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Your Favorite Directors

TMA_1

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TMA_1

TMA_1

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well this thread has been posted before, but since then I have seen so man new films that I have to recap who my favorites are, and want to see what favorites you guys have. here they are, but they arent in a list from number one favorite, to number two and so on. They are all my favorites and are all equal in skill in their own ways to me.

Stanley Kubrick: I dont like all of his films, and some are rather boring. The ones that he has been involved in though that I love, are some of my favorites, and are considered some of the greats of film. For example Dr. Strangelove, 2001, Eyes Wide Shut, A Clockwork Orange. These films are some of my favorites. His style is a lot different from other directors. He is a nazi on the set from what I hear and he liked things his OWN way. I love how in his film almost always his characters are somewhat detatched, forcing you to focus on the whole of the film, and not just specific characters. I also love his specific style of filmmaking that is extremely well, surgical. His films are extremely clean and crisp. Suprisingly since lots of his films like A Clockwork Orange and Lolita are so controversial, you would think that they would be edgy. Not so in my opinion since they are largely detatched and you rarely get a feeling of joy or disgust from the characters. Instead you just get a love, mood and feeling from the story and direction itself. They are always so surgical and precise as I have said that he is almost an "anti-scorcese" type of director. Dont get me wrong I love Scorcese he just parallels that kind of direction completely to me.

Martin Scorcese: I love him and so many films he has made. Mean Streets, Casino, Goodfellas, Raging Bull,Taxi Driver. Good grief they are just crammed full of emotion and energy. His films are so edgy that they are just plain sexy. Watching them to me just fills me with this feeling that I am inside of something, watching from the inside instead of the outside like a Kubrick film would do for me. The characters are always paramount in his films and often they can be considered character studies as much as any other kind of genre.  I just love how he does film. It was so revolutionary at the time when he came out and to me he is one of the fathers of modern filmmaking (if not the father and creator of that style). WIth his type of moody and hyper filmmaking, with the additions of lots of pop culture and stories that are always so hip and modern, he has built up film as it has been for the past few decades to me.

Milos Forman: Though I only like a few of his films, those films I love are treasures to me. Movies like One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, or Amadeus are some of my favorites. His kinds of biographies, with a feeling of the present and the past all wrapped into one story just always amaze me. He has earned credability by the sheer talent that he puts into his films, and movies like the ones posted above and even his more modern ones like Man on the Moon show that he is a great director. He knows how to use actors to fulfill his purposes and knows how to take a biographical or semi-biographical text and relive it as if what is on the screen was purely fact-based reality. His films are so real that you cant help but be blown away by his directing.

Francis Coppola: Lots of the films he has been involved in to me are somewhat lack-luster. Still though some of the movies he has done or been involved in are gems. The Godfather is probably my favorite movie of all time. I know that is the typical opinion of many people, but damn it is just the perfect film. I also loved films of his like The Outsiders, Apocolypse Now and Bram Stokers Dracula just because they are well made themselves. He isnt my all-time favorite director, but some of his films are classics and that cannot be denied.

Akira Kirasawa: Probably one of the greatest action film-makers in history. He is the embodiment of the "western" film, even though all of his films usually take place in japan in the past. Films like The Seven Samauri or Yojimbo are just so fun to watch. He has been such an impact on the "western" architype that his films still make headway even to this day. You can feel his direct influences on these types of films like Starwars and others. The films are so pure in their genre that they are fun to watch and are never boring. He has come up with so many standards for these kinds of films that you cant help but be amazed by him.

Ridley Scott:  Ridley Scott is probably one of the greatest masters of the sci-fi thriller genre. His films like Alien, Blade Runner and whatnot are just some of my favorite movies ever. I just love his moody and atmospheric style of directing and is probably one of my favorites of that type. His films always are well made and the mood in those films beat the pants off of many other directors out there. The way he gets to an audiance shows that he is a wonderful story teller and can really make a good film.

Paul Thomas Anderson: Probably in the top three of my favorite directors out there. He is the wave of the future for what films are to become in my opinion. To me his films are the essense of filmmaking in the 90s and is the representative of that decade in film. Such things like Magnolia (gosh a damn good movie), Boogie Nights, and Punch Drunk Love are so hip and so well made that they just blow me away. Their stories are always so intricate and the feeling of each character is so powerful that you cant help but love his films. He is a master at tapping into the directors and tapping into what good character-creating is all about. His directing too is amazing, tapping into the use of colors and of angles expertly. HIs movies are so character oriented that his films are probably some of the most heady and intelligent out there. The directing is exquisit and the funniest thing is he is like 27.lol I mean sheesh he wrote the screenplay of Magnolia at 19... that just amazes me.

