TheBrowningIdentity's Top Ten Worst Directors List

Wait, we're supposed to be doing best directors?!? I'll get around to that, I just finished this list! Okay, I spent a good month or so working on this, and hopefully at least one of you will get a kick out of this. If not, then I have failed! (Not really, because the list stands.)

Okay, so I know I just posted a video of this to YouTube and all, but I won't post the link of that here until I've finished the list (however, if you want spoilers, you can easily find it, and if you do, please be courteous and not spoil anything for everyone else). I'll get these out there as often as I possibly can. That could mean anywhere from two posts in a day to one post in two days; I have a flexible schedule.

With all that said, buckle up and enjoy the ride - #10 is on its way soon!

Looking forward to it! I hope you don't dis my favorite director

#10 - M. Night Shyamalan

This guy gets quite a bit of flack for the films he makes, and admittedly he deserves some of it. However, some people tend to forget that he has made a few really good movies! I've only seen parts of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, but I enjoyed what I did see, and Signs was pretty decent, too.

After Signs, though...yikes! Out of those after Signs, I've seen The Village, The Lady in the Water, and part of After Earth. None of these really grasped me, and the twists that Shyamalan became famous for making went from "WOW!" to "Eh." in the span of a few movies.

However, I believe that if he puts enough effort into it, he could rise up and make decent films again; only time will tell!

(Now, you all tend to post ratings of films you've seen from directors, but I'll have to decline this, as I prefer to provide ratings within a week of seeing a film. Apologies to all.)

"Unbreakable" (2000) was quite good.

#9 - Joel Schumacher

Whenever someone mentions this name, all minds tend to remember Batman & Robin. Who can blame them? It's among the worst of superhero movies! However, Schumacher, like Shyamalan, has actually made some decent movies. Surprised?

I'm torn between two films that I would say is my favorite from his works: The Lost Boys, which is one of the best vampire movies in my opinion, or A Time to Kill, which had a decent story and excellent acting from Samuel L. Jackson. Other goodies of his include The Client, Falling Down, and Tigerland - or at least, so I've heard, as I've not seen any of these. The praise is there, though.

However, alongside his good films, he has a bunch of stinkers! Batman Forever and Batman & Robin are two that everyone remembers, but there's also The Number 23, Flatliners, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, and The Phantom of the Opera (2004 version, one that a friend of mine and I debate on, as he enjoyed it; to each their own).

Overall, like Shyamalan, I'd say there's potential. Just keep him away from the superhero genre.

"The Phantom of the Opera" (2004) is like a hard drug. It's good while it lasts, but when it's over you feel kind of guilty, because of how grandiose it was.

I like Flatliners, but it's not something which gets near his best stuff. Also, as you mentioned you'd not seen it, try Falling Down. It's a good film.

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The big problem with Shyamalan is that he is technically a terrible director - he has absolutely no feel for constructing scenes and he generally gets bad performances out of his cast. Having said that, he comes up with great ideas and should stick to being a producer - which I think he did with Devil.

The Sixth Sense -
Unbreakable
Signs
Lady in the Water -
After Earth -
The Happening
The Last Airbender -

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My problem with Shyamalan was that he was so strong with "The Sixth Sense". And I don't know if it was the fact that he had a pretty good film with that one and that made anything that followed it seem to not be as good (almost as if I was expecting him to top himself and I was just disappointed because he couldn't even equal what he'd made before). Or if, in reality, he just isn't that good.

I had many issues with this one, but I won't get into any of that now. I am pretty much "Phantom" obsessed. And one thing that I have realized is that a lot of people (myself included) who have seen the stage production (I've seen it 4 times) seem to not be too crazy about the movie. The ones who tend to love the movie have never experienced it in the theater. Anyway, I was very happy when they finally decided to film the musical. I thought that Hollywood could really turn this into something great. Yet, their first mistake was having him direct it. I was so disappointed with that news. And it seemed like the movie just went downhill from there. It is such a shame, really. And it isn't like I don't like a couple of his movies (one, in particular, I love). I just think he is far better at doing films that are less of a "spectacle" (for lack of a better word).

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The only film mentioned here that I've seen is The Sixth Sense. I thought highly of that film. I felt it had a deeper, spiritual feeling to it....I'm looking forward to more of your list.

Schumacher is just a standard Hollywood hired gun - makes generic, bland films for the general public. As far as that stuff goes though his films are decent enough and I don't consider him to be a bad director - just somewhat unimaginative. Seen lots of his films but the only one that was recent enough to rate was:

St Elmo's Fire -

You said it better than I did. But this is, essentially, what I was saying when I said that he should stick to films that aren't as much of a "spectacle". "Unimaginative" is a good word to use.

Though I like A Time to Kill and Falling Down, Schumacher was the first director I thought of when I saw the title of this thread.

Have a good idea what number 1 will be. I'm pretty sure everyone knows who I'm thinking...

Agree with Shyamalan, I wasn't even that crazy about Sixth Sense, yeah the twist was pretty good but when I watched it I had no desire to see it again.

Agree with Schumacher also, though I haven't seen much from him. I saw bits and pieces of both Batman Forever and Batman and Robin and that was enough.

I like The Number 23.

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I like Joel Schumacher!

Phone Booth, The Lost Boys, A Time To Kill and The Number 23 are all movies that I highly appreciate

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One does not simply speak ill of the Shyamalan in my presence. He is in my top 10 favorite directors of all time.

The Sixth Sense
Unbreakable
Signs
The Village
Lady in the Water
The Happening
The Last Airbender (Film rating: , riff entertainment value
After Earth (Film rating: , riff entertainment value

His good movies are so good, and his bad ones are so bad they're so good. I think The Happening was him intentionally trying to poke fun at himself with a horror/comedy B movie. The Village was 100% different from expectations, which caused a lot of hate, but on its own merit it's a fine film.

I HATED Batman and Robin! But that being said I liked The Lost Boys, The Phantom of the Opera, and A Time to Kill, and I love Falling Down and 8mm. So I will give Joel a pass.

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#8 - Roland Emmerich

Picture just about any big-budget, small-plot movie of the last 25-ish years, and there's a good chance it was made by Roland Emmerich (if not, then it could've been someone else further up the list). Emmerich provides a lot of action in his films, along with most films having thread-bare plots.

He does have a couple films I thought shined among the bunch of movies he made:

-The Patriot: Decent Revolutionary War movie starring Mel Gibson before he went insane and Heath Ledger (who was probably the best actor on the set). While it's not Best Picture material, out of Emmerich's works, it's the closest!

-Independence Day: I'd call this movie the best alien invasion movie of the 90's at the very least. The acting may not be top-notch, but the visual effects and sound are terrific, and who can forget Will Smith's "Welcome to Earth!"

However, he has quite a few stinkers: 2012 (decent for VFX and nothing more); 10,000 BC (no plot, no acting, just garbage imo); The Day After Tomorrow (read what I said about 2012); and don't get me started on the '98 Godzilla movie!

If you're okay with big-budget action films that have little-to-no plot, Emmerich's films are up your alley! Otherwise, he's someone you might want to overlook.

Before I continue on, I wish to say this: these are purely my opinions. If you like any of the movies that I call 'stinkers', you keep liking them! That is your choice, and I won't try to dissuade you from that! Well, until we get to #2 and #1. Then I'll try to dissuade you from those films!