It used to be so easy, someone would say “Whos your favorite living director” (ok, no one would really say this but if they did), and I’d say “Kubrick”
So now he’s been dead for a year, and I need to come up with a new favorite living (and active) director, so I can track the progress of their films and be all obsessive about how well composed such and such shot was.
I think my current faves are Joel and Ethan Coen. They haven’t made a bad movie yet, they have all been visually inventive, well written, and they’ve all done what they set out to do.
Close runners up:
Terry Gilliam (mainly for his visuals)
Martin Scorcese (anyone that can make Taxi Driver and Age of Innocence gets my respect)
P. T. Anderson
And following just slightly behind:
Tim Burton
Robert Altman
Rob Reiner (ok, hes sucked lately, but he had a run of really good films)
Marc Caro
and I guess Coppola should be on the list, though I’m not expecting any more brilliance from him.
(BTW: I’m leaving out directors that I’ve only seen 1 film from, because its too soon to make an opinion)
What about John Hughes? John Singleton? Spike Lee? They’ve all had flashes of brilliance, although I’ll admit none are really in the Scorsese/Coppola class. Those guys are almost up there with Bergman, Hitchcock, and Welles.
I’ve never seen a movie by James Cameron or Steven Spielberg I didn’t like, which I think applies to most of the U.S. population. But just because their movies were popular doesn’t mean they don’t deserve credit. Neither is my favorite though. For this one I’m going with Clint Eastwood, and here’s why: he has NEVER made a below average movie. And he’s made some truly great ones (Unforgiven, In The Line Of Fire) He’s never too PC, he never overreaches, he never forgets to entertain, he never gets tripped up by his own ego. He focuses on characters, acting and the screenplay, and doing them all well. (I’ve never seen an Eastwood film with any special effects beyond gun fights and fisticuffs.) I pick him more for his above-average consistency than for any occasional brilliance. I think that deserves recognition.
This brings up another question: who is the best living action star? I’m going with Jackie Chan. In his day, Bruce Lee was better though. I’m never sure if Chan can really fight or if he’s just a circus performer. I love to watch him though. Lee may have been a better fighter, but he was nowhere near as good a showman as Chan.
I guess from the number of responses to this thread that there aren’t too many serious film buffs on the SDMB. C’mon people!
Speilberg: I’ll give him credit for creating the summer blockbuster, and for making Schindlers List and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but his other stuff never really grabbed me. His technique is first class, but he tries to manipulate the audience too much (don’t even get me started on the Old Guy bookends in Saving Private Ryan, aarghh!)
Cameron is in the same class as Speilberg. Does high quality movies, they’re a lot of fun, but I never really considered him that great of a director. Maybe thats just cause I thought Alien kicked Aliens’ ass.
I forgot about Spike Lee though, he’s definitly up there. Do the Right Thing was one of the best films I’ve seen, and his other stuff has been pretty good. And Eastwood too. A Perfect World and Unforgiven are 2 of my favorite films.
Jackie Chan is my pick for best action star too. Though nobody can look beat to hell the way Bruce Willis can.
Oh yeah, and David Lynch is up there too, despite Dune.
(damn, i should think about this more before I start typin)
I forgot all about Bruce Willis! I think he’s great! He will be remembered as the Humphrey Bogart of our time: the ordinary-seeming guy who was tough as hell, but still didn’t always win everything in the end. He is a great action star, but I usually put guys like him in a different category from guys like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Chuck Norris, Steaven Seagal, etc. The latter are PERFORMERS during their fight scenes (in the sense that dancers and gymnasts are performers), but Willis is an ACTOR. An important distinction. It also applies to Swarzenegger and Stallone. They act out the fighting scenes- I doubt they can truly fight in real life.
There are loads of competent directors out there, but how many who have demonstrated:
A true talent for striking, original visuals?
An ability to coax better performances out of actors?
A track record of excellent films?
Now, the truth is, very few current directors have a high batting average here. And that’s not a slur against directors! It’s very difficult to make a truly magnificent film, but very easy to make a so-so piece of entertainment. Directors who aim high end up making pretentious duds as often as they make masterpieces.
When people argue a topic like this, there’s often a false dichotomy at work. I don’t pretend for a second that, say, everything Steven Spielberg has done is magnificent. “Always” was horrible, as were “1941” “Hook” … and some of his attempts to do “serious” work have been tepid failures (“The Color Purple” and “Empire of the Sun”). But at times, his work has been absolutely brilliant, and when it is, he usually deserves MOST of the credit (“Saving Private Ryan” was great in SPITE of the cliched screenplay). And “Jaws” is still the best action/thriller film ever made. screenplay).
Spielberg is PROBABLY the best director going, based on the sheer number of great films he’s made. Who else is worth considering?
