MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Kevin Smith or Robert Rodriguez?

Kevin Smith or Robert Rodriguez?


Which washed up, indie Gen-X director do you prefer? These two dudes were once the reigning voices of 90's DIY filmmaking, but have both since faded away to obscurity and irrelevance.

They're both doing okay in the grand scheme of things, of course, with Smith mainly collecting his checks off of doing podcasts and speaking engagements with fans rather than actual films now, and Rodriguez mainly getting by on work-for-hire TV/music video gigs. So, it's not like either are complete failures, but they are certainly disappointing when you look at the amount of hype they had generated for themselves back in the 90's.

For me, I'd say Rodriguez but just barely. Both have been proven to largely lack depth and substance, but Rodriguez is at least capable of making a goofy, enjoyable action romp when he isn't writing the script entirely by himself (Sin City, The Faculty, From Dusk till Dawn etc), whereas Smith is virtually incompetent at writing or directing anything other than guys slacking about and having trivial conversations about Star Wars. Rodriguez is capable of making a good film when he doesn't have complete and total control, whereas Smith really doesn't have much under his belt beyond raunchy dialogue and pop culture references.

Who do you prefer?

reply

Rodriguez.

The Faculty, From Dusk Till Dawn, Planet Terror & Alita: Battle Angel are all good movies.

reply

I prefer Kevin Smith.

reply

Rodriguez but I like some of Smith's films too.

reply

NO...I WILL NOT CHOOSE...TARANTINO,RODRIGUEZ AND SMITH ARE MY FAVORITE DIRECTS...I ENJOY ALL THE WORK FROM ALL THREE...CLEARLY TARANTINO IS ON ANOTHER LEVEL...I VERY MUCH CONSIDER SMITH AND RODRIGUEZ TO BE FAIRLY EQUAL...AND AWESOME.

OH...SMITH MADE RED STATE AND TUSK...BOTH SOLID "NON-SMITH" MOVIES.

reply

Tusk is great.

Signed, million man.

reply

Both are not great directors, but at least Kevin Smith can make good comedies. 3 days ago I wrote this post trashing Robert Rodriguez. https://moviechat.org/nm0001675/Robert-Rodriguez/64f9eefa6376921541cb60d6/The-pass-this-guy-gets-is-astounding

reply

bump

reply

I prefer Rodriguez. Neither filmmaker has too many films that I like but Rodriguez edges out Smith by a small margin. Mostly because Rodriquez's films are much better in the sense of production values. Smith is good at dialogue and humour but his skills at the more technical aspects of film making seem to be very limited. It is hard to imagine him doing films like Sin City or Alita: Battle Angel. And I have grown tired of his specific "brand" of films some time ago.

reply

Kevin Smith. I'm not much for the B Grade/Grindhouse thing on A grade budgets.

Of Robert's films I like Sun City and Desperado.I

I like a number of Kevin's films but he's only good at the nerd culture thing.

reply