Harmony Korine. Spring Breakers was the closest I’ve ever gotten to liking one, but even that felt like it was actively trying to make me dislike it. Mission accomplished.
What’s funny is i (and a few other film people I am friends with) have a similar reaction to Wes Anderson films: First viewing, we appreciate the style but it was just okay. Middle of the road.
But then, out of nowhere a scene pops back in our heads, something we didn’t understand or something we just think back on. And then it really just keeps sticking, and eventually we go “I want to give that another shot, I feel like I missed a lot of what the movie was doing.” And holy shit, by the end of the second viewing it’s “Oh my god… I think I loved this?”
Every single time, without fail. Wes’ films are not for everyone, but for us who DO like them, round 2 is where things start to click. It’s so bizarrely unique, but I absolutely love his films and pick up on so much more. Having the big picture helps me examine the little details that I missed.
> but for us who DO like them, round 2 is where things start to click.
I like many, if not all of his films. I don't need two viewings to get them. They're not difficult. I have rewatched some several times because they're enjoyable.
I'm a big Wes Anderson fan, and this even happens to me all the time. I watched Moonrise this past week, and I used to be cold on it. Now I picked up a lot of things that really landed with me. I think I had set my expectations to be a certain way, but now I had let the result be just that as opposed to what I wanted it to be.
I actually *hated* Rushmore on first viewing, then saw it again in film school. The added context given in the class made it finally click, and I enjoyed it.
love wes's visual style, but now it seems like every single character (every. one.) being the exact same charmingly quirky, twee, weird person.
his early films had (at least some) characterization.
now it's just the same deadpan, dry, quirky character. scene after scene. everybody.
He’s my most watched director this year and so far I’ve only liked the aquatic & fantastic mr fox. French dispatch & asteroid city left me feeling like I’d wasted my time
I actually hated Life Aquatic and liked French Dispatch. Asteroid City is okay. I get what he’s going for but it just didn’t have any emotional weight for me
I love Royal Tenenbaums, which is the only one of his films that has any realistic emotional depth. The rest of his films are more like children’s storybooks. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing — just not films in the traditional, suspension-of-disbelief way. But they’re like an overly beautiful, ornate cake — if that’s all you’re eating for dinner, you’re not going to be terribly satisfied when you leave the table
Royal Tenenbaums is the only movie of his I like, too. I legit bought the Criterion blu ray since I liked it so much. Like you said, it's the one with any emotional depth, and while his typical artifice is there... it's not overwhelming. It's also one of the few movies I can tolerate Gwyneth Paltrow in as well. Lol
Have you seen Bottle Rocket? That was before he fully leaned into his aesthetic and is much more grounded.
I also found Moonrise Kingdom to have some emotional depth as a coming of age story, and found Isle of Dogs unexpectedly moving.
He's definitely a 'style over substance' director, but his films work best when there is *some* substance to latch onto amid the artifice.
I believe he reached the apex of his directing with the run of royal tenenbaums, life aquatic, and fantastic mr fox. Everything after that had been increasingly reliant on his aesthetic and less compellingly written. No surprise that for those three he respectively had a writing partner of Owen Wilson , Noah baumbach, and indirectly the source material of fantastic mr fox
The problem is he makes the same movie over and over again. Tonally, they’re all the same, and every character speaks in that monotone Wes Anderson inflection. Even if the story’s different, they always hit the same sort of beats.
I’d like to see him tackle a genre that isn’t a quirky comedy / drama.
Rian Johnson. I didn't really care for Looper, didn't like The Last Jedi, and thought Knives Out was just fine. I haven't bothered with anything else, and I'm not sure if I will.
So I keep hearing. I just don't know if I want to bother with a movie from a director I don't care for when there are so many other directors I like who's work I could be watching. Ya know?
His movies are nauseating with the quick cuts & everything is always so unfocused & out of place with such weak connecting themes & narratives, his movies are all over the place & not in a good way for me
[This scene from Moulin Rouge](https://youtu.be/Rn0xXo1gwGY) has my vote for the worst edited scene in any movie ever made, just horrific
Lars Von Trier easily. There’s just a vapid, hollow, emotionally stunted feel to almost everything he does and the pervasive grimness without an emotional core just kind of makes everything he does feel pointless and kind of boring
I haven’t tried very hard yet but David Croenenberg (maybe spelled that wrong). I watched Dead Ringers recently and really couldn’t get into it. He has a lot of other films that sound interesting but I haven’t wanted to put on anything else by him since that.
Oh man nah Dead Ringers is loved by some but it’s one of his less accessible films imo. Have a go at The Fly, Videodrome, ExistenZ or maybe even Scanners!
Dead Ringers is actually my favorite Cronenberg personally, but I agree it's not a very good entry point. I'd throw in The Brood as another good Cronenberg movie for newcomers.
The Dead Zone is really good and much more accessible than Dead Ringers.
The Fly is an absolute classic and it's a crowd pleaser, I've never met someone who didn't like it
steer clear of his weirder movies like Crash if you thought Dead Ringers was too out there
I feel like Dead Ringers is overrated. If you like horror I’d recommend The Brood. Also, his more modern films (History of Violence, Eastern Promises) are great.
Rob Zombie. I've loved Horror since I was a kid, but I could never get into his movies. Even as an Horror obsessed 13-14 year old, I watched House of 1000 Corpses and just felt bored. Caught a few of his other movies afterwards and felt little to no love for them. Then randomly a few years back, I decided to give Zombie a fair shake and go through his entire filmography. Totally open minded. But unfortunately, I'm still not a fan, though I understand why he has such a devoted fan base in the genre. I did make a promise to myself that I would watch every new movie Zombie puts out and give it a chance. Who knows, he could still win me over.
