i think you need to step back reverend
take a look at your own life before you
criticize others
welcome to watch mojo and today we're
counting down
our picks for the top 10 directors who
save their careers with one movie
each time you start from scratch yes
yes that's the beauty of it all
simplicity
for this list we'll be looking at famous
filmmakers who rejuvenated their
floundering
fading or stalling careers with one
fantastic movie who's your favorite
director from this list
let us know in the comments number 10
the russo brothers
captain america the winter soldier don't
say it don't you say
come on before they were two of the
biggest creative names in the superhero
genre
the russo brothers mainly directed
comedic tv
from 2003 to the early 2010s the russos
directed episodes of popular tv shows
like arrested development
happy endings and community but they
followed those shows up with floundering
titles like up all night and animal
practice
with their tv star fading they shifted
their focus to film and directed captain
america the winter soldier
which was one of the most critically
acclaimed films of the mcu
it kind of feels personal they went on
to direct captain america civil war
avengers infinity war and avengers end
game given the massive success of
well all of those movies it's safe to
say their transition from tv to mega
movie blockbuster
is complete thanks yeah it seemed pretty
helpless without
number nine paul schrader first reformed
well i think
you need to step back reverend take a
look at your own life before you
criticize
others schrader has been in the movie
business for decades
along the way he's directed critical
darlings like blue collar and rolling
thunder
he's also written critically acclaimed
films such as taxi driver
and adapted classics like raging bull
although schrader continued to direct
throughout the 90s and 2000s
none of his movies seemed to make much
of an impact that all changed with
2017's first reformed
i sensed it what
he was absent while not very popular
with mainstream audiences the movie
received widespread praise from critics
in addition to being celebrated for his
directing work schrader earned his first
academy award nomination for best
original screenplay
if if humankind can't overcome
its immediate interest enough to ensure
its own survival then you're right the
only rational response
is despair number eight wes craven
scream
there are certain rules that one must
abide by in order to successfully
survive a horror movie
wes craven is one of the biggest names
in horror he absolutely dominated the
70s and early 80s with iconic films like
the last house on the left
the hills have eyes and a nightmare on
elm street and while the latter proved
one of the most influential horror
movies ever
craven followed it up with a series of
flops that have long been forgotten by
the mainstream
12 years after the first nightmare on
elm street debuted craven reclaimed his
throne with 1996's scream
that's the beauty of it all simplicity
besides if it gets too complicated you
lose your target audience
the movie was an unbelievable success
grossing 173 million dollars
it had the added bonus of reigniting
both craven's career and the entire
american horror
genre which at the time was wallowing in
uninspired movies and diminishing
franchise sequels
you like scary movies uh-huh what's your
favorite scary movie
number seven ridley scott the martian
mars
will come to fear my botany powers
ridley scott has actually enjoyed
numerous comebacks like when gladiators
saved him from a string of
disappointments throughout the 90s
are you not entertained are you not
entertained
but his latest comeback happened after a
series of duds in the late 2000s and
early 2010s
movies like body of lies and the
counselor robin hood
and exodus gods and kings were all
regarded as enormous disappointments
and then came the martian commander you
should come inside you're going to want
to see this
based on the acclaimed novel by andy
weir the martian became scott's highest
grossing film with a total worldwide
gross of 630 million dollars
it also earned widespread acclaim and
seven academy award nominations
unfortunately the best director was not
one of them the best picture was so it
kind of evens out
yes yes
number six robert altman the player can
we talk about something other than
hollywood
for a change yes we're educated people
known as a subversive and wickedly
satirical director
robert altman enjoyed fantastic success
throughout the 1970s
he directed mash in 1970 which won the
modern day equivalent of the palm door
at cannes
it also earned altman his first oscar
nomination for best director
that's what being a soldier is all about
oh yeah yeah
yes yes his second came just a few years
later with the musical comedy nashville
but after working on 1977's three women
altman directed a string of
disappointments including the
live-action popeye with robin williams
it wasn't until he made 1992's the
player that altman was graciously
welcomed back into elite award
consideration
serving as the satire of hollywood
itself the player was universally loved
and earned altman his third best
director nomination
somehow i think you're a little too
lucky for that thank you
number five m night shyamalan split
someone's coming for you
and you're not gonna like it m night
shyamalan quickly established himself as
one of the leading directors of our time
with enormously popular films like
science and the sixth sense
but then people began to suspect that he
was a two-hit wonder
