# Whom do you think Are Cinemas One Hit Wonders ?



## BAYLOR (Jul 2, 2014)

Actors , Actresses, Directors , Producers who had a great initial success , which they were never able to duplicate and why ?


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## Foxbat (Jul 2, 2014)

The one that springs to mind for me is the Wachowski brothers. After the excellent job they did on The Matrix, I don't think they've been able to match it since. As to the why - well in the next two Matrix films, I think they just disappeared up their own rectums and took themselves far too seriously. In fact, I'll go further - if ever a film did not need to be a trilogy, it was The Matrix.

As for the rest of their work, it's not been really bad but just chugged along in the average to mediocre area. Probably caused by something akin to _second album syndrome_ suffered by many musicians.

I've yet to see Cloud Atlas so might have to eat my words if it turns out to be a really great film.


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## J-Sun (Jul 2, 2014)

I like _Bound_ much more than _The Matrix_, though I like it, too. _The Matrix_ is a good skiffy movie but _Bound_ is a great neo-noir stylish gangster flick. So that gives 'em two in my book, with _The Matrix_ being second. (But, obviously, _Bound_ was nowhere near the "hit" _The Matrix_ was objectively.)

I'm not sure if these are exactly one-hit wonders, either, but there's a lot of weird SF-ish flicks - _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ - because how can anything compare to that? How can you "do it again"? (They apparently tried and failed.) Maybe stuff like _Buckaroo Banzai_ (again, too crazy) and even _Repo Man_ (though I might change my mind if I ever got around to seeing _Sid and Nancy_).

In terms of actors, in a personal sense, there's Tom Cruise in _Risky Business_ - that's the only film I can stand him in - barely.

And, dozens of movies and millions of bucks later, I still don't think Sylvester Stallone ever came close to the writing or acting in _Rocky_ again. _Rocky_, both fictionally and really, was an underdog thing rising out of the grit of the 70s and anticipating the glitz of the 80s and was complex. Most everything else was overdog simplicities without much, um, true grit. _Rocky_ was kinda small and most everything else was kinda huge. Etc.


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## Mouse (Jul 2, 2014)

J-Sun said:


> I like _Bound_ much more than _The Matrix_, though I like it, too. _The Matrix_ is a good skiffy movie but _Bound_ is a great neo-noir stylish gangster flick. So that gives 'em two in my book, with _The Matrix_ being second. (But, obviously, _Bound_ was nowhere near the "hit" _The Matrix_ was objectively.)



I have _Bound_ but not got round to watching it yet. Glad to hear it's good!

As for the question, I can't really think of any. George Lazenby?


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## alchemist (Jul 2, 2014)

Has anyone had a steeper fall from grace than M Night Shymalan? Although I think Unbreakable is a fabulous film.


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## JoanDrake (Jul 2, 2014)

alchemist said:


> Has anyone had a steeper fall from grace than M Night Shymalan? Although I think Unbreakable is a fabulous film.


I was in a theatre for the end of Village. First time I've ever seen the entire audience do a facepalm.


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## Venusian Broon (Jul 2, 2014)

*Wachowski brothers*: I though _V for Vendetta_ was decent, (not brilliant or extremely good I admit). 

I read though that they are possibly going to go ahead with another Matrix trilogy. I fear that will be a mistake.

*M Night Shymalan*. Yep the wheels fell off his movies pretty early in his career. (Aliens who can't stand liquid water, invade a planet that clearly from space must have a lot of the stuff sloshing about ?!?!?)

New nomination: 

*Richard Kelly * who début with _Donnie Darko_? Perhaps not a commercial success, but definitely critical success.

To be fair to him, I haven't seen anything else he's made (But I see they've not gone down well: _Southland tales_, _the Box_, _Domino_) so my reasoning is that after making something so blinking marvellous as DD it really does seem to be outshining everything he's tried since.


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## Venusian Broon (Jul 2, 2014)

Oh another nomination, (shaving does indeed help you think - thank you Niels Bohr)

*Daniel Myrick* and *Eduardo Sanchez* for inflicting on the world _The Blair Witch Project_ and hence the whole modern genre of found footage horrors. 

I didn't understand why it did so well, I thought it was tedious.


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jul 2, 2014)

In a certain sense, the great Charles Laughton, because he only directed one film, but it's a great one -- *Night of the Hunter*.

On a much lower level, Arch Hall jr., who was a terrible leading man in things like *Eegah!*, is excellent as a nasty killer in *The Sadist*.


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## Droflet (Jul 3, 2014)

Absolutely agree with Victoria about Night of the Hunter. Such a pity that Laughton did not have the opportunity to direct again. 

Two others stand out for me:
Michael Cimino, the Deer Hunter. One of the great films of all time. Then a spectacular crash with Heaven's Gate. A crash he did not recover from. 

Dennis Hopper, Easy Rider. Yes, he made other films but in none of those was he given the same creative freedom that he had in Rider. Pity.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 8, 2014)

alchemist said:


> Has anyone had a steeper fall from grace than M Night Shymalan? Although I think Unbreakable is a fabulous film.



He's two really good films , The rest? A mixed bag.


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## wam (Jul 22, 2014)

telford said:


> Michael Cimino, the Deer Hunter. One of the great films of all time. Then a spectacular crash with Heaven's Gate. A crash he did not recover from.
> .



Many years ago I was in a local cinema club that got to run full copies of movies in a larger cinema than they could fill. "Heaven's Gate" was quite something but it probably needs to be seen several times before you can get enough of it to figure out what was going on. Add to that, it was massively over budget and cinemas wouldn't play the whole thing (5+ hours) or anything close to that.