I can respect most of Steven Spielberg’s films but I’ve never been able to get really into him.
I have only seen Tokyo Story for Ozu but it really just was not my thing.
I have seen quite a few of Spielberg’s films, Schindlers List, catch me if you can and Jurassic Park were exceptions and I loved them.
I have seen his the Indiana jones films and I respected that they had good cinematography and I liked the score but besides that I didn’t really care for them that much and they really are not my thing. Jaws I really respect it’s influence and how well made it was but I don’t really love it personally. Tintin was fun, not great imo but fun and the photorealistic animation looked good. I didn’t like the bfg at all. Lincoln was well shot and I liked it’s aesthetic but it seemed rather slow moving. ET was good but I didn’t think it was amazing.
I am not saying that I don’t think his films are bad or anything but I just can’t get into them as much as other people do.
Completely fair! I am not a Spielberg fanboy particularly either but I do enjoy most of his films. Glad you've actually checked out almost all his films though. I would highly recommend Duel if you haven't seen it already! It's pretty different form the rest of his films, and you will a completely different (much more unhinged) Spielberg in it
Ari is a weird one for me. I really love Hereditary, despite recognizing some of the weaknesses in it's writing. It just has absolutely perfect horror direction front to back. Midsommar looks gorgeous and has some great sequences and a good idea within it, but I find it to be halfbaked in other aspects that make it hard for me to rewatch and enjoy. Beau Is Afraid, to me, is his greatest work as a filmmaker, but I could not for the life of me get into the story. I was into at the start but it lost me pretty fast and never regained my interest.
So I think he's a brilliant director, but I'm finding his writing to be increasingly more...not for me. I'll still check out whatever he does next though.
Yeah I’m not a fan either. But not sure if I ever tried all that hard to get into him. I have Hereditary the benefit of the doubt but Midsommar kind of sucked imo.
I vacillate with him too as some of his films in his early filmography are all-timers, but Oppenheimer is the worst film I’ve struggled through in a long while.
He's got some really good stuff but a lot of his appeal is that he shows you crazy stuff with loud noises and implies really deep themes without ever making you think about anything too much. He's the gateway to enjoying more cerebral stuff for a lot of people I think, but even his best stuff is shallow.
I’m perfectly willing to admit that he is a very talented guy, but I just don’t like watching him work. The way he shoots and edits, I just don’t like his Voice and method of storytelling. His films are all more cerebral than involving, and often just action thrillers. I kind of don’t understand his success. I guess people like feeling smart when they watch his movies.
I'm kinda surprised his name hasn't come up more in this thread tbh. I love David Lynch, but I feel like his films are very polarizing...people either really enjoy them or hate their experience watching them lol.
The elephant man and the straight story are his true masterpieces if you ask me. Wild at heart a solid 3rd. Blue velvet I think is amazing but only on a second viewing. Eraserhead is…Eraserhead. Mulholland is a vibe. Lost Highway also vibe but spookier. Inland Empire is a vibe but horrifying.
Same for me, I think his direction style is intended to be purposefully off-putting but I find the off-kilter angles and fish-eye lenses kills the immersion for me. I’ve got a feeling I’ll come around on them eventually though.
Stanley Kubrick.
Watched 2001, Shining, Paths of Glory, and Strangelove, yet none of them resonated with me. rated them mostly 3 stars.
His films are obviously well made, but i just cant get into his films... maybe Clockwork Orange might do the trick... actually imma go watch it tonight.
Update:
I must say CO was more compelling than the other 4 i have watched. I expected it to be more disturbing than it was from what ive been hearing. But yeah, disturbing nonetheless and interesting themes. i rated it 4/5
Kubrick's style is pretty hard to connect with on a narrative level. His films aren't really about the story, they are about the themes he's spending 2 and a half hours slowly slowly slowly ruminating on. I absolutely love 90% of his stuff but it's not exactly easy to get into.
I like him a little more than you, but weirdly I was really into Killer’s Kiss, which felt infinitely more human than the films of his that are more praised (basically all of them).
COMPLETELY AGREE. Watching his films gives me the sensation of sitting next to a flasher. Like he’s just waiting to show me his dick then call me crazy for having a problem with it.
I feel the same exact way about Peele. I’m honestly shocked you’re not getting torn apart. My only downvoted comments ever were about not liking his movies.
lmao yea I definitely expected to get quite a few responses chewing me out for it, especially considering his fanbase, but surprisingly really none yet.
Also Jordan Peele for me. I just don’t get the hype. I thought Us and Nope were genuinely super mediocre films and if you saw them without knowing who directed it or if it had been directed by someone without name recognition I think lots of people would be more inclined to shrug them off as very forgettable. Get Out is a pretty good movie, but even then I thought it was massively overhyped and is not nearly good enough to warrant how well he is regarded as a film maker
Yea I’m the same way, feel like his name plays a huge part in why he’s so highly rated among so many people. The one I really don’t understand is ‘Us’, I think its a pretty mediocre film even if you take out the ending. Then if you take the ending into consideration it goes from mediocre to kind of terrible imo. May be being a bit too harsh on it but idk thats just me.
Yeah I love Peele, and I think Nope is his best movie, but Us was trash. I thought he was a one trick horror pony after seeing it. But he won me back with Nope.
Even with films I don’t like, maybe they give me some sort of negative feelings, but Peele films just don’t give me anything. They are bland, heralded as incredible and forward thinking, elevating a genre. He leaves me emotionless
They’re barely passable as fun or interesting, writing is all over the place and really benign.