Those are not all of them, but I have to log off for a sec, Ill post more of them later. What do you think of my interpritation of thse film makers? what are some of your favorites and explain. :)

TMA_1

TMA_1

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hey, I am not just purely old-school oriented.lol 

David Fincher? I mean he has talent, but dont know. I mean I like lots of your selections, especially darren aronofsky, who is a damn good up comer in film.

Still the greatest new talent that we have with us now will come out of directors like Paul Thomas Anderson as I listed. His kind of film making is the new wave in my opinion.

Dude_Doc

Dude_Doc

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Yeah, Lynch is good. I think Spielberg can make movies, but his concepts are "running out". When it's about aliens, they're always good and we're always bad and stupid. Though, that is about to change in the War of the Worlds remake he and Tom Crush is about to make.

Shamalananman is also good. He has very original concepts, and doesn't stick to the boring mainstream. I hope "The Village" is good too...

TMA_1

TMA_1

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yeah I see waht you mean mahdi about safe directors, trying not to go too far into being cutting edge. I mean  that happens a lot with many directors. I dont think Anderson is safe though, I mean how so? like can you give me an example? and oops! spelled Kurosawa's name wrong,I knew I would.lol

I am not a fan of David Lynch. Most of his films try to play to the artsy crowd, and movies like Blue Velvet I think were just too over the top for my taste. I loved Eraserhead, and whatnot, but I think that most of his films are just full of it, and are often pretty ugly to watch asthetically. Not that its a bad thing for a film to look ugly, but most of the time I dont think it was done on purpose. For example DUne, I loved the film but it was damn ugly, and the thing is it was ugly in all the wrong ways. It felt like it wasent fully done when you watched it, like somehow he had a vision that wasent fully complete, even he was disappointed with the movie in the end.

I dont know I just dont like most of his films, it is just a personal opinion.

By the way The Village was horrible, end the ending made you want to cry it was so yucky.lol

Brian De Palma is a great director, though to me he is the type that you either love or hate, because his films are made like that in a lot of ways. They are often over the top, and that worked with a film like Scarface, which was great but often somewhat silly (though  i did love it), but he failed in a film like Snake eyes. bleh lol

TMA_1

TMA_1

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yeah mahdi but that is exactly one of the big problems I have with many directors. Take LOTR for example. Peter Jackson tried to film the movies in an epic format, but for me he just didnt cut it because he worked the camera in so many odd and uncomfortalbe angles, and his filming in batle scenesand whatnot were so disjointed that they lacked any sort of harmony.  I am not saying they were horrible, I hope you see where I am getting at with that.

what I mean is, films dont always have to be filmed in that kind of funky and edgy style. Films should be filmed in the sort of style that the story and mood requires of you. That is what shows a good director. Either that director will choose a story, and use that story with the mood it gives and film it in the right way to accentuate that story.

I mean you wouldnt film  Laurence of Arabia with flashy and edgy camera moves would ya? no you would make it with large film, in an epic format. That goes the same for any genre or style that you are making.

You make a film according to how it should be made, and shouldnt try to force anything flashy where flashiness isnt required.

That is why Fincher does a good job with his movies, because he chooses films that work towards his real talent in flashy film making. He doesnt try to focus his edgy style on films that wouldnt work in that format.

I know this was a bit complicated, but I hope you see waht I mean. You seem to know a lot about filmso I hope you see where I am  getting at. :)

Mahdi

Mahdi

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"yeah mahdi but that is exactly one of the big problems I have with many directors. Take LOTR for example. Peter Jackson tried to film the movies in an epic format, but for me he just didnt cut it because he worked the camera in so many odd and uncomfortalbe angles, and his filming in batle scenesand whatnot were so disjointed that they lacked any sort of harmony.  I am not saying they were horrible, I hope you see where I am getting at with that."

I also disliked LOTR, but not because of the use of the camera.

"what I mean is, films dont always have to be filmed in that kind of funky and edgy style. Films should be filmed in the sort of style that the story and mood requires of you. That is what shows a good director. Either that director will choose a story, and use that story with the mood it gives and film it in the right way to accentuate that story."

