Movie Rate the Ridley Scott directed movies

Aug 21, 2016
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Ordered by year of release

Alien 8/10
Blade Runner 10/10
Legend 7/10
Thelma & Louise 8/10
G.I. Jane 7/10
Gladiator 10/10
Hannibal 7/10
Black Hawk Down 8/10
Kingdom of Heaven 8/10
Prometheus 6/10
The Martian 7/10

Based on my rating system but feel free to use your own.

Some of my favourite ever movies in that list. I've watched a few of his others over the years but they are not fresh in the mind. It would be interesting to see which of his other movies people rate highly and (re)watch them.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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I've been obsessed with him in recent years. Viewed his films 40 times since last December alone, seen most of these a couple times at least.



1. Blade Runner 10/10
2. Alien 10/10
3. The Duellists 10/10
4. Legend 9.5/10
5. Thelma & Louise 9/10
6. Kingdom of Heaven 9/10
7. Alien Covenant 9/10
8. Matchstick Men 8.5/10
9. Someone to Watch Over Me 8.5/10
10. The Counselor 8.5/10

11. White Squall 8/10
12. Black Rain 8/10
13. The Martian 8/10
14. Gladiator 8/10
15. Black Hawk Down 7.5/10
16. 1492: Conquest of Paradise 7.5/10
17. All the Money in the World 7.5/10
18. American Gangster 7/10
19. Body of Lies 7/10
20. Prometheus 7/10

21. Exodus: Gods and Kings 7/10
22. A Good Year 7/10
23. Hannibal (rewatch needed)
24. GI Jane (rewatch needed)
25. Robin Hood 6/10

Possibly my favourite living director, although PTA, Weir & Leigh are all up there for me as well.
 
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Apr 28, 2008
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I think that and White Squall (when released on video) were the first ones I saw. I havent seen GI Jane since then (over 20 years ago), but remember liking it as a kid.
 
I've been obsessed with him in recent years. Viewed his films 40 times since last December alone, seen most of these a couple times at least.

1. Blade Runner 10/10
2. Alien 10/10
3. The Duellists 10/10
4. Legend 9.5/10
5. Thelma & Louise 9/10
6. Kingdom of Heaven 9/10
7. Alien Covenant 9/10
8. Matchstick Men 8.5/10
9. Someone to Watch Over Me 8.5/10
10. The Counselor 8.5/10

11. White Squall 8/10
12. Black Rain 8/10
13. The Martian 8/10
14. Gladiator 8/10
15. Black Hawk Down 7.5/10
16. All the Money in the World 7.5/10
17. American Gangster 7/10
18. Body of Lies 7/10
19. Prometheus 7/10
20. Exodus: Gods and Kings 7/10

21. A Good Year 7/10
22. Hannibal (rewatch needed)
23. GI Jane (rewatch needed)
24. Robin Hood (6/10)

Still need to see: 1492: Conquest of Paradise

Possibly my favourite living director, although PTA, Weir & Leigh are all up there for me as well.
fair effort.
 
Dec 1, 2014
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Has three truly great stand out films in Alien, Blade Runner and Thelma and Louise. Since winning Best Picture with Gladiator (one of the less deserving Best Picture winners) he's really carved out a very niche and distinctive style which, while rarely bad, doesn't do a whole lot for me and feels much of the time like he's coasting.

I thought The Martian was his best film since the 90s and All the Money in the World was pretty good too so hopefully he's continuing to evolve.
 
Aug 21, 2016
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Adding to my list. Matchstick Men.

Nicholas Cage is perfect as the OCD/Tourettes conman. Sam Rockwell is good and Alison Lohman does a great job. The plot is solid, though I picked the ending.

6/10
 
Sep 23, 2007
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Alien - A+
Blade Runner - A+
Legend - B+ [Tim Curry, Rob Bottin, Assheton Gorton A+]
Someone to Watch Over Me - B
Black Rain - B
Thelma & Louise - B+
1492 - B [Adrian Biddle & Vangelis A+]
G.I. Jane - C+
Gladiator - A
Black Hawk Down - B-
Matchstick Men - B+
Kingdom of Heaven - C+
American Gangster - A
Robin Hood - B
Prometheus - B
The Counsellor - C+
Exodus: Gods and Monsters - D
The Martian - D
Alien Covenant - C
 
Alien 8/10
Blade Runner 10/10
Legend 7/10
Black Rain 8/10
Thelma & Louise 8/10
Gladiator 9/10
Hannibal 7/10
Black Hawk Down 9/10
American Gangster 8/10
Body of lies 8/10
The counselor 5/10
Exodus gods & kings 6/10
Prometheus 4/10
The Martian 8/1
Alien Covanent 6/10

Sent from my SM-A505YN using Tapatalk
 
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He had the opportunity to re-seed the entire Alien film catalogue with Prometheus and the Engineers storyline, and somehow completely botched it, rendering them as nothing more than extras in a so-so sci-fi jaunt.
The the biggest disappointment for mine.
 
