10 Bad Movies Oscar-Winning Directors Went On To Make

Eastwood, Jackson, Spielberg - taking home an Oscar doesn't make you bulletproof.

Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
LucasFilm

Though winning an Oscar, in any category, is seen as the height of accomplishment within the movie industry, it doesn't ensure those who do win the prestigious award are automatically immune to the challenges of filmmaking.

It just means they did everything brilliantly that one time, but their next film, or the one after that, or any number of projects they'll undertake in the future, could be a completely different story altogether.

And history has shown us that this can often be the case.

Yes, it's unlikely that a director (even one of the greats) will have a perfect run from the start of their career right to the very end, but some of the trash churned out by people who've won an Academy Award - an indication that they've refined their skills and are capable of crafting nigh-on flawless movies - is often hard to believe.

Men like Ang Lee, Ron Howard, Oliver Stone and Steven Spielberg have all succumbed to this post-Oscar mediocrity display, and they're not the only ones who rose to the highest of highs, only to fall back to Earth with a spectacular crash...

10. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk - Ang Lee

Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
TriStar Pictures

Over the years, director Ang Lee has become synonymous with the superb visuals commonly found in his movies (with colourful 3D epic Life Of Pi earning him his second directing Oscar), but ultimately, it was this desire to change the way films are viewed that contributed to the failure of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.

Because, as you'll see from glancing at any slice of footage from the film, Lee shot this at a much higher frame rate than the traditional 24 - 120, to be exact.

The result is a war picture with the grit taken away and the gloss heaped upon it to a ridiculous degree, and the difference between the subject matter and the way that subject matter is portrayed visually, is jarring.

The film has other problems, too. The story feels like a series of overly-selective flashbacks and moments rather than a fully-formed, cohesive narrative. This would also have been the case without the heightened frame rate, but with it, the film's issues are so much more noticeable.

It would be good to see Lee return to the simpler, but no less effective style he employed with the likes of Brokeback Mountain and Sense and Sensibility. Recently, the director seems much more interested in the technology behind a film rather than the film itself, and Billy Lynn is proof that this decision can backfire drastically.

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WhoCulture Channel Manager/Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture. Can confirm that bow ties are cool.