All purpose favorite Film directors & their films

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by johnny moondog 909, Jul 24, 2016.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. johnny moondog 909

    johnny moondog 909 Beatles-Lennon & Classic rock fan Thread Starter

    Ok I'll start. Unlike popular music, which I think peaked in the 50s-80s, I think films continued getting better until recently. I'm just generalizing of course.

    Ok my favorite Film directors are. Stanley Kubrick, Terry Gilliam & Martin Scorsese. Those are my 3 desert island guys. Honorable mention to Charlie Chaplin, Steven Spielberg & probably a dozen more.

    I love all Kubrick's films from Lolita ( 1960 ) onwards, a genius. I love most but not all of Terry Gilliam's films. My favorites are the surrealism of Brazil, Baron Munchausen, & Brothers Grimm. His latest Zero Theorem, I rated lower.

    Scorsese I love most of his gangster pictures, Good fellas, Casino, & The Departed. I also love the Jake LaMotta film, King of Comedy, & many more.

    Both Terry Gilliam who is 75, & Kubrick who died in 2000. Each have about 12 films, almost all classics, both have surrealism in their work.

    Scorsese has much more work under his belt, perhaps 25-30 films. Most of them very good.

    I also love the Coen brothers, who have made such quirky masterpieces as Fargo, The Big Lebowski & True Grit ( remake )
    I love Polanski & Francis Coppola & his daughter Sophia also.

    So those are my people, when I see one of them has a film, I'm off to Redbox, or ordering on Amazon. Interestingly, Scorsese, Kubrick & Gilliam don't get hits Everytime, 1/2 the films flopped. Who do you like as filmmakers and why ?
     
    Pete Puma, Fastnbulbous and g.z. like this.
  2. Myke

    Myke Trying Not To Spook The Horse

    Brian De Palma, Clint Eastwood, Sidney Lumet, Martin Scorsese, John Frankenheimer, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock.

    Reason ? Simple. They've never let me down.
    .
     
    Brenald79, Breanna and g.z. like this.
  3. johnny moondog 909

    johnny moondog 909 Beatles-Lennon & Classic rock fan Thread Starter

    Yeah crazy as it seems. Clint Eastwood has gotten better with age, & become one of the world's premier film directors. Which is odd, because he started off doing such terrible stuff.
     
  4. wildroot indigo

    wildroot indigo Forum Resident

    It's a fascinating subject... Movies are so collaborative, and I think the importance of the director is sometimes over-stated. "Favorite" status can be more problematic with earlier directors, when many of their films are difficult to access, or no longer exist. The '10s marked the beginning of Hollywood features, including these masterworks by Marshall Neilan, made consecutively, and starring Mary Pickford:

    Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm (1917)
    A Little Princess [that's the correct title] (1917)
    Stella Maris (1918)
    Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley (1918)

    Erich von Stroheim was certainly great, but I don't think he ever had final cut... Everyone talks about Greed (1924), but I prefer these:

    Blind Husbands (1919)
    Foolish Wives (1922)
    The Wedding March (1928)

    I've read that Stroheim called Rex Ingram "the greatest director in the world", with The Conquering Power reportedly an influence on Greed. These are all amazing:

    The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse (1921)
    The Conquering Power (1921)
    Mare Nostrum (1926)
    The Magician (1926)

    Tod Browning is a real auteur, and for me, one of the most consistent great filmmakers. He has the occasional misstep, like the sound remake of Outside The Law (1930) or Mark Of The Vampire (1935), but otherwise I've liked all his films, and I love these:

    Outside The Law (1921)
    The Mystic (1926)
    The Show (1927)
    The Unknown (1927)
    Dracula (1931)
    Iron Man (1931)
    Miracles For Sale (1939)

    Something else to consider is how certain eras worked better for certain directors... Dorothy Arzner's pre-Code talkies are masterfully directed, especially:

    The Wild Party (1929)
    Anybody's Woman (1930)
    Honor Among Lovers (1931)
    Merrily We Go To Hell (1932) (astonishingly well-directed, although the script would have been better without the catchphrases, imo)
    Christopher Strong (1933)

    Also there are other prolific directors for hire... Alfred E. Green is probably best-known for the racy Baby Face (1933), but these three are masterpieces, imo:

    The Rich Are Always With Us (1932)
    Union Depot (1932)
    Side Streets (1934)
     
  5. F_C_FRANKLIN

    F_C_FRANKLIN Forum Resident

  6. Gavinyl

    Gavinyl Remembering Member

    [​IMG]

    Lars Von Trier - Breaking The Waves 1996
     
    Mr Olsen likes this.
  7. Jupiter

    Jupiter Forum Resident

    Leone
    Bunuel
    Loach
    Truffaut
    Pasolini
    Kubrick
     
  8. wildroot indigo

    wildroot indigo Forum Resident

    I just remembered the legendary Harry d'Arrast, who directed three Hollywood talkies, all of them great...

