Worst Mainstream Film Director Working Today

I chose Boll without hesitation.

On a side note, I will say there is one movie of Schumacher's that I very much enjoyed, which is A Time to Kill. Less because of his direction, which was still uneven and poorly mounted, but more because of the provocative premise and stellar performances (talk about casting against type). Quite a surprise from one of the most heavy-handed and clumsiest directors out there.

Boll is fairly easy to ignore due to his usual low budget and/or direct-to-video fare.

Right now I'm sitting here trying to decide who I hate more...Bay...or Emmerich. Both are SO INCREDIBLY AWFUL that it might take me awhile to decide.

S.D. wrote:

Boll is fairly easy to ignore due to his usual low budget and/or direct-to-video fare.  

Right now I'm sitting here trying to decide who I hate more...Bay...or Emmerich.  Both are SO INCREDIBLY AWFUL that it might take me awhile to decide.  

Come now, man. At least Emmerich's movies make visual sense, whereas Bay's films are incoherent and incomprehensible...

You're right about Boll; I suspect fewer people here have seen his films than those of the other names'.

Why, oh, why are Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer not an option here?

Has to be Uwe Boll.

Although I almost voted Emmerich because his "Godzilla" was a desecration of a sacred franchise. That monster is what Jay Leno would look like if he was reincarnated as an iguana.

Went with Boll.... I have liked films by all of the other directors. Bay's worst flick was easily Pearl Harbor - I liked all of his other flicks to some extent.

If it wasn't for Falling Down (which is a GREAT flick) or the fun Lost Boys, Schumaker could have easily won for Batman & Robin.

Anderson's flicks I have seen are OK, not great, but not so terrible I had to turn most of them off. Emmerich has been hit or miss since ID4 (a great flick that I can easily re-watch). Universal Soldier was fun, Stargate is great. The Patriot was good. The rest? Ouch, he's had some bad material to film since then! I haven't seen White House Down, but I will when it's out on DVD.

Generally, I like big, action-adventure summer popcorn flicks.

I like big, action-adventure flicks as well but I also know that it's possible to make them smart and funny. These clowns make films that getting a lobotomy prior to entering the theater should be a prerequisite.  

S.D. wrote:

I like big, action-adventure flicks as well but I also know that it's possible to make them smart and funny.  These clowns make films that getting a lobotomy prior to entering the theater should be a prerequisite.  

LOL!!!!

But I do like most of Bay's flicks - I find them fun. Easily forgettable and fun. Then again, I also like some independent movies too. And I also took some film classes in college (including screenwriting - cool class! Aced it!)

Watching a Michael Bay film is like listening to one of those annoying 80s instrumental shred metal guitarists.  The technique is there...but they have no sense of taste or restraint and just bludgeon you to death with ridiculous speed and bombast.  So after 20 minutes I'm sick of it...after 40 minutes I'm falling asleep with boredom...after an hour I'm walking out of the theater in search of headache medication.

S.D. wrote:

Watching a Michael Bay film is like listening to one of those annoying 80s instrumental shred metal guitarists.  The technique is there...but they have no sense of taste or restraint and just bludgeon you to death with ridiculous speed and bombast.  So after 20 minutes I'm sick of it...after 40 minutes I'm falling asleep with boredom...after an hour I'm walking out of the theater in search of headache medication.

This is exactly how I felt with Transformers. I had no idea what the hell happened when the credits were rolling, and I literally had a raging headache. Like, I actually went home and took 2 Aleve. It was just so much sensory overload, and I get it when people compare the film's style and the cartoon's, but I had seen the old animated movie (w/the Lyon theme) and a. my head felt fine after b. everything that happened during those 60 or 75 minutes, whatever, made complete sense.

I've only seen Postal from Boll, just awful.

Event Horizon was cool, I don't care what anyone says, so that's Anderson out.

Joel Schumacher has made too many films that i didn't hate Lost Boys, Flatliners, 8MM, The Number 23.

So that leaves Bay & Emmerich

I'm going with Bay as Emmerich has Independence Day which I love! (Again, I don't care! ) Bay has nothing, just an uninterrupted shower of poo since 1995!!   

Boris2008 wrote:

I've only seen Postal from Boll, just awful.

Event Horizon was cool, I don't care what anyone says, so that's Anderson out.

Joel Schumacher has made too many films that i didn't hate Lost Boys, Flatliners, 8MM, The Number 23.

So that leaves Bay & Emmerich

I'm going with Bay as Emmerich has Independence Day which I love! (Again, I don't care! ) Bay has nothing, just an uninterrupted shower of poo since 1995!!   

Lost Boys is a terrible movie. Didn't even like it as a kid. Some sincerely shoddy direction, isn't even fun to watch. Now that I've got that off my chest...

