Who are your favorite directors?
I put Cronenberg, Kubrick, and Lynch among my favorites. But I’m definitely going to go with something mid-career for all three if I’m recommending something.
Cronenberg in particular. His last three are, IMO, hot messes of the highest order. But Spider in particular is terribly underrated.
Carpenter, Raimi, Gilliam, Cohens, Fincher, Landis, McTiernan, Kevin Smith, Ramis, Tarantino, Beeson, Parker, Scorsese, Coppola, De Palma, Altman, Dante are all good. List goes on.
Looking at his list there are films in there I liked, I didn’t see Spider, but liked his “normal” films which he seems to actually do well at. History of Violence and Eastern Promises were enjoyable and rewatchable films. Even Naked Lunch is likeable and I hate surreal films, but regard most of that as a drug addled hallucination with moments of clarity (“I can think of at least two things wrong with that title” - Nelson). But man, he does some films I hated, and even ones which are well regarded were awful. The plot of eXistenZ, for instance, is bloody awful, and it’s someone writing about computer games having only ever played… erm, Myst?
I like some of the overrated, but man, someone needs to tell Spielberg to cut an hour from half his recent films (Bridge of Spies had a bit where he wandered about Berlin and some thugs robbed him of his coat). Lynch, nah, not for me. And Kubrick, I can’t watch his movies. Sure Clockwork Orange was groundbreaking and had the cache of being banned in the UK, but its a horrible film about horrible people doing horrible stuff and not being a horror.
(Coens)
Have you seen Dr Strangelove? That is my favourite of his films. A masterpiece.
That is the one Kubrick I like. And very much atypical him. Far less pretension than the rest. Looking back, he wasn’t always that bad, Spartacus was ok itself, but not something I’d stop to watch if on the TV). But I guess he got full power through success and made the movies he wanted to make: slowly making a point.
What about Full Metal Jacket? The two films are bookends for the absurdity of modern warfare.
That’s two films, really, one about how shitty basic training is and another (probably less well executed if I remember correctly) about the horror of actual of war (specifically the vietnam war), If the purpose is to explain that war is shit, then it does do it’s job, but I don’t enjoy it particularly. It makes its point but it’s almost like Clockwork Orange’s horrible crap happening theme, which I don’t want to watch. If I wanted to watch a war movie, and I don’t usually, it would be Platoon or Apocalypse now (which I don’t regard as a great Coppola movie). It’s probably one of the more watchable of Kubricks movies though.
You call the giants of filmaking “pretentious” and “overrated”, but you list Tarentino as a favorite? That’s not even possible. They are in conflict!
And the fact you describe them as “giants” is the problem (and I’m assuming Lucas isn’t included). I regard half of their work overlong guff, overwrought points and very much in need of an editor, or others completely unwatchable (Lynch, for instance). Do you get past the point when anyone can say “lose an hour and get the fucking plot moving”?
I don’t regard Tarantino as a “giant”. I don’t regard anyone I named there as giants. That’s a word you’re using. And that’s pretty much the point, isn’t it?
But I’d watch anything by Tarantino, even though I didn’t like all of his stuff, over anything of Kubricks. Or probably Spielberg nowadays (first half of Saving Private Ryan perhaps the exception).
Let’s just list out some of Spielbergs recent work: Ready Player One, The Post, Bridge of Spies, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, Lincoln, Munich, The Terminal, War of the Worlds, probably gets a bit better further back that that though.
And I’m going to get this back on topic with a movie which I’ve seen recently: Blood Red Sky (2021), recommended, a german/english production which I think is on Netflix, a plane hijacking does not go quite to plan in a movie which is best seen when going in blind. As online reviews say “really a lot better than it deserves to be”.
American Graffiti, Duel, Jaws, Raiders, Dr Strangelove, The Straight Story*, Scanners **, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, maybe CE3K, Schindler’s List, The Color Purple, ET, Lincoln, Bridge of Spies, and last but not least Star Wars. Overrated? pretentious? Pish tush.
*I needed one Lynch at least! 
**ditto for Cronenberg