Uh_huh. Just between you and me, I don’t remember the last time I read such an atrocious ranking of “overrated”. Your hateful comments towards Polanski, for example, are circulated entirely on his personal life and have nothing to do with his artistic output. Have you even seen “Repulsion”, “Rosemary’s Baby”, “Macbeth” or “Chinatown”? All terrific pictures. Perhaps you have no interest in classic cinema.

Then there is your stupid claim that the ending of “A.I.” is ‘happy’? Where have you been? The film is faithful to Kubrick’s vision from beginning to end, including at the finale- when David resurrected by the Supermechas and they, in turn, construct an artificial fantasy for him. It’s a very pessimistic ending. Maybe this will help you out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz7sPiOoU7A

By the way, both “Schindler’s List” and “The Pianist” are about as grim and as positive as only the best Holocaust films have ever been. If either film is ‘inspirational’ in the slightest, it’s only because Spielberg and Polanski made them with the intention of wanting to prevent a tragedy like that from ever happening again. You say you prefer ‘small, enjoyable’ movies. So what’s your idea of a good film on the Holocaust? “Life is Beautiful”? Please.

And also, you can’t really form an opinion on Ridley Scott or “Kingdom of Heaven” if you’ve made no attempt to look at the incomparable 3-hour director’s cut.

Funny that you take A.I. as an example for Spielberg’s perceived overratedness. Your quote:

“Kubrick’s brainchild A.I. could have been a great picture and is at times a pleasure to watch, but it is ruined by a classic Spielberg happy ending. ”

Anyone even remotely interested in films knows that the ending of A.I. was completely conceived and conceptualized by Kubrick himself and that he did most of the designs. Spielberg followed Kubrick’s strict instructions to the letter for that finale.

And as previous poster has stated, if you call that a ‘happy’ ending I sincerely suggest you watch it again, but this time pay real attention and watch, listen (!) and think (!!) about what happens in the end.

There is a reason why Kubrick respected Spielberg as one of the best and most talented directors around and personally asked him to direct A.I.

I hope you don’t mind if I trust Kubrick’s assessment more than yours.

This is a laughable list. Poorly argumented and blatantly bombastic with empty and stupid statements such as the one with A.I. having a “happy ending”. Did you watch the same movie as I did? A.I. might have a few flaws, but “happy ending” or overly glossy narrative isn’t one of them. I personally found A.I. to be one of the most depressing and saddest movies I’ve ever seen. The whole third act is like a huge nihilistic exestential tragedy with a total sense of hopelessnes. David’s stubborn naivity and blissful ignorance is sad to watch and was perfectly captured by Spielberg. Heat – standard crime fare? Heat was nothing but standard, Heat was a compelling and engaging story about two guys on the opposite sides of the law who are actually two sides of the same person. The subtle and subversive expressions of brotherhood and mutual respect between two persons who are completely alone in their ancient warrior-like way of thinking was beautifully portrayed by DeNiro/Pacino and suberbly planned and executed by Michael Mann.

And I am not boring in Public Enemies.
John Dillinger.

For the record, I also don’t hold anything against Roman Polanski and his desire to get 13-year-olds drunk and have sex with them. More power to him, I hope things work out for him.

@Adam Zanzie

First of all, overrated doesn’t mean bad, it means overrated, as in given higher praise than deserved. I’ve seen Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby numerous times and I love both of them. I’ve also seen Macbeth, which I am not a fan of. I actually love films from each of these directors (with the exception of Michael Mann, whose work I usually mildly enjoy).
If you want to see a film that really captures the horror of the Nazi’s atrocities in WWII check out ‘Come and See’ by Elem Klimov. Also see ‘Kapó’ by the great Gillo Pontecorvo.
As for A.I., let me just say this, anytime a movie ends with a Robin Williams voice-over, you did something wrong. It is happy in a sense, or at least a lot more happy than it should have been, since David sits at the bottom of the ocean forever staring at the Blue Fairy. As an eternal child and a freaking robot, my belief is that he could do this for 2,000 years and be pretty happy. Finally he is given his wish by Ben Kingsly aliens.
I understand this is about the end of humanity, I strongly believe Kubrick would have portrayed this in much grimmer fashion without the Spielberg sentimentality and especially without Robin Williams telling us that David goes “to that place where dreams are born.”

