Team FC
Why Wilder would want to champion the cause of Charles Lindbergh, only he knew, but the film he made on the pioneering aviator was so dull, so lifeless, that it can hardly be termed a tribute.
Long before he made sombre dramas about the time period, Spielberg gave World War II an overblown comedic treatment that was hollow and unfunny for the most part, though clearly no expense had been spared to make the film work.
Scorsese's one true crack at masala filmmaking resulted in the dullest film he's ever made. Daniel Day-Lewis' one-eyed villain held up the fort, but Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz made for appalling performers, and the film's narrative lacked the energy necessary for it to work.
The Coens' remake of Alexander Mackendrick's Ealing Studios comedy should have been an easy win for the brothers; instead, it turned out to be their worst film, littered with broad, facetious performances and a style that screamed its presence out in every frame.
Mann's decision to tell the story of notorious criminal John Dillinger in a quasi heroic style backfired: the film's central performance was wooden, it looked rather casually and cheaply-produced, and the writing was unimpressive for large chunks.
Tarantino put all the bad eggs in one mountain cabin in the middle of nowhere, and got nowhere. The film's drudging plot and uninteresting characters didn't help its cause, nor did the fact that a production shot in Ultra Panavision 70mm was set almost entirely indoors.
Nolan went for broke in this time-bending globe-trotting blockbuster, and in doing so, he broke the essential coherence of storytelling to the point that his inaudible film was no longer visually decipherable either.
Thank you for reading!