Agreed.  Which is why Nolan didn't edit Insomnia so it played backwards intercut with scenes in black and white.  Requim For a Dream could have had Bret Ratner (one of those compentant, simple, point and shoot studio directors with no visual flair) direct it and still turn out to be a decent movie, but it was Aronofski's direction, his use of the camera, his willingness to take risks that made it great.  I prefer edgy filmmaking.  I prefer movies that take risks, both in the story and in the direction and int eh cinematography.  When they fail they fail misreably, but when they succeed... well, that's magic.  Simple point and shoot, it may not fail that often strictly on direction, but it doesn't reach the same mind blowing hieghts BECAUSE of the direction either.

"I mean you wouldnt film  Laurence of Arabia with flashy and edgy camera moves would ya? no you would make it with large film, in an epic format. That goes the same for any genre or style that you are making."

I imagine Dune that way.  In fact, in my mind the only directors alive who could competantly adapt Dune are Fincher (my number one choice) Aronofski, and Kelly. 

The way you are talking it is almost like you think there stylisistic direction makes there movies feel dated.  Is that what you mean?  Becasue, honestly, I couldn't argue with that as they haven't been around long enough for us to really judge.  I'd say no, but that's just my own personal thought.  I think the directions in Fight Club, Donnie Darko, and Pi  are all gonna stand the test of time.

"You make a film according to how it should be made, and shouldnt try to force anything flashy where flashiness isnt required."

Of course you don't do anything simply for the sake of doing it.  Go down that path and you end up with the Star Wars prequels.  But you can't tell me that Coppala would have filmed The Boondock Saints the same way Duffy did.  Coppala would ahve filmed that movie the way he films any movie, and Duffy would have filmed The Godfather the way he films his movies, and while we don't know for sure that each wouldn't be drastically improved for it, we'd bet a hell of a lot of money against it.

Not every director is fit for every movie.  I love Joss Whedon, but I'd be damned if I let him get anywhere near Dune.  His dialogue is way to clever and hip for it.

Mahdi

Mahdi

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Btw, not need to keep clarifying your messages with stuff like "This isn't personal" or garbage like that.  We're talking about movies, something incredibly subjective.  Disagreements are common and depend on personal taste, and anyone who takes them personally ain't quite right in the head. 

In reply to your IM, right now I've got a long list of movies/TV shows I plan on watching (and one of my future roommates reportedly has near a thousand DVDS) so I'll add your recomendition to my list, but I dunno when I'll get around to it.  Next on my veiwing list are Hellboy and Strange Brew (one a new popcorn film, the other classic Canadiana) and the last two episodes of Deadwood, a very good now TV series that isn't up there with shows like The Shield, but is still qutie impressive and better than most of the stuff on TV or in the movies.

TMA_1

TMA_1

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yeah I think we just disagree here. See, I think that edgy film making isnt in the style of how you do it, but in the way you use your filmmaking talents to adapt the story towards the kind of film making that works best. For example if you are sparring somebody in jujutsu, and that personyou are sparing with is extremely talented, you wouldnt want to use taekwondo as jujutsu directly fights against that kind of philosophy that taekwondo. Kubrick is edgy because he knows how ot use his style for the right movies almost every time. Fincher in my opinion though could possibly make a good version of Dune. The mood in his films remind me of the mood you get from a movie like 12 monkeys, and because DUne has such a moody and intense atmosphere I think he has the right stuff for it so to speak. Still though his camera work to me doesnt fit the style that Dune requires.

Mahdi

Mahdi

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And I think he's perfect for it.  I love love love flowing, moving camera work as opposed to static shots or quick and plentiful cuts.

TMA_1

TMA_1

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I agree with the quick plentiful cuts, one of the reasons why I disliked the LOTR movies. Static shots though if done correctly are useful. I think this is just a matter of opinion hehe

thomas

thomas

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M. night shyamalan (Signs was an alright movie, nothing great. 6th sense was much better)

Stanley Kubrick (he did full metal jacket right?)

Speilberg

Peter Jackson

Ridley Scott (he did black hawk down correct?)

Quentin T.

Anathema

Anathema

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Stanley Kubrick

Some of his movies are pretty...strange, like A Clockwork Orange. I loved some of his other movies though, like Dr. Strangelove and The Shining. I don't know how to describe his style better then "cold".

Brian de Palma

Carrie was great, and the Untouchable's was awesome.

Francis Ford Coppola

The Godfather. Need I say more?

Quention Tarantino

Scott

Scott

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Still though his camera work to me doesnt fit the style that Dune requires.

I agree, I don't think putting a camera through the floorboards is going to add anything to the mood or disposition of a scene.

And I think he's perfect for it.

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