Ok- Movie Directors who JUMPED THE SHARK

[sundog]

I'll start - Woody Allen

Everything was just fine until Everyone Says I Love You... sure there were a few ups & downs before that, but he managed to score some great comebacks with Hannah & Mighty Aphrodite...

But since the mid-90's, things have been spiralling out of control. Did you see "Curse of the Jade Scorpion"? I didn't make it through the first 15 minutes.

Woody - wha' happen'

[Deja Q]

1. RON HOWARD (and Woody)

His bogus "bio-pic" of 'A Beautiful Mind' says it all. The guy in that pic was sanitized of his antisocial streak, and his bisexuality conveniently forgotten as well.

Ron wouldn't know the word "accurate" if it jumped out of the dictionary and slapped him on the forehead.

Woody was great up to and including "Annie Hall", after which he ditched the slapstick for something a bit more freaky and un-funny...

[Rabrrrrrr]

25. No, Howard always sucked, so he started off

on the other side of the tank.

And yeah, "Beautiful Mind" was abominable, even more than his other movies.

[Blue-Jay]

2. George Lucas

Or rather, he jumped the Jar-Jar.

[everythingsxen]

33. Oh yeah.. Lucas is a major Shark-Jumper

I am not too sure about Spielberg either...

[swag]

3. Scorsese - "Casino" - a sprawling idiotic POS

He tried to recapture the electricity of his own "Goodfellas" but ended up with a mess and the some of the most irritating voice-overs (courtesy Pesci et al.) in cinema history.

[sundog]

7. I think Age of Innocence

was his underrated masterpiece (that was before Casino)-- I love AOI, I was a big risk for him...

[swag]

10. I agree that it was excellent

I love Edith Wharton for one, and Scorsese did wonderful things with the story.

[sundog]

11. AOI is just as violent as his other movies...

but it is all emotional violence that is brewing under the faceade of "society." It was really a bigger challenge for him as a director, and he pulled it off extremely well. But AOI wasn't really even recognized because it wasn't the "SCORSESE" that the public wanted to see.

Probably he was cornered into Casino after AOI by execs to "give them what they want."

[fishwax]

15. He did get a fair amount of credit for it

He was nominated for a golden globe and for the director's guild best director awards, and the film was nominated for g.g. best picture. But it still does seem kind of forgotten in his repertoire.

[sundog]

19. Yeah,

but it got majorly snubbed by the Oscars (I think only Ryder was nom, and she was the weakest part IMHO)

But yeah, it certainly doesn't spring to mind when you say Scorsese -- it's the underdog of all his flicks, that's why I like it...

[AlCzervik]

17. I really liked that movie

and quite a change for him and i thought the casting was excellent, Casino i thought was alright but it was no Goodfellas.

[fishwax]

18. He has done good work since

I've always thought Kundun, which came out two or three years later, was highly underrated. I think it's one of his best, actually.

But I agree he's definitely lost a step overall with his last several movies.

[mitchum]

27. You said it!

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[WI_DEM]

5. Peter Bogdanovich

After scoring with "The Last Picture Show", "What's Up Doc?" and "Paper Moon"--Bogdanovich went on to a series of flops like "Daisy Miller", "At Long Last Love" (both featuring his then main squeeze Cybil Shepperd) and "Nickelodeon"--he made a bit of a comeback with "Mask" in the mid 80's but has had a sporatic career since. His most recent film was for television about Natalie Wood.

[htuttle]

6. Tim Burton

I'm not sure when it was, but he'd certainly jumped during Planet of the Apes, if not before.

It finally becomes clear in Apes that Tim Burton does scenery, environments, and fantastic milieus like no other, but he just doesn't do plots or dialogue.

on edit: Hey, YOU try spelling 'milieus' on a Saturday morning!

[sundog]

8. definitely

Big Fish was a bit of a let down for me... it was good, but not up to par with his old stuff...

