There are a lot of great directors known for their many amazing pieces of cinema. But masters can’t always be on point every second of the day.
Source: SAM YEH/Getty Images
10. Hulk - Ang Lee
With solid films like The Ice Strom and Sense and Sensibility, Ang Lee has seen critical acclaim the world over. This respect seemed to bend a bit after the release of 2003’s Hulk. On an editing and special effects level the film was pretty solid, but the story and more importantly the directing seemed to be crushed under the computer graphics bonanza that took place during most of the movie. Ang Lee even threw on the motion capture suit and played Hulk himself. As awesome and ambitious as this is, it still didn’t make Hulk a character that audiences could have an emotional connection with. I did find it great that the CG Hulk looked a lot like the original Jack Kirby design. But this was not Ang Lee at his best.
9. New York, New York - Martin Scorsese
Source: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Let me start off by saying that Marty was reportedly doing a ton of drugs during the filming of this movie, and it definitely shows. I’m not saying that this film is bad, it’s just Scorsese’s weakest work. The performances from Liza and Bobby are good, but the characters are extremely hard to connect with. The film is also very stylized and looks incredible, but it seemed to be a little too “Hollywood” for Marty at the time. Again, I’m not saying that this is a horrible film, it’s just an unbalanced work from one the greatest ever to get behind the camera.
8. Anything Else – Woody Allen
Source: Tom Kingston/Getty Images
Woody Allen is no doubt a very talented artist with many gifts as a director, but he has a tendency to pump out too many features in very short periods of time. With this said, it seems impossible not to have a couple spoiled eggs pop out from time to time. I could have chosen from a number of mediocre Allen selections like Celebrity or even Scoop, but I would go with the incredibly rickety 2003 film Anything Else. On an acting level I found Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci to be really annoying. They are trying far too hard for their own good and seem to force unneeded wacky emotions out of Woody’s dialogue. The only good parts of the film that are remotely watchable are the scenes with Woody himself.
7. Planet of the Apes – Tim Burton
Source: Tony Barson/Getty Images
Being a big fan of the original Planet of the Apes series I’ve really tried to give this movie a chance. This, of course, was impossible. Casting Mark Wahlberg as Captain Leo Davidson was Burton’s first critical mistake. This is why remaking films can be such a volatile scenario. How in the hell can you top Charlton Heston’s performance as George Taylor from the 1968 original? First off, you can’t. Second, who thought Marky Mark could pull it off in the first place?! Even if you want to call this a "re-imagining" of the original, viewers are still going to compare the two no matter what.
6. Spider-Man 3 – Sam Raimi
Source: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Some may not consider Sam Raimi a "great director," but I beg to differ. He's easily one of the more diverse directors working today. With Evil Dead 2, Raimi created one of the greatest and most original horror flicks ever made. After this success, Sam went on to put out classics like Army of Darkness and surprisingly solid works like A Simple Plan and The Gift. Even The Quick and the Dead and Darkman were extremely fun popcorn flicks.
Raimi further showed the true depths of his talents with the release of Spider-Man 1 and 2. It’s no easy task to put together a high-budget action blockbuster and satisfy die-hard comic book fans as well as the critics. He accomplished both of these tasks with the first two installments of the series, but Spider-Man 3 was a completely different story. I went into the theatre expecting the film to pick up right where 2 ended and was sadly mistaken. After taking in the trainwreck that was Tobey Maguire’s dance scene, I couldn’t believe that Raimi allowed this eyesore to ever see the light of day. The entire movie was a jumbled mess with zero recognizable elements of his signature touch. It felt like I was watching something Brett Ratner directed.
