Pitt was a great idea, but my oh my did it fall short. Pitt was far too hammy and Eli Roth's blank face was on the screen far longer than it should have been.

While the trailers for Django have definitely got my interest piqued, I felt the same way about Basterds and was let-down so I'm not going to let myself get carried away. One thing's for sure though, if QT is aiming for Django to be considered one of the best Westerns, he faces a lot of competition that will not be usurped by OTT dialogue and characters.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Tarantino is in love with his dialogue, there's no denying it. I remember reading some article on another site about a comedy scene in Django Unchained, and Tarantino openly brags about how it's probably the most funny scene he's ever written.

I don't think anyone will question his talents as a writer, but Tarantino is definitely in love with his words. The undercover sting tavern scene in Inglorious Basterds is a prime example of this. That scene just drags and drags, and sometimes I fast forward through the entire scene.

And you're not the only one, who was let down by Basterds. So much potential, but labeling it as a war film was a big mistake. When I saw the "war through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino" tagline my expectation levels went through the roof, but Basterds really didn't feel like a war movie. Also, I understand Tarantino's whole re-writing the history books approach, but Christoph Waltz's Hans Landa was more evil than Adolf Hitler, and that's a big problem, for obvious reasons.

Django Unchained looks good so far, and it's received an overwhelming amount of positive reviews (I think it's at a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes), but I'm not getting my hopes up. Although, it's kind of hard not to, especially when you consider the lengthy breaks between the releases of Tarantino's films.

 

[Enlightenment]

My favorite director is M. Night Shyamalan which always surprises people. The Sixth Sense is still one of if not my favorite movie of all time. My problem with his films are that they always seem to have great direction but the screenwriting is awful. Another problem with Shyamalan is he always ends his movies with twists which bothers me because I know he has the ability to be an all time great director.

 

[Shotaro]

As the Sheriff took Marty, I'm gonna allow myself a wee vent about Tarantino.

First off, he is a very good director. Quite often I hear criticism of him due to his "stealing" of ideas and constant pop-culture references, which I can understand whether I agree or not. Let's not pretend that he's the only director that does this though nor that he will be the last. That's not my complaint however.

His use of dialogue in his first few films , specifically Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, is what made his reputation, or was at least a major factor. The one film that seemed to get a lot of backlash for its dialogue was Deathproof, mainly because of the scene with the 4 women in the diner where they just talk inanely about Zoe Bell's career. We get it Tarantino, you love Uma Thurman and as she wasn't available you bigged up her stunt double, but so fucking what? The whole Grindhouse experiment was essentially a love letter to B-movies from the 70s and 80s, but you had to do more than just adding scratches to the footage and dropping audio now and again. Rodriguez's Planet Terror captured the essence a lot better.

I feel lonely with this opinion, but Inglorious Basterds was an absolute chore to sit through. QT has stated that each time he makes a film, he wants it to be among the best of the genre. Basterds is a far way from being anywhere NEAR the top of the war film genre despite the best efforts of Christoph Waltz... until that fucking face turn at the end. Seriously, what the fuck was with that?
The Nazi hunter crew headed up by Brad Pitt was a great idea, but my oh my did it fall short. Pitt was far too hammy and Eli Roth's blank face was on the screen far longer than it should have been.

While the trailers for Django have definitely got my interest piqued, I felt the same way about Basterds and was let-down so I'm not going to let myself get carried away. One thing's for sure though, if QT is aiming for Django to be considered one of the best Westerns, he faces a lot of competition that will not be usurped by OTT dialogue and characters.

The only thing I enjoyed about Inglorious Basterds was the opening in the farmhouse. Tense, conversational but with intent and fear being a key factor throughout the scene. Tarantino at his best. The rest of the film however is Tarantino at his absolute self-******ing and self-aggrandizing worst. I hate that film with a passion.

Tarantino is in love with his dialogue, there's no denying it. I remember reading some article on another site about a comedy scene in Django Unchained, and Tarantino openly brags about how it's probably the most funny scene he's ever written.

I don't think anyone will question his talents as a writer, but Tarantino is definitely in love with his words. The undercover sting tavern scene in Inglorious Basterds is a prime example of this. That scene just drags and drags, and sometimes I fast forward through the entire scene.

And you're not the only one, who was let down by Basterds. So much potential, but labeling it as a war film was a big mistake. When I saw the "war through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino" tagline my expectation levels went through the roof, but Basterds really didn't feel like a war movie. Also, I understand Tarantino's whole re-writing the history books approach, but Christoph Waltz's Hans Landa was more evil than Adolf Hitler, and that's a big problem, for obvious reasons.

Django Unchained looks good so far, and it's received an overwhelming amount of positive reviews (I think it's at a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes), but I'm not getting my hopes up. Although, it's kind of hard not to, especially when you consider the lengthy breaks between the releases of Tarantino's films.

I'll sit on the fence for Django, it COULD be great, but given Tarantino's recent efforts it will probably suck.

My favorite director is M. Night Shyamalan which always surprises people. The Sixth Sense is still one of if not my favorite movie of all time. My problem with his films are that they always seem to have great direction but the screenwriting is awful. Another problem with Shyamalan is he always ends his movies with twists which bothers me because I know he has the ability to be an all time great director.

I am surprised, or at least I would be if I had the faintest idea who you were. I can see where you are coming from, periodically Shyamalan shows flashes of brilliance. I think his first two films are both magnificent but from there he (much like Tarantino) has bought into his own hype a little too much and it's fucked him.

ANYWAY;

I pick Hitchcock; Rear Window, Rope, Psycho, North by Northwest, Dial M for Murder. The man knew how to make a thriller and by god did he write the handbook for everyone else. Hitchcock was a master of suspense.

BUT - he couldn't direct a comedy to save his life. I don't know if he just didn't have a sense of humour or if he just couldn't commit it to celluloid but more so than any other genre he just never made a good one, hell even a passable one would've done. He's arguably the greatest director to be ignored by the Academy and yet - he just cannot "do" comedy.