Top 5 Film Directors

Werdna

In my boredom and desire to discuss some current filmmakers I'd like to read who are some of your favorite film directors. Lists of personal favorites seem to work pretty well here so I'm hoping to read about new films to check out. I figure having a top 5 list of fav directors is less tedious than having say a top 10. Besides, a likely favorite director generally generates conversation on at least a couple of films.

Anyway, here is mine:
1. Wes ANDERSON (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Royal Ten., Life Aquatic)
2. Terrence Malick (Days of Heaven, Thin Red line, New World)
3. Michael Gondry (Human Nature, Eternal Sun., Science of Sleep)
4. Sofia Coppola (Virgin Suicides, Lost in Trans., Marie Ant.)
5. Lars Von Triers (Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville--that whole trilogy)
6. P.T. Anderson (Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Punch Drunk Love, Magnolia)
and a close 7th is Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, City of Lost Children, Alien IV, Amelie, A Very Long Engagment)

*Okay so I cheated and threw in seven.

Wes' movies are my favorite because of his mixture of modern black comedy w/his innovative postmodern way of telling a story-- like his play on genres in Rushmore, Royal Ten, and Life Aquatic. I also appreciate his attention to infusing dress and music styles from each decade of the last 50 years to synthesize a mix-mash of a setting for each story -- my take on it is that it all reflects our nation's unsettled emotional state. In which case, we are arrogant, insecure, quixotic, yearning, and disenchanted.

Irond Will

Offhand, and in no particular order:

Akira Kurosawa
Jim Jarmusch
John Sayles
Wes Anderson
Jean Jeunet (esp. with Caro)

Sam

QT has to be in if Sofia Coppola is.

Senjutsu

I make no claims to these being the "best 5 evar", they're merely 5 snatched out of a larger list of directors I really like, selected more for distinct style and bringing a certain energy to what they do than anything else.

I'm going to say:

Kurosawa
Hitchcock
Pre-coming-to-hollywood John Woo
Hayao Miyazaki
Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Sam

What I hate about A Better Tomorrow is they use one theme throughout the entire movie, and pretty much no other music.

syndalis

Q. Tarantino
Kurosawa
Terry Gilliam
Scorsese
P. Jackson


Shit... I could name like 10 others, and I'm not sure these are my top five.

I hateses lists.

Cherrn

I'm not gonna do a list, as it's counter-productive to discussion, so I'm just going to mention that my favorite director is Stanley Kubrick.

The guy has never made a bad movie, seriously. The only one I'm not totally hot on is Eyes Wide Shut.

Dreamerdown

Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike
Terry Gilliam
Takeshi Kitano
Takashi Miike

itylus

Akira Kurosawa
Federico Fellini
Brian DePalma
Pedro Almodovar
Martin Scorcese

LondonBridge

These are the directors that gave me the most enjoyment out of films.

1. John Carpenter (Big Trouble In Little China, The Thing)
2. Peter Jackson
3. James Cameron
4. Steven Spielberg
5. Brian DePalma

ElJeffe

John Woo definitely has one of the highest rations of awesome:suck between his Hong Kong films and his Hollywood films.

Anyway, in no particular order:

P.T. Anderson
Pre-Hollywood John Woo
Quentin Tarantino
David Fincher
Darren Aronofsky
Ridley Scott, because I can't count to five.

klok

ed wood
uwe boll
qeinten tarrintino
michael bay
billy crystal

Werdna

Sam wrote:

QT has to be in if Sofia Coppola is.