Anderson baffles me to no extent. Out of every mainstream filmmaker out there, he's gotta be the most enigmatic of them all. Event Horizon was an almost badass sci-fi with a cool premise, top notch cast, and stunning FX for the time. It's too bad the full cut will no longer see the light of day, because the main problem is the convoluted story arc and uneven pacing. Otherwise, he had a genuine effort going there, a really solid sci-fi-cum-horror effort. This was after the earnest and acceptable Mortal Kombat, which I enjoyed very much. Then came Soldier, and things started getting silly but still looked okay and made me think, "high-budget b-movie director." Finally, Resident Evil came along split the crowd (I loved it). The thing about these movies is that they are done with a certain amount of fun and energy while at the same time filmed with a certain style--think Verhoeven lite.

Then the dude does AvP.

What the Goddamn actual F*ck.

Style thrown out the window. Bland setups. Dark, drab photography. Hokey FX. Ludicrous dialogue and unlikable characters. PG-13. Lack of concept. Raping the Alien mythology. I could go on.

Death Race comes along and I'm hopeful but NOPE! Boring as hell, lacking in the kind of attitude it needed, and less tension than the Corman's original, which is saying a lot. I gave up on him after that. The wtf thing is the dude knows his stuff and has potential to create some good shit, but something keeps him from that. Maybe he feels too obligated to the studios, I dunno.

I've got to admit that I haven't seen The Lost Boys since I was a teenager but I don't remember hating it. I think that the fact is that all of these guys are bad. But Bay is so consistently terrible that he takes the prize.

Another one would be Gus Van Sant. I just don't get this f**king guy. How Milk got best film over The Wrestler is something I will never understand! Drugstore Cowboy & Good Will Hunting are both decent but massively over rated, the rest is just shocking!

I ended up going with Emmerich, as much as I'm annoyed by Michael Bay it almost feels like Emmerich opened the door that allowed Bay to slink through. Bay started out as a music video director and worked his way into features, Emmerich graduated from a prestigious German film school and should know better.

If someone asked me to pick examples of really bad acting and hamfisted direction I could pick multiple examples from every single Emmerich film...and I'm not solely blaming the actors because generally he works with people that are good elsewhere, but who suddenly look amateurish when taking direction from him. The term "groan-inducing" is used a lot when I try to describe his films. The last Emmerich film I sat through was The Day After Tomorrow and I decided to never waste another minute of my time after that.

Boll

Bay. Seeing his name attached is enough to put me off even contemplating seeing it.

Top 3 worst:

1. MICHAEL BAY

2. MICHAEL BAY

3. MICHAEL BAY

Isn't that Boll guy's gimmick that he is really bad.  Like it's a selling point for him?  

I'm with-holding a vote since outside of Boll (who I've never seen his films) each has done some work I am a fan of.  I still really enjoy Armageddon.  And apparently have wisely stayed away from his later stuff.

With Emmerich, I'm a fan of Universal Soldier, Independence Day (guilty pleasure!), and The Day After Tomorrow.  Godzilla (a sacrilege) and 2012 were beyond awful IMO.  Just for those he probably deserves my vote.

Schumacher gets a pass because I love The Lost Boys.  And I'll excuse Batman & Robin as him taking a payday.

Anderson is interesting because Resident Evil has got to be my number one guilty pleasure series of the last decade.  He didn't direct them all but even the ones he did I still get a kick out of.  I just like them as fun and mindless entertainment.  Funny thing is I only played the game once on the original play station and don't think I even got out of the hallway at the beginning.  Hated it, but love the movies.  Go figure.

Schumacher does not belong in this thread. The Lost Boys is one of my all time favorite movies! I really liked Flatliners as well.

Sorry, Kurt. Schumacher is recognized world-wide as a bad filmmaker. And no matter how much anyone loves Lost Boys, it is indeed a poorly made film. Also important to realize that Schumacher actually became worse as his career progressed and he was given greater creative control. That's saying a lot.

Toss up between Boll and Bay. Went with Boll.

I went with Bay - he destroyed the Transformers in a way Megatron never could...

I can't believe you left this clown out  

He probably made 1 or 2 decent movies (6th sense, Unbreakable)

He's THE worst director in my book ...director cum actor (drum rolls)   --- u know his name


As with the case of Michael bay, well he's not that bad, but I really dislike his cartoonish oversaturated color grading in his films lately

EmoElmo wrote:

I can't believe you left this clown out  

He probably made 1 or 2 decent movies (6th sense, Unbreakable)

He's THE worst director in my book ...director cum actor (drum rolls)   --- u know his name


As with the case of Michael bay, well he's not that bad, but I really dislike his cartoonish oversaturated color grading in his films lately

Gooooood one. He is pretty terrible. He always poisons the water at some point in his movies.

Unbreakable: silly ending
Village: plot twist seen from the opening credits
Happening: goofy deus ex machina
Signs: preposterous denouement
Lady in the Water: characters fit for National Lampoon's.
Airbender: Caucasian cast
After Earth: casting Jaden Smith, although this is largely Will's doing and I haven't seen the movie

Sixth Sense was done very well, although I sometimes wonder how the movie would hold up without the twist ending.

I didn't vote because he wasn't on the list, true story.