5 Most Overrated Directors In Film

[J. Falcon]

1. Martin Scorcese



The most overrated hack of them all, Scorcese is the king of cinematic masturbation and the ?Look, ma, I?m directing? style of filmmaking. He represents almost everything that?s wrong with self-indulgent directing. The critics love him because of his ability to move the camera. If only he could move the audience. But then again, why bother telling a story when you can swoop through an overblown scene with a steadicam. Or get the brilliant actor Daniel Day-Lewis to do a Robert De Niro impersonation for over two hours opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. He finally won an Oscar when he took the depth and resonance out of the sublime Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs and remade it into the overblown, shallow snoozer The Departed.

2. Steven Spielberg



No one can deny Steven Spielberg?s talent. Then again, it takes a singular talent to reduce the Holocaust to a black and white cartoon like Spielberg did with Schindler?s List. I am constantly amazed by his ability to oversimplify and sanitize every story from slavery (Amistad) to terrorism (Munich) with his over reliance on sentiment and infantile moralism. Spielberg is the father of the modern blockbuster film and, while he may not have started the practice of lowest common denominator filmmaking, he certainly perfected it.

3. Quentin Tarantino



If you want a poster boy for self-indulgence, then look no further. For those of you who want to make movies the Tarantino way, follow this simple recipe:

• Drink lots of coffee.
• Watch 20 B-movies in a row without sleeping.
• Write a script copying sequences verbatim.
• Cut up script and rearrange the sequences at random.
• Insert conversation you had with racist/sexist wino on the bus into script.
• Record for 2 hours as you channel surf through white trash oldies radio. This will be your soundtrack.
• Send script to Harvey Weinstein.
• Get a big head (literarlly and figuratively).
• Direct with big head firmly planted up ass. Tell actors to treat your dialogue like its from the Bible.
• Make sure the running time is over 2 hours.
• Go to imdb.com and look up obscure films. Claim them as your influences.

4. Christopher Nolan



Christopher Nolan is only on this list because of his tendency for lazy storytelling and his over reliance on narrative gimmicks. What do I mean by lazy storytelling? I mean that when encountered with a narrative problem, Nolan almost always takes the easy way out even if it changes the rules of the world he has set up. For instance, take Memento. Here we have a character who loses his short term memory only when it is convenient for the story. Numerous examples of this type of lazy storytelling abound in all of his films. While I believe that Mr. Nolan is a brilliant technician, he needs to stop being so damn lazy before he turns into David Twohy.

5. Paul Thomas Anderson



A Scorcese wannabe that has managed to capture some of Scorcese?s cachet with the critics and fanboys, Mr. Anderson has never met a long tracking shot he didn?t love. His movies are self-indulgent, pretentious and bombastic. You want to know how to make a movie filled with sex about the porn industry boring? Watch Boogie Nights. And what?s with the frogs in Magnolia? While I have not liked any of his movies to date, I do admit to wanting to see There Will be Blood as I am a fan of that setting and time period.

UPDATE: Just saw There Will be Blood. Still overrated.

Have to say I agree with everyone on this list. The one I least agree with is probabaly Spielberg, as I thought Schindlers List and Amistad were excellent. The rest, all hacks.

[MaDalton]

pfffff - the list is not complete without M.Night Shamalamadingdong and Michael Bay

[Sly]

Sounds like that was written by a pissed off bedroom director that can't handle his own lack of success.

Artists are a funny bunch. Terribly jealous.

[Ferus]

You cant blame those on the list, blame the critics for sucking up instread

[John-ACWM]

That is an interesting opinion (the author's). Diversity and originality in any forms is a great thing though in cinematography. Brilliant in their personal ways, these guys made history, good for them, I have enjoyed movies made by all these guys

[dyna mo]

I agree that all of those guys deserve to be on the list. Scorsese not only for his camera movement crap but for also having a boner for dicaprio and his incessant need to cast him.

But the list is missing 2 massively overrated directors-

tim burton

tyler perry

[pornmasta]

Here is the real reason why they are overrated:.

[Magnetron]

Put Stanley Kubrick in the Top 5 for butchering The Shining.

[CaptainHowdy]

Who the hell wrote all those childish remarks??

