Polling the films of Robert Zemeckis
The rules:
- your list can include no more than half* of the Zemeckis 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 Friday, 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/
SCFZ poll: Robert Zemeckis
another poll randomly generated, though this is at least one most people should be able to participate in, curious if zemeckis has many admirers around here though 
Contact
Allied
What Lies Beneath
Back to the Future
Flight
seen 8, honestly don't like a single one of them -- edit: seen 10, contact was actually really good besides the religion straw man and how heavy-handed it got with that, and allied wasn't bad either
Allied
What Lies Beneath
Back to the Future
Flight
seen 8, honestly don't like a single one of them -- edit: seen 10, contact was actually really good besides the religion straw man and how heavy-handed it got with that, and allied wasn't bad either
seen 5
Cast Away
The Polar Express
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
is there any way that i can downvote forrest gump?
Cast Away
The Polar Express
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
is there any way that i can downvote forrest gump?
just realized forrest gump and the shawshank redemption came out in the same yr. 1994, worst yr of cinema oat, easy
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Lencho of the Apes
- Posts: 1900
- Joined: Tue Dec 11, 2018 4:38 am
I keep telling myself I'm going to watch the year's Zemeckis... and I never do. Vaguewatched Death Becomes Her sometime long ago.
The opposite of 'reify' is... ?
Seen 17
Flight
Back to the Future
Forrest Gump
Back to the Future Part II
Contact
Cast Away
Allied
Used Cars
Romancing the Stone
Love Zemeckis! Great director!
Flight
Back to the Future
Forrest Gump
Back to the Future Part II
Contact
Cast Away
Allied
Used Cars
Romancing the Stone
Love Zemeckis! Great director!
seen 9
contact
romancing the stone
how about roberto gavaldón next?
contact
romancing the stone
how about roberto gavaldón next?
"Most esteemed biographer of Peter Barrington Hutton"
seen 8
Back to the Future
Flight
Allied
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
good director, i think, but reluctant to see Forrest Gump
Back to the Future
Flight
Allied
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
good director, i think, but reluctant to see Forrest Gump
Tales from the Crypt: Yellow
Tales from the Crypt: All Through the House
What Lies Beneath
haven't really kept up with his films since the early 2000s, think there was some significant auteurist support for marwen and allied (kiyoshi kurosawa, who generally has great taste, put it in his best of year list), and maybe a few others.
kind of wish the giant success of back to the future happened a couple films later in his career, and he work for awhile more at the romancing the stone budget level, rather than go all in on the technology stuff...
Tales from the Crypt: All Through the House
What Lies Beneath
haven't really kept up with his films since the early 2000s, think there was some significant auteurist support for marwen and allied (kiyoshi kurosawa, who generally has great taste, put it in his best of year list), and maybe a few others.
kind of wish the giant success of back to the future happened a couple films later in his career, and he work for awhile more at the romancing the stone budget level, rather than go all in on the technology stuff...
I really hate his first two films, there is something really disgusting about them, maybe his mind-blowingly tasteless so-called comedy style.
seen 10
Cast Away
Beowulf
Romancing the Stone (for Kathleen Turner)
seen 10
Cast Away
Beowulf
Romancing the Stone (for Kathleen Turner)
Last edited by Flakotaso on Mon Jan 31, 2022 4:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Used Cars
Contact
Flight
Back to the Future
Forrest Gump
Beowulf
There's a lurking low misanthropic cynicism under so many of his movies that's really irksome. Less for existing as such necessarily, then for being so outwardly directed while refusing self-critique. Milos Forman is the fancy-pants Euro-derived version of this, better director in some ways, but often too reveling in his disgust. Used Cars, for Zemeckis, at least kept it in the forefront as basis of the comedy rather than insinuating it, so it's the one that works best for me by a fair margin. Beowulf is awful, but feels kind of instructively awful, so what the heck I'll give it a vote instead of the other middling stuff I've seen.
Contact
Flight
Back to the Future
Forrest Gump
Beowulf
There's a lurking low misanthropic cynicism under so many of his movies that's really irksome. Less for existing as such necessarily, then for being so outwardly directed while refusing self-critique. Milos Forman is the fancy-pants Euro-derived version of this, better director in some ways, but often too reveling in his disgust. Used Cars, for Zemeckis, at least kept it in the forefront as basis of the comedy rather than insinuating it, so it's the one that works best for me by a fair margin. Beowulf is awful, but feels kind of instructively awful, so what the heck I'll give it a vote instead of the other middling stuff I've seen.
Last edited by ... on Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Monsieur Arkadin
- Posts: 423
- Joined: Mon May 27, 2019 5:56 pm
Seen 10
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Death Becomes Her
What Lies Beneath
Romancing the Stone
I don't really care for him as a director... He has a cartoonish sensibility, but one that doesn't go quite far enough, except with Roger Rabbit, the only one where I feel everything comes together.
To be honest, I almost always find myself wishing Barry Sonnenfeld was directing at the halfway point of his films. Death Becomes Her and What Lies Beneath are both interesting to me because of the (very mildly) subversive casting of Male Action heroes. In Death Becomes Her it pays off with what is probably Bruce Willis' best performance. Less so in What Lies Beneath.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Death Becomes Her
What Lies Beneath
Romancing the Stone
I don't really care for him as a director... He has a cartoonish sensibility, but one that doesn't go quite far enough, except with Roger Rabbit, the only one where I feel everything comes together.
