As a hijack, has anyone on this board seen Ida Lupino’s films of the early 1950’s, and, if so, would they merit being included on this list?
You are kidding with the American Psycho comment aren’t you? That movie took one of the best books I have ever read and basically made a mockery of it. And even if you haven’t read the book, I can’t find a single example that classifies this movie as even decent, let alone good.
Good pick on Bridget Jones though
I loved American Psycho the movie.
Monsoon Wedding is a pretty good choice, but I’ll still go with Big. It was a perfect movie, especially since it came out of the box with the critics lined up to pan it (they didn’t, but after two very bad movies dealing with similar subjects, most went in expecting the worst). It is overall Tom Hanks’s best performance and a wonderful film overall.
No one’s mentioned Elaine May’s The Heartbreak Kid, a viciously hilarious comedy bringing together three of the 60s top comic writing talents (May, Bruce Jay Friedman, and Neil Simon). May also deserves credit for A New Leaf and is unjustly vilified for the vastly underrated Ishtar (Hollywood sexism 101: if Ishtar had been made by a male director, do you really think he’d never get the chance to direct again? See 1941.)
If he had only directed 3 films beofre in his career, and none for a decade before, it might happen.
Babs got the Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures for The Prince of Tides (1991) as well as the Golden Globe for Best Director - Motion Picture.
I thought it was pretty darn good.
I know what you meant by this (I think), but I’d just like to point out that that’s not a travesty, that’s just numbers. There are a lot more films made by men that never got nominated than those that were made by women.
Whether or not Hollywood is unfairly male-dominated, it’d be unrealistic to expect that every movie made by a woman is instantly golden and deserving of recognition. (If the Oscars were about quality in the first place, which is a whole different thread…)
Women? Directing movies??
Welcome to planet Mars! I’ll be over there in my space ship!
Men? Correctly coding posts??
I just want to second Near Dark, one of the coolest vampire movies ever.
I’ve seen The Hitch-hiker (as I alluded to in my first post), and though it doesn’t belong on any sort of Best List, it’s a good movie: gritty, lean, economical. Makes you wish she made more movies and the ones she did make were more easily accessible.
Two words: Michael Cimino
Two more: Renny Harlin
Both presided over two of the biggest flops in film history, but were able to continue directing. Harlin’s Cutthroat Island lost more money than any film in history, yet that didn’t particularly hurt his career.
Even with the fiasco of Heaven’s Gate, Cimino was able to work again (and he was hired for several projects after that monumental flop that he got fired from before production).
I would argue that Triumph of the Will was not very influential, at least not politically. Hitler already was chancellor when the film was shot in September 1934. He already was the object of mass adulation, as Triumph of the Will shows. President Hindenburg and Chancellor Hitler had already suspended civil liberties and the state governments. The Reichstag already had given Hitler dictatorial power in March 1933.
If Triumph of the Will has been influential, it has been for its visual aesthetics (cf. closing scene of the original Star Wars movie).
Walloon, huge sections of TotW were scavanged to feed the Allied propoganda machine, especially here in the U.S. This footage of him and the Nazi movement wouldn’t have been quite so readily available without it, so though I agree that it may not have had much impact inside Germany, it made a huge impression in the rest of the world, solidifying through unforgettable visuals what they were only reading about before.
By the way, what is with all the art-house snobbery directed at Penny Marshall?
Penny Marshall is much more than a “competent” director. Get your damn noses out of the air and take a guess why three of her films have been mentioned in this thread. Penny Marshall is a superb storyteller.
Reality Chuck
Michael Cimino’s film right before Heaven’s Gate was called The Deer Hunter.
Reny Harlan had made both Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger before he made Cut Throat Island.
Oh and before he made 1941 he made Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and he was working on Raiders of the Lost Ark while 1941 was bombing in theatres.
So comparing their movie making careers at the point of their big flop to the Elaine May’s career at the point of Istar should tell you why they went on to make more movies and she has not.
Oh and do you know of a films she tried to get and was turned down for? Maybe her retierment is her idea?
And Clueless, as well.
Pash
Walloon: Actually, I was refering to Triumph of the Will’s impact on cinema, not politics.
I may take flack for this,but…
“The Virgin Suicides” Sofia Coppola
“Fast Times at Ridgemont High” Amy Heckrling
Actually Iteki, you were being ironic. 