Random Surprisingly Bad Movies Directed by Good Directors (20 items)

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  (#10) Beowulf

  • Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright, Brendan Gleeson, Ray Winstone, Crispin Glover, Alison Lohman, Costas Mandylor, Dominic Keating, Nick Jameson, Greg Ellis, Chris Coppola

  Director: Robert Zemeckis
   
  Decades years later and the Back to the Future trilogy is still one of the best film franchises of all time. Years later he teamed up with Tom Hanks twice to make two of the best movies ever: Forrest Gump and Castaway.

  But then he tried to retell Beowulf with premature CG and stilted dialogue and it did not even come close to working.
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  (#5) Planet of the Apes

  • Mark Wahlberg, Helena Bonham Carter, Paul Giamatti, Charlton Heston, Tim Roth, Estella Warren, Kris Kristofferson, Michael Clarke Duncan, Linda Harrison, David Warner, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Erick Avari, Glenn Shadix, Lisa Marie, Michael Jace, Chris Ellis, Anne Ramsay, Evan Parke, Freda Foh Shen, Luke Eberl, Michael Wiseman, Andrea Grano

  Director: Tim Burton

  Tim Burton is so iconic as a director that you could pause any of his films at almost any point and recognize the frame as one from a Burton film. His dark, dramatic, gothic-toned films such as Batman, Beetlejuice, and Edward Scissorhands made him one of the most sought after directors in Hollywood.

  His later work, like Dark Shadows, is often just a shadow of what he once was. It's not even clear how Planet of the Apes managed to get made.
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  (#3) Intolerable Cruelty

  • George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Billy Bob Thornton, Bruce Campbell, Geoffrey Rush, Richard Jenkins, Bridget Marquardt, Cedric the Entertainer, Rosey Brown, Julia Duffy, Edward Herrmann, Tamie Sheffield, Stacey Travis, Kate Luyben, Mary Pat Gleason, Blake Clark, Emma Harrison, Allan Trautman, Paul Adelstein, Kristin Dattilo, Tom Aldredge, Irwin Keyes, Kiersten Warren, Camille Anderson, Colin Linden, Susan Yeagley, Royce D. Applegate, Kitana Baker, Judith Drake, Patrick Thomas O'Brien, Booth Colman, Jonathan Hadary, Mary Gillis, Larry Vigus, Isabell O'Connor, Ken Sagoes, Mia Cottet, John Bliss, Wendle Josepher, Jack Kyle, Justine Baker, Douglas Fisher, Dale E. Turner, Julie Osburn, George Ives, Nicholas Shaffer, Barbara Kerr Condon, Gary Marshall, Sean Fenton, Jason De Hoyos

  Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen

  The Coen Brothers are a rare talent, masters of both comedy (Fargo, Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou) and drama (No Country for Old Men, Blood Simple, Barton Fink). They've really only had a few films that weren't astounding: the failed rom-com attempt Intolerable Cruelty and the surprisingly lackluster Tom Hanks vehicle The Ladykillers.
  
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  (#4) Happy Feet Two

  • Brad Pitt, Sofía Vergara, Robin Williams, P!nk, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Elijah Wood, Common, Hugo Weaving, Hank Azaria, E.G. Daily, Anthony LaPaglia, Carlos Alazraqui, Magda Szubanski, Danny Mann, Lombardo Boyar, Richard Carter, Michael Cornacchia, Johnny A. Sanchez, Mark Klastorin

  Director: George Miller

  The mad genius behind Mad Max, The Road Warrior, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and Mad Max: Fury Road made a bunch of kids movies (as well as The Witches of Eastwick)!

  It's not necessarily a bad thing, nor are the films entirely awful (though they are certainly surprising). The guy who thought up Mad Max directed Babe: Pig in the City along with the Happy Feet films.
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  (#11) Hereafter

  • Matt Damon, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jay Mohr, Derek Jacobi, Mylène Jampanoï, Jenifer Lewis, Richard Kind, Marthe Keller, Steve Schirripa, Cécile de France, Lyndsey Marshal, Charlie Creed-Miles, George Costigan, Charlie Holliday, Carl Marino, Céline Sallette, Mathew Baynton, Meg Wynn Owen, Selina Cadell, Helene Cardona, Rebekah Staton, Niamh Cusack, Cabran E. Chamberlain, Thierry Neuvic, Fileena Bahris, Pearce Quigley, Franz Drameh, Jean-Yves Berteloot, Sam Creed, Stéphane Freiss, Tom Beard, Andy Arness, James D. Weston II, Paul Warren, Tom Price, Joe Bellan, Chloe Bale, John Nielsen, Laurent Bateau, Tex Jacks, Claire Price, Jack Bence, Tim FitzHigham, Sean Buckley, Brian Vowell, Monique Soltani, Audrey Brisson-Jutras, Eric Geynes, Fiona Dwyer, Leah Stoltz, Paul Antony-Barber, Sarah Jane O'Neill, George McLaren, Ajani Perkins, Frankie McLaren, Barry Martin, Jessica Griffiths, Philippe Badreau, Jess Murphy, Declan Conlon, Derek Sakakura, Cyndi Mayo Davis, Surinder Duhra, Marcus Boyea, Celia Shuman, Taylor Doherty, Jennifer Thorne, Michael Cuckson, Lisa Griffiths, Mitch Hill, Ilona Marino, Calum Grant, Andy Gathergood, Anthony Allgood, Helen Elizabeth, Ferguson Reid, Joanna Croll

  Director: Clint Eastwood

  The man can nearly do no wrong as an actor or a director. He directed such recent pieces of masterful cinema as American Sniper, Letters from Iwo Jima, and Mystic River, as well as classics like Unforgiven. However there were two films that were not nearly up to par with usual standard were the just plain silly Space Cowboys, and the Matt Damon blunder Hereafter.
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  (#17) War of the Worlds

  • Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Channing Tatum, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins, Gene Barry, Miranda Otto, Columbus Short, Amy Ryan, Justin Chatwin, Rick Gonzalez, Lisa Ann Walter, Ty Simpkins, Yul Vazquez, David Alan Basche, Ricky Luna, Lenny Venito, Ann Robinson

  Director: Steven Spielberg

  War of the Worlds isn't bad per se, but it's certainly not good. And when the rest of your filmography falls neatly onto many "best films of all times" lists (Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, Hook)  it makes the one "meh" film feel like a major blunder.

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