I keep trying to avoid the thread derail, but will say: I'm far from the only "Howard is a hack" believer -- and in particular, A Beautiful Mind was the breaking point for me back in 2001, where a film about a real genius written to play to particularly dumb audiences (...penned by Batman & Robin screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, no less) captured the Oscars, and in doing so made a mockery of the awards. It often is brought up on lists of worst Academy decisions, not just by me. The Independent, not exactly a niche blog, listed it at #5 on their "The 10 worst Oscar Best Picture winners of all time."
Also, anecdotally -- and I hated him long before their channel existed -- it is well known that Stoklasa / Redlettermedia particularly regard him as one of the worst major directors. They even regularly prefix his name with "known Hollywood hack Ron Howard."
Now back to real entertainment...