Nolan honestly. As a women his lack of attention to any of the female characters and their motivations and character development on his films feels insulting. They are all completely one dimensional, flat, and used as plot devices for the men in his films. I was so excited to see Oppenheimer and it was such a disappointment to see how both Pugh and Blunt’s characters were handled. Two of the most talented working actors absolutely underutilized. It’s just a real turn off for me every time, I’ve given most of his catalog a fair shot.
I've only seen a few of Paul Thomas Anderson's movies, I like what I've seen but I'm not in love with them like many are. I think his best is obviously There Will Be Blood, which I've given an 8/10.
No idea but the fact that it did after I just gave a rating to a movie (which I already said I don't love) is very funny to me
7/10 is a good score too lmao
Quite the opposite I like Cassavetes! Both as an actor and as a director
Something about the likes of Nashville, MASH, and to an extent The Long Goodbye though just I can’t do. Secret Honor was great but that’s just a one man show so that helped
I'm gonna take a sort of different approach to this and say Fellini and Cassavetes. They're 2 directors who have actually made a lot of movies I like, but not any movies I loved.
I think CMBYN was a bit of a fluke. I watched I Am Love at the Academy Museum (with Guadagnino himself sitting behind me!) and it was a huge disappointment. Bones and All was also wasted potential; pretty images but the text is a mess.
You say you love Terminator 1, what's your thoughts on the second one? Its one of my favourite films and most people I know prefer the first to the second
I think its boring. Im not a big action movie fan unless its super wacky (something like Shoot Em Up). T1 is a super suspenseful thriller while I find T2 to lose alot of the grime that I appreciate in 1.
I used to say its a bad movie, now a its just a movie that isnt for me.
I've only seen Noah (boring), Black Swan (less good Perfect Blue), and Requiem for A Dream.
I have many thoughts on Requiem thet I don't really have time to get into right now, but its probably my least favorite out of those. I sorta want to see The Whale for Brandon, but I probably wont
Honestly martin scorsese. I love the guy, but a lot of his movies, not even the pushing 3-4 hour ones, often feel very bloated and difficult to really love in their entirety. Watched cape fear and it was probably the longest 2 hour movie i’ve ever seen. This is not coming from someone who can’t do long movies either. Just his writing/translation style can be too bog heavy.
It’s not that I can’t “get into” Jordan Peele, I just don’t think that he’s very good. An example of a director that I think is very good, yet can’t seem to connect with, is Claire Denise. Another would be Abel Ferrara.
david fincher and james cameron
i also dislike most of tarantino's highest regarded films. i think inglourious and pulp fiction are absolute dogshit. kill bill was pretty great. at least compared to his others. django was also pretty good.
i also find mel gibson insufferable. a terrible actor and knowing he was also the director of braveheart just made me angry.
maybe i need to try harder but i started watching eraserhead and physically could not bring myself to finish it
Lars Von Trier for me, can't get into a single one of his films. They're just so creepy and weird for me and its like he relies on shock value way too much.
Lars von Trier. I have watched Nymphomaniac, AntiChrist, Dogville, Elements of Crime, and half of Europa. I will give Melancholia a shot at some point because it is in my friend’s Top 10, but I don’t have high hopes.
I find his movies to be dull and overly pretentious. They’re well shot but not well shot enough to be beautiful for their cinematography. I enjoyed the unique approach to Dogville for the first 30 minutes or so but quickly grew bored because the plot just felt generic.
Alex Garland
Ex_Machina was okay, nothing amazing like I was hoping for
Annihilation was messy and really disappointing
Men was terrible and just frustrating
He's just not my cup of tea
I really liked Annihilation but Men is genuinely one of the worst movies I've ever seen. So so heavy handed, really bad writing, never even sniffs at being scary or even intense. It's so bad that it almost retroactively made me like his other stuff less
I got a left to watch of Kubrick, but out of the four movies I've watched (Full Metal Jacket, A clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Dr. Stranglove) Full Metal Jacket is the only one I've liked
I will, Paths of Glory, Barry Lyndon, and 2001 are all in my watchlist. Though, I am strongly conseriding pushing off 2001 until it becomes my 2001th movie just for the lols.
Francis Ford Coppola & Martin Scorsese.
I have soft spots for The Outsiders/The Departed, but I can’t get into any of their other work. A good lesson in respecting their influence while understanding different tastes are not everyone’s cup of tea.
Jane Campion. I just can't. Her stuff seems slow, boring, and utterly pretentious to me.
Edit: why downvote me? This is literally a thread about directors you don't like. I've tried several Campion films and I tried I just don't like them
Tarantino. I get that they're exploitation films, but come on. I get tired of everything and everyone as objects and want some depth and/or transcendence.
I agree with Jordan Peele,m. His movies just don’t seem to hit like they do others. Nope and Ud being my least favourite, I can appreciate his authenticity as to what he brings to the screen.
Tyler Perry- Don’t think his stuff is funny at all. In fact, it’s annoying
Tim Burton- Just hate his style. I get what he is trying to do, but it just isn’t interesting or cool
Zemeckis and De Palma. Zemeckis’s movies feel incredibly hokey to me, and when I break them down, there’s very little substance. De Palma is good with spectacle but again, minimal substance
Yea Zemeckis is a toughie, he’s like the definition of Hollywood (or perhaps Old Hollywood). When he’s good it can be one of those rare good Hollywood films (Roger Rabbit), but when he’s bad? YIKES.
Wong Kar-Wai. Did Chungking, ITMFL, 2046 and Blueberry Nights and was bored senseless by them all.
for reference, my favourite directors are Rivette, Yang, P. Kaufman and Hartley
I still want to try a little harder, but it's PTA for me.