I'd like to know why. Sofia is way beyond QT in my mind. QT hits you over the head with a sledgehammer and is pretty much a copycat of japanese gangster films. Coppola is in no way remniscent of her dad and pretty much made one of the best movies in the last couple of years w/Marie Ant -- which I just saw a couple of weeks ago. You have to consider its release into our current historical context to see that america is a similar obliviously privileged aristocracy and should understand that it is the world around us which is having a revolution. Among all of her wonderfully subtle motifs in her movies, culture seems to be the driving force for all her characters in our androcentric world. It is what is robbing us of our individuality and rendering us impotent against our own true desires. Her depth w/'mis en scence' supercedes her dad.

nexuscrawler

Kurosawa
Terry Gilliam
Wong Kar Wai

Dread Pirate Arbuthnot

klok wrote:

uwe boll

This is a joke, right? Please tell me it's a joke.

#14

Seriously guys Guy Ritchie.


Just for Lock Stock and Snatch alone.

deadonthestreet

Werdna wrote:

4. Sofia Coppola (Virgin Suicides, Lost in Trans., Marie Ant.)

Alright, I really like Virgin Suicides, but Lost in Translation is the most overrated movie I've ever seen. Like wow, it's alright, but it is not great.

Anyhow I'm going to throw Cameron Crowe out there. Because he makes good movies.

Dreamerdown

Damnit, I had forgotten Sofia Coppola.

Take off one of my Takashi Miike's and throw her in.

Also, who directed Ghost World? Looking up.

zenon

Michel Gondry
Wes Anderson
Kevin Smith (yeah, that's right... I said it)
Spike Jonze
P.T. Anderson

Dreamerdown

Actually, Marie Antoinette wasn't so hot, so Coppola is only 2 for 3.

deadonthestreet

zenon wrote:

Spike Jonze

Have I ever told you guys how much I HATE Charlie Kaufman? I'm pretty sure I have.

I don't know how much Jonze's directing has to do with my hate, but just for directing his movies Jonze gets a :v:

Rook

Not exactly my top5, but certainly 5 directors that would interest me if attached to a film:

Christopher Nolan
Michael Mann
Ridley Scott
Takeshi Kitano
James Cameron

zenon

deadonthestreet wrote:

zenon wrote:

Spike Jonze

Have I ever told you guys how much I HATE Charlie Kaufman? I'm pretty sure I have.

I don't know how much Jonze's directing has to do with my hate, but just for directing his movies Jonze gets a :v:

Wow, yeah, Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind are three of my all time favorite movies... so yeah, it's a good thing I don't watch movies with you.

deadonthestreet wrote:

Werdna wrote:

4. Sofia Coppola (Virgin Suicides, Lost in Trans., Marie Ant.)

Alright, I really like Virgin Suicides, but Lost in Translation is the most overrated movie I've ever seen. Like wow, it's alright, but it is not great.

Again, Lost in Translation - one of my all time favorite movies. However, I think to really enjoy Lost in Translation you have to have experienced that sense of alienation and loneliness you can get from going to a completely foreign country. It's an experiential movie, and having been to Japan multiple times myself, it is the truest expression of alienation I have ever seen in film without lowering itself to pandering to the obvious "oh no, they speak a different language and use different letters!" portrayal of culture shock. Everything from the cinematography, pacing, and soundtrack express that sense of alienation in a beautiful way.

Variable

Quentin Tarantino
Robert Rodriguez
Christopher Nolan
Terry Gilliam
... i don't know, will get back later.

liquidlogan

These came to me...

Orson Welles
Francis Ford Coppola
Yasujiro Ozu
Alfred Hitchcock
Jean-Luc Goddard

(Also D.W. Griffith because he never gets enough credit for his work)

I guess Spielberg too, but he has had his bad films, more so than the ones above.

KurnDerak

Kevin Smith
Quentin Tarantino
Joss Wheadon
Wes Craven
Um... I don't really know who to put as a 5th.

So, am I the only one that has made their list based off of the person, not their movies?

Cowbomb

#14 wrote:

Seriously guys Guy Ritchie.


Just for Lock Stock and Snatch alone.

Revolver was a crime agaist humanity.

