Top 5 Directors?

posted by Sarzy 1 decade 6 years 3 months 2 weeks ago • 1,540 views
This could be interesting. Who are your five favourite directors? I was thinking about making this a top 10, but I think that makes it too easy. If you have to narrow it down the just five, you really have to think hard about who makes the cut. I'll get the ball rolling:

1) Stanley Kubrick -- Because he is the master.
2) Paul Thomas Anderson -- I think if he makes a few more films of the same caliber as his previous efforts, he could give even Kubrick a run for his money.
3) Alfred Hitchcock -- Quite possibly the most important director of all time. I don't think there's a single director out there who isn't influenced, directly or indirectly, by Alfred Hitchcock.
4) Woody Allen -- He's made his fair share of duds, but considering his massive filmography, it's kind of hard to hold it against him.
5) Zhang Yimou -- if anyone can come close to Kubrick in terms of framing and the composition of his shots, it's Zhang Yimou. Raise the Red Lantern is one of the most beautiful and haunting films that I've ever seen.

24 Comments

therealblankman says...

I'm going to make my list more difficult (or maybe easier, depending on your point of view) by limiting myself to current, contemporary, living persons. This removes obvious picks like Kubrick, Welles, Kurosawa and Hitchcock who would otherwise be at the top. Here's my list, in no particular order:

1) The Coens - plural I know, but you can't have one without the other. These brothers have produced masterpieces in every genre they've attempted. Crime, drama, comedy, mobsters, whatever. Always entertaining and very deserving of their recent Oscar.
2) Paul Thomas Anderson. A not terribly prolific director, but a thoughtful one. One of the few whose movies you must attend in the theatre simply because HE made it!
3) Wes Anderson- You can count on Wes for taking you to a place you've never been before, and no matter how fucked up your family may seem to you, the families portrayed in a Wes Anderson film are more disturbed and dysfunctional. Not to say that they're not loving and well-intentioned, just misguided.
4) Clint Eastwood- He has become a master of his craft. Few others will take the time to luxuriate in a scene like Eastwood. His long cuts and deliberate pacing show a respect for the intelligence and attention span of his audience.
5) Martin Scorsese- of all the great Directors born in the new Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1970s, only Scorsese remains at the top of his game. Others such as Spielberg, Lucas (ugh), Coppola, Friedkin etcetera have left their best work in the distant past.

therealblankman says...

Top Five Worst Directors:

1) Lucas- His recent failures question whether or not he even had any talent to begin with, or was simply a misanthropic hack all along.
2) Uwe Boll- nuff said
3) Michael Bay
4) I'll fill in the rest later

Tofumar says...

Can Terrence Malick get any love?

Edit -- I guess I shouldn't hit and run. Here's my list, in no particular order:

1) Spielberg
2) Scorcese
3) Hitchcock
4) Terrence Malick
5) Robert Redford

kulpims says...

Top 10 in no particular order:
Stanley Kubrick, Terry Gilliam, Pedro Almodovar, Joel and Ethan Coen, David Cronenberg, Quentin Tarantino, Lars von Trier, Emir Kusturica, Andrey Tarkovsky, Takashi Miike, Errol Morris

Eklek says...

Alphabetical order:
Darren Aronovsky, Jane Campion, David Cronenberg, Werner Herzog, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Takeshi Kitano, Harmony Korine, David Lynch, Lukas Moodysson, Jafar Panahi, Ridley Scott, Todd Solondz, Jan Švankmajer, Andrey Tarkovsky, Jacques Tati, Lars von Trier..

kronosposeidon says...

1. Kurosawa
2. Scorsese
3. Alexander Payne
4. Welles
5. Coen Brothers

Honorable Mention:

6. Francis Ford Coppola - Sure, his later work sucked, but anyone who made The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, AND Apocalypse Now deserves at least some sort of recognition, for crying out loud.

7. Sergio Leone - How could no one mention him? He did The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Once Upon a Time in The West, and Once Upon a Time in America. Show a little respect, capisce?

8. Steven Spielberg - Some people hate him, but he's given us a lot of good films.

9. John Waters - Hello? Why am I the only one to mention this genius?

10. Hitchcock - No explanation necessary.

Eklek says...

Where are the female directors?

There are women in the Senate, women heading studios and busloads of young women emerging from film school. So why are 96 percent of films directed by men?
http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/movies/feature/2002/08/27/women_directors/
http://www.moviesbywomen.com/fwg.php

edit:
not (yet) in my top list but at least some of their films were interesting: Karyn Kusama, Samira Makhmalbaf, Mira Nair, Gurinder Chadha, Catherine Breillat, Mary Harron

therealblankman says...

Orson Welles best film: Touch of Evil or Citizen Kane? discuss:

Like most film buffs, no question I recognize the genius and influence of Citizen Kane, but in more recent years I just keep watching Touch of Evil over and over again. Welles' characterization is a riveting personification of evil and moral and personal corruption- ranks up there with Javier Bardem's Chigurh and Day Lewis' Plainview. And that opening shot? Fugeddaboudit.

MycroftHomlz says...

Akira Kurosawa

Alfred Hitchcock

Steven Spielberg

Sergio Leone

Francis Ford Coppola

Orson Welles.

Clint Eastwood is a fantastic Director and while he made the greatest western of all time he does not have a prolific number of hits.

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