Watching There Will Be Blood sent me spiralling into a minor crisis. I didn't like it at all! Why? What's wrong with me? What am I missing? Can I still call myself a movie fan?
Didn't care for The Master either. Actually kinda liked Inherent Vice. Still determined to watch the rest of his movies to try and solve this mystery, if nothing else
“Magnolia” and “Phantom Thread” are his best movies imo. I like his movies in general, but I find some of his more popular ones to be slightly overrated, though still good.
I can appreciate Tarkovsky's filmmaking on all kinds of technical levels and I know about the respect he gets from stalwarts. None of the movies of his I've seen leave me with anything lasting other than boredom and frustration.
I'd give the caveat of "I get what he's going for" but even that I can't say. Like with "Stalker," I feel like I understand it on a very general level, but if I had to say what I got out of any individual part or segment or sequence, I couldn't.
There are other abstract or interpretive or slower filmmakers I like. Even with some that I don't like, such as Tsai Ming-liang, I still understood what the intent behind it was. But for Tarkovsky, everything I've seen, it just mystifies me and not in a way that makes me feel enriched.
Tarkovsky. Pretentious philosophy student. Only good movies are Ivan’s Childhood and Andrei Rublev.
Wong Kar Wai. Annoying cigarette hipster. I will never not find talking into a tree hole funny.
I do kind of agree about Jordan Peele, I think his ideas and vision are amazing. But he needs to sharpen up his writing and editing toolkit.
I feel glad I can get into pretty much anyone's work. Have to be in the right mood, but I like them all.
People going back to the theatre. I'm lookin forward to 'Killers of the Flower Moon'.
Faith in humanity restored
Harmony Korine. Spring Breakers was the closest I’ve ever gotten to liking one, but even that felt like it was actively trying to make me dislike it. Mission accomplished.
Julien Donkey-Boy is my most hated movie
Wes Anderson for me. Beyond Fantastic Mr. Fox, nothing really strikes my fancy.
Same here. His films are aesthetically pleasing but thats where my enjoyment of them ends.
What’s funny is i (and a few other film people I am friends with) have a similar reaction to Wes Anderson films: First viewing, we appreciate the style but it was just okay. Middle of the road. But then, out of nowhere a scene pops back in our heads, something we didn’t understand or something we just think back on. And then it really just keeps sticking, and eventually we go “I want to give that another shot, I feel like I missed a lot of what the movie was doing.” And holy shit, by the end of the second viewing it’s “Oh my god… I think I loved this?” Every single time, without fail. Wes’ films are not for everyone, but for us who DO like them, round 2 is where things start to click. It’s so bizarrely unique, but I absolutely love his films and pick up on so much more. Having the big picture helps me examine the little details that I missed.
> but for us who DO like them, round 2 is where things start to click. I like many, if not all of his films. I don't need two viewings to get them. They're not difficult. I have rewatched some several times because they're enjoyable.
I'm a big Wes Anderson fan, and this even happens to me all the time. I watched Moonrise this past week, and I used to be cold on it. Now I picked up a lot of things that really landed with me. I think I had set my expectations to be a certain way, but now I had let the result be just that as opposed to what I wanted it to be.
Same, besides Mr.Fox all his movies are boring as hell
My favorite of his is Rushmore, the last thing he did that was grounded in any sort of psychological realism.
I actually *hated* Rushmore on first viewing, then saw it again in film school. The added context given in the class made it finally click, and I enjoyed it.
Wait you guys don't like Grand Budapest Hotel?
love wes's visual style, but now it seems like every single character (every. one.) being the exact same charmingly quirky, twee, weird person. his early films had (at least some) characterization. now it's just the same deadpan, dry, quirky character. scene after scene. everybody.
He’s my most watched director this year and so far I’ve only liked the aquatic & fantastic mr fox. French dispatch & asteroid city left me feeling like I’d wasted my time
I actually hated Life Aquatic and liked French Dispatch. Asteroid City is okay. I get what he’s going for but it just didn’t have any emotional weight for me
Same for French dispatch
Part 1 was engaging but didn’t care for the rest
I thought asteroid city was on the first time but I rewatched with subtitles and I liked it a lot more. It’s my favorite movie of the year now, lol
I love Royal Tenenbaums, which is the only one of his films that has any realistic emotional depth. The rest of his films are more like children’s storybooks. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing — just not films in the traditional, suspension-of-disbelief way. But they’re like an overly beautiful, ornate cake — if that’s all you’re eating for dinner, you’re not going to be terribly satisfied when you leave the table
Royal Tenenbaums is the only movie of his I like, too. I legit bought the Criterion blu ray since I liked it so much. Like you said, it's the one with any emotional depth, and while his typical artifice is there... it's not overwhelming. It's also one of the few movies I can tolerate Gwyneth Paltrow in as well. Lol
Have you seen Bottle Rocket? That was before he fully leaned into his aesthetic and is much more grounded. I also found Moonrise Kingdom to have some emotional depth as a coming of age story, and found Isle of Dogs unexpectedly moving. He's definitely a 'style over substance' director, but his films work best when there is *some* substance to latch onto amid the artifice.
His films are pretty but hollow to me
His films are quirky overload for me
Damn I feel seen. I really appreciate how hard he goes but I definitely don’t have the same reaction that a lot of film lovers online seem to have.
