What exactly is skillful direction?

I found this comment on imdb:
I've only seen Scarface and the Untouchables from De Palma (which are considered some of his best) and I don't think he is anywhere close to the other directors mentioned. The movies I watched from De Palma were carried by the actors. The movies didn't look that skillfully directed. I'm not saying the direction was bad. But not really good either.

What exactly is skillful direction? Is it getting the performances out of the cast, the "feel" or flow of scenes, the overall emotional impact it has? I wonder what criteria are looked at when they award the "Best Director" oscar. What is direction:
 
Ignore those particular IMDB comments. I guarantee they come from a person who has zero education in filmmaking, and has no idea what a director actually does.

What is direction? There's no easy one-size-fits-all answer to your question. Every director works differently, focuses on different things. For most, there is definitely a great deal of skill involved. But there's also just sort an intuitive art to it. Communication is a huge part of the job.

What are the Oscar criteria? Bullshit and politics.
 
What exactly is skillful direction? Is it getting the performances out of the cast, the "feel" or flow of scenes, the overall emotional impact it has?

It's all of that and more!

If you feel the movie is carried by the actors, what evidence do you have to suggest that it wasn't the Director who got that performance from them?

What did you pick up on that you thought was 'bad' or 'average' directing? What would you call 'good' direction, based purely on watching a movie in the cinema or at home on your TV?
 
You might check out some "Making of" videos on youtube to see just how involved the director is with the actors performances.

Adam Baldwin (Animal Mother) - Gee, what does this guy want?!

Kubrick, leaning from behind the camera. - Good acting, maybe.
 
The true anwser of this question within the context of the IMdB comment lies with the commenter, because he uses the word in such a way it is clear that he/she has his/her own defenition for it :P
Clearly the commenter does consider getting great performances from actors part of directing?
Apparently this person was put off by something, but put into words poorly.
I've seen this with clients: sometimes when they don't like something, they come with an opinion that encapsules what they think is the solution. In such cases the solution is often worse than the problem it has to cure. So, it is my duty to understand the underlying problem, so I can present a solution that does the project justice.
To me this comment sounds like such a problem where the commenter can't really pinpoint his problem. :P
 
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