Podly

1) Fellini
2) Truffaut
3) Bergman
4) Kubrick
5) Anderson

The Green Eyed Monster

Werdna wrote:

Sam wrote:

QT has to be in if Sofia Coppola is.

I'd like to know why. Sofia is way beyond QT in my mind. QT hits you over the head with a sledgehammer and is pretty much a copycat of japanese gangster films. Coppola is in no way remniscent of her dad and pretty much made one of the best movies in the last couple of years w/Marie Ant -- which I just saw a couple of weeks ago. You have to consider its release into our current historical context to see that america is a similar obliviously privileged aristocracy and should understand that it is the world around us which is having a revolution. Among all of her wonderfully subtle motifs in her movies, culture seems to be the driving force for all her characters in our androcentric world. It is what is robbing us of our individuality and rendering us impotent against our own true desires. Her depth w/'mis en scence' supercedes her dad.

Well, I haven't seen Marie Antionette yet, but I think Virgin Suicides is overrated. It's stylistically inconsistent. At first there's the opening sequence with all the lettering which is highly stylized then never repeated. There's the strong humor of the Trip Fontaine "Magic Man" sequence which is totally out of place, not to mention the COMPLETELY bizarre flash-forward to Trip as a failed older man which has NO reason to be in the movie, then there's the sections with strong colorization (the football field and the toxic party at the end) then there's that weird shot of Kirsten's underwear with Trip's name on it that just makes no sense (when the little bubble zooms in and shows it). It's weird and inconsistent. It's a movie that has soured with repeat viewings for me. I like Lost in Translation, though. Which brings me to my list:

1. Wong Kar Wai (Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, 2046, Fallen Angels, Chungking Express, among others).
2. Terence Malick (Days of Heaven, Badlands, Thin Red Line, The New World)
3. Wes Andersen (Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, Bottle Rocket, Life Aquatic)
4. David Gordon Green (George Washington*, All the Real Girls, Undertow)
5. Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Schizopolis*, Traffic, Bubble, Erin Brockovich, Solaris (2001), Ocean's 11)
6. Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, Bamboozled, Malcolm X, 25th Hour)
7. Terry Zwigoff (Crumb, Ghost World, Bad Santa, Art School Confidential)

Those are the first that come to mind. People have named other directors I like, too, but those are really my favorite directors. In particular I love Kar Wai. He's brilliant.



*I really think you'd like these if you haven't seen them Werdna. Particularly George Washington, you should watch that ASAP.

Podly

oh shits

CURRENT

Cel's list is pretty on. Wong Kar Wai is absolutely phenomenal. Like, seriously. He's gonna be one of the best of all times. I'm not a big Spike Lee guy, and I thought that Art School Confidential was a real let down.

You know who I'm real hopeful for? Noah Baumbach.

zenon

Cowbomb wrote:

#14 wrote:

Seriously guys Guy Ritchie.


Just for Lock Stock and Snatch alone.

Revolver was a crime agaist humanity.

I didn't feel there was anything wrong with that movie, other than the fact that I had no idea what had happened on my first viewing.

Shinto

I really like Sophia Coppola because her films rely heavily on images and music to communicate complex emotion. The dialogue is sparce and there are long spaces without any speaking or substantial action at all. There is something clean and visceral about it.

I didn't particularly identify with Marie Antoinette the same way I did with Lost in Translation but I still respected what she did there.

The Green Eyed Monster

Poldy wrote:

Cel's list is pretty on. Wong Kar Wai is absolutely phenomenal. Like, seriously. He's gonna be one of the best of all times. I'm not a big Spike Lee guy, and I thought that Art School Confidential was a real let down.

I thought Art School Confidential was amazing. I've only watched it once, and it definitely did a weird turn where it was funny up-front and then just sort of black and over-serious (compared to the first half) in the end. I'll have to watch it a few more times to decide what I really think about it, but my first impression is that it's amazing.

Poldy wrote:

You know who I'm real hopeful for? Noah Baumbach.

