SCFZ poll: Ron Howard

[flip]

Polling the films of Ron Howard

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half* of the Howard films you've seen, up to a maximum of 8. So if you've seen 6 films, you can vote for 3, and if you've seen 20, you can vote for up to 8.

* If you've seen an odd number, you can round up when deciding the length of your ballot -- e.g if you've seen 7, you can vote for 4, and if you've seen 15, you can vote for the maximum of 8.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Tuesday, in seven days, whatever day that is

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

[wba]

I love my no. 1 choice and enjoyed the other four:

01. Backdraft (1991)
02. Far and Away (1992)
03. Willow (1988)
04. Ransom (1996)
05. In the Heart of the Sea (2015)

Howard seen: 10

[flip]

The Paper
Frost/Nixon
Apollo 13
Hillbilly Elegy
Skyward

seen 13, my top three i can get behind, i have some reservations voting for hillbilly elegy given how objectionable i find the politics of some involved, but i watched it knowing nothing about it and i think it's a slightly better film than its reputation, skyward is really bad but it's better than the other five i've seen

edit: maybe i'll watch something from wba's list, because i've only seen one of those

[Silga]

Seen 18

Apollo 13
A Beautiful Mind
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Rush
In the Heart of the Sea
The Da Vinci Code
Parenthood
Backdraft

[ofrene]

seen 11

Frost/Nixon
Rush
Backdraft
Cinderella Man
A Beautiful Mind

[Monsieur Arkadin]

Seen 11.
He has an almost magical quality that ensures I can barely remember any of the films he's directed. I don't know of anyone else whose films seem to react to my memory is if it were made of teflon.

The Missing
Old Paint
Cinderella Man
Willow

Those are the ones I remember feeling relatively positive about at the time I watched them. And The Missing's DVD came with several short films, including Old Paint, that he'd made when he was 13 or so. As a young teenager in love with movies at the time, that made a bigger impact on me than probably the film itself.

[brian d]

seen 9

willow
far and away
parenthood

i had no idea he had directed the vast majority of the movies i'd seen by him. not sure if he just doesn't really have a clear style, or they're so mundane that any competent director could have made them, or i'm just not paying attention. i think i liked him better as opie.

[mesnalty]

Apparently, I've seen exactly 2 movies by Ron Howard:

1. Willow

[wba]

not sure if he just doesn't really have a clear style, or they're so mundane that any competent director could have made them, or i'm just not paying attention.

My guess would be that he hasn't an actual style at all and that he's a very mediocre filmmaker. So if he makes a great or even a good film, it seems it's almost by chance or in spite of his directing.
And his bad films seem much more like his true calling, where his directing (and nothing else) "comes to the fore", so to speak.
But I haven't ever really thought about his directing outside of when watching his films, where it's usually non-existent to some extent.
Maybe he's one of the real "auteurs"/proponents of the "invisible" / anonymous Hollywood style that has become so prevalent since the late 1990s?
He's probably also the only director by whom I have seen that many films, without ever actually wanting to watch a film because he directed it.

[wba]

dp

[wba]

tp...

[...]

Splash
Parenthood
Backdraft
Apollo 13
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Grand Theft Auto
Far and Away
Cocoon

[deepbluefunk]

seen 14

1. Frost Nixon
2. Rush
3. Apollo 13
4. Da Vinci Code
5. Splash
6. Night Shift
7. Gung Ho

He's a director that has definitely made some strong competent work, and also made a few films that I actively dislike.

If I could, his work on Arrested Development would make the cut here. That show was meaningful to me.

[oscarwerner]

seen 15.
Apollo 13
A Beautiful Mind
Rush
Frost/Nixon
Backdraft
Solo: A Star Wars Story
I accept him as a serious director for hire. He does his work well. But not always:)

[---]

seen 5

Frost/Nixon
The Paper

[nrh]

rush
grand theft auto

funny to think that howard is so hard to characterize. he's definitely not a director for hire (with the exception of solo he's produced his own movies for about 20 years now, and a lot of his earlier movies seem to be passion projects of one sort or another) and definitely not invisible (if anything most of his movies are fairly over-directed - a workmanlike director would make something taught and perhaps anonymous out of ransom, but howard throws dozens of clashing tones and 'expressive' slow motion and so on into the mix).

i do kind of admire him for throwing himself into projects like the paper, frost/nixon, heart of the sea, or far and away that might not be the most obvious commercial projects, but i also think in all of those his basic sense of...dramaturgy(?) and aesthetics just kind of fails him at a certain point. kind of veers all over the map between lightly likeable, strained seriousness, and less than meets the eye, which is impressive i guess.

