As I thought...
Dustin6595 said:
He claims that a Blu Ray looks better than a 70mm film print. He thinks that Digital is far superior to Film and believes that Kubrick would actually agree on that which shows his complete lack of knowledge on the subject.
...have nothing to do with his skills as a Director, they are his opinions on the aesthetics of cinema. I prefer film to digital video but that doesn't make him wrong. Also, his theory that Kubrick would prefer digital is very well argued and could well be right, but we'll never know as nobody can ask Kubrick.
Dustin6595 said:
I think 'Traffic' is a very good movie, but other than that I think most of his movies are overrated and that his ignorance towards the history of film seems to come up very frequently in his work. I appreciate what he does with fan edits and how he's tried to save 'Heaven's Gate', and I respect some of his decisions as a filmmaker, but I just can't take him seriously after most of his comments on the subject.
This also has nothing to do with him being an example of the overused and misused term, "Hack". A hack Director is one
"Who surrenders individual independence, integrity, belief, etc., in return for money". So while you might say that Michael Bay is a hack because he makes films in a cynical way. You can't call a Director who often made avant-garde films, a large variety of different films in different styles, films about Communist heros, films about gay relationships and also retired early from his profession for reasons of artistic integrity, a "Hack".
If you don't like his films that's a different issue. He's not one of my favourite Director's either ('Behind the Candelabra' was great though).