My vote is Oliver Stone.

Not Stone

George Lucas

Alejandro Innaritu. Birdman and The Revenant suck. And I've not heard much good about Babel.

I also think Nolan is very overrated. His movies for the most part are good not great, IMO. The Dark Knight is the only super impressive movie I've seen by him.

Pedro Almodóvar and Jim Jarmusch are two acclaimed directors whose films have rarely massively resonated with me. Which is not to say I do not enjoy several of their movies, but relative to their indie-film statures, I feel comfortable calling them overrated.

In a more commercial vein, I find Rob Marshall quite mediocre for an Oscar-nominated director consistently handed hot properties (Chicago, Nine, the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean, Into the Woods). Though I enjoyed Mary Poppins Returns.

Not saying I've seen all his films. But I don't really get the Miyazaki thing. Spirited Away had nice animation but I didn't care much for the storyline, and My Neighbour Totoro was just a basic kids movie for me

It sucks

I enjoyed Babel.

Innaritu hate is all over the internet. I don't support it.

Where was all the Inarritu hate when I needed it most, about 12 years ago? I felt all alone; well almost, because Heinrich Himmler also disliked him almost as strongly as I dislike Der Meineidbauer (1940). Nowadays I simple don't care about Inarritu; there's worse ones.

Like who...?

I've got no beef with Inarritu, I thought Birdman and Revenant were both superb. Never saw Babel. On the other hand, I find almost all of del Toro's movies overrated, especially Shape of Water and Hellboy II. Pan's Labyrinth was great but not the second coming.

The director that I can't get out of my mind when considering the topic: Spielberg. Seriously, his resume the last 10-15 years is awful. What happened, man?

Eastwood

Assholes like Paul W.S. Anderson, Zack Snyder and James Wan for instance.

Agree completely on del Toro.

Spielberg - over the last 15 years - yes hasnt been a great period for him but I thought The Post was very good. Munich is his last great film.

Good one.

Birdman is a masterful! Love that movie

Spielberg is hit and miss. Not just in the last 15 years. He's always been that way. He'll make a great film like Jaws then a shit one like Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This trend happens all throughout his career. Raiders, then E.T. Saving Private Ryan then Artificial Intelligence. War of the Worlds then Munich, which spurred the downfall of his career with a ton of mediocrity like Crystal Skull (not just his worst movie but one of the worst movies ever made), Ready Player One, The BFG, and loads of movies I still haven't seen because of how lame they look.

But I am not sure I can call him overrated. He has made some of the biggest and best movies ever made. The fact they are not in the last 15 years doesn't make much difference to me. He is a competent visionary film director able to lend his craft across genres, and he will always produce top quality films. Occasionally he will make a stinker but with the same frequency he will make a gem.

I disagree with all the movies you listed as misfires: Close Encounters, E.T., A.I., Munich, all excellent. NOTHING he's made since Munich touches anything from the first 25 years of his career. So I agree while his status as a director on the whole can't really be called "overrated," his current status as "visionary director [who] will always produce top quality films" is hugely FALSE, hence me finding him incredibly overrated. Currently. Nowadays. Ja'feel?

Clint Eastwood's a good one too.

Ridley Scott. He's been 3/15 since Gladiator. The rest are all autopilot or worse.

Post 90s Ridley Scott and Oliver Stone for sure. But, when you break it down, Stone was never that great to begin with; he just landed some quality scripts.





Unforgiven, Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby are all masterpieces. Gran Torino is decent enough. Haven't seen his war flicks, but it's hardly like he's ever sunk as much as Stone has.

What makes Stone come across more like a fuckwit, is that interview he did with Vladimir Putin, where he was presented as this dominant and powerful Director-Great in the lead-up marketing, and ended up asking questions about as lame and pallid as he directed Snowden and (whatever it's called) that shithouse 911 flick he did. The guy should've quit while he was ahead.

See? Overrated.

Ridley Scott is a good shout. He's made about three good films but it somehow highly respected and keeps getting good properties with good budgets.

Ridley Scott can be in the conversation, but I feel even if one's great films are only in the past that doesn't make them overrated.

Well, it's more about the overall average. If they're not making great films anymore but they're still making films, the average quality of their career goes down.

Actually thought he was fairly underrated when I saw Mystic River and MDB, he was still better known as an actor at the time. A bit like with Ben Affleck - whom has a similar filmmaking aesthetic (and who's first three films as director should've well and truly burnt any dissent against him). Having not seen Unforgiven, MM was a huge surprise, and fuck your mother's ass with a pinecone if you think MDB is overrated by anyone. The last shot alone is better than anything Marvel will ever do, ever.

Also saw that Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil or whatever it's called before those ones, and that was kinda on the strange side, but still masterfully directed. Probably director and producer and writer are three very different things, and you can't tell that difference.