Right, but all those reviews were from when it was new and considered a lesser Brooks movie. I’m saying that criticism is disappearing as more and more people realize Spaceballs is fucking funny (especially those of us that grew up on it).
There’s a little mistake in my previous post: Ingmar Bergman did direct a dud in 1964, splitting his 1960s run of classics in two. It was a movie called All These Women, which gets the lowest IMDb rating of all his directorial works. Even Bergman himself called it “quite putrid.”
But, taking a step back, I submit that Bergman’s run of films between 1955 and 1978 is the most amazing in the history of cinema.
IMDb ratings provide a rough way to gauge classic-ness, at least for older movies (ratings will be inflated for recent releases). Poring through lists of some famous directors’ resumes, it appears that an IMDb rating of 7.5 is the approximate benchmark for calling a film a classic. So then, this is Bergman’s output from '55 to '78, with their IMDb ratings rounded:
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) 7.8
The Seventh Seal (1957) 8.4
Wild Strawberries (1957) 8.4
The Brink of Life (1958) 7.2
The Magician (1958) 7.7
The Virgin Spring (1960) 8.1
The Devil’s Eye (1960) 7.1
Through a Glass Darkly (1961) 8.0
Winter Light (1962) 7.9
The Silence (1963) 7.9
All These Women (1964) 5.9
Persona (1966) 8.2
Hour of the Wolf (1968) 7.7
Shame (1968) 7.9
The Rite (TV, 1969) 7.1
Passion of Anna (1969) 7.7
The Touch (1970) 6.4
Cries and Whispers (1972) 8.0
Scenes from a Marriage (1973) 8.4
The Magic Flute (TV, 1975) 7.8
Face to Face (1976) 7.6
The Serpent’s Egg (1977) 6.6
Autumn Sonata (1978) 8.1
Going by the 7.5 standard, that’s 17 classics out of 23 releases. With only 3 of 23 below a 7 rating.
Arguably, the Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali achieved his hat-trick with the critically acclaimed and very popular Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), Devdas (2002), and Black (2005).
One last thing about Bergman, it’s fair to say he accomplished what the OP asks for four different times: '55 to '58; '61 to '63; '66 to '68; and '72 to '76.
There’s also Sergio Leone:
A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
James Cameron had a pretty good run early on.
If you don’t count a few TV and documentary shorts that he dropped in the middle of his movies, his feature films in the period 1984 to 1991 were:
The Terminator
Aliens
The Abyss
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
No argument here. I would even stretch that to Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
Quentin Tarantino: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown
Terry Gilliam: The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
John Waters: Desperate Living, Polyester, Hairspray
Are you kidding? There’s no comparison. Dune definitely has its dragging moments, but hardly any movies look as cool. It’s a perfect example of how physical sets are superior to CGI. The art direction is first rate. And Sting is in it.
Alfred Hitchcock: ‘Vertigo’ (1958), ‘North by Northwest’ (1959), ‘Psycho’ (1960) and ‘The Birds’ (1963)
You’re three movies short on Gilliam. Time Bandits, Brazil, and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen all directly preceded The Fisher King. And while I like all three of the movies you mentioned, only 12 Monkeys comes close to those earlier films.
Even before the SW prequels, Howard the Duck pretty effectively stank up the place.
John Lasseter directed Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2 and Cars in a row. Not too shabby.
I would argue against Raising Arizona. Their only stinker. Watched it a few months ago for the first time in years and could not believe how bad it was.
Sorry, we’ll just have to disagree on this one. I wasted my birthday seeing “Dune” in the theater. The portrayal of Baron Harkonnen was just plain stupid. This movie also had some of the worst acting this side of George Lucas - Kyle McLachlan was awful in it; and the kid who, at the end, declared that Paul was the Kwisatz Haderach may have had the single worst line reading I’ve ever seen in movies.
Sting is cool, though. “I WILL KILL HIM!”
Christopher Nolan has a streak going.
Memento
Insomnia
Batman Begins
The Prestige
The Dark Knight
Inception
His average RT score is 86% and his average Metacritic score is 75.
I’m sure The Dark Knight Rises will continue his streak next year.
Woody Allen’s first 15[!] movies:
People have wildly differing opinions on those films. I sure wouldn’t count all 15 as classics. That’s still arguably the best run from the beginning of a career of anybody in movies, and ranks with the best runs ever.
Terry Jones’ first three movies were Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, which also can fairly be described as shabbyless.
Michael Mann:
Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Heat (1995)
The Insider (1999)
Ali (2001)
Collateral (2004)
Nice streak with 5 very different films.
Penny Marshall:
Big (1988)
Awakenings (1990)
A League of Their Own (1992)
Arguably, John Hughes, although I know that some folks don’t like Weird Science.
Sixteen Candles (1984)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Weird Science (1985)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)
Rotten Tomatoes gives WS a 56%, but the others are 88%, 90%, 84%, and 93%, respectively.
Basically, I agree with you, Exapno Mapcase, but let me make several notes. What’s Up, Tiger Lily? (from 1966) is sometimes listed as Allen’s first movie. He directed some extra scenes and completely rewrote the original dialogue. I suppose since he didn’t direct the original Japanese film that he and others redubbed, you don’t consider it to be his film. I would list Play It Again, Sam (from 1972) among his best films. Even though he wrote it and starred in it, he didn’t direct it, so again I guess you might not consider it to be one of his films. There’s also the 1971 PBS film Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story, which never got shown at all, although it’s possible to see it at a film archive, so again you might not want to consider it as one of his films.
Anyway, the early films are great. Even the more recent ones are pretty good. I think he’s a great filmmaker overall:
Nicolas Roeg had a pretty good start as a director:
Performance (1970)
Walkabout (1971)
Don’t Look Now (1973)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
I’ve never seen his next one: Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession (1980), so I can’t say if it is good or not.
And, yes, my ipod did spin through Big Audio Dynamite’s “E=mc2” on the way to work this morning.