He had the opportunity to re-seed the entire Alien film catalogue with Prometheus and the Engineers storyline, and somehow completely botched it, rendering them as nothing more than extras in a so-so sci-fi jaunt.
The the biggest disappointment for mine.

More Aliens? Boring.
 

STFU Donnie

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What do you mean by that?

There are many stories about Scott tampering with scripts to their detriment. There was a script called Nottingham which was the hottest thing in Hollywood, with multiple studios bidding for it; it was an alternative take on the Robin Hood story. Anyway, Scott was hired to direct and gutted it and got multiple writers to provide multiple rewrites. The result was the dreck that was Robin Hood. There are several articles about it, if you're interested. Just Google "Nottingham script."

Also, his ideas for the original Alien were laughably bad. He wanted the final scene to be the alien killing Ripley, and then getting on the microphone, mimicking her voice and calling for help. I kid you not! Thankfully, saner heads prevailed. At the time, he was a relative unknown and didn't have the muscle, unlike later on.
 
Aug 21, 2016
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There are many stories about Scott tampering with scripts to their detriment. There was a script called Nottingham which was the hottest thing in Hollywood, with multiple studios bidding for it; it was an alternative take on the Robin Hood story. Anyway, Scott was hired to direct and gutted it and got multiple writers to provide multiple rewrites. The result was the dreck that was Robin Hood. There are several articles about it, if you're interested. Just Google "Nottingham script."

Also, his ideas for the original Alien were laughably bad. He wanted the final scene to be the alien killing Ripley, and then getting on the microphone, mimicking her voice and calling for help. I kid you not! Thankfully, saner heads prevailed. At the time, he was a relative unknown and didn't have the muscle, unlike later on.

I think that's harsh. He has an incredible body of work and you have picked on a couple of his poorer efforts. The accounts I have read say that he always has a lot of ideas, most of which are good, and he pushes his writers to deliver them in the script.

He's much more than a great visualist. He has chosen good projects, he has worked to refine amazing scripts, he has casted well, got the best out of actors, coordinated massive crews, shot some amazing scenes, and created some of the best movies ever. He's a great director.
 

STFU Donnie

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I think that's harsh. He has an incredible body of work and you have picked on a couple of his poorer efforts. The accounts I have read say that he always has a lot of ideas, most of which are good, and he pushes his writers to deliver them in the script.

He's much more than a great visualist. He has chosen good projects, he has worked to refine amazing scripts, he has casted well, got the best out of actors, coordinated massive crews, shot some amazing scenes, and created some of the best movies ever. He's a great director.

I actually agree with most of this. I too think he is a great director and have immensely enjoyed the vast majority of his body of work. I disagree about his ideas. I chose two examples, but there are many more. Blade Runner is another; Scott was almost obsessed with the idea that Deckard was a replicant, when it's clear he is not. The fact that Deckard is still around in Blade Runner 2049 settles that. But he wouldn't let it go, and in the anniversary director's cut he added that ridiculous unicorn in the forest shot. Also, we highlighted Rutger Hauer's brilliant death scene in another thread. That is an example of script meddling that works beautifully, and it was 100% Hauer's effort. But nevertheless, Scott almost ruined it with the stupid dove!

It's funny. I never realised how much I cared about this matter.
 
Aug 21, 2016
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I actually agree with most of this. I too think he is a great director and have immensely enjoyed the vast majority of his body of work. I disagree about his ideas. I chose two examples, but there are many more. Blade Runner is another; Scott was almost obsessed with the idea that Deckard was a replicant, when it's clear he is not. The fact that Deckard is still around in Blade Runner 2049 settles that. But he wouldn't let it go, and in the anniversary director's cut he added that ridiculous unicorn in the forest shot. Also, we highlighted Rutger Hauer's brilliant death scene in another thread. That is an example of script meddling that works beautifully, and it was 100% Hauer's effort. But nevertheless, Scott almost ruined it with the stupid dove!

It's funny. I never realised how much I cared about this matter.

It was Scott that rejected the word android from the original Philip K Dick story. I liked the ambiguity that Deckard could have been a replicant. He probably ****ed up to include the voice over but he redeemed himself with the Director's Cut.

The Roy Batty death scene was in the script but Hauer changed the words in the table read and Scott was wise enough to leave it in. I'm neutral on the doves lol.
 
Aug 21, 2016
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The Duellists - 2 hours of my life I'll never get back.

4/10

Alien Covenant - Well shot but the plot relies on supposedly smart people doing stupid things. You can get away with that once in a franchise.

5/10
 
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