What's funny is that I just ordered Kicking and Screaming, a 1996 film by him, without having watched it at all because I think he's pretty good too (a friend recommended it, as well) and I'm thinking the Squid and the Whale might be my next film purchase, but it's so depressing to me I'm not sure how many times I would want to watch that.

As far as classic directors go, I also love Kurosawa. I own all his movies I can get from the Criterion Collection (although I haven't gotten the updated Seven Samurai -- maybe a Christmas present for myself). Much like people say Kubrick never made a bad film, Hitchcock TRULY never made a bad film. Vertigo and Rear Window are easily my favorites by him. I actually like the French New Wave directors, even if I'm not all gaga over them.

I should also add Brad Bird (Iron Giant, The Incredibles) as a guy I'm really excited about, plus Hiyao Miyazaki. So far Spirited Away is my favorite film by him, and I have my doubts as to whether he'll ever be able to produce anything quite as good.

The Green Eyed Monster

Shinto wrote:

I really like Sophia Coppola because her films rely heavily on images and music to communicate complex emotion. The dialogue is sparce and there are long spaces without any speaking or substantial action at all. There is something clean and visceral about it.

I didn't particularly identify with Marie Antoinette the same way I did with Lost in Translation but I still respected what she did there.

You should check out All the Real Girls by David Gordon Green, or any Malick movies. Malick doesn't really use musical cues that much, but goddamn does he know how to just let the photography speak for itself.

The Green Eyed Monster

And jesus -- I forgot Errol Morris. I knew I was forgetting someone. He's like #2 on my list, actually.

Errol Morris (Gates of Heaven, Vernon, FL, Thin Blue Line, Fog of War)

He's extremely avant garde in my opinion. If I ever do any film-making on any level, I'm going to be jacking his style like WOAH. He's brilliant.

chickenmania

deadonthestreet wrote:

zenon wrote:

Spike Jonze

Have I ever told you guys how much I HATE Charlie Kaufman? I'm pretty sure I have.

I don't know how much Jonze's directing has to do with my hate, but just for directing his movies Jonze gets a :v:

Just curious, why do you hate him so much? I'm a big fan of the guy's work, so I want to see it from another angle.

deadonthestreet

I don't know, it just bugs me, his stuff.

I loved Eternal sunshine up until they got into his head and everything started going crazy. THen I was like "Kaufman does it again."

It's like he can't do anything that isn't about over the top insanity and crazy mindfucking. If that's your deal, cool. It just isn't for me.

nexuscrawler

If you're going to tlak about WOng KarWai you gotta give a nod to Chirs Doyle one of the best cinematogrpahers ever

Crayon

1) George Romero
2) Sam Mendes
3) Sophia Coppola
4) Orson Welles
5) Alfred Hitchcock

I don't have many current favorites really...a few, but I prefer the days of old as opposed to the films of now.

Spaten Optimator

celery77 wrote:

And jesus -- I forgot Errol Morris. I knew I was forgetting someone. He's like #2 on my list, actually.

Errol Morris (Gates of Heaven, Vernon, FL, Thin Blue Line, Fog of War)

He's extremely avant garde in my opinion. If I ever do any film-making on any level, I'm going to be jacking his style like WOAH. He's brilliant.

Have you seen Fast, Cheap and Out of Control? Amazing movie.

My top 5:

Stanley Kubrick
Joel Cohen
Quentin Tarantino
Errol Morris
Terry Gilliam

Eight Rooks

Hmmm... favourite, as in not necessarily best best:

Terence Malick
Lee Myung-Se
Jiang Wen
Kim Ji-Woon
Johnny To

in no particular order. Again, not "best", best: they're simply five directors off the top of my head who in my estimation combine artistic and technical skill with some hard-to-pin-down quality that sits right with me. Each of them's done at least two films I think of as absolute masterpieces on multiple levels and could happily rant on about for ages.