    Raffles (co-director, uncredited) (Goldwyn, 1930)
    Laughter (Paramount, 1930)
    Topaze (RKO, 1933)

    Of his few silent films as director, it seems only one has survived, A Gentleman Of Paris (1927), which I haven't seen. D'Arrast had worked as a technical advisor on Chaplin's A Woman Of Paris (1923), assistant director on The Gold Rush (1925), and uncredited co-director of Wings (1927).
     
    Beamish13 likes this.
  9. Hexwood

    Hexwood Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Hal Ashby - Despite his success in the 1970s, I think he's underrated nowadays. He seems to be more of an afterthought, especially when compared to other New Hollywood directors. He had a brilliant run of films in the 1970s.
    Sylvain Chomet - His animation is so rich, detailed and beautiful. His work reminds me of the old Disney films.
    Ken Loach - I like the realism in his work.
    John Carpenter - I like his simplistic approach to filmmaking. He had a great run of films from 1974 to 1988.

    I also like Mike Leigh, Terence Davies, Shane Meadows, Nick Broomfield, Lisa Cholodenko and Tom McCarthy.
     
    Beamish13 likes this.
  10. wilbur

    wilbur Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ
    Christopher Guest.
     
    Pete Puma likes this.
  11. Jackson

    Jackson Senior Member

    Location:
    MA, USA
    Alfred Hitchcock
    Sergio Leone
    Roman Polanski
    Stanley Kubrick
    John Dahl
    William Friedkin
     
  12. g.z.

    g.z. Senior Member

    Alan Parker

    1996 Evita
    1994 The Road to Wellville
    1991 The Commitments
    1990 Come See the Paradise
    1988 Mississippi Burning
    1987 Angel Heart
    1984 Birdy
    1982 Pink Floyd The Wall
    1982 Shoot the Moon
    1980 Fame
    1978 Midnight Express
    1976 Bugsy Malone

    A decent 20-year run.
     
    Johnny Vinyl and Beamish13 like this.
  13. ruben lopez

    ruben lopez Nunc Est Bibendum

    Location:
    Barcelona Spain
    Kurosawa for me;why?
    IKIRU.
     
    PhilJol likes this.
  14. g.z.

    g.z. Senior Member

    :agree:
     
    Myke likes this.
  15. ralphb

    ralphb "First they came for..."

    Location:
    Brooklyn, New York
    Powell/Pressberger
    Preston Sturges
    Rainer Fassbinder
    Todd Haynes
    Douglas Sirk
    Francois Truffaut
    Fellini
    Andrew Haigh
    Hitchcock
    Ida Lupino
     
    Beamish13 likes this.
  16. Beamish13

    Beamish13 Forum Resident

    Oh, geez. This is hard. I'll include living and deceased filmmakers:

    -Bill Forsyth (Housekeeping, Local Hero, Comfort & Joy, Gregory's Girl)
    -Oshima Nagisa (Diary of a Shinjuku Thief; Night and Fog in Japan)
    -Jerzy Skolimowski (Identification Marks: None)
    -Andrzej Zulawski (On the Silver Globe, La Femme Publique, Possession)
    -Orson Welles (F for Fake, The Trial, Chimes at Midnight)
    -Robert Altman (Brewster McCloud, Secret Honor, Images, Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean...)
    -Lindsay Andersay (O Lucky Man!, The Whales of August)
    -Peter Watkins (The War Game, Punishment Park)
    -Peter Greenaway (The Belly of an Architect, The Falls, The Baby of Macon)
    -Sally Potter (Orlando, Ginger & Rosa)
    -Phil Joanou (Three O'Clock High, State of Grace)
    -Tim Burton (Batman Returns, Mars Attacks!)
    -Maurice Pialat (Leolo, We Won't Grow Old Together)
    -Francois Truffaut (The Bride Wore Black, Stolen Kisses)
    -Jean-Luc Godard (Hail Mary, Week-End)
    -Michelangelo Antonioni (Zabriskie Point, Red Desert)
    -Federico Fellini (City of Women, 8 1/2)
    -Martin Scorsese (After Hours, Goodfellas)
    -William Friedkin (Sorcerer, To Live and Die in L.A., Killer Joe)
    -Chantal Akerman (The Rendezvous of Anna, Golden Eighties)
    -Charles Burnett (To Sleep with Anger, Killer of Sheep)
    -Suzuki Seijun (Carmen from Kawachi, Zigeunerweisen, Pistol Opera)
    -Euzahn Palcy (Sugar Cane Alley)
    -Paul Verhoeven (Soldier of Orange, Robocop, Spetters, Turkish Delight)
    -Alex Cox (Walker, Highway Patrolman, Death & the Compass)
    -Joe Dante (Gremlins 2, Matinee)
    -Sky David (experimental animator)
    -Andrei Tarkovsky (Andrei Rublev, The Mirror)
    -Leos Carax (Boy Meets Girl, POLA X, The Lovers on the Bridge)
    -Miyazaki/Takahaha/Studio Ghibli (Only Yesterday, My Neighbor Totoro, Porco Rosso)
    -Sang-Soo Hong (Woman is the Future of Man, The Day a Pig Fell into a Well)
    -Kim Ki-duk (3-Iron, The Isle)
    -Bong Joon-Ho (The Host, Mother)
    -David Lean (A Passage to India, Lawrence of Arabia)
    -Satyajit Ray (The Adversary)
    -Andrei Konchalovsky (Shy People, Runaway Train)
    -Katherine Bigelow (Near Dark, Point Break, The Hurt Locker)
    -Atom Egoyan (Family Viewing, Exotica, The Adjuster)
    -Denys Arcand (The Decline of the American Empire)
    -Penelope Spheeris (Dudes, Wayne's World, The Decline of Western Civilization Trilogy)
    -Otomo Katsuhiro (Steamboy, Neo-Tokyo, Akira)
    -Hou Hsiao-Hsien (A City of Sadness, The Puppetmaster)
    -Chen Kaige (Yellow Earth)
    -Nicholas Ray (Party Girl, Johnny Guitar, In a Lonely Place)
    -John Huston (Freud, Under the Volcano, The Dead, The African Queen)
    -Sidney Lumet (Murder on the Orient Express, Last of the Mobile Hot-Shots)
    -Wong-Kar Wai (Ashes of Time, Chungking Express)
    -John Woo (The Killer, Hard Boiled, Face/Off)
    -Brian de Palma (The Untouchables, Femme Fatale)
    -David Mamet (Oleanna, State & Main, Redbelt, Sparta)
    -Francis Ford Coppola (The Conversation)
    -Volker Schlondorff (The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, Voyager)
     
