Directors you personally can't stand

Bassbait wrote:

Mondo a Go-Go wrote:

I don't know if there's any I really can't stand, but Quentin Tarantino really bothers me. I love his films except Pulp Fiction, which really fell apart with the Gold Watch story, and consider him the best dialogue and story writer of our time (say what you will about Reservoir Dogs). The problem is, he knows this, and is either a total egomaniac, or just a maniac. Watching interviews, the self praise oozes out of the screen. when he doesn't act like he fell out of a blaxploitation movie He deserves the praise, and it's fine coming from someone like Uma Thurman or Pam Grier, but coming from the man himself just feels sleazy and awkward.

Heh, that's ironic, because for the most part my opinions on Tarantino are exact opposite, except that I can't stand him is sort of common.

But I think that Tarantino is one of the WORST dialogue writers of our time (if everybody talks like Tarantino, why is it good dialogue? It's not, because it's just egotistical and serves no purpose plot wise or stylistically, other than to make me not believe any of this is worth paying attention to.), and a TERRIBLE story writer, and the only part of Pulp Fiction that I DO like is the Gold Watch story, as it doesn't rely on terrible dialogue the whole time (not to say there isn't terrible dialogue), and it proves that Tarantino can at least try to direct, with slow moments that build up in tension without feeling contrived or "cool".

I've noticed Tarantino's dialogue tends to be love it or hate it. I don't think it feels contrived at all; perhaps because everyone talks like that, it makes sense in the world of the movie. I also think his dialogue has been exaggerated by parodies; it's not as over the top as people usually think. You mention Pulp Fiction, and that probably is his movie with the most "Tarantino-y" dialogue; have you seen Jackie Brown? He has a different, more natural approach to the writing there, because it takes place in the real world, as opposed to the hyper-reality of Pulp Fiction, Resevoir Dogs, Inglourious Basterds, etc.

Bassbait wrote:

His Kill Bill series particularly got to me by ruining what it means to make a Kung Fu movie. Kung Fu movies have the moral message that old Asian culture is becoming replaced by Western culture, and we should preserve the old Asian culture. Kill Bill is a PRO-western Kung Fu movie, which is an oxymoron. It's like making an action movie that doesn't have any action (oh wait, Kill Bill Vol. 2!)

It's not a traditional Kung Fu movie, so looking at it that way is a problem. It's a revenge movie in the vein of Ms. 45/I Spit on Your Grave/Foxy Brown that happens to use katanas instead of guns because the visual style is fascinating. Moving on to Volume 2, you have to keep in mind that it takes place shortly after the Bride killed a little girl's mother in front of her. It's a deconstruction of the first volume; it gives the Bride's abusers/victims back stories and questions what motivates revenge and if it's as bad as the original attack; we see that there's a lot more in common with the Bride and Bill, and these people she kills aren't the pure evil of revenge movies from the 1970s. The Kill Bill movies make no pretensions of being tied to any particular genre, so of course you'll be disappointed if you expect cookie-cutter fare.

Bassbait wrote:

But seriously, I'm surprised at how many great directors people haven't tried to trash yet. Being a major Kubrick fan, I get a huge amount of Kubrick bashers, and being a Lynch fan, I get a huge amount of Lynch bashers. I'm Pro-pretentious, as long as the films they make are good, but Tarantino hasn't made a single decent movie if you ask me, and that's why I can't stand him.

People bash David Lynch? How?

Little bump here, but I feel the need to mention Vincent Gallo. If he isn't trolling, that is.

Randy Spears wrote:

Spike Lee. Hasn't made a good or relavent movie since "X" but still thinks he's a genuis.

I read Howard Stern's Private Parts earlier in the year, and he talked about Spike Lee acting like a jerk towards Robin Quivers because she worked with Stern. Despite the fact that she defended his movies on the air when Stern slammed them. So, put that in the "Spike Lee is an asshole" file, for whatever it's worth. Also, when Spike was slamming Tarantino for the N-word thing, Samuel L. Jackson backed Quentin rather than Spike, because Jackie Brown was a better movie than whatever the hell Spike had out at that point.

Believe it or not, though, I don't hate Spike Lee myself, because I have zero personal beef with him.

Santa Dog II wrote:

Little bump here, but I feel the need to mention Vincent Gallo. If he isn't trolling, that is.

Taking Brown Bunny out of the equation entirely, Buffalo '66 was a damn fine standalone film.

Santa Dog II wrote:

Little bump here, but I feel the need to mention Vincent Gallo. If he isn't trolling, that is.

Well, if you really want to know, order his sperm from his website (if you have $1 million lying around) and find out if he's trolling or not.

Micheal Bay
Uwe boll
Paul W.S. Anderson(event horizons pretty damn good though)
Lars Von Tier
Gus Van Sant
Stephen Sommers( i find deep risingfun to watch though)

Deep Rising has that half-digested guy being shot out the creature's bowels... I'd call it pro-film!

yeah other then deep rising sommers films are trash.Just over polished flavor of the month garbage that is a disgrace to the source material its based on.

I'm going to get LOTS of flack for this:

Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento. Don't get me wrong, love their films, but they irk me in the most bizarre ways. There's various italian cheese they do that just makes me stare in awe and stupidity at the same time. Creepers/Phenomena? WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH THE GODDAMN MONKEY AND OBVIOUS REFERENCE TO FRIDAY THE 13TH WITH THE FUCKING KID?!? Don't torture a duckling? What the fuck with the priest and his head exploding at the end? Seriously? Was that needed? Who thought that that was a good idea?