[unblock]

9. ok - movie directors who JUMPED THE SKANK

i'll start - woody allen

actually, make that "all of 'em" -- well, maybe just the male ones.

no, actually, make that "all of 'em".

[AlCzervik]

12. Mel Gibson

I loved Braveheart. I don't think i'll ever be able to see any Gibson movie again after seeing and hearing him interviewed over the past year.

[sundog]

13. blleeeechhhhh!

:puke:

[AlCzervik]

14. So i'm guessing you didn't like Braveheart?

[sundog]

16. Actually I didn't

so I didn't feel betrayed by TPOC or anything...

The only time I liked him was in Beyond Thunderdome with Tina Turner...

on edit: I always held those stupid Lethal Weapon movies against him...

[fishwax]

20. Francis Ford Coppola

It's hard to say exactly when, b/c some of his 80s films had good moments ... He made three of the best movies of all time in the seventies, but he sure has been uneven since then. He's been overrated (Dracula), ill-advised (Godfather iii) and just plain awful (Jack).

But I still appreciate the work he's done with independent film and for writers (zoetrope magazine, etc.).

[sundog]

21. also a mixed bag...

he backed "Jeepers Creepers" 1 & 2 -- all of Salva's stuff...

[fishwax]

23. good point

lol :)

[mitchum]

28. In defense of Coppola, I still think that his clockpunching work...

is far superior to that of Scorsese. I'll take "Peggy Sue Got Married" over tripe like "The Color of Money", etc...) A long slow slide from "Mean Streets", "Taxi Driver", and "Raging Bull"

[sundog]

29. Oh yeah,

I forgot about Peggy Sue... that was a great movie...

[fishwax]

38. Peggy Sue wasn't bad

And I kind of liked Tucker, too. And both The Outsiders and Rumble Fish (but then again, I was a huge S.E. Hinton fan as a kid). All four are better than the Color of Money (or Cape Fear ;))

And I can see taking his money films over scorsese's, though I'd personally take scorsese, and I think his best films in the last 20 yrs have been much better than Coppola's in that time. I don't think either is on par with their own seventies work, but then I suppose that sets a pretty high-standard for both of them.

[NMDemDist2]

22. ok I see all these threads and wonder

what the hell does "jump the shark" mean?

[sundog]

24. here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x1404940

[Blue-Jay]

26. I wonder....

Has AZDemDist6 jumped the shark?

:D

[sundog]

30. RatTerrier mentioned Brian De Palma

on another thread... I agree, it was pretty much downhill after Scarface, though Carlito's Way was excellent...

Femme Fatale- bad, bad, bad...

[JackDragna]

31. Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer

The absolute epitomes of over-the-top, woodenly-acted, cliche-filled, massive explosion-filled wastes of celluloid. That Bay is going to direct the new "Superman" movie chills me to the bone.

[LibertyorDeath]

35. Jerry Bruckheimer OMG yes Complete Shite !

[Lavender Brown]

32. Ang Lee

I love most of them except "Ride with the Devil" and "The Hulk."

[Khephra]

34. David Goyer ("The Crow" and "Dark City") may be on his way there

First he produced the wretched Sci-Fi Channel adapation of "Riverworld" and now he's gone and done "I, Robot". I'm just hoping it's a mid-career slump.

[jpgray]

36. Michael Cimino

Didn't take long after his masterpiece, either.

[FredScuttle]

37. Barry Levinson

He had a shot to be one of the modern greats after Diner and The Natural, but Rain Man? :wtf:

He recovered with his next films, Avalon and Bugsy, but, from there it was either titanic flops (Jimmy Hollywood, Toys) or standard paint-by-numbers Hollywood dreck (Disclosure, Sphere)

What irks me about Levinson is that he's capable of such outstanding work, yet he's so erratic about the quality of his projects. About the only films of his in the last decade that I enjoyed were Wag the Dog and Bandits.