24. "I think over his career he's been overhyped and yet underappreciated" In response to In response to 21
He's got the knock that he's just getting over on twists. Every director has tropes tho. Spielberg has moments where he's begging the audience to extract emotion. Quentin never backed away from unnecessary violence. Spike generally can't end movies and Nolan's movies never seemed edited down.
We give passes to some directors and vilify others for their shortcomings. It's part of the game of director worship, I guess.
He got a lot of great press because his first few major movies were great successes and of course there's gotta be blowback because of that. I don't necessarily think it was warranted but 'haters gonna hate'. (c) Katt Williams
I think if he would have had an 'indie' period when he made a few arthouse or smaller movies he would have a better reputation because directors who seem to step right into Hollywood tentpoles don't get regarded with the same fondness. I'm sure part of it is racial. Not in the sense that Night is tapping into some unspoken resentment against Indian-Americans, but he's one of the few Asian Americans in a position of influence and Hollywood likes to keep Asians not so seen and definitely unheard.
He went through a real dry patch in the middle of his career. While I thought The Village was good and The Happening was okay, a lot of other people thought he fell off, and to be honest after After Earth and The Last Airbender, I thought he was done too.
But to his credit he doubled down and went back to suspense which has always been his strength. His ability to create tension and mystery is remarkable. It seems he's got a little momentum and is about to try and cash in big with Glass.
I hope it works out because even though he isn't one of my favorite directors, I like rooting for him. He seems like a decent guy, whatever that means.