Your favorite directors

Matt Brown · Wed 21/05/2003 01:40:48

whoa, I so thought this said fav. dictators. but I guess that wouldn't have made much sence

GarageGothic · Wed 21/05/2003 11:18:24

Let's see now. This should be easy, but most of my favorite directors have disappointed me lately:

David Lynch - used to be my favorite director. Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me is still on my all-time top ten, and the first 40 minutes of Lost Highway were awesome. But Mulholland Drive didn't really work - I was bored out of my mind during the first hour and a half, but then the tacked on ending really made it all come together nicely.

Tim Burton - another previous favorite. Everything up to and at least in part including Sleepy Hollow is great. Planet of the Apes, utter crap. I don't really care what he's doing next. I'd much rather see Henry Selick's (director of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas) adaptation of "Coraline".

Robert Rodriguez - I have admired him since I saw El Mariachi for the first time and afterwards read his very funny behind-the-scenes diary "Rebel without a Crew". His philosophy about no-budget filmmaking has influenced every creative project I've been involved in. I can't say that I absolutely love his later films (From Dusk Till Dawn and the Spy Kids series), but they still have the energetic Rodriguez trademark pace.

Kevin Smith - This cat is the best dialogue writer in the business, no question. I'm not sure about his directing skills, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was horrible, but I can't help loving him. Mallrats and Chasing Amy are on my top 5 movie-list, and I own all his stuff on DVD - even the commentary tracks are funnier than most other comedies.

David Fincher - The best visual storyteller of his generation. Se7en was more stylish than any other neo-noir and as a renewer of the cinematic language Fight Club is the modern equivalent of Citizen Kane. Panic Room was a pretty average thriller with overblown visual effects, disappointing as hell.

Some other guys who I respect immensely:

- Roger Corman (The king of exploitation flicks. I love all his Vincent Price films, the Poe movies in particular).
- Brian De Palma (Blow Out is my all time favorite movie).
- John Carpenter (I can't help loving his movies, even the bad ones, except Vampires)
- Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Bringing out the Dead, what more can I say?)
- Nicolas Roeg (Don't Look Now, scariest movie of all time)
- Robert Wise (The Haunting, second scariest movie of all time, plus he did West Side Story

)
- Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without a Cause)
- Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, People vs. Larry Flynt)
- Roman Polanski (Rosemary's Baby, Repulsion)
- James Whale (Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, Bride of Frankenstein)

Edit: Almost forgot Terry Gilliam, I feel a bit embarassed though, that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is my favorite among his movies.

Butcher · Wed 21/05/2003 13:10:28

David Fincher
Alfred Hitchcock
Terry Gilliam
Woody Allen
Quentin Tarantino

My favourite screenplay author lately has been Charlie Kauffman (if you haven't seen "confessions of a dangerous mind", GO NOW)

I seriously don't understand why people like J. Carpenter so much...I personally find all of his movies silly and boring...then again that's just me.

LGM · Wed 21/05/2003 13:21:10

That's the point of J. Carpenter movies.

To be silly, gory, harmless fun!

GarageGothic · Wed 21/05/2003 13:50:30

With cheesy synthisizer music

Chrille · Wed 21/05/2003 15:29:07

Hehe, LGM must only have seen Carpenter's last two movies Vampires and Ghosts of Mars if he describes him that way.

m0ds · Wed 21/05/2003 15:47:07

That cheesy synth music works really well I think, The Thing's soundtrack made the film 10 x scarier

m0ds

Chrille · Wed 21/05/2003 16:00:33

Hehe, actually, Carpenter didn't write the music for The Thing, it was written by Ennio Morricone and I think he used an orchestra. Funny thing is though, Morricone wrote a full soundtrack for the movie, but Carpenter ended up only using one "tune" through the entire movie.

But you gotta love Carpenter's cheesy soundtrack for Assault on Precinct 13.

Raggit · Wed 21/05/2003 16:54:40

Speaking of film music, what do you guys think of James Horner's work?

I think he is kinda repetitive.

GarageGothic · Wed 21/05/2003 17:04:44

I liked James Horner's score for Willow, but I must admit I haven't really noticed his music since. I just watch a movie, then see the credits: "Oh, so that was James Horner", without really being able to recall any of the actual score. I feel the same way about Jerry Goldsmith these days.

plasticman · Wed 21/05/2003 17:32:03

The director who made the biggest impression on me was probably Shinya Tsukamoto.

...or whoever directed the TMNT 1 movie

m0ds · Wed 21/05/2003 18:21:03

James Newton Howard is a great composer - and his music goes well with the M Night Shayalaman movies, and Bruce Willis is very suited for them.

I like some of Horner's work, Aliens, etc.

Trapezoid · Wed 21/05/2003 19:42:06

By the way, GarageGothic, Tim Burton's next project is looking like it will be a lot better than POA was. It's called "Big Fish"...

Evil · Wed 21/05/2003 22:37:29

lol, big fish, thats pretty blunt...

DGMacphee · Thu 22/05/2003 00:53:59

Hal Ashby

Won an Oscar for editing In The Heat of The Night and then turned to directing.

Made some of the best films of the 70s -- Harold and Maude, The Last Detail (my fav), Shampoo, Bound for Glory, Coming Home (for which he was Oscar Nom'ed), and Being There.

Then he died in the 80s -- both literally and film-wise.

Mats Berglinn · Fri 23/05/2003 20:02:54

If you ask me my favorites are Peter Jacksson for Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and Two towers, and also George Lucas for the Star Wars movies plus Indiana Jones movies (with Steven Spielberg).

remixor · Sat 24/05/2003 00:57:02

Mats:
Just so you know, George Lucas didn't direct Indiana Jones at all. He came up with the story and was one of the executive producers, but Steven Spielberg directed.

Las Naranjas · Sat 24/05/2003 01:01:02

I won't get drawn into a debate on Lucas's creative talent, but as a director he's horrendous.

Which is why ep. 5 and 6 , which he didn't direct are markedly better better from a direction point of view.

remixor · Sat 24/05/2003 05:08:19

Quote from: Las Naranjas on Sat 24/05/2003 01:01:02
I won't get drawn into a debate on Lucas's creative talent, but as a director he's horrendous.

Which is why ep. 5 and 6 , which he didn't direct are markedly better better from a direction point of view.

I agree. I didn't want to post my opinions about the quality of Lucas' direction skills so I stuck to factual correction, but I completely agree. He really hasn't shown any particular skill in that area. I think a lot of people don't understand what a director actually does, and just name the directors of their favorite films as their favorite directors. Anyway, I thought Episode 5 in particular had the best direction of the three original Star Wars films.

Las Naranjas · Sat 24/05/2003 06:49:55

On the other hand, I find his direction entertaining in an Ed Wood kinda way.

Although his lack of talent is evident mainly in his direction of acting. I was amazed at the way he could sap all the life out of actors like Liam Nielson and Samuel L Jackson. To reduce them to the automatons they became, well, that takes talent man.