Robert Zemeckis

He's always been one of those guys whose name I greet with "Oh, he's made a few good films". But then I sat down and found that I love a good bulk of his work as a director. Here's my evaluation of the ones I have seen:

Used Cars has always been a favourite of mine, it's one of the few comedies I still find funny to this day. Kurt Russell gives what may be his most charismatic performance as Rudy Russo, the smooth salesman and Frank McRae, Gerritt Graham and Jack Warden offer great support. Zemeckis created a true comedy masterpiece with this one.

Romancing The Stone is ok, from what I remember, but honestly I haven't watched it in years.

Back To The Future and it's sequels are all brilliant, endlessly rewatchable classics. Picking a favourite is like picking a favourite child, they all have their own endearing qualities that make them the great films they are.

Who Framed Roger Rabitt is great, from what I remember, but this is another I haven't watched in a while. I do remember it being hilarious, though.

Forrest Gump is such a sweet, simple flick with a lovable lead character that I just can't resist it. By the end, it has me in tears and remains one of Zemeckis' best films.

Contact was good, a bit long and they didn't really need Matthew McConnagheuy, but a very good sci-fi film all the same.

What Lies Beneath I caught the end of one night, and it was pretty creepy. I do want to see it in its entirety.

Cast Away is a very emotionally involving film with a tour-de-force performance from Tom Hanks and the material is handled well by Bob. Great film.

The Polar Express was a nice film, don't remember much of it, again.

That's about it. What are your thoughts on his work?

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"George, this is a little too much for me. Escaped convicts, fugitive sex... I've got a cockfight to focus on."

Contact and What Lies Beneath are the low points of his career for me. Boring movies tbh.

The rest of his stuff has always been top drawer though. My faves are Back To The Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?...

Romancing The Stone was pretty funny, filled purposely with cliches and knowingly cheesy. Good film.

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I love Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Back to the Future films. Those are classics. Forrest Gump was a good film too. The Polar express was nice. But it didn't capture to same feeling the book did.

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Going 18600 miles per second.

Now, I haven't seen the following films in years, saw them back in early 90s so don't know if I still adore them now, but I remember I really liked the following two films:



&



Lately, one of my favourites, he was executive producer only on this though, is the wonderful Monster House:



Apart from the above, I haven't really enjoyed anything else from the director.

I think he's sort of a poor man's Steven Spielberg. He just knows how to make entertaining, high quality films. Very underrated IMO.

Well, I like that later on in his career, beyond the '80's, (from 1994 to now), he's beginning to mature and move out of making just blockbuster entertainment. Cast Away really surprised me, by being such an emotional and well-handled story.

He should have won an Oscar for WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? That's his masterpiece, not FORREST GUMP. I had forgotten that he also directed DEATH BECOMES HER, one of the most underrated comedies of the 1990's. I forgot he directed ROMANCING THE STONE as well...love that movie.

Forrest Gump is his masterpiece. Flight extends his good resume.

That's close to my take, but with a special emphasis on entertaining. I doubt that scholars will pay much attention to his films, but they're good popcorn movies. I loved Roger Rabbit and the BTTF movies. Contact is a favorite if I'm feeing skeptical about sic-fi because the plot is so rational and, of course so Sagan. My least favorite was Forest Gump, which gave me the impression that the best quality a man can have is to be simple minded. Cast Away was mainly an excellent vehicle for Hanks. Flight seemed to lose sight of its plot about halfway in and sunk into a quagmire of showing just how drunk Denzel Washington can really act...a lost opportunity. I guess my over all judgement is that Zameckis is an excellent but mid-range director. I don't expect anything great but I enjoy most of his movies.

I just never got that take away from it. It's one of my favorite movies ever. To me Forest can be summed up in math formula. Good intentions + being genuine + taken advantage of opportunities = a successful person.

Just him being simple minded makes for a better movie. There are plenty of people who are smart that fit into that addition formula, Tom Hanks (in real life) being a prime example.

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I came here to do two things, drink some beer and kick some ass, looks like we are almost outta beer - Dazed and Confused

101 Favorite Movies (2019)

I can't believe I've never actually seen or at least don't remember the Back to the Future trilogy, either.

Loved DEATH BECOMES HER...Streep was freaking brilliant.

Outside of Back to the Future, Contact is my fave film of his.

Contact is a genuinely gripping, intelligent examination of extraterrestrial life, wrapped up with a thought provoking and even handed debate about faith vs science. Great performances too.

Mo-cap mis-steps aside he is still one of the most diverse big budget directors out there and I look forward to his work.

Zemeckis would be in my top 20 list of favorite directors for sure if I ever compiled such a list.

Back to the Future is by far his best movie (the sequels were awesome, too, but the original is untouchable), followed by Forrest Gump and Cast Away. I've also enjoyed Death Becomes Her, The Walk, and What Lies Beneath a lot. Romancing the Stone, Used Cars, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit are movies I haven't seen in a long time, so I will have to revisit them to truly judge how much I feel about them. Flight was good, but it missed the mark in my opinion. Contact was kinda dull, and it is my least favorite of his films that I've seen. Beowulf is a film I had zero interest in and I've never watched it. Allied was a decent war/drama movie. Welcome to Marwen I have not seen yet, but from the looks of it, it seems like another lame film with a loose plot.


I think Zemeckis should re-team with Tom Hanks for another epic film, as I still believe he still has it in him. .

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“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!” ~ Rocky Balboa

Will be doing a Zemeckisthon this March. It's about time I delved more into the man's work.

Make a thread for it when you do your Zemeckisthon and post your thoughts. I'd be interested in what you have to say about his films.

I haven't seen everything he's done and as a director I can't rank him ahead of Spielberg...but his producing work is filled with underrated gems.


Horror

• House on Haunted Hill
• Ghost Ship
• Thirteen Ghosts
• House of Wax
• The Frighteners

Science Fiction/Other

• Real Steel
• Finch
• Matchstick Men

I also really enjoyed his adult Oscar bait trilogy (Flight/The Walk/Allied)

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love Death Become Her...believe it or not, my favorite Meryl Streep performance and one of Zemeckis' most underrated films.