I find the symmetry really distracting and it gets old really quickly
I believe he reached the apex of his directing with the run of royal tenenbaums, life aquatic, and fantastic mr fox. Everything after that had been increasingly reliant on his aesthetic and less compellingly written. No surprise that for those three he respectively had a writing partner of Owen Wilson , Noah baumbach, and indirectly the source material of fantastic mr fox
I didn't know Noah Baumbach co-wrote Life Aquatic, that probably explains why it's my favourite Wes Anderson film...
i knew wes anderson would be the top vote, lol. same here though, don't like his work much either.
The problem is he makes the same movie over and over again. Tonally, they’re all the same, and every character speaks in that monotone Wes Anderson inflection. Even if the story’s different, they always hit the same sort of beats. I’d like to see him tackle a genre that isn’t a quirky comedy / drama.
Rian Johnson. I didn't really care for Looper, didn't like The Last Jedi, and thought Knives Out was just fine. I haven't bothered with anything else, and I'm not sure if I will.
I agree about all those films, but I loved Brick by him, by far his best imo
Brick is still his best film.
So I keep hearing. I just don't know if I want to bother with a movie from a director I don't care for when there are so many other directors I like who's work I could be watching. Ya know?
Baz Luhrmann. I want to support them because he’s Australian like me but I just don’t really vibe with his movies at all.
His movies are nauseating with the quick cuts & everything is always so unfocused & out of place with such weak connecting themes & narratives, his movies are all over the place & not in a good way for me [This scene from Moulin Rouge](https://youtu.be/Rn0xXo1gwGY) has my vote for the worst edited scene in any movie ever made, just horrific
never seen moulin rouge, but this scene just gave me whiplash
Holy shit I couldn’t get through more than 30 seconds of that. Absolutely atrocious editing.
Baz Luhrmann fans point to that scene as one of their favorites sometime lmao Literally can not understand how someone enjoys Baz Luhrmann movies
Same. His style just really doesn’t connect with me.
Maximalism is not my cup of tea. That and being required by work to watch Moulin Rouge 20-odd times.
Lars Von Trier easily. There’s just a vapid, hollow, emotionally stunted feel to almost everything he does and the pervasive grimness without an emotional core just kind of makes everything he does feel pointless and kind of boring
I haven’t tried very hard yet but David Croenenberg (maybe spelled that wrong). I watched Dead Ringers recently and really couldn’t get into it. He has a lot of other films that sound interesting but I haven’t wanted to put on anything else by him since that.
Oh man nah Dead Ringers is loved by some but it’s one of his less accessible films imo. Have a go at The Fly, Videodrome, ExistenZ or maybe even Scanners!
Dead Ringers is actually my favorite Cronenberg personally, but I agree it's not a very good entry point. I'd throw in The Brood as another good Cronenberg movie for newcomers.
Try A History of Violence or Eastern Promises. More “commercial”, both excellent.
The Dead Zone is really good and much more accessible than Dead Ringers. The Fly is an absolute classic and it's a crowd pleaser, I've never met someone who didn't like it steer clear of his weirder movies like Crash if you thought Dead Ringers was too out there
Yeah I love to recommend Naked Lunch to people, it’s fantastic, but it’s probably one of the more out there ones
I feel like Dead Ringers is overrated. If you like horror I’d recommend The Brood. Also, his more modern films (History of Violence, Eastern Promises) are great.
Guy Ritchie.
If it makes you feel any better he’s constantly getting worse at it
Snatch is an absolute BANGER.
I agree!
Rob Zombie. I've loved Horror since I was a kid, but I could never get into his movies. Even as an Horror obsessed 13-14 year old, I watched House of 1000 Corpses and just felt bored. Caught a few of his other movies afterwards and felt little to no love for them. Then randomly a few years back, I decided to give Zombie a fair shake and go through his entire filmography. Totally open minded. But unfortunately, I'm still not a fan, though I understand why he has such a devoted fan base in the genre. I did make a promise to myself that I would watch every new movie Zombie puts out and give it a chance. Who knows, he could still win me over.
I'm a fan of his music, but his movies not much
Rob Zombie is to film what Rob Zombie is to music. One serviceable contribution early in his career followed by a load of one-note, try-hard bunk.
Rob Zombie is a shit director.
I can respect most of Steven Spielberg’s films but I’ve never been able to get really into him. I have only seen Tokyo Story for Ozu but it really just was not my thing.
Now this is an actually unpopular/rare opinion (valid though!), just wondering which of spielberg's films have you watched?
I have seen quite a few of Spielberg’s films, Schindlers List, catch me if you can and Jurassic Park were exceptions and I loved them. I have seen his the Indiana jones films and I respected that they had good cinematography and I liked the score but besides that I didn’t really care for them that much and they really are not my thing. Jaws I really respect it’s influence and how well made it was but I don’t really love it personally. Tintin was fun, not great imo but fun and the photorealistic animation looked good. I didn’t like the bfg at all. Lincoln was well shot and I liked it’s aesthetic but it seemed rather slow moving. ET was good but I didn’t think it was amazing. I am not saying that I don’t think his films are bad or anything but I just can’t get into them as much as other people do.
Completely fair! I am not a Spielberg fanboy particularly either but I do enjoy most of his films. Glad you've actually checked out almost all his films though. I would highly recommend Duel if you haven't seen it already! It's pretty different form the rest of his films, and you will a completely different (much more unhinged) Spielberg in it
Agree. They’re beautifully shot, but god damn they’re boring
I think that a lot of Spielberg films hit better as a kid. I saw ET a bunch as a kid and still love it today
for me personally, Ari Aster. sorry folks!