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## BAYLOR (Aug 3, 2014)

wam said:


> Many years ago I was in a local cinema club that got to run full copies of movies in a larger cinema than they could fill. "Heaven's Gate" was quite something but it probably needs to be seen several times before you can get enough of it to figure out what was going on. Add to that, it was massively over budget and cinemas wouldn't play the whole thing (5+ hours) or anything close to that.



That film hasn't gotten better with age.


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## Michael Colton (Aug 3, 2014)

Foxbat said:


> The one that springs to mind for me is the Wachowski brothers. After the excellent job they did on The Matrix, I don't think they've been able to match it since. As to the why - well in the next two Matrix films, I think they just disappeared up their own rectums and took themselves far too seriously. In fact, I'll go further - if ever a film did not need to be a trilogy, it was The Matrix.
> 
> As for the rest of their work, it's not been really bad but just chugged along in the average to mediocre area. Probably caused by something akin to _second album syndrome_ suffered by many musicians.
> 
> I've yet to see Cloud Atlas so might have to eat my words if it turns out to be a really great film.



In my opinion, they are doing rather well. Not just Cloud Atlas, but their lesser known ones like Speed Racer - the Wachowski siblings (it is not brothers anymore, it is brother/sister now) are at the point where they can make the films they want to without having to be quite as worried about the box office. Obviously, they would still like to have the films be successful. But they are able to pick and choose their projects based on what interests them. This makes them feel like they are not as 'around' as they were. But that was just due to the sheer magnitude of Matrix fame.

And actually, I prefer this season of their career as I am not a Matrix fan. 

As to the original post, I would say almost the entire decade of mainstream films in the 80s. It was filled with flashes in the pan.


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## soulsinging (Aug 4, 2014)

Zach Snyder... 300 was better than it had a right to be, watchmen wasn't a total failure, and he's been nothing but garbage since.


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## biodroid (Aug 6, 2014)

John McTiernan of Predator fame also did Hunt for Red October and I think the first Die Hard. He has since made luke warm movies after those hits.


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## J-Sun (Aug 6, 2014)

But that's three hits.  (Never was a big fan of _Predator_ but I love the other two.)


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## MontyCircus (Aug 19, 2014)

biodroid said:


> John McTiernan of Predator fame also did Hunt for Red October and I think the first Die Hard. He has since made luke warm movies after those hits.



*Die Hard 3* was really good too!


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## BAYLOR (Aug 24, 2014)

biodroid said:


> John McTiernan of Predator fame also did Hunt for Red October and I think the first Die Hard. He has since made luke warm movies after those hits.




Id like to see him do a new Predator film.


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## BAYLOR (Sep 8, 2014)

Foxbat said:


> The one that springs to mind for me is the Wachowski brothers. After the excellent job they did on The Matrix, I don't think they've been able to match it since. As to the why - well in the next two Matrix films, I think they just disappeared up their own rectums and took themselves far too seriously. In fact, I'll go further - if ever a film did not need to be a trilogy, it was The Matrix.
> 
> As for the rest of their work, it's not been really bad but just chugged along in the average to mediocre area. Probably caused by something akin to _second album syndrome_ suffered by many musicians.
> 
> I've yet to see Cloud Atlas so might have to eat my words if it turns out to be a really great film.




*Speed Race * didn't exactly burn up the box office but , It wasn't a bad film

*The Matrix* is that it really isn't aging well.


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## BAYLOR (Jan 21, 2020)

And we're getting a Matrix 4.


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## tegeus-Cromis (Jan 21, 2020)

Peter Fonda (as director), _The Hired Hand._
Barbara Loden (as director), _Wanda._
Albert Lewin, maybe. He directed _The Picture of Dorian Gray _and the sublime _Pandora and the Flying Dutchman_, but little else of note.


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## CupofJoe (Jan 21, 2020)

*Orson Wells* as a director. Others might disagree. But for me he made Citizen Kane and could never live up to it afterwards. I think it dogged his career and other people's opinions for the rest of his life.
In film, I think it really hard to be a one-hit-wonder unless you really do come from left-field or are a kid and choose not to carry on.
Positive o-h-w *Carrie Henn* [Aliens, 1986]. Tried acting once and decided not to go on.


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## tegeus-Cromis (Jan 21, 2020)

CupofJoe said:


> *Orson Wells* as a director. Others might disagree. But for me he made Citizen Kane and could never live up to it afterwards. I think it dogged his career and other people's opinions for the rest of his life.


Yes, I strongly disagree. _Othello, Chimes at Midnight, _even _F for Fake _are brilliant films. And the reconstructed version of _The Other Side of the Wind _shows him to have been way ahead of his time even in his old age.


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## tegeus-Cromis (Jan 21, 2020)

Slava Tsukerman, dir., _Liquid Sky._
W.D. Richter, dir., _The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai._


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## CupofJoe (Jan 21, 2020)

tegeus-Cromis said:


> Slava Tsukerman, dir., _Liquid Sky._
> W.D. Richter, dir., _The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai._


Ah... but what a film _Liquid Sky_ is!


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## BAYLOR (Feb 23, 2020)

CupofJoe said:


> *Orson Wells* as a director. Others might disagree. But for me he made Citizen Kane and could never live up to it afterwards. I think it dogged his career and other people's opinions for the rest of his life.
> In film, I think it really hard to be a one-hit-wonder unless you really do come from left-field or are a kid and choose not to carry on.
> Positive o-h-w *Carrie Henn* [Aliens, 1986]. Tried acting once and decided not to go on.



In the case of Wells, being remembered for* Citizen Kane*  is not necessarily a bad thing.  It's  an amazing film.


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## BAYLOR (Nov 15, 2020)

tegeus-Cromis said:


> Slava Tsukerman, dir., _Liquid Sky._
> W.D. Richter, dir., _The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai._



Buckaroo Banzai is due for a reboot.  At least it should be.


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