Home Opinion Midweek Mouth-off: The most overrated filmmaker

Midweek Mouth-off: The most overrated filmmaker

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Tim Burton. Zack Snyder. Robert Altman. Steven Spielberg. Robert Rodriguez. Stanley Kubrick. Sam Raimi. Ridley Scott. Judd Apatow. Guy Ritchie. James Cameron. Wes Anderson. Quentin Tarantino. Joss Whedon. Christopher Nolan…

With Dark Shadows, the latest Tim Burton-Johnny Depp collaborative effort now in cinemas, today we want to know who you think is the most overrated filmmaker? Which director started strong but has been coasting on an undeserved reputation for decades? Who really isn’t worthy of that fiery fan following? Whose “clever” movies consistently grate you the wrong way? Let us know.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Critical Hit as an organisation.

Last Updated: May 16, 2012

22 Comments

  1. Kervyn Cloete

    May 16, 2012 at 10:18

    You already mentioned my choice: Tim Burton. I’m not saying he is without talent. It’s just that he has certain visual quirks that he keeps relying on over and over again.

    Zack Snyder is quickly falling into this same trap ever since the success of 300, which is a shame based on how much promise he showed with the remake of Dawn of the Dead.

    Reply

  2. Christo Kruger

    May 16, 2012 at 10:52

    M Knight Shyamalan. Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were both brilliant. But then slowly it all went to shit.

    Reply

  3. Flameboy

    May 16, 2012 at 10:55

    My vote goes to James Cameron. I mean what has he done that was watchable except for Aliens and Terminator. But shame on you for adding Joss Whedon and especially Christopher Nolan to this list. Bad nerd!

    Reply

    • Lee Muller

      May 16, 2012 at 11:34

      The Abyss, True Lies, Titanic (not my favourite but most most nominated and most academy wins has to count for something) and you really couldn’t watch Avatar?  

      Reply

      • Flameboy

        May 16, 2012 at 11:52

        I really did watch Avatar and that is 3 hours of my life I’ll never get back.

        Reply

    • Justin Hess

      May 16, 2012 at 14:38

      James Cameron is one of the most important filmmakers of the 20th Cnetury, not only for is films but also because he was significant in advances made in cinema.

      Cameron, Scorcese, and Spielberg basically form my Holy Trinity of American Cinema.

      As for overrated, Michael Bay, surely, the money he makes is far greater than the films he produces. 

      It occurs to me that, even as I love many of his films and the guy is just critically celebrated, Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral, Public Enemies, Miami Vice, The Last of The Mohicans) might actually be a bit overrated. No very, just a bit.

      Same goes for Steven Soderbergh. I can name on one hand the films he’s made that I would actually watch over and over again (the mark of a great filmmaker) and Ocean’s Eleven is not one of them

      Reply

  4. Sonny Bonds

    May 16, 2012 at 10:57

    Micheal Bay

    Reply

  5. Darryn_Bonthuys

    May 16, 2012 at 12:53

    Quite a few people will hate me for this, but I’ll say Quentin Tarantino. His last couple of movies have just been over-bearing tributes to himself, and I’ve found myself falling asleep while he directs characters to prattle on and on and on and on…

    His films, they’re just lacking a certain spark, that he had in the beginning. I’m hoping that he can get back on track with Django Unchained though.

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      May 16, 2012 at 14:15

      We can no longer be friends.

      Reply

    • Justin Hess

      May 16, 2012 at 14:24

      WATTA?!

      Reply

    • Tracy Benson

      May 16, 2012 at 14:37

      Okay I will stand up for you on this one, I find him incredibly egotistical and quite annoying. He plays up the whole “cult following” thing like he’s a god

      Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      May 16, 2012 at 15:06

      But but but Pulp Fiction… 

      Reply

  6. Gavin Mannion

    May 16, 2012 at 13:22

    Woody Allen, not only does the guy creep me out but his movies are just the most boring things I’ve ever had the displeasure of seeing

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      May 16, 2012 at 14:16

      And you can join Darryn in the “No Friends” zone.

      Reply

      • Gavin Mannion

        May 16, 2012 at 14:42

        And you can go jump in the “no taste” lake… 

        What great movies has the weirdo old man who married his ‘daughter’ ever made?

        Reply

        • Justin Hess

          May 16, 2012 at 14:52

          Fucking Manhattan for one thing. Jesus, man

          Reply

          • Gavin Mannion

            May 16, 2012 at 15:06

            You are joking right? 1979… I was 1 😛

            And that movie is far to eerily similar to his life, doesn’t make for a pleasant movie experience

          • Kervyn Cloete

            May 16, 2012 at 15:31

            Ok lets keep it recent then. Midnight in Paris was about as charming a movie as I had recently seen.

          • Gavin Mannion

            May 16, 2012 at 15:40

            @facebook-610830836:disqus Who said you could get out of the lake 😛

            I’ll happily admit that I haven’t seen it, it doesn’t appeal to me at all and any movie with Owen Wilson in it trying to be serious just doesn’t fit right.

            but mind you why am I defending my choice against someone who opted for one of the best filmmakers of all time in Tim Burton as your most over rated?

            How could you possibly say that about someone with a track record including Beetlejuice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, Sleepy hollow and Edward Scissorhands?

            Granted he’s not perfect but that’s a list that shines

          • Justin Hess

            May 16, 2012 at 16:10

            Actually, I’m inclined to agree, though I think it’s more to do with Burton having lost the fire he had in the eighties rather than him being overrated.

            Burton was one of the finest talents to come out of the Hollywood system in the eighties. His stuff was commercial yet still massively bizarre and in that, pretty daring.

            But I don’t think contemporary Hollywood is as open to his left-of-centre approach and that’s stifled his enthusiasm a bit which is reflected in his current output. 

            Still, even so, he is a bit overrated as, barring imaginative production design and weirdo characters his films are largely stylish bits of fluff, all hat and no cattle as they say

  7. Uberutang

    May 23, 2012 at 11:33

    Lucas and Spielberg. The one just rehashes tired old shit and the other throws happy aliens at everything.

    Reply

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