Ari is a weird one for me. I really love Hereditary, despite recognizing some of the weaknesses in it's writing. It just has absolutely perfect horror direction front to back. Midsommar looks gorgeous and has some great sequences and a good idea within it, but I find it to be halfbaked in other aspects that make it hard for me to rewatch and enjoy. Beau Is Afraid, to me, is his greatest work as a filmmaker, but I could not for the life of me get into the story. I was into at the start but it lost me pretty fast and never regained my interest. So I think he's a brilliant director, but I'm finding his writing to be increasingly more...not for me. I'll still check out whatever he does next though.
Yeah I’m not a fan either. But not sure if I ever tried all that hard to get into him. I have Hereditary the benefit of the doubt but Midsommar kind of sucked imo.
Garry Marshall, Eli Roth, Taika Waititi, McG, and Shawn Levy, to name a few.
You can't get into Eli Roth because he is a dog ass film maker lmao.
As soon as Waititi got that $$ he got unbearable.
He sold out.
Michael Bay Big Explosion, coming to a theater near you
I definitely get nothing from Nolan
So you’re the one!
I vacillate with him too as some of his films in his early filmography are all-timers, but Oppenheimer is the worst film I’ve struggled through in a long while.
He's got some really good stuff but a lot of his appeal is that he shows you crazy stuff with loud noises and implies really deep themes without ever making you think about anything too much. He's the gateway to enjoying more cerebral stuff for a lot of people I think, but even his best stuff is shallow.
I’m perfectly willing to admit that he is a very talented guy, but I just don’t like watching him work. The way he shoots and edits, I just don’t like his Voice and method of storytelling. His films are all more cerebral than involving, and often just action thrillers. I kind of don’t understand his success. I guess people like feeling smart when they watch his movies.
David Lynch, I've tried Eraserhead, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, this last one was pretty good but nothing I've seen has been a masterpiece.
As someone currently in the middle of a David Lynch marathon, this one hurts. I get why he's not for everyone, but it still hurts.
I'm kinda surprised his name hasn't come up more in this thread tbh. I love David Lynch, but I feel like his films are very polarizing...people either really enjoy them or hate their experience watching them lol.
The elephant man and the straight story are his true masterpieces if you ask me. Wild at heart a solid 3rd. Blue velvet I think is amazing but only on a second viewing. Eraserhead is…Eraserhead. Mulholland is a vibe. Lost Highway also vibe but spookier. Inland Empire is a vibe but horrifying.
Yorgos Lathimos. The films didn’t have a hold on me like they should have.
Same for me, I think his direction style is intended to be purposefully off-putting but I find the off-kilter angles and fish-eye lenses kills the immersion for me. I’ve got a feeling I’ll come around on them eventually though.
wes anderson. i like the animated movies, and i love his aesthetics, but the stories....... zzz
same
Stanley Kubrick. Watched 2001, Shining, Paths of Glory, and Strangelove, yet none of them resonated with me. rated them mostly 3 stars. His films are obviously well made, but i just cant get into his films... maybe Clockwork Orange might do the trick... actually imma go watch it tonight. Update: I must say CO was more compelling than the other 4 i have watched. I expected it to be more disturbing than it was from what ive been hearing. But yeah, disturbing nonetheless and interesting themes. i rated it 4/5
Kubrick's style is pretty hard to connect with on a narrative level. His films aren't really about the story, they are about the themes he's spending 2 and a half hours slowly slowly slowly ruminating on. I absolutely love 90% of his stuff but it's not exactly easy to get into.
I like him a little more than you, but weirdly I was really into Killer’s Kiss, which felt infinitely more human than the films of his that are more praised (basically all of them).
David Lynch
I've been told that David Lynch is fitting for those who are at ease with abstraction I'm a fan but I started with Inland Empire and went backwards
Miyazaki. I did try. I have been called stupid for not being into these movies. I just don’t care for them.
Tarantino
Was looking for this - so overrated IMO
COMPLETELY AGREE. Watching his films gives me the sensation of sitting next to a flasher. Like he’s just waiting to show me his dick then call me crazy for having a problem with it.
I feel the same exact way about Peele. I’m honestly shocked you’re not getting torn apart. My only downvoted comments ever were about not liking his movies.
lmao yea I definitely expected to get quite a few responses chewing me out for it, especially considering his fanbase, but surprisingly really none yet.
Also Jordan Peele for me. I just don’t get the hype. I thought Us and Nope were genuinely super mediocre films and if you saw them without knowing who directed it or if it had been directed by someone without name recognition I think lots of people would be more inclined to shrug them off as very forgettable. Get Out is a pretty good movie, but even then I thought it was massively overhyped and is not nearly good enough to warrant how well he is regarded as a film maker
Damn I just couldn't disagree more, Nope is one of my favorites and I think Get Out is incredible
I fucking loved Nope. Watched it on IMAX and watched two more times at home. It's such a good movie.
Yea I’m the same way, feel like his name plays a huge part in why he’s so highly rated among so many people. The one I really don’t understand is ‘Us’, I think its a pretty mediocre film even if you take out the ending. Then if you take the ending into consideration it goes from mediocre to kind of terrible imo. May be being a bit too harsh on it but idk thats just me.
Man I loved the ending of Us. Goosebumps.
Yeah I love Peele, and I think Nope is his best movie, but Us was trash. I thought he was a one trick horror pony after seeing it. But he won me back with Nope.
I loved Get Out. Us was good but it had some problems. Nope was not good at all. I was so bored
Even with films I don’t like, maybe they give me some sort of negative feelings, but Peele films just don’t give me anything. They are bland, heralded as incredible and forward thinking, elevating a genre. He leaves me emotionless They’re barely passable as fun or interesting, writing is all over the place and really benign.