[john ryan]

seen 15

1. Rush
2. Frost/Nixon
3. Apollo 13
4. Willow

[...]

funny to think that howard is so hard to characterize. he's definitely not a director for hire

I don't disagree with anything you say, but I think it's kinda interesting to think of it from the perspective that nowadays directors for hire might actually be more expressive than "producer directors" able to fund biggish budget projects for the mass market requirements where all the sharp edges need to be sanded off lest they leave a lasting mark should someone happen to bump into them by accident. Howard's movies, like so much of the current trend in Hollywood that's gone on in varying degrees since the eighties in bigger budget films, is to feed convention and satisfy the immediate demands of the audience without challenging them, even accidentally, in anything but the standard generic Hollywood style liberalism. Movies are written to fit certain formulaic expectations where tension isn't expected to carry over beyond the end of the credits, sending the audience, any audience, home largely satisfied for the movie following known scores. The ideological tension is suggested as challenges to the status quo that will be overcome and promise something like a mildly improved regularity. Howard provides that, while a lot of up and coming directors without a series of hits need to stand out more so they try to bend convention to get noticed in hopes of getting their shot at the big time, where most will be once again constrained, but with a slightly newish bag of tricks to draw from to meet conventions.

Howard has his own sets of quirks in his style, but the end result doesn't linger because there's nothing more than a status quo ideology behind it. His movies are nice and safe and do what you expect and not much more, other than offering maybe a few quotable moments and the usual "strong" performances that are the meat of this kind of generic production. He's good at this, which a lot of directors aren't for either trying to make silk purses out of sow ears and failing or for just being blandly adequate. Howard seems invested in his films, he seems to believe they mean something, that standing up for the status quo is important, while many others aren't able to sell that conviction nearly as well or just lack it entirely. Howard is able to produce his own movies because he embodies the Hollywood ideal of entertainment so well and makes modestly successful films across a wide variety of genres. That's kind of interesting and might look more so from the distance of more time, once these conventions fade, but isn't really very exciting in the moment for the most part for being part of the dominant aesthetic.

[Roscoe]

Howard's filmography is entirely disposable. Some glimmers in SPLASH, mostly from Hanks and Hannah and the sorely missed John Candy. But not quite enough.

[wba]

Howard's filmography is entirely disposable. Some glimmers in SPLASH, mostly from Hanks and Hannah and the sorely missed John Candy. But not quite enough.

I'd say his directing is probably disposable. But some of his films have their charms. It's not always just what the director does (fortunately, in this case).

[Joks Trois]

He has made some good films for sure, but I agree with Greg that the results don't linger or stick. His dramas are sometimes too clean and 'flashy' for what they are. Spielberg is a lot better at that middle of the road Hollywood dramatic style. e.g. Lincoln, Bridge of Spies, The Post etc.

Gung Ho is probably his most underrated film, mostly because of Keaton and the fact that it's a historical curio now.

I've seen about 19 of his films, but I really have no idea whatsoever how to rank them.

[wba]

He has made some good films for sure, but I agree with Greg that the results don't linger or stick. His dramas are sometimes too clean and 'flashy' for what they are, e.g. Lincoln, Bridge of Spies, The Post etc.

That's exactly what I would say about Spielberg!
But yeah, Howard can be even less interesting.

[Joks Trois]

Well Spielberg's laid the template really, but his films tend to be more interesting and memorable than Howard's.

[flip]

top three ended up very close, and we got votes for 23 different ron howard films (i wonder how many people would have guessed he'd even made that many?) and still several of his features got no support (the two da vinci code sequels, inferno, the dilemma, how the grinch stole christmas, edtv and several tv movies)

results
1. Frost/Nixon (2008) — 21 pts
2. Apollo 13 (1995) — 20 pts
3. Rush (2013) — 19 pts
4. Backdraft (1991) — 12.1 pts
5. Willow (1988) — 9 pts
5. A Beautiful Mind (2001) — 9 pts
7. Far and Away (1992) — 6.3 pts
8. The Paper (1994) — 6 pts
8. Splash (1984) — 6 pts
10. Parenthood (1989) — 5.3 pts
11. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) — 4.5 pts
12. The Missing (2003) — 4 pts
12. Cinderella Man (2005) — 4 pts
14. Old Paint (1969) — 3 pts
15. The Da Vinci Code (2006) — 2.5 pts
16. Ransom (1996) — 2 pts
16. In the Heart of the Sea (2015) — 2 pts
16. Hillbilly Elegy (2020) — 2 pts
19. Grand Theft Auto (1977) — 1.5 pts
20. Skyward (1980) — 1 pt
21. Night Shift (1982) — 0.5 pts
22. Gung Ho (1986) — 0.3 pts
23. Cocoon (1985) — 0.1 pts

[flip]

posted an epic top 15 ron howard films to letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-297/

[...]

Ah, good, hate to miss out on having The Da Vinci Code make the list.

[flip]

i thought it was fun to get old paint on there, a film with 15 views on letterboxd that howard coincidentally made when he was 15 years old

[...]

Heh. Yeah, that too makes it worth the extra spots. I'm all for it.

[karl]

ron howard? you people must be really hard up for directors.

[flip]

ron howard? you people must be really hard up for directors.

well, the polls after howard were (in some order) bo widerberg, jules dassin, john schlesinger, sergei eisenstein, mani ratnam and now georges melies, so i think we still have a few names left, but a ron howard poll was sort of a running joke whenever i was asking for suggestions, so it was bound to happen at some point