My god Troy Duffy. I do remember people hyping him up but I never saw it. I thought The Boondock Saints was hacky garbage. Aronofsky is actually hit or miss. I did like Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler but The Fountain and mother! were not very good. The Blair Witch Project was extremely frustrating for me because I HATED it and people kept going on about it when it was complete CRAP and I'll forever hate it for spawning it's much uglier descendant Paranormal Activity . Michael Cimino, yeah what the hell happened to that guy? At least he has one great film to his name.

@mechajutaro said:

Rich Kelly's story is more the rule than the exception. Lots of these wunderkinds never quite live up to the hype that surrounds the movie which first thrusted them into the limelight. Reference Troy Duffy, Darren Aronofsky, Mike Camino, those two fella who directed The Blair Witch Project, Renny Harlin,,,,

Can't say I'll be agreeing with you on Aronofsky. Other than Noah I don't think he's made a bad film. Films like The Fountain and Mother! are very subjective so I can understand why people might hate them, but that doesn't make them bad films. Renny Harlin? I assume you mean Die Hard 2 was the film that thrust him into the limelight. I can't say I thought that was anything spectacular. I thought his later The Long Kiss Goodnight was better.

@mechajutaro said:

@JustinJackFlash said:

@mechajutaro said:

Rich Kelly's story is more the rule than the exception. Lots of these wunderkinds never quite live up to the hype that surrounds the movie which first thrusted them into the limelight. Reference Troy Duffy, Darren Aronofsky, Mike Camino, those two fella who directed The Blair Witch Project, Renny Harlin,,,,

Can't say I'll be agreeing with you on Aronofsky. Other than Noah I don't think he's made a bad film. Films like The Fountain and Mother! are very subjective so I can understand why people might hate them, but that doesn't make them bad films. Renny Harlin? I assume you mean Die Hard 2 was the film that thrust him into the limelight. I can't say I thought that was anything spectacular. I thought his later The Long Kiss Goodnight was better.

"Prison" was the movie that brought Harlin to the forefront, and had lots of folks hailing him as cinema's Great Young Hope. Like Aronofsky, he's gone on to put out movies that are watchable to varying degrees(albeit Renny's efforts are far more commercial than Darren's), but the careers of these men haven't matched the early hype. They've been the inverse of David Fincher, who overcame a rough start with Alien 3, and went on to win the respect of both audiences and his peers

I think Aronofsky has had a great career and I still anticipate more from him. I don't know if you're referring to Pi or Requiem For a Dream as the film that thrust him into the spotlight but I'd say most of his films tend to be at least equal to Pi and though I consider Requiem to be his best I'd say it's only slightly better than most of his other films. His is exactly the kind of career I think a director should have. He makes films that are divisive but always interesting.

While I still love Fincher I'd say that his recent works haven't been as good as his earlier. And I'd say it was Seven that was the film that thrust him into the limelight rather than Alien 3. I doubt he was particularly well known after he did Alien 3.

I hadn't heard of "Prison" so I guess I always assumed that Harlin was just your standard action director. Interesting.

I would also like to mention that neither of the guys in the discussion, either Aronofsky or Harlin, have quite such a flop of a career as Richard Kelly or even Cimino. Aronofsky and Harlin, for better or for worse, have a pretty extensive resume while the other guys had like 2 or 4 films to their name and then their careers completely fizzled out. My critique of Aronofsky would be that when he keeps his films a bit more grounded and less abstract they turn out to be pretty good films.

@movie_nazi said:

I would also like to mention that neither of the guys in the discussion, either Aronofsky or Harlin, have quite such a flop of a career as Richard Kelly or even Cimino.

Yeah, Kelly is the perfect example of career nosedive after early promise. Say what you like about Aronofsky, there are those that like his work and you can see the difference between something like Mother! or The Fountain and Southland Tales. They are all films that are more abstract and ambitious. But whether you like the first two or not you can see that they are skillfully made with some method to the madness. While Southland Tales was just a big rambling, incoherent mess. A huge disappointment. And then his third film The Box wasn't very good either.

@mechajutaro said:

@movie_nazi said:

I would also like to mention that neither of the guys in the discussion, either Aronofsky or Harlin, have quite such a flop of a career as Richard Kelly or even Cimino. Aronofsky and Harlin, for better or for worse, have a pretty extensive resume while the other guys had like 2 or 4 films to their name and then their careers completely fizzled out. My critique of Aronofsky would be that when he keeps his films a bit more grounded and less abstract they turn out to be pretty good films.

Camino directed a movie(Heaven's Gate) that was, for several years anyway, the most financially disastrous production in the history. None of the other fellas we've been discussing have a transgression of that magnitude on their resumes

Yep, it is quoted as the film that bankrupted United Artists. But even then he was still given projects afterward although not many.

@mechajutaro said:

@movie_nazi said:

I would also like to mention that neither of the guys in the discussion, either Aronofsky or Harlin, have quite such a flop of a career as Richard Kelly or even Cimino. Aronofsky and Harlin, for better or for worse, have a pretty extensive resume while the other guys had like 2 or 4 films to their name and then their careers completely fizzled out. My critique of Aronofsky would be that when he keeps his films a bit more grounded and less abstract they turn out to be pretty good films.

Camino directed a movie(Heaven's Gate) that was, for several years anyway, the most financially disastrous production in the history. None of the other fellas we've been discussing have a transgression of that magnitude on their resumes

I haven't seen Heaven's Gate. Is it really as bad as they say. I have seen some appreciation for it more recently whereas I could never see Southland Tales getting rediscovered in any way. Is it not worth a watch at all?

@JustinJackFlash said:

@movie_nazi said:

I would also like to mention that neither of the guys in the discussion, either Aronofsky or Harlin, have quite such a flop of a career as Richard Kelly or even Cimino.

Yeah, Kelly is the perfect example of career nosedive after early promise. Say what you like about Aronofsky, there are those that like his work and you can see the difference between something like Mother! or The Fountain and Southland Tales. They are all films that are more abstract and ambitious. But whether you like the first two or not you can see that they are skillfully made with some method to the madness. While Southland Tales was just a big rambling, incoherent mess. A huge disappointment. And then his third film The Box wasn't very good either.

At least The Box wasn't his script. But the critique still stands. Maybe he was desperate for a job? I wouldn't take a directing job on a script I didn't believe in but you can only work with what you got so I can't really give him crap for that one.

@movie_nazi said:

At least The Box wasn't his script.

I didn't know that. It did seem like something he'd write as the last half hour or so did get especially out there and confusing.

@JustinJackFlash said:

@movie_nazi said:

At least The Box wasn't his script.

I didn't know that. It did seem like something he'd write as the last half hour or so did get especially out there and confusing.

My bad, he did write the script just not the story. I believe the actual story is based on an old Twilight Zone episode.

@movie_nazi said:

@JustinJackFlash said:

@movie_nazi said:

At least The Box wasn't his script.

I didn't know that. It did seem like something he'd write as the last half hour or so did get especially out there and confusing.

My bad, he did write the script just not the story. I believe the actual story is based on an old Twilight Zone episode.

Yeah, I had heard of the concept before. I might have a wee look at that episode.