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Poll

Where do you stand on the directing talent of Curtis Hanson?

A Great director.  I'll watch whatever he makes.
1 (4.5%)
A Great director most of the time.
0 (0%)
He's not always Great, but he's worth watching.
3 (13.6%)
He was Great for a couple of films.  Now he's solid at best.
8 (36.4%)
Only worth watching if given the right material.
5 (22.7%)
I don’t think there’s anything special about his directing.
5 (22.7%)

Total Members Voted: 22

Author Topic: Hanson, Curtis - The Top Directors Working Today  (Read 3502 times)

1SO

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Hanson, Curtis - The Top Directors Working Today
« on: July 01, 2008, 12:34:15 AM »
Curtis Hanson is an interesting case.  After a series of genre thrillers, Hanson reinvented himself and opened a lot of eyes with L.A. Confidential, one of the absolute greatest films of the 90's.  He followed that up with Wonder Boys.  In those two films, Hanson proved he can be a director of the highest caliber.  Since then it's been diminishing returns, almost as if he's sliding back into being a mostly reliable hired gun.  He brings a lot of respectability to his projects, but like John McTiernan, I think his time of Greatness came and went very quickly.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2010, 05:05:08 AM by pixote »

jbissell

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Re: The Top Directors Working Today: Curtis Hanson
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2008, 12:41:52 AM »
LA Confidential is a masterpiece. Wonder Boys was very good and maybe somewhat underrated (I'm not too sure how it's thought of these days and I only saw it when it came out but I remember really liking it).  8 Miles was ok.  I never saw The Hand That Rock The Cradle or River Wild.  His last two films looked like snoozefests.  I'd have to say overall he was great for 2 films and it sounds like just ok for the rest of them.

chesterfilms

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Re: The Top Directors Working Today: Curtis Hanson
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2008, 12:48:22 AM »
Only worth watching if given the right material.
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sdedalus

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Re: The Top Directors Working Today: Curtis Hanson
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2008, 03:43:41 AM »
Nothing special.
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duder

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arcnyc

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Re: The Top Directors Working Today: Curtis Hanson
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2008, 10:17:35 AM »
It's all about the material.  LA Confidential is his masterpiece, followed closely by Wonder Boys.  8 Mile is decent, much better than it should have been.  But since 8 Mile, he's squandered his Oscar power. 

I think it's definitely in his power to make another great film or even a few more.  But he seems to have fallen into his good films by accident, judging by the ones that are not as good.

1SO

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Re: The Top Directors Working Today: Curtis Hanson
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2008, 11:37:25 AM »
It's all about the material.  LA Confidential is his masterpiece, followed closely by Wonder Boys.  8 Mile is decent, much better than it should have been.  But since 8 Mile, he's squandered his Oscar power. 

I think it's definitely in his power to make another great film or even a few more.  But he seems to have fallen into his good films by accident, judging by the ones that are not as good.

While the material has a lot to do with it, I'd like to defend Hanson and say he's always elevated the material.  His early genre thrillers like Hand The Rocks The Cradle and The River Wild benefitted from above-average performances.  (Even Bad Influence was the first time I believed Rob Lowe could Act.

He's also gotten career Best performances from Kim Bassinger, Toby Maguire, (arguably) Michael Douglas, and yes, Steve Guttenberg.  He worked really hard with Eminem to make that performance (and many of the untrained supporting cast) very credible as well.

Hanson doesn't have an identifiable visual style, but he's really good with actors, and all his films...all of them (be it L.A. Confidential or Lucky You) come out better than the final screenplay would suggest.

Does that make him Great?  I say, no.  But he's definitely better than average.

mañana

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Re: The Top Directors Working Today: Curtis Hanson
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2008, 11:49:29 AM »
The one 1-2-punch of LA Confidential and Wonder Boys made me think he was about to become one of my favourite directors. Turns out that never happened. But I did like the Shoe one more than I should have.
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Kevin Shields

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Re: The Top Directors Working Today: Curtis Hanson
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2008, 02:23:03 PM »
I think with the right material.  He can put out a good and sometimes, great film.

I loved L.A. Confidential and I think Wonder Boys is extremely underrated.  I dug 8 Mile.  In the hands of someone else, it would've been extremely mediocre.  The same with In Her Shoes if Hanson wasn't on board.  Otherwise, Cameron Diaz would've been more annoying.  Lucky You was just boring.  The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is good and The River Wild is also good and a great cast.  Bad Influence was also good, especially getting a good performance out of Rob Lowe. 

He is better than most actors.  It all depends on the material. 
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Re: The Top Directors Working Today: Curtis Hanson
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2008, 09:47:59 AM »
Nothing special. I don't even like LA CONFIDENTIAL that much, and WONDER BOYS really bored me. Haven't seen 8 MILE though.