Sometimes, it doesn't matter how appealing a movie's premise is or how alluring the visuals of a movie look, if a particular director is at the helm, some viewers will be totally put off.
Whether narratively or visually, Redditors can't help but feel like some filmmakers are simply too boring and that they've failed to make certain franchises or standalone movies as exciting as they should be. While Reddit s make some great arguments, between Baz Luhrmann, George Clooney, and even Steven Spielberg, many of these are massive unpopular opinions.
George Clooney
Tons of actors have made the jump to directing, and it's only natural that they'd get the itch when they're constantly surrounded by creative filmmakers. George Clooney is one of the biggest examples of an actor-turned-director, as he has won awards in both mediums. But LegendofMatt888 doesn't think his directing style deserves all the accolades.
The Redditor notes the diminishing returns that Clooney's directorial efforts have had in recent years, adding that it's "a shame because Good Night & Good Luck and The Ides of March are brilliant." His recent movies have struggled to find an audience, and his last major hit was 2014's The Monuments Men. But his movie, The Boys in the Boat, which is a period drama about a 1930s Olympic rower, could be a return to form.
Stephen Sommers
While Stephen Sommers' name isn't mentioned all that often, he has so many directing and producing credits to his name, most notably the Brendan Fraser-led Van Helsing. RenzyWenzy argues that his films are "the same generic action movie with a different coat of paint."
While Sommers' movies aren't critically received, they are certainly different from one another. The Scorpion King was universally hated, there must be some fans out there, as Sommers has produced five of them.
David Yates
If there's one movie franchise that isn't boring in the slightest, it's Harry Potter, as the Wizarding World is full of exciting and thrilling action sequences, and every frame is beautiful. But the vision has changed with each director who has come on board the series.
Chris Columbus made the first two movies, which were fantastical, family-friendly adventure films. And then director Alfonso Cuaron turned it into a ground-breaking sci-fi flick with Prisoner of Azkaban. But some Redditors fail to see what David Yates brought to the table. Fantastic Beasts series, which has been spearheaded by Yates.
Ruben Fleischer
Ruben Fleischer made waves with his boundary-pushing, genre-defying comedy-horror Zombieland. But since then, he hasn't been able to recapture that magic, and most of his movies that followed have been extremely polarizing. PghNH argues that "his movies have no distinctive personality. I think Sony likes him because he's a company guy."
Though the filmmaker is clearly a love-him-or-hate-him director, and general audiences seem to love him. It's just critics who aren't fans of his movies. While Uncharted was similarly disliked by critics, but that ended up being a huge box office hit too.
David O. Russell
O. Russell hates some of his own movies, but there's an asterisk next to that.
The director spoke ill of Accidental Love, a movie that was taken from him and released unfinished. Outside of that, his movies are generally well-liked and loved amongst voters of the Academy Awards. However, O. Russell does wear his influences on his sleeve, and most of his movies come off like they were directed by a wild Martin Scorsese fanatic.
Ron Howard
Ron Howard is one of the most prolific directors working today, as he has been directing movies for 45 years and has tons of classics under his belt including Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, and Frost/Nixon. However, despite his legacy, Funetikprugresiv reckons Howard is boring. They posit that "Howard is a very straightforward director. He's not a visually inventive director and he's not a master of pacing and tension that can turn crap into gold."
But the perception that younger cinephiles have of Howard might not entirely be his fault. The director was hired by Disney to piece together and reshoot Rush should get way more attention for being an incredible, thrilling drama, especially now that Formula 1 has become way more popular in recent years.
Richard Linklater
Before trilogy, but the rest of his films are a boring slog." It's easy to call the director's movies boring, as most of his films follow completely ordinary characters going about their everyday lives, but that's also what makes his films so interesting. So few other directors are brave enough to make such movies.
It might also be that the Redditor has only seen Linklater's most commercial output, as the deep cuts in his filmography are the complete opposite of boring. The director popularized rotoscoping with Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, which is to digitally animate over the top of live-action footage.
Jon Watts
After the phenomenal success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, calling Jon Watts boring is a wild accusation, but Prince-hal has their reasons. The Redditor argues that the director took "the most stylish, visually compelling, acrobatic superhero and made him boring on screen."
There's nothing more subjective than who the best Spider-Man is when it comes to movie debates, and while the fans' favorite Spidey is Andrew Garfield at the minute, Holland's Spider-Man is unique in his own way. That's thanks to Watts, and if it wasn't for the filmmaker's vision, fans probably wouldn't have gotten the coming-of-age, John Hughes-influenced movies that audiences love so much.
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg has directed Schindler's List are regarded as some of the greatest movies of all time. However, DoingMyJobNOT doesn't like the iconic filmmaker movies. Though the its that "Spielberg movies bore me. His direction never does."
But given how Spielberg has made a tentpole movie in almost every genre, it's hard to believe that the Redditor can't find a single film by the director that they like. And the most recently released West Side Story is his first musical, and it's being lauded as one of the best musicals ever made.
Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann is the go-to big-time director for post-modern musical epics, so even if film buffs aren't fans of his style, it's hard to call him boring. However, Continuous-debasement does exactly that. The Redditor claims that "it makes me so sad that Baz wrangled his way to direct an Elvis film. Such a divide between artist and subject."
The Elvis Presley drama, Elvis, is directed by Luhrmann. And while the director loves fantastical and lavish production designs full of excitement and color, that doesn't exactly match the career and lifestyle of Elvis Presley. But it'll undoubtedly make for an entertaining biopic.