Martin Scorsese is the preferred choice of those who fancy themselves to intelligent and sophisticated for the supposedly childish/sentimental/manipulative SPielberg. But Scorses has an undeniably spotty track record. For every brilliant “Goodfellas,” there’s a dreary “Casino.” For every masterful “King of Comedy,” there’s a stiff “Bringing Out the Dead.” Scorsese is tedious and predictable as often as he is brilliant.
Spike Lee is an idiot in real life, but is a superb screenwriter and (occasionally) an inspired director. If only Spike were as intelligent, rational and subtle in person as he was when writing “Do The Right Thing”!
After that, there are a lot of competent directors, and a lot of once-brilliant-but-not-lately auteurs, like Coppola.
Well, I tend to lean a good bit towards the Coen brothers, as well. They have an impressive visual style, a good but twisted sense of humor, and have yet to make a movie that didn’t make me go, “that was a damn good movie” after watching it.
I personally like Kevin Smith, but that’s sort of an aquired taste that a lot of people don’t relate to…
How can you even consider Cameron? Does nobody remember every awful bloated thing that he inflicted upon us? I’ll grant you that he’s done some brilliant work, but c’mon. Godzilla alone is worht having hiom smacked upside the head.
First off, Godzilla was not Cameron’s fault. It’s the guys who did Independence Day’s fault.
Second, I almost named Kevin Smith on my list, but we’re talking about directors, not screenwriters. He’s easily one of my top 5 current screenwriters, but as a director, he’s terrible. I just got the awesome new Chasing Amy DVD from Criterion Collection, and while the script is perfect, there’s some painfully bad directing going on. Ditto for Clerks and Dogma. But, the man can write.
I don’t think you can name anyone a great director on three films. You need an entire career to make a decision.
My various choices (in the order they come to mind):
Woody Allen. His more recent work (except for CELEBRITY) has been superb.
Robert Altman. Too many great (if quirky) films: MAS*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Nashville, The Player, Short Cuts, Cookie’s Fortune. Even his failures are interesting.
Steven Spielberg.
Billy Wilder (still alive, but not active, unfortunately).
Those who have the potential to be ranked with the greats:
Quentin Tarantino (needs more films)
Tim Burton
Kevin Smith
Kenneth Branagh
Albert Brooks
I’ve gotta agree about Kevin Smith, great writer, but he just does not seem to know what to do with the camera.
Which is especially amazing considering how much he apparently loves comics. If anything, comics have really interesting “camera” placement and staging.
I didn’t know that Wilder was still alive. He makes all these other guys look like hacks. But I doubt he’ll be making any more films.
I second Fincher. The directing in The Game and Fight Club was awesome.
Anyone think Ridley Scott is good? It’s kind of hit and miss with him. Blade Runner was cool, as was Alien and Gladiator, but G.I Jane? 1492? Those are a couple that could definitely be forgotten.
Scott is much to erratic to be called great, with only one really great movie to his credit (“Thelma and Louise”). And he gets a bunch of demerits for that piece of crap called “Alien” aka “Three Stooges Meet a Monster.”
Okay, I forgot all about Ridley Scott, Woody Allen, and Kevin Smith. These are all great, but only Allen is his own genre, like Eastwood.
RealityChuck, are you crazy? “Thelma and Louise” is Scott’s best movie? Is THAT why I had to study “Blade Runner” in film class? C’mon, man! And “Alien” was as original and ground-breaking in its own way as “Star Wars.” It had the first mainstream strong, physical action heroine in Sigourney Weaver, and it made her career. This movie is 21 years old, but I defy you to watch it today and say you can tell. Same with “Blade Runner.”
I vote no on Quentin Tarantino. His work is too derivative and subject matter too unoriginal to be called “great.” It’s definitely fresh, but it’s been done before, if not to quite as high a standard.
I hate to admit this, but who is Billy Wilder? What did he make? I guess I just THOUGHT I knew film, if he’s that great and I’ve never heard of him. Someone care to
enlighten me?
I have noticed that no-one here has even MENTIONED Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, John Ford, Fritz Lang, or Alfred Hitchcock. So I thought I would.
I’d have to say Spielberb, Scorcese, Fincher are all great directors. I’m also a fan of Danny Boyle’s but have to say he falls into the “great potential” category, as does Tarantino. I love Kevin Smith, but must say that he is not a visual director.
Another director that I think has amazing potential, Spike Jonze. Anybody see Being John Malkovich? Amazing! Also, his music videos show he can do a lot of different stuff. Definitely some great stuff coming from him in the future. Also, Robert Rodriguez appears to be a great visual director. Definite potential there.
Now, as to foreign directors (which I don’t think anyone has mentioned) I think John Woo is a great, great director. While not all of his USA movies have been amazing, just look at The Killer, Hard Boiled, and Face Off (to name a few great movies of his). I think there are many more, but the problem is I don’t know if many of them are alive or not.
Roberto Benigni (sp?) is one a favourite actor of mine and his directing outings have been very good as well (Life Is Beautiful most notably). While I have not seen all of his movies, he definitely has potential.