The director. When it comes to the process of making movies there are few positions that hold the promise of greater acclaim for success or more ruthless criticism for failure. Rightly or wrongly, the director of a movie is sort of the face of the production. If an actor turns in a shoddy performance, we might say that they were given poor direction. If the cinematographer has apparently confused a dynamic, engaging visual style with the constant use of Dutch angles, we may assume that the pushy director is just really into feeling like he’s about to slide out of his chair when he’s at the theater. If a movie’s writing is shot through with cliches, melodrama, and an overreliance on vapid spectacle, we might just chalk it up to the usual Marvel formula, har har har. Whether or not any of this is fair, I think it’s safe to say that when someone dec ...