YEAR IN REVIEW: BEST and WORST DIRECTOR of 2014

Much like George W. Bush, the director is the decider. 2014 saw some directors make huge improvements to their resumes and some… What’s the polite way to say, “shit the bed?” Legions of special effects technicians put these movies together, but the praise and blame lands square at the director’s chair. Here’s the BEST and WORST DIRECTOR of 2014.

BEST: JAMES GUNN for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

After so many months of people raving about GOTG, it’s easy to forget what the mood was like in July last year. No one had heard of these Guardians, Chris Pratt was best known as the chubby, lovable dummy from Parks and Recreation, and hardly anyone was familiar with James Gunn’s previous titles: Slither was a cheeky, low-budget crack at horror movies, and Super similarly sent up the superhero genre with Rainn Wilson playing a homicidal do-gooder wielding a wrench.

Gunn hardly seemed like the safe choice to helm a movie with a 170 million dollar budget. (Super cost a paltry 2.5 million.) But he pulled it off and GOTG was one of 2014's biggest box office successes. And Gunn deserves bonus points for contributing to GOTG’s hilariously offbeat script.  Apparently, Gunn got the gig in large part because Joss Whedon liked his style. Well, who’s going to argue with Joss Whedon? As it stands The Avengers and GOTG are arguably the best Marvel movies to date. And before you raise your hand screaming, “Nuh uh! Iron Man was the best!” just take a look at this quote from Iron Man himself.

“‘Galaxy’ in some ways is the best Marvel movie ever. And it’s odd for someone with — on occasion — an ego the size of mine to actually say that!” -       Robert Downey Jr. (The Toronto Sun)
 

You might say he's a dick, but he's not a total A-hole. Congratulations, Mr. Gunn.

WORST: MARC WEBB for THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

Oh, Marc Webb, how far you have fallen. I remember first seeing 500 Days of Summer and being so incredibly impressed by your work. You gave us a romantic comedy that didn’t feel like a romantic comedy, that didn’t fit into the groan-worthy cliché-ridden template of rom-com that gets churned out year after year. This was made even more impressive by how you juggled the timeline of the story without losing momentum, how you balanced the tone between melancholy and silly comedy. If the year was 2009, I’d give you a standing slow clap.

But it’s not. The year is 2014 and we’ve had two shitty, forgettable Spider-Man movies that did nothing new with the character. I was underwhelmed with the first Amazing Spider-Man, but the second one made it look like The Dark Knight in comparison. I already picked on this movie in my BEST and WORST TRAILER post, but I’m not done yet. Here are a few god-awful choices I haven’t touched on.

1. The casting is atrocious!

Who let Paul Giamatti play an over-the-top Russian bad guy? Who thought casting Jamie Foxx as a stuttering nerd was a good idea? And, while I’m at it, I’m still not convinced that Andrew Garfield is a better Peter Parker than Tobey McGuire – not including the Jazz club scene from Spider-Man 3. I don’t care if Webb wasn’t in charge of casting; at the very least, he had a hand in it.

2. Electro’s inner dialogue

Watch the scene where Electro first meets Spider-Man in Times Square. Is that voice inside Electro’s head? Is it part of the music? It’s hard to tell and totally took me out of the movie.

3. The Osborns

Okay, wait. So Norman Osborn has a genetic mutation that makes him Goblin-like? This idea could have worked if they ran with it. Too bad they didn’t have enough time, what with three villains showing up in a Spider-Man movie again. And we’re supposed to believe that Harry was best friends with Peter? Once again, there isn’t enough time to establish this relationship either and it’s a lost opportunity.

4. Don’t tell me there’s a spinoff

If there’s anything original coming out of the Amazing Spider-Man franchise, it’s the Sinister Six movie. If that last sentence sounds optimistic, it’s unintentional, I assure you.

Think I’m being too hard on Spider-Man? Well, you’re wrong. But feel free to comment anyway.

PS. Check out this video from Watchmojo for more Spidey-bashing action