…except the narration at the end is by Kingsley, not Robin Williams (whose only contribution to the film at all is to serve as the voice of the Dr. No hologram). Also, the narration at the end can be thought of as merely another fake part of the artificial fantasy set up for David by the Supermechas- which, by the way, are not “aliens” as you call them (yet more proof that you know very little about this film and its background). Remember what Gigolo Joe warns David: “They hate us because when the end comes, all that will be left… is us.” But once David shuts himself down, the John Williams music winds down, the Supermechas’ experiment fails, and the fantasy ends.

And did you even watch that YouTube video in the link I supplied? If you had, you would have already figured out that Spielberg remains true to Kubrick’s vision and that the Supermechas are not what you say they are.

That Klimov and Pontecorvo’s films are blistering accounts of the Holocaust hardly has an effect on the power of Spielberg and Polanski’s films. By the way, if you’re going to keep using Polanski’s personal life as an excuse to bash his artistic output, we might as well hate on Kazan for selling out his friends to the HUACC, Riefenstahl for being Hitler’s favorite filmmaker, Griffith for making an American epic that set the standards for modern racism, Landis for accidentally getting Vic Morrow killed, Renoir and Bunuel for being Communists, Woody Allen for marrying his adopted daughter, or even John Huston for accidentally running over a woman with his car and killing her.

Who CARES? They are all great filmmakers. If you are truly interested in constructed film criticism, then you would know better than to throw out concrete artistic detail in exchange for tabloid waste.

@Adam Zanzie
Adam, I am sorry if you can’t accept that the ending of ‘A.I.’ sucks. I understand, especially after reading your blog, that you have an obsessive infatuation with Spielberg. You actually had the audacity to call ‘Munich’ the best film the decade and ‘A.I.’ second, with ‘Minority Report’ just falling out of your top ten, ha! I assume you would probably try to argue with me that ‘War of the Worlds’ and ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls’ are actually good. By the way I did watch that youtube video, which doesn’t change anything I said. I’m know Spielberg thinks he was true to everything Kubrick wanted. Just because it ended as Kubrick had wanted doesn’t mean it was executed as Kubrick would have executed it, which I already made clear in my previous comment.
While I am not interested in ‘constructed’ criticism, I am interested in constructive criticism, which you will be more likely to find in the posted reviews on this site. I reserve the right to make fun of Roman Polanski and his fetish for tender adolescent pussy all I want.

Oh, boy. A typo serves as the main complaint for one of your closing arguments. For the record, in regards to your own errors, it is more appropriate to use a question mark at the end of a question than it is to use a period- a mistake you made after whining about Liam Neeson speaking in English.

Furthermore, I find it horribly difficult to believe that you have any decent understanding of constructive film criticism when you can’t even manage to make a valid case for your dismissal of the ending of “A.I.”, which is founded entirely on baseless superstition (ewww!!! I don’t have any evidence but I still refuse to believe Kubrick would ever have done it this way!!!!), and not at all on fact.

What more is there to say? Nice job on providing links to this page on various IMDB boards and leading people to the most banal, amateurish collection of critiquing prose this side of James Berardinelli.

@Adam Zanzie
Shit you are right, the ending of A.I. kicks ass. It’s almost as good as your pointlessly long-winded analysis of Saving Private Ryan, aka ‘one awesome scene followed by a bunch of crap.’

@Adam Zanzie
Thanks for pointing out that typo. Now there is a question mark. However if you watch Schindler’s List the Germans are still stupidly speaking English because Steven Spielberg™ sure wouldn’t want to possibly stave off Academy Awards and ticket sales with a dreaded foreign language (gasp!).
Also, my final words on A.I. When I watch the movie I react negatively to the ending. This is not because of the ideas behind it, but because its tone and execution, in my opinion, do not fit the subject matter of the film. Being a Spielberg™ fanboy, this is not what you want to hear so you refuse to listen and demand some kind of ‘evidence’ to validate my feelings. Art criticism and appreciation should not be based on geeky factoids and if you believe otherwise than you are into film for the wrong reasons.
Lastly, your point comparing Riefenstahl and Griffith to Polanski is nothing short of moronic. Polanski’s crimes have nothing to do with his cinema or my opinion of it. Riefenstahl’s and Griffith’s crimes are their cinema, and I do hold that against them as filmmakers. If you do not see that, than I guess that makes you a flat out racist.

Conclusion:
Adam Zanzie = Douchebag

Lol, this is a terrible list with poor reasonings.