following the popular but disappointing
the village in 2004
shyamalan released some truly
questionable material
movies like lady in the water the
happening after earth
and the last airbender received wide
condemnation
with the latter often being listed as
one of the worst movies of all time
it's time for you to stop doing this
things began to look up with the visit
but it wasn't until split in 2016 that
shyamalan
reclaimed his status as a thriller
master the movie received strong reviews
grossed nearly 280 million dollars
and reignited interest in the
unbreakable series patricia says your
way isn't working
the world will understand now number
four david lynch
blue velvet if that's right let's take a
look at it known for his near impossible
to follow in surreal films
david lynch earned a name for himself in
the late 70s and early 80s
with eraserhead and the elephant men the
latter was an especially popular film
and earned eight academy award
nominations
including best director and best picture
i
unfortunately lynch followed this up
with dune a box office bomb that was
universally maligned for lynch's sloppy
writing and directing
luckily he bounced back two years later
with blue velvet the psychological noir
horror film put lynch back on the map
and greatly helped dennis hopper's
career it also earned lynch his second
best director nomination
it's now regarded as one of his greatest
movies i mean it sounds like a good
daydream but
actually doing it's too weird number
three
richard stanley color out of space what
are you
talking about we couldn't even get
through and believe me we tried he's
telling the truth that something weird
is going on few directors can seamlessly
return from a 20-year hiatus
richard stanley is definitely one of
these rare talents
stanley directed hardware and dust devil
back in the early 90s
he was also the big creative behind the
long form music video brave for british
rock band merlion
i think this is something totally new in
one level which is which i really like i
think it is very brave
in 1996 stanley was scheduled to direct
the island of dr moreau but was fired
just one week into filming
this sour relationship seemingly
dissuaded him from the mainstream
and he focused mainly on indie films and
documentaries for the next two decades
stanley finally returned to the
mainstream with the hp lovecraft
adaptation color out of space
which premiered at the toronto
international film festival in 2019
to great critical acclaim
number two catherine bigelow the hurt
locker okay so what's the play
be smart make a good decision over
bigelow broke into the mainstream in
1991 with point
break a cult classic action film
starring keanu ruvves and patrick swayze
it was a great stepping stone to bigger
things unfortunately she followed it up
with a poor string of films that
included the likes of the weight of
water and k19 the widowmaker
since the latter grossed about 65
million dollars on a 90 million dollar
budget
it seemingly put bigelow's mainstream
ambitions to rest
she virtually disappeared from big
budget productions for six years
before returning with the hurt locker
all right we're done
good to go to say the movie was a
success would be an understatement
before the film entered the national
film registry in 2020
the film took home best picture and
bigelow won the oscar for best director
is that everything
yeah before we unveil our number one
pick here are a few honorable mentions
william friedkin bug arguably friedkin's
best movie since to live and die in la
in 1985.
people and things
if you really look at it you gotta look
at it hard enough you'll see it
clint eastwood mystic river eastwood's
best film since
unforgiven what makes you so sure sean
you're gonna grill me
my father knows terry gilliam the fisher
king
followed the massive bomb the adventures
of baron munchausen
hey you can't be in there terence malik
the thin red line malik's first film in
20 years
you explain to a dead horse situation
do they go where we are because we're
sitting ducks out here
david gordon green prince avalanche a
great return to form after comedy flops
like your highness
let's just enjoy the silence before we
continue
be sure to subscribe to our channel and
ring the bell to get notified about our
latest videos
you'll have the option to be notified
for occasional videos or
all of them if you're on your phone make
sure you go into your settings and
switch on notifications
number one steven spielberg jurassic
park stood on the shoulders of geniuses
uh to accomplish something as fast as
you could and before you even knew what
you had
you you patented it and packaged it and
slapped it on a plastic lunchbox
spielberg had one of the most historic
runs in movie history throughout the 70s
and early 80s
he directed incredibly successful movies
like jaws close encounters of the third
kind
raiders of the lost ark and e.t however
things started to slow down after 1985's
the color purple
empire of the sun and always were
middling spielberg
projects although last crusade was a
moderate success
he followed it up with hook which didn't
live up to critical or financial
expectations
by 1993 it had been almost a decade
since spielberg made a film that really
broke the mold
and then he made jurassic park the hit
roared up huge box office numbers and
was preserved like dinosaurs in amber in
the national film registry
clever girl do you agree with our picks
check out this other recent clip from
watchmojo and be sure to subscribe and
ring the bell to be notified about our
latest videos