Comparison of working Hollywood directors

[CMonster]

I wouldn't tell you to go watch Avatar because it's basically Pocahontas for kids born after 2005, but it seems kinda harsh to dismiss all modern Scorsese films because the trailer for Shutter Island made you not want to watch it. The Departed was awesome, Hugo was good (I've overrated it I think but whatever, still worth watching for a kids flick), and The Aviator was an ok biopic (it was no Raging Bull but regardless it was far from being garbage). I would also say that a good movie can overcome knowing the twist or ending or whatever cause that's what makes it rewatchable. I haven't seen Shutter Island, so I can't speak for that film, but I have enjoyed Scorsese's later work. I wouldn't dismiss all his later works cause clearly the man knows how to direct a film.

[Proximity]

It helps that I haven't watched Scorsese's and Cameron's more recent, simplistic, and less imaginative pictures, too, as those would drag down their tier significantly.

How would you know they are simplistic and less imaginative if you haven't watched them?

Critics reviews ?

No, but rather the fact that I managed to figure out the entire story AND the ending from simply watching the trailers for both "Avatar" and "Shutter Island", respectively. Sorry, but when I figure out the entirety of your plot AND "twist" ending from just a trailer, that's a more simplistic, less imaginative picture.

Or it's just some dickish distributors putting out a dumb trailer that gives away the whole film's plot

[martryn]

1. 9.29 Christopher Nolan (7 films)
2. 9.11 Coen Brothers (9 films)
3. 9.00 Aronofsky (4 films)
4. 9.00 Eastwood (3 films)
5. 8.75 Tarantino (8 films)
6. 8.20 Fincher (5 films)
7. 8.00 Scorsese (5 films)
8. 8.00 Wes Anderson (3 films)
9. 7.70 Ridley Scott (10 films)
10. 7.43 Cameron (7 films)
11. 6.80 Soderbergh (5 films)
12. 6.67 Jonze (3 films)
13. 6.46 Burton (13 films)
14. 6.38 Raimi (8 films)
15. 6.2 Spielberg (15 films)
16. 4.57 Tony Scott (7 films)
17. 4.00 Shyamalan (5 films)
18. 3.83 Bay (6 films)

Some glaring omissions. I've only seen two films from PTA and Oliver Stone (crazy, I know), and I've only seen two films from Bigelow, so I couldn't include her on my list either.

It was pretty similar to the first post. Coen Brothers are high. Aronofsky. I've got Nolan a lot higher, and Soderbergh and Jonze a lot lower. I think the biggest mover was David Fincher. It makes me wonder what films you didn't enjoy. Alien 3? I have a hard time coming to grips with someone who doesn't rate Seven or Fight Club really high, and the rest of his films are at least better than mediocre.

It also makes me really curious what I'm not seeing in Soderbergh for him to rank so highly. The Ocean's films are kinda shit. His Solaris remake is awful. And he's otherwise got a few mediocre films. And maybe I haven't seen enough Spike Jonze. Adaptation was fantastic, but Where the Wild Things Are is about as far from the source material you can get with a film. I mean, as I said in my mini-review:

"Fuck this film. I mean, what the fuck? I wasn't watching this movie for deep thoughts and subtlety, just like that's never why I picked up the fucking book. And I certainly didn't watch this film so I could spend an hour and a half uncomfortable and awkward. And I certainly didn't want to be left feeling like shit and depressed. Someone should put a warning on this movie. It's a childrens' book and I was wrongly expecting a movie at least partially aimed at kids. "

[ShogunRua]

Or it's just some dickish distributors putting out a dumb trailer that gives away the whole film's plot

I don't believe so. There is nothing in Shutter Island's trailer that is a dead giveaway. It merely shows a detective investigating a mysterious jail on an island.

Rather, I made a logical assumption about the ending based on this being a Hollywood thriller, and how predictable those tended to be. Unfortunately, I was correct. Also, distributors shouldn't be blamed here; Scorsese had direct control over the red and green band trailers for the picture.

As for Avatar, it wasn't terribly difficult to predict what would happen in the live action version of FernGully, the Last Rain Forest.

[stuie299]

Wes Anderson: 8.89 (9)
Christopher Nolan: 8.44 (9)
Steven Soderbergh 8 (5)
David Fincher: 7 (5)
Quentin Tarantino: 7 (5)
Ridley Scott: 7 (1)
Coen Brothers: 6.89 (9)
Tony Scott: 6 (3)
Martin Scorsese: 5.71 (7)
Spike Jonze: 5.67 (3)
Steven Spielberg: 5.38 (8)
Paul Thomas Anderson: 5.17 (6)
Oliver Stone: 4.67 (3)
Tim Burton: 4.33 (3)
Sam Raimi: 4 (3)
M. Night Shyamalan: 3.33 (3)
Darren Aronofsky: 2 (1)
Michael Bay: 2 (1)
Clint Eastwood: 1.5 (2)
James Cameron: (0)

[MmzHrrdb]

Rather, I made a logical assumption about the ending based on this being a Hollywood thriller, and how predictable those tended to be. Unfortunately, I was correct. Also, distributors shouldn't be blamed here; Scorsese had direct control over the red and green band trailers for the picture.

For me, the major problem with Shutter Island isn't the fact that it's so predictable -- as of course it is (simply reading a basic outline of the plot is enough to be able to know where it's going)-- but that it was so consistently unimaginative, conventional and overwrought, which would be shocking if it were directed by the Scorcese of Taxi Driver or Goodfellas. Nowadays, Scorsese seems like one of the laziest directors in Hollywood, and it's only because critics and audiences are even lazier that his films still get so highly rated. I can't imagine Shutter Island would have been much different if it had been directed by a hack like Zack Snyder.