Last of the Mohicans, Heat, Thief, Collateral, The Insider. I’ll put those 5 movies against the best 5 movies of any director of all time including my fav Scorsese.

KEVIN WETMORE……..

What a muppet. Cheap insults about Ridley Scott show you up as a very childish ignorant man who have, with most internet commentators NO TALENT. You certainly ain’t reporting from a major periodical but this site allows such third rat hacks to spout their bile.
Speilberg did not “pave the way for Ridley” Where do you get this stuff. KOH dc is a masterpiece and his epics stand alongside the Leans of this world. To say he has not made a decent film in 28 years!!!! WRONG. If you cannot say anything constructive being simply negative and insulting is not journalism. Looking forward to the epic Robin Hood.

@macatae
Can you point out to me exactly where this site claims to be journalism? Apparently I didn’t get the message.

Would you prefer for us to gush over every film and director that comes along or for us to give an honest opinion? We could surely become a second Reel Talk if you think that would be better.

Seriously, someone on the internet has a different opinion than you. Sound the alarm.

@macatae
And by the way, Spielberg did ‘pave the way’ for not only for Ridley Scott, but for everyone who has ever directed a big budget blockbuster. Along with George Lucas, he pretty much invented the blockbuster with Jaws. It is you who is ignorant, idiot.

I think you fail to grasp the meaning of the word ‘overrated’. With Spielberg alone you name only two (and two more in the responses) that you disliked. That doesn’t mean you are overrated as a director, just as Titanic doesn’t make Cameron an overrated director. The movie may be overrated, sure, but you offer no grounds for how they are overrated. Agian, you mention two of Mann’s most panned films offering little criticism other then “I don’t enjoy his work”. With Ridley Scott, you raise a valid point which is immediately negated by saying Kingdom Of Heaven (Director’s Cut) is bad without clarification. You mention American Gangster in hyperbole when in reality it was said to be about as good as The Departed from the previous year which is about right. As for Polanski, well you admit that you enjoy his films yet, use only one to label him overrated. Sloppy.
Consider Richard Kelly. He has been labeled “the next Kubrick” yet he has not been able to match the ‘brilliance’ of his original film. This would not be a problem if he was not tryting to replicate it’s quirky humor, sci-fi subject matter and outlandish plot in everything else he unsucessfully creates. He simply does not get why people enjoyed Donnie Darko further evidenced by his director’s cut. It is in this regard he is overrated .

@Murph023

overrate- having a higher opinion of someone or something than is deserved. If I were to analyze all of Spielberg’s or Mann’s films, I’d have to write a book. This is a lighthearted list and it is my opinion, which belongs to no one else. I’m pretty sure I mentioned one of Mann’s most critically acclaimed in ‘Heat’, along with his most recent effort, which by the way received a favorable ‘fresh’ status on Rottentomatoes. You people take this way too seriously. I don’t think any of these directors are all that great in comparison to the best of their colleagues, many critics do, therefore I think they are overrated.

Richard Kelly on the other hand flat out sucks. I don’t know who it was that called him ‘the next Kubrick’, but they are a moron. That’s not overrating, that’s madness.

One of the most silly things I’ve read. Those directors are some of the best in american cinema. You cannot compare them with european directors or independent american moviemakers. I’m Portuguese and if I had to decide a list of the greatest directors I would say Fellini, Tornatore, Nanni Moretti, Michael Haneke, David Lynch, Mike Leigh and a bunch of less known directors (some of the best directors and indeed in central Europe, and the new Romanian cinema is a proof of that). But the directors you mention are some of the best in what they do: blockbuster entertainment, good american stories. If you want to do a good list of overrated directors, you should divide them in categories: Blockbusters entertainment, European films, Asian/ Indian films, Horros masters and so on.

@André Barbosa
Thank you for stereotyping American cinema.

I only came here because I just watched The Ghost Writer. I love how you didn’t explain James Cameron.

The problem with superlatives is that they will always be subjective. I prefer bester,a s rock will beat scissors, but paper beats rock, which can beat scissors. Who directed that movie?

Moore is a documentarian, not a classic filmmaker like the others on this list. This has to be one of the most bogus film lists I have seen. Basically this is not a list of overrated directors, this is a list of great directors and the author merely attempts to denigrate them. Boring!! This is like making a list of overrated NBA players and having Jordan, Magic & Bird on the list. Why???