Amazon Blogs: Armchair Commentary Daily Digest

Check out these Updates from Armchair Commentary for July 16, 2010.

Christopher Nolan, Pixar... Who Else Hasn't Made a Bad Movie? July 16, 2010 Christopher Nolan's Inception opens today, which many are eagerly anticipating because the summer film season has been devoid of quality entertainment, save for the family-film slate of Toy Story 3, Despicable Me, and--yes--The Karate Kid. I was having coffee with my old boss the other day, and he proclaimed he was excited to watch it because "the guy is like Pixar--he hasn't made a bad movie." Indeed, Nolan (right, with Leonardo DiCaprio), in his seven feature films, has never received lower than a 75% on the Rotten Tomatoes' critics' meter for any of his films (meaning 75% of critics gave good reviews, for those unfamiliar with the site). Pixar, over 11 movies, has received an average of 95% across all its films, save for Cars, which received a 74% (still impressive). Basically, even the worst-reviewed film by either of these camps is still far better than the best of anyone else--not a bad position to be in. (I still remember going to see Memento, his first major release, before anyone knew anything about it; it was a weekday 10 a.m. press screening, and my mind was basically screwed up the rest of the day). This made me wonder who else in Hollywood has the best track record. Notice with the exception of Spielberg and Scorsese, they've all made a small amount of films, but I didn't count directors who've made five or fewer movies (eliminating Paul Thomas Anderson, Stephen Daldry, Spike Jonze, and Jason Reitman). A snapshot of searches, using Rotten tomatoes as a barometer for statistical purposes: Pixar (Various directors) Number of "rotten" films out of total: 0/11 Best-reviewed films: Toy Story, Toy Story 2 (tie) Lowest-reviewed film: Cars Hayao Miyazaki Number of "rotten" films out of total: 0/10 Best-reviewed film: Porco Rosso, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and Kiki's Delivery Service (tie) Lowest-reviewed film: Howl's Moving Castle Christopher Nolan Number of "rotten" films out of total: 0/7 Best-reviewed film: The Dark Knight Lowest-reviewed film: The Prestige Martin Scorsese Number of "rotten" films out of total reviewed: 1/25 Best-reviewed feature film: Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets (tie) Lowest-reviewed film: Boxcar Bertha Ang Lee Number of "rotten" films out of total reviewed: 1/9 (two of his Taiwanese films, Pushing Hands and The Wedding Banquet, did not have reviews) Best-reviewed film: Sense and Sensibility Lowest-reviewed film: Taking Woodstock James Cameron Number of "rotten" films out of total: 1/10 Best-reviewed film: Aliens, The Terminator Lowest-reviewed film: Piranha II Quentin Tarantino Number of "rotten" films out of total: 1/9 Best-reviewed film: Reservoir Dogs Lowest-reviewed film: Four Rooms Pedro Almodovar Number of "rotten" films out of total: 2/18 Best-reviewed film: Laberinto de Pasiones, Law of Desire (tie) Lowest-reviewed film: Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom Steven Spielberg Number of "rotten" films out of total: 3/25 Best-reviewed film: Jaws Lowest-reviewed film: Hook David Fincher Number of "rotten" films out of total: 1/7 Best-reviewed film: Zodiac Lowest-reviewed film: Alien 3 Peter Jackson Number of "rotten" films out of total: 1/7 Best-reviewed film: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Lowest-reviewed film: The Lovely Bones Coen Brothers Number of "rotten" films out of total: 2/13 Best-reviewed film: No Country for Old Men Lowest-reviewed film: Ladykillers Once Nolan has made more than 10 movies we'll evaluate again. Who, in your opinion, hasn't made a bad movie? --Ellen

We hope you enjoyed receiving this message. However, if you'd rather not receive future e-mails of this sort from Amazon.com, please visit the opt-out link here.