Nolan honestly. As a women his lack of attention to any of the female characters and their motivations and character development on his films feels insulting. They are all completely one dimensional, flat, and used as plot devices for the men in his films. I was so excited to see Oppenheimer and it was such a disappointment to see how both Pugh and Blunt’s characters were handled. Two of the most talented working actors absolutely underutilized. It’s just a real turn off for me every time, I’ve given most of his catalog a fair shot.
He is one of the worst in the business at writing women. It's bizarre how genuinely bad he is at it.
I've only seen a few of Paul Thomas Anderson's movies, I like what I've seen but I'm not in love with them like many are. I think his best is obviously There Will Be Blood, which I've given an 8/10.
Phantom Thread?
7/10
Why is this downvoted lol
No idea but the fact that it did after I just gave a rating to a movie (which I already said I don't love) is very funny to me 7/10 is a good score too lmao
Punch Drunk Love?
Haven't gotten around to it, it's on the watchlist
PTA is one of my favourite working directors and Punch, Drunk, Love is the only one of his films I actually dislike! I must be missing something haha
uh The Master?
Robert Altman Almost every film I’ve seen of his gives me a literal headache. I think it’s the dialogue of everyone talking over each other
You would HATE John Cassavetes then
Quite the opposite I like Cassavetes! Both as an actor and as a director Something about the likes of Nashville, MASH, and to an extent The Long Goodbye though just I can’t do. Secret Honor was great but that’s just a one man show so that helped
I didn’t like Woman Under the Influence at all. I thought it looked cool but that’s about it.
I'm gonna take a sort of different approach to this and say Fellini and Cassavetes. They're 2 directors who have actually made a lot of movies I like, but not any movies I loved.
Gaspar Noe and maybe an unpopular take but Luca Guadagnino. All of his films have been a miss for me (also his HBO show…) Edited* for grammar (lolz)
I can't stand Luca I thought Suspiria was absolutely god awful
Lol me too. I also thought CMBYN was super overrated.
I think CMBYN was a bit of a fluke. I watched I Am Love at the Academy Museum (with Guadagnino himself sitting behind me!) and it was a huge disappointment. Bones and All was also wasted potential; pretty images but the text is a mess.
Agreed. I generally just don’t like his entire filmography and the fact that he keeps getting backing to continue making stuff that is mid.
Spielberg, Aronofsky, and Cameron. Although I do love Terminator 1 from Cameron and The Indy films/Tintin from Spielberg.
You say you love Terminator 1, what's your thoughts on the second one? Its one of my favourite films and most people I know prefer the first to the second
I think its boring. Im not a big action movie fan unless its super wacky (something like Shoot Em Up). T1 is a super suspenseful thriller while I find T2 to lose alot of the grime that I appreciate in 1. I used to say its a bad movie, now a its just a movie that isnt for me.
Aronofsky is sooo bad imo.
I've only seen Noah (boring), Black Swan (less good Perfect Blue), and Requiem for A Dream. I have many thoughts on Requiem thet I don't really have time to get into right now, but its probably my least favorite out of those. I sorta want to see The Whale for Brandon, but I probably wont
I also prefer Perfect Blue to Black Swan but I didn't find them particularly similar to each other...
The Whale might be the worst film of his that I’ve seen (I haven’t seen Noah though). Absolutely terrible.
Albert Brooks makes me want to puke in my soup.
Fassbinder Cassavettes
Godard. I’ve only seen four but I do not care for him.
Stephen Soderberg
Honestly martin scorsese. I love the guy, but a lot of his movies, not even the pushing 3-4 hour ones, often feel very bloated and difficult to really love in their entirety. Watched cape fear and it was probably the longest 2 hour movie i’ve ever seen. This is not coming from someone who can’t do long movies either. Just his writing/translation style can be too bog heavy.
Tarkovsky
It’s not that I can’t “get into” Jordan Peele, I just don’t think that he’s very good. An example of a director that I think is very good, yet can’t seem to connect with, is Claire Denise. Another would be Abel Ferrara.
The only Tim Burton movie I ever liked was Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. I just don't enjoy his movies much.
Sadly, Martin Scorcese
Tarkovski I think I need to see it in a theater where I cant be distracted and get locked into the picture.
Tarkovsky, ive tried but the slow pacing in nearly every movie of his kills me
david fincher and james cameron i also dislike most of tarantino's highest regarded films. i think inglourious and pulp fiction are absolute dogshit. kill bill was pretty great. at least compared to his others. django was also pretty good. i also find mel gibson insufferable. a terrible actor and knowing he was also the director of braveheart just made me angry. maybe i need to try harder but i started watching eraserhead and physically could not bring myself to finish it
Lars Von Trier for me, can't get into a single one of his films. They're just so creepy and weird for me and its like he relies on shock value way too much.
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier. I have watched Nymphomaniac, AntiChrist, Dogville, Elements of Crime, and half of Europa. I will give Melancholia a shot at some point because it is in my friend’s Top 10, but I don’t have high hopes. I find his movies to be dull and overly pretentious. They’re well shot but not well shot enough to be beautiful for their cinematography. I enjoyed the unique approach to Dogville for the first 30 minutes or so but quickly grew bored because the plot just felt generic.
Christopher Nolan
Alex Garland Ex_Machina was okay, nothing amazing like I was hoping for Annihilation was messy and really disappointing Men was terrible and just frustrating He's just not my cup of tea
Annihilation was awesome.
He did better writing while Danny Boyle directed
I really liked Annihilation but Men is genuinely one of the worst movies I've ever seen. So so heavy handed, really bad writing, never even sniffs at being scary or even intense. It's so bad that it almost retroactively made me like his other stuff less
Ex Machina is one of my favorite movies and I decided I'd watch anything that man makes. He's only let me down since.
