8. Oliver Stone
The Five Awful Movies: World Trade Centre, W., South Of The Border, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Savages Oliver Stone has become renowed as "the political director," because - simply put - every movie he makes usually has something do with politics or the economy or a global crisis. He's that sorta guy. But whereas he used to make serious, issue-based movies with skill and clarity, his recent ventures have shown him to be only ham-fisted, irritatingly biased or just plain bad. Are we living in a decade where Oliver Stone has lost his magic touch? There's certainly a case for it. The genius of
Platoon and
Salvador and even
JFK is sorely lacking.
One might well argue that Stone is a somewhat overrated director in the first place, but at least there was a time when he felt relevant and cutting edge. In this modern era, Stone feels awkwardly of out of touch with his audience - almost as if he's refusing to change or adapt. Granted,
Savages might have been an example of Stone trying to brandish a picture that today's movie-goers could get into bed with (via Blake Lively, we hope). But even that was messy and mostly dull, not at all wild and candid like his earliest flicks. The guy seems... kind of spent.