Overrated Directors - Past & Present

[Bill Carson]

Brian DePalma is a very talented director. My favourites are SCARFACE, CARLITO'S WAY and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.

[Poggle]

I've only seen Scarface, Carlito's Way and Untouchables and those are enough for me to see how great a director he is.

[jerkface]

Quentin Tarantino is the most over-rated director. I am at a loss as to why people still expect anything from him after that rotten shit fest, KILL BILL. He's beyond self indulgent. Did anyone see the season finale he did for CSI? Pure garbage. Just awful. His style of "clever" dialogue, pathetic references (or rip-offs), and hipper than thou posturing has done incredible damage to film as a whole. I hope his next shit-fest bombs, but we'll probably have to wait ten years for him to be done jerking off all over his script.

[Tim]

  I actually really liked his CSI episode last year that wrapped up the season.  Good tension, good acting, and some nice QT touches.  That scene where Nick(George Eads) imagines he's dead and sees the doctor doing the autopsy on him.  When the doc hands Nick's father(Andrew Prine) his heart, I was cracking up.

  On the other hand, I do think QT is overrated.  I didn't like either Kill Bill movie, but I do enjoy Reservoir Dogs which is a great movie overall.

[Franks Harmonica]

Early DePalma Is a bad ass!
Sisters, Carrie, Blow Out,  and The Fury were some of his best.

Overrated.
Spielberg
Both Scott Bros. ( Except: Blade Runner and Alien )
Lucas
Kevin Smith
Opie Taylor
David Fincher ( Am I the only one who hated **** Club )
Mel Gibson
Kevin Costner
Tim Burton ( Except Pee Wee and Ed Wood )
Rodriguez

Non Director
Anthony Hopkins! ( I think he is the most overrated POS. )

[dave jenkins]

Overrated.
Spielberg
Both Scott Bros. ( Except: Blade Runner and Alien )
Lucas
Kevin Smith
Opie Taylor
David Fincher ( Am I the only one who hated **** Club )
Mel Gibson
Kevin Costner
Tim Burton ( Except Pee Wee and Ed Wood )
Rodriguez

Non Director
Anthony Hopkins! ( I think he is the most overrated POS. )

Man, I am down with this list! Right-on, brother! (That last one cracked me up as well; but I would make an exception for his performance in A Bridge Too Far),

[J B]

I'm surprised at how many of my favorite directors are on many of the lists.  I happen to be a fan or Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Quentin Tarrentino, Joel Coen, and Woody Allen.

I'm especially confused by Stanley Kubrick.  He directed some of the greatest films of all time in several different genres including horror (The Shinning), sci fi (A Clockwork Orange, 2001), comdedy (Dr. Strangelove), historical epic (Barry Lyndon), and war (Paths of Glory, Full Metal Jacket).

[Christopher]

You could pretty much put any director you wanted in a list like this. I'm not a fan of the word "overrated." It's all pretty subjective.

Hitchcock is one of the most studied filmmakers in cinema, so I guess if you wanted to call him overrated, you could. But he was still one of the best any way you look at it (in my own subjective opinion, naturally )

[Groggy]

David Fincher's a good pick.  "Fight Club" (if you'll allow me to use this immature phrasology) sucked monkey balls.

[J B]

I agree.  The ending was especially stupid.  I'm not sure what it is about that movie that people think is so great.

[Johny_Exhale]

Quentin Tarantino is the most over-rated director. I am at a loss as to why people still expect anything from him after that rotten **** fest, KILL BILL. He's beyond self indulgent. Did anyone see the season finale he did for CSI? Pure garbage. Just awful. His style of "clever" dialogue, pathetic references (or rip-offs), and hipper than thou posturing has done incredible damage to film as a whole. I hope his next ****-fest bombs, but we'll probably have to wait ten years for him to be done jerking off all over his script.

lol, blasphemy man, pure blasphemy

if you think KB2 doesnt show pure talent, you better look up the term

[dave jenkins]

Here we go again:
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bshapiro/2010/01/17/top-10-most-overrated-directors-of-all-time/#idc-cover

There's something for everyone to get steamed about there, but then,  I'm sure the article was meant as a provocation. Oddly, the writer makes the point about the auteur theory being a bust, then proceeds to compile a list based on auteur assumptions. The limitations of this approach should be obvious by now. As I've said before, if the auteur theory is bunk (with exceptions), then you have no choice but to argue the merits of individual films. Forget about directors and their "bodies of work" (with exceptions). Anyway, as I stated above, I'm sure this article is mostly about trying to get a rise out of the Fanboy Class. Take the bait, guys.

[Groggy]

He deserves to die for number 8 alone. This list does indeed seem predicated on the assumption that it will piss off 95% of film buffs.

"Tarantino doesn't know how to tell a story." I'm sorry, say that again? QT's primary asset as a film maker is his story-telling ability.

"Hitchcock never made a great film." Okay, he's now officially beneath contempt.

I might agree about Ridley Scott, and his take on The Graduate just about squares with mine, but otherwise, that list is utter shit.

[Groggy]

I like how he says all of Lean's films are half an hour too long. Which thirty minutes would he cut from Brief Encounter, I wonder? (Hopefully the stuff with Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carrey.)

[Groggy]

http://nothingiswrittenfilm.blogspot.com/2010/01/this-post-is-overrated.html

Jenkins, I ought to be crediting you as a source by now! Keep up the great work!