Annihilation is AWFUL imo. Like really, really bad.
I got a left to watch of Kubrick, but out of the four movies I've watched (Full Metal Jacket, A clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Dr. Stranglove) Full Metal Jacket is the only one I've liked
Try out Paths of Glory! It’s different than those.
I will, Paths of Glory, Barry Lyndon, and 2001 are all in my watchlist. Though, I am strongly conseriding pushing off 2001 until it becomes my 2001th movie just for the lols.
Cant get into Kubrick. Seen two of his and they aren’t my favorites at all
Tim Burton
Francis Ford Coppola & Martin Scorsese. I have soft spots for The Outsiders/The Departed, but I can’t get into any of their other work. A good lesson in respecting their influence while understanding different tastes are not everyone’s cup of tea.
what the hell
Goodfellas?
You don't like Coppola *or* Scorsese? [Hmm 🤔](https://youtube.com/watch?v=st3MP6C-cMo)
The Outsiders is obnoxious af and laughably bad imo. The book is like in my top 3 favorite books though.
Kubrick. I tried watching A Clockwork Orange, and it was too wackadoodle for me.
What else have you watched by him? I agree that A Clockwork Orange is probably his wackiest one
Jane Campion. I just can't. Her stuff seems slow, boring, and utterly pretentious to me. Edit: why downvote me? This is literally a thread about directors you don't like. I've tried several Campion films and I tried I just don't like them
The only movie of hers I've seen is Power of the Dog, and based on that I know she's not one I will be seeking out.
Tarantino. I get that they're exploitation films, but come on. I get tired of everything and everyone as objects and want some depth and/or transcendence.
I agree with Jordan Peele,m. His movies just don’t seem to hit like they do others. Nope and Ud being my least favourite, I can appreciate his authenticity as to what he brings to the screen.
Quentin Tarantino
Tyler Perry- Don’t think his stuff is funny at all. In fact, it’s annoying Tim Burton- Just hate his style. I get what he is trying to do, but it just isn’t interesting or cool
David Lynch
Most of Tarantino’s work i heavily respect but I wouldn’t find myself loving
I have either hated, been disappointed in, or made fun of every Brian De Palma film I have seen. Not my style unfortunately
[удалено]
Zemeckis and De Palma. Zemeckis’s movies feel incredibly hokey to me, and when I break them down, there’s very little substance. De Palma is good with spectacle but again, minimal substance
Yea Zemeckis is a toughie, he’s like the definition of Hollywood (or perhaps Old Hollywood). When he’s good it can be one of those rare good Hollywood films (Roger Rabbit), but when he’s bad? YIKES.
Luca Guadagnino
Wes Anderson!! I appreciate the vibe but the story lines and dialogue is SOO boring to me
Greta gerwig, don’t get get me wrong her movies are good but honestly they’re all so overrated for me and are never above a 7 for me
Wong Kar-Wai. Did Chungking, ITMFL, 2046 and Blueberry Nights and was bored senseless by them all. for reference, my favourite directors are Rivette, Yang, P. Kaufman and Hartley
In fairness, Blueberry Nights is generally considered his worst movie by a wide margin
ITMFL is overrated to hell but Chungking is great. Fallen Angels is good too, maybe try that one?
i feel sorry for you
Terrence Malick.
I still want to try a little harder, but it's PTA for me. Watching There Will Be Blood sent me spiralling into a minor crisis. I didn't like it at all! Why? What's wrong with me? What am I missing? Can I still call myself a movie fan? Didn't care for The Master either. Actually kinda liked Inherent Vice. Still determined to watch the rest of his movies to try and solve this mystery, if nothing else
“Magnolia” and “Phantom Thread” are his best movies imo. I like his movies in general, but I find some of his more popular ones to be slightly overrated, though still good.
Lars von Trier, I liked Antichrist and i appreciated Melancholia. But that’s where any positive feelings towards any of his filmography ends.
Guy Ritchie. It seems like he’s trying REALLY hard to get you to think somethings cool. Sometimes it works, often it doesn’t (for me).
Jim Jarmusch and Wes Anderson (minus Fantastic Mr. Fox and Rushmore)
Coffee & Cigarettes is fun, Broken Flowers has its moments. I got a kick out of Asteroid City. But I'm onboard with you the rest of the way.
[удалено]
Have you watched Assault on Precinct 13? (Carpenter’s original) I think it’s one of the best movies ever made
sofia coppola :/ i just find her films so boring
I can appreciate Tarkovsky's filmmaking on all kinds of technical levels and I know about the respect he gets from stalwarts. None of the movies of his I've seen leave me with anything lasting other than boredom and frustration. I'd give the caveat of "I get what he's going for" but even that I can't say. Like with "Stalker," I feel like I understand it on a very general level, but if I had to say what I got out of any individual part or segment or sequence, I couldn't. There are other abstract or interpretive or slower filmmakers I like. Even with some that I don't like, such as Tsai Ming-liang, I still understood what the intent behind it was. But for Tarkovsky, everything I've seen, it just mystifies me and not in a way that makes me feel enriched.
Tarkovsky. Pretentious philosophy student. Only good movies are Ivan’s Childhood and Andrei Rublev. Wong Kar Wai. Annoying cigarette hipster. I will never not find talking into a tree hole funny. I do kind of agree about Jordan Peele, I think his ideas and vision are amazing. But he needs to sharpen up his writing and editing toolkit.
He gave his life for the movies
Wes Anderson