From Christopher Nolan to Steven Spielberg, 13 terrifying films from great filmmakers

IIn every industry and every walk of life, even the best of us sometimes miss the mark.

For professional filmmakers, however, mistakes can be costly. Unlike most people, their gaffes can be witnessed by millions of people – a bad movie can tarnish a person’s reputation for years or even decades.

However, this isn’t just a list of bad movies. This is a tribute to the rare occasions when great filmmakers are just plain wrong.

For every Kelly Reichardt or Paul Thomas Anderson out there — artists who’ve managed to make it through their entire career without ever really losing quality — there are countless others who haven’t quite made it.

Even giants of the medium are prone to the occasional bum. And it’s not just directors either; Some of the best actors in the world have also been guilty of the occasional horrible performance.

However, this list is all about those behind the camera. From Steven Spielberg to Christopher Nolan, here’s a rundown of 13 terrifying movies from great filmmakers…

Robert Altmann – pop eye (1980)

Damn revisionism, Robert Altman’s live-action musical takes it up pop eye, starring Robin Williams as the spinach-eating sailor himself, is still a stinker. When it first came out in 1980, it was panned so severely that Altman – one of the greatest American directors of all time – drastically stepped away from the Hollywood spotlight, eventually making his mainstream comeback more than a decade later The player.

Kathryn Bigelow – The weight of the water (2002)

Starting from successes like point break And strange days, The weight of the water was a miserable flop for Kathryn Bigelow. The film, starring Elizabeth Hurley and Sean Penn, was a twisting drama set over two time periods. Its 35 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes puts it squarely in the lazy category — but anyone who’s seen it could argue that 35 seems generous.

Frank Capra- Bag of Miracles (1961)

In the history of cinema there was almost no one who was as skilfully sentimental as Capra. While many of his most popular films – Mr. Smith goes to Washington; It’s a beautiful life; It happened one night – came out in the 1930s and 1940s, he remained a prolific filmmaker until 1961. By this time, however, the spell had worn off: Bag of Miracles is a weary and cheerless work, a depressingly weak swan song from a Hollywood titan.

The Coen Brothers – The Lady Killers (2004)

Few films stand out in the midst of great filmography quite like the thumb The Lady Killers, the Coen brothers’ gritty remake of the Ealing comedy classic. Tom Hanks is admittedly fun playing as a giggly southern villain against type, but the whole remake is worse than immature, with some questionable racial politics thrown in for good measure.

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Frances Ford Coppola Jack (1996)

Coppola’s best films rival just about anything else in the cinema: The Godfather; apocalypse now; The conversation. However, look at his worst and it’s honestly hard to believe they were made by the same man. And in the entirety of Coppola’s repertoire, there really is nothing worse than Jackthe corny comedy starring Robin Williams as a boy in a grown man’s body.

David Fincher- foreigner 3 (1992)

It’s somewhat unusual that Fincher’s worst film isn’t just his debut, but a high-profile blockbuster that grossed nearly $160 million. Not just the sequel to Ridley Scott’s icon extraterrestrialbut also James Cameron’s frighteningly good sequel, Fincher’s foreigner 3 was an all round disappointment – a callous departure from the previous film that failed to hide the scars of extreme behind-the-scenes turmoil.

Alfred Hitchcock – sparkling wine (1928)

All of Hitchcock’s best-known films came after he had worked in the industry for many years; sparkling wine is one of many early Hitchcock films that probably only obsessed fans have seen. Hitchcock later spoke scathingly about it sparkling wine, about a young woman (Betty Balfour) who is looking for work after her father went broke. “The film had no story to tell,” he said.

Richard Linklater – Bears for bad news (2005)

Linklater is a filmmaker admired for his versatility – from coming-of-age drama (childhood) to experimental animations (A scanner in the dark) and dark comedies (Bernie). However, as with any director who makes such big pans, there are also a few whiffs – none worse than his 2005 remake of the 1976 baseball comedy The bad news bears. Even Billy Bob Thornton playing a watered down version of him Bad Santa boozehound, doesn’t make it worth the time.

David Lynch- dune (1984)

The revolutionary spirit behind it blue velvet, Mulholland Drive And twin peaks has such a unique sensibility that it became its own adjective — but it was little Lynch-like dune. Decades before Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic by Denis Villenueve, Lynch’s puffy, confusing version, was successfully brought to the big screen dune was a milestone of misjudged adjustment.

christopher nolan- principle (2020)

Look: there’s a lot to like principle. The Action Set Pieces. Robert Pattinson’s unconventional Christopher Hitchens impersonation. The pure clockwork claim of everything. But Nolan’s time-consuming thriller is also a mess that turned out to be too complicated and silly to win moviegoers’ affection.

Steven Spielberg – 1941 (1979)

For all his diverse strengths behind the camera, Spielberg Comedy never found his forte. Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that his worst film was a gritty crackpot farce set during the Pearl Harbor bombing. It’s proof of that Jaw‘s revolutionary box office performance four years earlier and Spielberg’s prodigious talent that led to the failure of 1941 could roll off his back; In less than good hands, this would be a dud for a promising filmmaker to take to his grave.

The Wachowskis – Matrix Reloaded (2003)

While the first two Matrix sequels always had their passionate defenders, there’s no denying that most people don’t feel the same way. Following The Matrix – a blockbuster that literally changed Hollywood – was always a big challenge. But audiences just weren’t attuned to the serious and nerdy storyline, rubbery CGI, and overall air of self-indulgence. Reloaded made a lot of money but went down in history as a continuation of a catastrophe for the ages.

Robert Zemeckis – A Christmas song (2009)

Back to the Future Director Zemeckis has had more than enough lows along with the tremendous highs of his career. 2004 The Polar Express is often touted as the pinnacle of Western computer animation’s sinister “Uncanny Valley,” but even that film outshines its 2009 interpretation of Charles Dickens carol. With a digitized Jim Carrey as Scrooge, this was cheerless, cheerless humbug.