[MrBottomTooth]

How to be a director critic:
Step 1: insult some of the greatest directors of all time responsible for some of the greatest movies of all time in a childish rant.
There is no step 2.

[Scott McD]

Can't say i take enough notice to give an opinion on the matter...

[Mickey_]

Originally Posted by Sly

Sounds like that was written by a pissed off bedroom director that can't handle his own lack of success.

Artists are a funny bunch. Terribly jealous.

Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy

Who the hell wrote all those childish remarks??

Originally Posted by MrBottomTooth

How to be a director critic:
Step 1: insult some of the greatest directors of all time responsible for some of the greatest movies of all time in a childish rant.
There is no step 2.

Wholeheartedly disagree with that list. Would love to see what the author of that writeup has created.

[jmcb420]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

pfffff - the list is not complete without M.Night Shamalamadingdong and Michael Bay

[NEW XTC]

Scorcese SUCKS - Wolf was so bad haha what a joke that everyone here seems to love it.

Of course Michael Bay deserves to top the list except everyone knows how bad he is.

[Captain Kawaii]

Originally Posted by J. Falcon

Have to say I agree with everyone on this list. The one I least agree with is probabaly Spielberg, as I thought Schindlers List and Amistad were excellent. The rest, all hacks.

You want a hack. Try Spielberg again. Try keeping him on the set for more than a couple scenes. I worked on two of his flicks. Martin Lawrence shows up more than Spielie does.

Amistad, great flick. Most of the rest are just fodder and pandering after E.T....

[Captain Kawaii]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

pfffff - the list is not complete without M.Night Shamalamadingdong and Michael Bay

You are so very right, they should be at the top.

[2MuchMark]

Yeah, um, no....

They are all great directors. And don't even think about going up against Chris Nolan. Inception and The Prestige are both near-perfect movies, and I'm already drooling for his next movie, Interstellar, due this November.

As for M Knight Shamalalalallalan, he's a weird one. His directorial style is ok, but the stories always and forever suck, with a usually very unsatisfying revelation near the climax. Zzz. The only recent exception to this was "Devil", which was a low budget movie about people trapped in an elevator. It's better than it sounds, enjoyable throughout, and reminisent of movies like John Carpenter's "Prince of Darkness".

PS: Michael Bay is awesome. He makes awesome movies and bathes in awesome sauce every day. MMMm.. awesome sauce.

[F U S I O N]

Bottom line.... Be true to yourself and who cares what the critics think. Dont like it? Show you can do it better

[bronco67]

It's funny that he listed the 5 best directors. They're not overrated, they're masters.

[Choopa_Pardo]

PT Anderson and Marty are two of the finest directors ever. This list is bunk.

[j3rkules]

I am one of the few people in the world who hates PT Anderson. Absolutely hated his self-indulgent mark throughout his films, like Tarantino. But The Master was really good, so I hope he has turned that around.

[Evil Chris]

Originally Posted by Sly

Sounds like that was written by a pissed off bedroom director that can't handle his own lack of success.

Artists are a funny bunch. Terribly jealous.

exactly what I thought...

[Matyko]

Tarantino is a fucking genius, no matter what you say. Pulp Fiction is the proof. No matter how many times you watch it: It FUCKING ROCKS all the time, when sober, when high, on acid, on mushrooms, when drunk..

Very fukkin lame to badmouth him. It's a shame he didn't make as good movies as PF later.. I am not saying all post-PF Tarantino movies are bad, but they are not as good as fans expect them to be... probably this is why he is on the list.. :P

[Matyko]

Originally Posted by Magnetron

Put Stanley Kubrick in the Top 5 for butchering The Shining.

Add 'eyes wide shut' : I fucking want that two and half hours back!!!

[dyna mo]

Directors you will never see on an overrated list:

coen brothers
francis ford coppola
david fincher

[Evil Chris]

My fave director of all time is probably Francis Ford Coppola.

[blackmonsters]

I guess he needed to at least name directors that someone heard of before.
Other than that; this list is dumb shit.

[Elli]

I agree with all the Tarantino comments and mostly with the Spielberg ones. The other directors are all quite skilled in my opinion and I tend to enjoy their movies.

[dready]

I agree completely with Scorsese.

There are also many directors that you could put on the list were once great but have since lost their edge.

