Seasonal guide · Movies
Holiday movie trivia: name the director from the career.
A great director’s career is easier to recognise by its shape than you would think. Here is a game for the gap between films this December: six famous careers, every film a band, and three ways a career can look.
Every strip on this page is a real Movies strip from the Huezle app, drawn by the app’s own code. More about Movies.
How to read the strips
Each strip is one director’s career, film by film, in release order, from the first on the left to the latest on the right. Each band is one feature film, coloured by its IMDb rating: near-black for panned, grey for ordinary, and near-white for acclaimed, like a dark auditorium against a lit screen. A film reaches the darkest shade at 5.4 or lower and the lightest at 8.2 or higher.
A strip counts features of at least 70 minutes with at least 5,000 IMDb votes and one credited director, up to a director’s 30 most-voted. So the first band is not always a director’s debut. No film titles are shown: the strip is the career, not the list.
Round one: the near-perfect records
Only three of the 80 directors in Huezle average above 8.0. Their strips are almost all light, which makes them harder to tell apart than it sounds. Look at the length and at where the few grey bands fall.
- Panned
- Ordinary
- Acclaimed
- Panned
- Ordinary
- Acclaimed
Round two: the early peak
- Panned
- Ordinary
- Acclaimed
- Panned
- Ordinary
- Acclaimed
Coppola’s strip front-loads its brightest bands: his first six films average 7.8 and his last six 5.9. Shyamalan’s is the one people recognise once they have seen it, a bright opening and a dip to the lowest-rated film on this page.
Round three: the late bloom
- Panned
- Ordinary
- Acclaimed
- Panned
- Ordinary
- Acclaimed
Villeneuve’s career runs the opposite way to Coppola’s: his last three films average 8.1. Jackson’s has the most obvious single feature on the page, a block of three near-white bands in the middle, the highest-rated three films in a row by any director in the data.
Play it at the table. Name six directors out loud and show one strip. Count the bands first: it rules out half the list. Then look for a peak, a slump or a steady glow.
For why most careers fade and a few climb, see how great directors’ careers rise and fall. The same ratings drawn one band per episode make the best TV seasons of all time. The other directors are waiting in the Movies category.
Huezle has 80 directors’ careers. Try naming one from its colours.
Download on the App StoreFree on iPhoneQuestions
Which director has the highest average IMDb rating?
Of the 80 directors in Huezle, Christopher Nolan has the highest average across his feature films, 8.2. Only feature films with at least 5,000 votes and one credited director count.
Why is a director’s first film missing?
A strip only includes features of 70 minutes or more with at least 5,000 IMDb votes and a single credited director, up to the 30 most-voted. An early film that few people have rated can fall below that line.
Where do the ratings come from?
From IMDb’s published rating for each film, the same source as the TV Shows category.
More guides
- Gothic novels for Halloween, chapter by chapter.Frankenstein, Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde and more classic Gothic novels drawn as strips of colour, one band per chapter, from sombre indigo to bright gold.
- How great directors’ careers rise and fall, film by film.Directors’ careers drawn one band per film, coloured by IMDb user rating: most peak early, a few peak late, and a handful never have a bad night.
- Election night trivia: read the election from its colours.Presidential election trivia for election night: four quick rounds built on real elections drawn as strips of colour, one band per state. How many can you get?
- Thanksgiving football, minute by minute.Thanksgiving football trivia: six Lions and Cowboys holiday games from the last ten years drawn as strips of colour, one band per minute. Can you name them?
Now try naming one yourself.
Huezle is free on iPhone. A new puzzle every day, four categories free forever, and no account, ads or timer.