25 Misfires From Otherwise Great Film Directors
Last week, we looked at 30 filmmakers who made only one well-reviewed movie over their entire careers. Today, we examine the opposite group: directors who have nearly flawless careers, with only a single misfire (with a Metascore of 60 or lower) standing in the way of a perfect record of all-green scores.
Note that we only looked at directors who have made at least five films since 1980.
The one misfire:
51 The Fountain (2006)
While some of Aronofsky's often stylistically striking films have been divisive (none more so than his most recent feature, mother!), only the director's third film failed to win approval from a consensus of critics. A hard-to-explain triptych of sci-fi/fantasy stories revolving around themes of romance and immortality, The Fountain lost its two leads and half its budget prior to the start of filming, and while many critics recognized the filmmaker's ambition, numerous reviewers also dismissed the result as "muddled" and "silly."
Everything else:
72 Pi (1998)
68 Requiem for a Dream (2000)
81 The Wrestler (2008)
79 Black Swan (2010)
68 Noah (2014)
74 mother! (2017)