10 Infuriating Flaws That Ruin Otherwise Awesome Directors

1. An Obsession With Digital Cinematography - Michael Mann

Accomplishments: Four Oscar nominations, for writing, directing and producing, best known for The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, Ali and Collateral.

The Flaw: In recent years MichaelMann has shot his films almost exclusively on digital, and though this worked exceedingly well for the noir-ish Collateral, his successors, Miami Vice, Public Enemies and Blackhat, are all extremely ugly-looking movies.

Plenty of filmmakers do wonders with digital video, but Mann's decision to shoot his movies with a 360-degree shutter angle makes them look like a consumer home video rather than a big-budget production.

The frantic action in Vice and Enemies in particular looks like something an amateur director would make, with an overly smooth image that's unpalatable to audiences reared on more "filmic" cinema. This is of course compounded by the fact that none of these three movies were really much good, and so Mann is sorely in need of a comeback: perhaps a more cinematic approach might help interest audiences more in what he's doing?

Which annoying quirks and traits hinder your favourite filmmakers? Shout them out in the comments!