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2016
    GLENN and Halfwit like this.
  17. Beamish13

    Beamish13 Forum Resident

    F_C_FRANKLIN and g.z. like this.
  18. Beamish13

    Beamish13 Forum Resident

    I think Eastwood peaked around White Hunter, Black Heart and A Perfect World. He's become ridiculously hit or miss over the last 20 odd years, although Letters From Iwo Jima stunned me.
     
  19. Beamish13

    Beamish13 Forum Resident

    Lumet made at least one masterpiece every decade between the 50's and 2000's. Up with Robert Altman and Orson Welles as the greatest Hollywood director ever.
     
  20. skybluestoday

    skybluestoday Forum Resident

    AT THE MOMENT, these are a few of my favourite film directors, and their classics --

    Satyajit Ray -- The World of Apu, Jalsaghar, Charulata, Devi
    Stanley Kubrick -- Paths of Glory, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Barry Lyndon
    Richard Lester -- A Hard Day's Night, Petulia
    Sam Peckinpah -- Ride the High Country, The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
    Nicolas Roeg -- Performance, Walkabout, Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession
    Robert Altman -- McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye, Thieves Like Us, California Split, Nashville
    Jean-Luc Godard -- Deux ou Trois Choses que Je Sais d'elle
    Bernardo Bertolucci -- Before the Revolution, Last Tango in Paris
    Ingmar Bergman -- Smiles of a Summer Night, Winter Light
    Philip Kaufman -- The Unbearable Lightness of Being
    Francois Truffaut -- The 400 Blows, Jules and Jim
    David Lynch -- Blue Velvet
    Chris Marker -- Sans Soleil
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2016
    MagicAlex and Beamish13 like this.
  21. Beamish13

    Beamish13 Forum Resident

    Philip Kaufman and Chris Marker are great picks. I adore The Right Stuff, Henry & June and Marker's Level Five
     
    skybluestoday likes this.
  22. daglesj

    daglesj Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norfolk, UK
    Neil Breen. Sheer genius.
     
    Beamish13 likes this.
  23. Matheusms

    Matheusms Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brazil
    Kenji Mizoguchi (Sansho) and Carl Dreyer (Gertrud) are the two favorites. In the past months, Todd Solondz (Happiness), Todd Haynes (Safe), Oshima (Harakiri), Teshihagara (Woman In The Dunes) and Christian Petzold (Gespenster) filmographies are under my radar.

    And the usual suspects like Bergman (Shame), Lang (Metropolis), Kurosawa (Ikiru), Ozu (Floating Weeds), Kubrick (EWS), Altman (3 Women), Kieslowski (Rouge), Buñuel (Viridiana), Fassbinder (Fox), Herzog (Aguirre), Tarkovsky (Nosthalgia), Einsenstein (October), Murnau (Nosferatu), Ken Russel (The Devils), Forman (Cuckoo's Nest), Polanski (Bitter Moon, yeah!) and many more. Some obscure ones like Larisa Shepitko (The Ascent), Makavejev (Sweet Movie) and contemporaries like the Coens (Barton Fink), PTA (TWBB), Von Trier (The Idiots) and Haneke (The Seventh Continent). Too many to list, really.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2016
    MagicAlex likes this.
  24. knob twirler

    knob twirler Senior Member

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    Tommy Wiseau. In addition to his genius, he remains humble. Every day, on the set, whenever he would see a cross made from masking tape on the set floor, he would immediately bend down and say: 'Oh...hi mark.'
     
    Fastnbulbous likes this.
  25. skybluestoday

    skybluestoday Forum Resident

    I also love The Right Stuff -- I should probably have cited it above. Not to mention that ultracool version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers in '78.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2016
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine