Happy Place — It Turns Out the Naming Rights! Membership Option Was For Real and Someone Is Now Five Hundred Bucks Poorer Presents Nat

Gordon Parks Jr's All Too Brief Career as a Director Began and Ended Strongly With Superfly and Aaron Loves Angela

It’s not easy being the son and namesake of a great man and pioneer but in his all too brief career as a filmmaker, Gordon Parks Jr. pulled it off with aplomb.

First and Last 2.0Nathan RabinDecember 7, 2022Ron O'Neal, Gordon Parks Jr., Kevin Hooks, Irene Cara

Vincent Minnelli's Career Roared out of the Gate With Cabin in the Sky and Ended Bleakly With A Matter of Time

Vincent Minnelli, master of musicals and melodrama, made a historic debut with the iconic 1943 musical Cabin in the Sky and limped to a close with a stilted vehicle for his daughter Liza.

First and Last 2.0Nathan RabinNovember 22, 2022

Frightmaster Wes Craven’s Legendary Career Got Off to a Famously raw Start and Closed With an Exceedingly Slick Finish with Last House on the Left and Scream 4 Respectively

Frightmaster Wes Craven’s legendary career got off to a famously raw start and an exceedingly slick finish with Last House on the Left and Scream 4 respectively.

First and Last 2.0Nathan RabinOctober 11, 2022Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Wes Craven

Joel Schumacher Triumphed with Debut The Incredible Shrinking Woman and Stumbled with his Abysmal Final Film, 2011's Trespass

Like many filmmakers, Joel Schumacher’s directorial debut got off to a promising start and ended bleakly with 2011’s abysmal home invasion thriller Trespass.

Stanley Kubrick's Final Film Should Have Been Called Rover Because It is a Real Dog

Stanley Kubrick made some pretty good movies but he ended his career with a real stinker in 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut. Yikes! Pee-Yew! What a turkey! You really screwed the pooch with that one, Stan!

First and Last 2.0Nathan RabinSeptember 1, 2022Stanley Kubrick, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack

Garry Marshall's Underwhelming Directorial Career Began Blandly with 1982's Young Doctors in Love and Ended Disastrously with 2016's Abysmal Mother's Day

Garry Marshall was a beloved character actor and television mogul but his cinematic directorial career wasn’t so hot, as evidenced by his forgettable debut, the deeply unfunny 1982 Airplane knock off Young Doctors in Love and his dire final film, Mother’s Day.

Sidney Lumet's Extraordinary Career Began Big with 12 Angry Men and Ended Strongly With the Terrific Neo-Noir Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

TV hot shot Sidney Lumet made an iconic debut with the classic 1957 legal drama 12 Angry Men and finished strong with the terrific 2006 Neo-Noir Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.

Jerry Lewis' Directorial Debut Began on a High With The Bellboy and Ended on an Agonizing Low with the Unwatchable Cracking Up Cracking Up

Like so many filmmakers, Jerry Lewis got off to a roaring start and thoroughly humiliated himself with his final film, 1983’s abysmal Cracking Up, AKA Smorgasbord

First and Last 2.0Nathan RabinAugust 2, 2022Jerry Lewis, Milton Berle, Foster Brooks

Stanley Donen's Career Got Off to A Roaring Start With On the Town and Ended Bleakly With the Cinematic Sex Crime Blame It on Rio

It’s not unusual for a great filmmaker’s debut to be great and their last film an abomination, but they’re rarely as inconceivably god-awful as Singing in the Rain director Stanley Donen’s final film, 1984’s Blame it on Rio.

Dennis Hopper Changed Everything With His 1969 Debut Easy Rider and Nothing With His Final Film, 1994's Chasers

Dennis Hopper didn’t direct a lot of movies but good lord did his 1969 debut Easy Rider make a seismic impact. The same, alas, is not true of his breezy whiff of a last movie, the silly 1994 road comedy Chasers.