You hear this criticism fairly often I think. Big name does some cool stuff - whether it's writing a book, acting in a movie, directing a movie, etc. - and then they do a lot of (supposedly) less cool stuff. Shyamalan is probably the most extreme example I can think of. He did some stuff a lot of people adored and thn proceeded to do a bunch of trout people hated.

But apart from huge cases like that, do you feel this is a real criticism? A couple of my fave directors are Tim Burton and Paul Verhoeven. Two men who made some classic and beloved works then did some stinkers. I see Burton especially getting a lot of trout. Like, even if you concede that everything they made after [insert their supposedly last good work] is trash, they still made great stuff. Those works can never be undermined or taken away from them.

When a creator "falls" or fails to produce quality of the standard you expect from them, do you hold them in less esteem? Maybe dub their older work a fluke?