To be honest, I almost always find myself wishing Barry Sonnenfeld was directing at the halfway point of his films. Death Becomes Her and What Lies Beneath are both interesting to me because of the (very mildly) subversive casting of Male Action heroes. In Death Becomes Her it pays off with what is probably Bruce Willis' best performance. Less so in What Lies Beneath.
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deepbluefunk
- Posts: 48
- Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2021 6:42 am
- Location: East Vancouver
seen 13
1. Back to the Future
2. Beowulf
3. The Lift
4. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
5. Cast Away
6. Contact
7. Romancing the Stone
I think there's something really strange, offputting but entrancing about Beowulf. And the neil gaiman script is full of nice touches. I think it's pretty underrated. And for those who haven't seen his early short, The Lift, it's well worth a look. After those top three, Zemeckis is always interesting but rarely fully successful. Haven't seen Flight.
1. Back to the Future
2. Beowulf
3. The Lift
4. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
5. Cast Away
6. Contact
7. Romancing the Stone
I think there's something really strange, offputting but entrancing about Beowulf. And the neil gaiman script is full of nice touches. I think it's pretty underrated. And for those who haven't seen his early short, The Lift, it's well worth a look. After those top three, Zemeckis is always interesting but rarely fully successful. Haven't seen Flight.
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oscarwerner
- Posts: 319
- Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2019 9:13 am
- Contact:
Seen 15.
1.Who Framed Roger Rabbit
2.Death Becomes Her
3.Back to the Future
4.Forrest Gump
5.Used Cars
1.Who Framed Roger Rabbit
2.Death Becomes Her
3.Back to the Future
4.Forrest Gump
5.Used Cars
I love this guy! A wonderful, wonderful director! 
all 6 I've listed are personal favorites:
01. Back to the Future Part II (1989)
02. Back to the Future Part III (1990)
03. Back to the Future (1985)
04. Cast Away (2000)
05. Forrest Gump (1994)
06. Contact (1997)
Zemeckis seen: 11
all 6 I've listed are personal favorites:
01. Back to the Future Part II (1989)
02. Back to the Future Part III (1990)
03. Back to the Future (1985)
04. Cast Away (2000)
05. Forrest Gump (1994)
06. Contact (1997)
Zemeckis seen: 11
"I too am a child burned by future experiences, fallen back on myself and already suspecting the certainty that in the end only those will prove benevolent who believe in nothing." – Marran Gosov
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Searchlike
- Posts: 105
- Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2021 5:21 pm
Seen 9
Back to the Future
Cast Away
Contact
Back to the Future Part II
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
I loved the Back to the Future trilogy as a child. I've largely outgrown those films, the time shenanigans do nothing for me these days, but I can still appreciate the 'would you befriend your old folks?' concept of the first one.
I've also toyed with the idea of making a film called Who Strangled Roger Rabbit?, but I don't know if there's an audience for it.
Back to the Future
Cast Away
Contact
Back to the Future Part II
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
I loved the Back to the Future trilogy as a child. I've largely outgrown those films, the time shenanigans do nothing for me these days, but I can still appreciate the 'would you befriend your old folks?' concept of the first one.
I've also toyed with the idea of making a film called Who Strangled Roger Rabbit?, but I don't know if there's an audience for it.
aka FGNRSY
I'm a Zemeckis fanboy, and THE LIFT is easily the worst of his films I've seen.deepbluefunk wrote: ↑Mon Jan 31, 2022 2:58 am And for those who haven't seen his early short, The Lift, it's well worth a look.
"I too am a child burned by future experiences, fallen back on myself and already suspecting the certainty that in the end only those will prove benevolent who believe in nothing." – Marran Gosov
not too surprising a winner, but perhaps a surprising #2, and on another forum zemeckis' lone best picture nominated film (which even won, forrest gump) might have been expected to fare much better than it did here:
results
1. Back to the Future (1985) — 28 pts
2. Contact (1997) — 16 pts
3. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) — 15 pts
4. Cast Away (2000) — 13.5 pts
5. Flight (2012) — 12 pts
6. Back to the Future Part II (1989) — 9 pts
7. Death Becomes Her (1992) — 7 pts
7. Forrest Gump (1994) — 7 pts
9. Beowulf (2007) — 6.5 pts
10. Allied (2016) — 6.3 pts
11. Used Cars (1980) — 6.1 pts
12. What Lies Beneath (2000) — 6 pts
13. Back to the Future Part III (1990) — 4 pts
14. Romancing the Stone (1984) — 3.3 pts
15. The Lift (1972) — 3 pts
15. Tales from the Crypt: “Yellow” (1991) — 3 pts
17. The Polar Express (2004) — 2 pts
17. Tales from the Crypt: “All Through the House” (1989) — 2 pts
results
1. Back to the Future (1985) — 28 pts
2. Contact (1997) — 16 pts
3. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) — 15 pts
4. Cast Away (2000) — 13.5 pts
5. Flight (2012) — 12 pts
6. Back to the Future Part II (1989) — 9 pts
7. Death Becomes Her (1992) — 7 pts
7. Forrest Gump (1994) — 7 pts
9. Beowulf (2007) — 6.5 pts
10. Allied (2016) — 6.3 pts
11. Used Cars (1980) — 6.1 pts
12. What Lies Beneath (2000) — 6 pts
13. Back to the Future Part III (1990) — 4 pts
14. Romancing the Stone (1984) — 3.3 pts
15. The Lift (1972) — 3 pts
15. Tales from the Crypt: “Yellow” (1991) — 3 pts
17. The Polar Express (2004) — 2 pts
17. Tales from the Crypt: “All Through the House” (1989) — 2 pts