To those that said Michael Bay... That hack has never been highly rated by anyone.

[Theo]

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

exactly what I thought...

ya no shit!

[kane]

To me this is one of those pretentious list put together by someone who is seeking attention. It's like being a hipster who longer likes a band because they are now popular.

[seeandsee]

It's just personal critic, nobody will agree 100% with this, end

[MrBottomTooth]

I'm not understanding the hate for Scorcese. Sure he's had some that were flawed recently, but the man should get a lifetime pass for Goodfellas alone.

[SilentKnight]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

Directors you will never see on an overrated list:

coen brothers
francis ford coppola
david fincher

Can't agree with Coen bros, but good to go with Coppola and Fincher.

I'd add David Cronenberg to your list.

And I'll add Robert Zemeckis to the overrated list (for butchering 'Contact').

I'm a fence-sitter about James Cameron. He's hot & cold with his movies.

[nico-t]

tarantino is hit and miss. Take django, i enjoyed it but the ending is very over the top/childish/simple. It was like watching a completely different movie all of a sudden.

[J. Falcon]

Originally Posted by Magnetron

Put Stanley Kubrick in the Top 5 for butchering The Shining.

Stupidest remark ever. Kubrick is a man among boys when compared to any of these scrubs.

[J. Falcon]

Originally Posted by **********

And don't even think about going up against Chris Nolan. Inception and The Prestige are both near-perfect movies,

Sure they are. Either you haven't seen enough movies or you have terrible taste.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by SilentKnight

Can't agree with Coen bros, but good to go with Coppola and Fincher.

I'd add David Cronenberg to your list.

And I'll add Robert Zemeckis to the overrated list (for butchering 'Contact').

I'm a fence-sitter about James Cameron. He's hot & cold with his movies.

Cronenberg = good call.

Originally Posted by J. Falcon

Stupidest remark ever. Kubrick is a man among boys when compared to any of these scrubs.

Hve you seen Kubrick's Paths of Glory? Staggeringly good.

[mineistaken]

So while being overrrated do these still make at least top 10 of directors? If not - post your top10, ort at least top5.

It is easy to devalue somebody, lets see if you can come up with "best directors" list.

[EddyTheDog]

Originally Posted by J. Falcon

Stupidest remark ever. Kubrick is a man among boys when compared to any of these scrubs.

I had dinner (and breakfast) with Kubrick - My little claim to fame...

I was about 19 and sat there like a bloody idiot - I wish I could do it now.....

[SilentKnight]

Originally Posted by mineistaken

It is easy to devalue somebody, lets see if you can come up with "best directors" list.

Ridley Scott
David Fincher
Francis Ford Coppola
David Cronenberg
Stanley Kubrick
Brian DePalma
Oliver Stone
James Cameron (arguably)
Ron Howard (yeah, that Opie Cunningham guy)

[dyna mo]

I've listed a few of my best still alive directors already but here's a list, in no certain order

fincher
ford coppola
coen brothers
wachoski brothers
soderberg
cronenberg

[J. Falcon]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

Hve you seen Kubrick's Paths of Glory? Staggeringly good.

It's my favorite Kubrick film. I've seen it several times; you can say I'm fascinated by it.

[JerseyPuma]

this guy is an idiot and so is anyone who agrees with him.

[dyna mo]

The scorsese film that finally made me realize he's overrated was hugo. ugh.

[poncabare]

Why isn't woody Allen on this list?

[pornmasta]

Originally Posted by poncabare

Why isn't woody Allen on this list?

yes and it's not related with the recent past

[Sly]

Originally Posted by J. Falcon

Stupidest remark ever. Kubrick is a man among boys when compared to any of these scrubs.

Ah, it was you that wrote the original article!

Grown adults insulting each other because they don't like the same movies. Pure comedy.

[EddyTheDog]

Originally Posted by Sly

Ah, it was you that wrote the original article!

Grown adults insulting each other because they don't like the same movies. Pure comedy.

There is a guy on here that still wont talk to me because I said I did't like 'Cristal' champagne - That was at least 8 years ago...

[kane]

Originally Posted by J. Falcon

Sure they are. Either you haven't seen enough movies or you have terrible taste.

Just curious who your Top 5 best directors would be.