Again, it's not that i hate them at all, in fact, i'll list dario argento as one of the greatest directors in the world PERIOD. His playing with colors and mood and intensity isn't at all able to be matched, same with the sanguinariusly ferocious direction of lucio fulci. They know intensity and terror pretty much better than anyone else, yet the quality of their movies is so wishy washy when you are all geared up to see a movie that sounds like it's spot on (like giallo and a cat in the brain) they turn out to be total crap, and you stare and go "what the fuck? this is terrible." How was Do you like hitchcock? so good, and mother of tears so lackluster when mother of tears was the one he focused on? Mind boggling shit.

Eli Roth - on top of his movies sucking, he just gives me the goddamn creeps. He looks and talks like someone who carries a constant supply of date-rape drugs in his pockets.

Lars von Trier although I sort of liked MELONCHOLIA.

Stephen Daldry and Michael Bay - flip sides of the same hack coin. Neither of them care about story, character or the creative process; Bay wants money and Daldry wants Oscars.

I love a lot of his movies but Roman Polanski is a despicable person.

Neil LaBute

Roland Emmerich (STARGATE was good though)

While I recognize he has talent, I kind of can't stand Ingmar Bergman.

Going back to the original post, I lovelovelove ROBOCOP (and BLACK BOOK) but I can understand the hate for Verhoeven. He thinks he's so much more intellectual than he is.

I forgot to Add BazLurman. I cant stand the guy at all. Moulin Rouge is one of my all time most hated films and i cant stand a single thing about it or anything else hes made. And now it looks like hes gonna ruin the great Gasby

i dunno off hand but i do think the 2 douch bags that did "Fargo' are waaaaaaaaaaaaay seriosuly over-rated. oh here's one that's also over rated


Woody Fucking Allen. i'm sorry but i have NOT seen many films he did that i like no i haven't seen Annie Hall yet. but at some point i will.


i do like "Scenes from a mall' really cause i'm a big Bette Midler fan. i grew up with her Music and movies. and she makes me laugh. and other than that i do enjoy "Curse of the jade Scorpian' and other than that those are the only 2 i have actually liked. and that's only cause i'm a huge murder mystery fan.

honestly i don't find this guy funny at all. he plays the same damn character in all his films. hell even my mom can't figure out why some women find him attractive? there's no sex appeal she says. i use her as an example cause i can't think of anyone else to use at the moment so bear with me.

My mother can't stand Woody Allen, but mostly due to his little escapades with Sun-Yi rather then his directoral work.

she's smart cause that's another reason why i can't stand him. the guy was fucking a teenager yet he got off. and yes he ended up marrying her. but still she was under age, now if we had done any of this we'd have been bubba's bitch in jail.

but even without that i don't find him funny at all. there are some famous people do movies for a long time where they do play the same chracter and he's one of them, than there are people who at some point say hey i want to try something new and it can help their career. i think woody at some point should have said

ok i want to try something different and not be the same character and it would be interesting ya know?
i will say this though he is a good director.

Yeah, after awhile, I got tired of watching Woody play a "neurotic guy who is somehow charming enough that women like him" in every single movie he was in.

exactly. you want a great actor who did do different roles 'Roddy McDowall' as much as i love him as an actor.

and he could play anything really. weather it was a shitty role or a shitty film or a good role in a shitty film.

as a human being i don't like him. that raid that happened during the 70's at his house when hew as collecting films.
he turned in all his friends who also were collectors to save his own ass. and that doens't give me any respect for the man at all. but i'm not going to stop watching his movies cause of that.

that's my take on it anyways.

Eh, Soon-Yi was 20. If both parties consented to the relationship, then the only thing wrong in my eyes was the adultery. Honestly, if I stopped liking a director for having affairs, I'd despise everyone in Hollywood. Related: Roman Polanski is a completely disgusting human being, but I do love his films. He's up there with Tarantino as people I'd both love to meet and people I'd get sick of being in the same room with very quickly (albeit for very different reasons).

Mondo a Go-Go wrote:

Eh, Soon-Yi was 20. If both parties consented to the relationship, then the only thing wrong in my eyes was the adultery. Honestly, if I stopped liking a director for having affairs, I'd despise everyone in Hollywood. Related: Roman Polanski is a completely disgusting human being, but I do love his films. He's up there with Tarantino as people I'd both love to meet and people I'd get sick of being in the same room with very quickly (albeit for very different reasons).

Why would u get sick of being in the same room as tarintino. just curious

Angie Matera wrote:

I forgot to Add BazLurman. I cant stand the guy at all. Moulin Rouge is one of my all time most hated films and i cant stand a single thing about it or anything else hes made. And now it looks like hes gonna ruin the great Gasby

Baz Lurman. Oy. There was no escaping that ROMEO + JULIET soundtrack when I was in high school; I could hate him just for that. I'll second your opinion on MOULIN ROUGE, such a ghastly migraine of a movie. AUSTRALIA is kind of a guilty pleasure for me (just for the unabashed paperback romance nature of it) but the trailers for GATSBY look terrible.

Angie Matera wrote:

Mondo a Go-Go wrote:

Eh, Soon-Yi was 20. If both parties consented to the relationship, then the only thing wrong in my eyes was the adultery. Honestly, if I stopped liking a director for having affairs, I'd despise everyone in Hollywood. Related: Roman Polanski is a completely disgusting human being, but I do love his films. He's up there with Tarantino as people I'd both love to meet and people I'd get sick of being in the same room with very quickly (albeit for very different reasons).

Why would u get sick of being in the same room as tarintino. just curious

I mentioned earlier in the thread that the man has an ego so big he's probably tripped over it from time to time. Conversation could either be fascinating or they'd all go back to how awesome he is.

Vincent Gallo is, by far, the most talentless, hack director.