steven spielberg is one of the best if not the best american directors ever

Altman didn't make mid shit, he just went hard with small budget films that felt like plays or older European films after Popeye made him hate Hollywood. His return to Hollywood was stacked - the Player and Short Cuts back to back cement him as a GOAT for a late career comeback, but Gosford Park made the blueprint for half the prestige TV shows today and also made Prairie Home Companion seem like a good thing instead of an r slurred nostalgia fest for midwest boomers which is a monumental feat. Altman never gave up the older mentality of film making which is to churn out projects nonstop with little care for blockbuster returns, you're gonna have some misses with that approach but he never market researched films like Spielberg.

/r/redscarepod Thread