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Monday, 19 October 2009

But is the film any good?

All Directors make bad films. Of course, they don't plan to do it. If you'd asked Kevin Smith at the time, he'd have told you that 'Jersey Girl' was going to be his best ever film. In fact, he's on record as saying that very thing. It's one of the sad facts of life that our favorite Directors will, from time to time, make films like '1941' and 'Elizabethtown'. It's just the way it goes.

The same, of course, is true for upcoming filmmakers. "This is going to be my best one yet!" you tell everybody. And it'd better be, because you've only got about one film left before everyone says "actually, yeah, you really need to get a real job." Even the greatest young film directors are going to go through the same patterns as Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, etc-- there are going to be duds. This can be quite a painful thing, especially when you haven't yet made the masterpiece you're destined to make.

Take comfort in the fact that, whoever your favorite Director is, they've made bad films, apart from Billy Wilder.
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3 comments:

  1. Unknown20 October 2009 at 16:20

    Which '1941' are we talking about? If you're saying the director's cut is bad, then you're wrong. Flat-out wrong. Seriously, the director's cut is such a good film. I can see someone saying 'Always' as being Spielberg's weakest. And I'd go with 'Dogma' as Smith's weakest flick.

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  2. Hugh Jee From Jersey21 October 2009 at 21:23

    When I think about bad movies by good directors, I always have to go back to John Boorman, who directed some great or near great films like DELIVERANCE, EXCALIBUR, and HOPE AND GLORY.

    He also directed THE EXORCIST II; THE HERETIC. I remember going to see it many years ago in Denver; I had paid for my ticket and waited in the lobby for the audience to leave the theater. They walked out in silence; no one was talking, not a word, like a herd of zombies who had just had their brains eaten away.

    I went in, saw the film....what a mess! And 35 years later I have to say it remains the worst film I ever paid my hard earned money to see in a theater,

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  3. Unknown22 October 2009 at 01:33

    The worst thing with a movie is that it is a finished product. When you put it all together and see that the result is bad, there is little you can do about it. You can't start over. Maybe change the ending or a few scenes, but that's it. It is done. Take it or leave it.

    As you say, it happens to every director, but it must feel horrible.

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