I've been going back and watching some old Siskel & Eberts and it's amazing to see how much they overpraised -- along with many other critics of the day -- a number of directors. However, in lieu of where their careers have gone, have there been any other filmmakers who have become as irrelevant as Spike Lee and Oliver Stone have from where they once were in their respective careers?
Personally I've never been a fan of Spike Lee, and I've found his films very overrated. He was a "hot button" director making "social message movies" and to me it seemed an awful lot of critics looked at that instead of his actual filmmaking skill. Are there still people proclaiming DO THE RIGHT THING to be the masterwork many said it was at the time of its release?
Stone at least had the good sense to work with John Williams and Robert Richardson over the years (so at least there are more things to enjoy in his pictures than Lee's), but I find his political films like Born on the Fourth of July and JFK hugely unsatisfying. Wall Street I enjoy because of Douglas' performance, but everything else? Not so much.
Neither director has done much of anything worth noting in the last 10-15 years at all -- in fact it's sad to see not just where they've gone, but also Spielberg, who (sorry) is no longer the same filmmaker he once was either.
Overrated Directors
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Paul MacLean
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Re: Overrated Directors
I remember when I was a kid that it was "cool" and "erudite" to like the films of David Lynch, Alex Cox, Oliver Stone, Spike Lee, etc.
The movies that got critical acclaim (and Oscars) were things like Ordinary People, On Golden Pond, Terms of Endearment, Country, Out of Africa, Blue Velvet, The Last Emperor, Born on the 4th of July, Do The Right Thing, etc.
But who remembers those "classics" now?
I recently got a Dark Crystal T-shirt and in the past week THREE different strangers commented on it -- "Cool shirt!", "I love that movie!", etc.
That tells you something.
The movies that got critical acclaim (and Oscars) were things like Ordinary People, On Golden Pond, Terms of Endearment, Country, Out of Africa, Blue Velvet, The Last Emperor, Born on the 4th of July, Do The Right Thing, etc.
But who remembers those "classics" now?
I recently got a Dark Crystal T-shirt and in the past week THREE different strangers commented on it -- "Cool shirt!", "I love that movie!", etc.
That tells you something.
Re: Overrated Directors
Those two are totally overrated IMO. Both have been given way more press than they deserve.AndyDursin wrote:However, in lieu of where their careers have gone, have there been any other filmmakers who have become as irrelevant as Spike Lee and Oliver Stone have from where they once were in their respective careers?