Only James Gunn could have made the journey from low-budget flops to the head of DC movies at Warner Bros. Despite his artistic sensibility and being a cinema fanboy at heart, the writer/director has always struck a chord with fans from his generation and beyond. Earlier in his career, he got his start by making cult films. As his reputation rose, so did the popularity of his pop cultural status.
Only James Gunn could have made the journey from low-budget flops to the director of DC movies at Warner Bros. Despite his artistic sensibility and being a cinema fanboy at heart, the writer/director has always struck a chord with fans from his generation and beyond. Earlier in his career, he got his start by making cult films. As his reputation rose, so did the popularity of his pop cultural status.
Today James Gunn has rapidly risen to the top of the list of Hollywood’s most-known names. As a filmmaker, writer, and producer who wears many hats, Gunn has substantially influenced the filmmaking of titanic studios Marvel and DC. With the recent announcement that Gunn has been named co-CEO of the DCU, he will play a significant role in determining the brand’s on-screen persona.
There is no question that Gunn will fit the role since he spent the entirety of his career working his way up the Holly studio system. With that, here are his films ranked from worst to best, which built him into CEO head status.
Movie 43
In a nutshell, Movie 43 is a compilation of crude vignettes with big stars and directors attached to it. It’s Hollywood’s attempt at recapturing the slapstick comedy of Airplane! and The Naked Gun. It’s bombastic and disjointed, and not even Gunn’s juvenile energy could have saved the film from being a total disaster.
The outpour of humor, which flows in an unrelenting torrent, is a challenge in its quest to top any prior Hollywood comedy’s gross-out factor. The audience, from the film’s start, quickly feels jaded and subdued once they recognize the film’s desperate attempt to startle them. Oddly, there are too many efforts at being funny, making the film not funny at all. Some consider it the worst movie of all time.
The concept of Seth MacFarlane’s Ted is expanded upon in James Gunn’s Beezel, in which a jealous, sex-crazed animated cat seeks to break up two young lovers. Although the film was a huge failure, it isn’t hard to see why Gunn attached himself to it. As a unique voice in the Hollywood system, the film was loud, sick, and altogether extreme. It was something that the punk-roots director could sink his teeth into, even though it was a big rotten apple.
Those larger-than-life, big attempts at failure and success are part of the James Gunn brand. And even though Movie 43 didn’t do well, it showcases Gunn’s approach to taking chances and staying true to his own tastes and visions. One can see how that attitude paved way for hits like Guardians and Suicide Squad.
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
While not as well-received as the original, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed is a decent sequel to the Mystery Machine crew’s first live-action adventure. Also penned by Gunn, the sequel tells the tale of a masked individual who steals the displays at the inauguration of a museum commemorating the gang’s past cases.
The original film’s performers all repeat their roles, and everyone is cast again as they bring the famous characters to life. A third film was planned, with Gunn set to helm after authoring the scripts for the previous two, but it was shelved after the financial failure of part two.
In the inaugural live-action “Scooby-Doo” episode, the attraction to both kids and adults was skillfully handled. The second tried to appeal to both fanatical cartoon fans who would love every Easter egg and adult online followers who wanted to see Velma seem attractive. The final product is not very cohesive, but it is still enjoyable. However, it successfully imitates some of the well-known animated monsters in real life, making them entertaining for young children without being overly frightful.
Brightburn
James Gunn, who was formerly recognized for schlocky horror and wacky super-folk before bringing warmth and a talkative, creative flair to Marvel’s cosmic corners, serves as producer in this instance. His brother Brian Gunn and cousin Mark Gunn wrote the screenplay, while longtime partner David Yarovesky is the director (The Hive). However, despite his influence, the end product only timidly understands how to completely exploit the genres, unlike in his earlier works, such as Slither and Tromeo and Juliet.
The movie turns the Superman story on its head by giving us a very identical situation before going in a much darker route. When a meteor with a baby inside falls from the sky in the little hamlet of Brightburn, Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle (David Denman), who are having trouble getting pregnant, believe their luck has changed. However, when Brandon (Jackson A. Dunn), their adoptive child, gets older, they realize that something is terribly wrong.