Best director EVER
- Thread starter Ensign_Redshirt
- Start date
D'Oh, I knew I should have gone with the "three or more movies on IMBb Top 250" criteria instead. 
But that list appeared as damn too long to me. And that's also the reason why I included an "Other" option instead. But be grateful, in the beginning I considered to use only the eight guys on the "five or more movies" list. 
As for using IMDb in the first place... like I said, I had to go by some rule. "5+" would have excluded some people I wanted on the list, like Capra or Coppola. "3+" would have been too long. Or maybe not, I don't know.
But this is only supposed to be a fun poll, anway.
But that list appeared as damn too long to me. And that's also the reason why I included an "Other" option instead. But be grateful, in the beginning I considered to use only the eight guys on the "five or more movies" list. As for using IMDb in the first place... like I said, I had to go by some rule. "5+" would have excluded some people I wanted on the list, like Capra or Coppola. "3+" would have been too long. Or maybe not, I don't know.
But this is only supposed to be a fun poll, anway.
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no, best. i like all of his films i've seen:
Bad Boys, Bad Boys 2, Armageddon, The Island, Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and The Rock
I was not simply trying to criticize the posted list. My feeling is that the "best director ever" should be a big influence on other directors and styles as well as having a wide appeal. I have nothing against commercially successful directors; in inflation-adjusted figures, Fleming, Lean and deMille have made some of the most successful movies in history.
As far as old directors appealing to modern audiences, I don't really see that as a valid measure of a director's success. I have read people on this very board saying that they won't watch black and white films. Others have said they can't stand movies made under the Production Code. Some people don't like silent movies. Some people don't like musicals, or westerns. The changing taste of audiences seems too arbitrary to be laid at the door of a director who was working with the technology and cultural landscape of his day.
I would say Kurosawa's impact on English-speaking audiences has been through the art-house or his influence on other directors, and he's on the list.
Well, I would put Treasure Island, Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Captains Courageous or Jezebel, Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives and Ben Hur up against Cameron's or Nolan's top four any day. Though I admit I am not certain how much of Gone With the Wind should be credited to Fleming.
But when he's good, he's so very good. But imagine Allen without "art film" directors Bergman or Fellini as influences.
Wow. I can't really respond to that, other than to say that the critical history of film is pretty firmly on the side of them not sucking.
--Justin
Thanks for giving a response that was thorough without being smug or condescending, JTB. I'm really trying, but for the most part I just can't seem to understand the appeal of film noir and westerns, which two of those movies fit into. I love "The Maltese Falcon", but it's an exception.
"Doctor Zhiavago" was tremendously boring to me. While watching it, I just thought to myself that if I can't be brought to care the least about any of the characters or the story in a movie after 2 hours (and that's not even the full running time), something must be wrong with it.
I like David Lean, though. "Lawrence of Arabia" kept my attention and intrigued me from start to finish, and while I think "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was also too long, I can forgive a lot just because it has one of the greatest endings I've ever seen.
"Doctor Zhiavago" was tremendously boring to me. While watching it, I just thought to myself that if I can't be brought to care the least about any of the characters or the story in a movie after 2 hours (and that's not even the full running time), something must be wrong with it.
I like David Lean, though. "Lawrence of Arabia" kept my attention and intrigued me from start to finish, and while I think "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was also too long, I can forgive a lot just because it has one of the greatest endings I've ever seen.
Ikiru is one of the few movies to make me cry. It's also probably my barometer for the perfect film, I'd have a hard time picking one I like more.
Beyond that, Kurosawa's enormous ouevre of classics is unimaginably formidable and in terms of my taste without equal (i.e. no other director who has so many films I love). So him.
Say what you will about art film directors, but of course they should be included on a prospective list of best directors because they're people who may very reasonably be voted for. After all, they approach directing as an art, do they not?
Beyond that, Kurosawa's enormous ouevre of classics is unimaginably formidable and in terms of my taste without equal (i.e. no other director who has so many films I love). So him.
Say what you will about art film directors, but of course they should be included on a prospective list of best directors because they're people who may very reasonably be voted for. After all, they approach directing as an art, do they not?
Imagine anyone without their influences. Everyone's got them.
I'm probably years late to the party in realising this, but I honestly never really noticed it before - there are, like, no women at all among the pantheon of directors who've shaped the film industry, are there?
I voted for Hitchcock. Even watching them decades so on many of his films are outstanding. In fact, just reading the OP's list makes me want to organise a Hitchcock marathon some weekend soon.
I voted for Hitchcock. Even watching them decades so on many of his films are outstanding. In fact, just reading the OP's list makes me want to organise a Hitchcock marathon some weekend soon.
Not at all, just having a discussion!
Like anything else, you find that the really good genre movies use the familiar vernacular of their genre to say something about bigger things, like racism and obsession in The Searchers and power and corruption in Chinatown.
It is not my favorite, either, but it is a big story that sprawls over all kinds of times and scenery and seasons and does it very well. I have never read the book but I think Robert Bolt's screenplay is great. I mostly mentioned it, though, because it was a huge, phenomenal success. I think it made more money than all the rest of Lean's pictures put together. The only 1960's picture that earned more was The Sound of Music. So they must have done something right!
Yes indeed.
--Justin
Like any genre, a lot of westerns are formulaic, but you're cheating yourself if you don't check out some of the classics like THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALENCE or THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.
And I speak as one who shunned westerns as a youngster because the setting didn't appeal to me, but has come to appreciate them as I've gotten older. Just think of them as science fiction stories about the challenges of colonizing lawless border planets . . . .
Not sure why anyone wouldn't like film noir. Moody, atmospheric crime stories about the dark side of society and human nature . . . what's not to love?
John Ford and David Lynch are my favorites at the moment.
Thanks for those recommendations and that explanation. I have not seen those two yet and will give them a shot.
I think the main problem for me is that I feel most of them (at least the ones I've seen) are too focused on plot instead of characters, and they tend to have stories that I don't find all that engaging.
A lot of the film noir I've seen has bored me because they've seemed to be about little more than some guy running around trying to solve some mystery. I generally prefer for the characters to be foregrounded instead of the plot. There are exceptions where I've enjoyed movies more for their plots, but I don't think any of them were film noir.
It's a bit difficult to say who is the 'best director ever' since there are so many out there from all parts of the world....living or dead; and there are so many opinions by people who are film buffs.
The OP's list is somewhat a generic list whenever people bring up directors, with some new names there like Billy Wilder, Chris Nolan, etc...
Some others I would add: Spike Lee, Jean-Pierre Jeunet (whose only bad film was Alien: Resurrection, IMO; a film that wasn't as strong as it should have been due to language issues and him not having the control he should have); and also Guillermo del Toro.
I think Tarantino is over-rated, Spielberg is good occasionally; Hitchcock is a master, Kurosawa is a master, etc...
In any event, Zhang Yimou is also director who has some films I like: Shanghai Triad, Happy Times, Hero, Ju Dou...House of Flying Daggers....
The OP's list is somewhat a generic list whenever people bring up directors, with some new names there like Billy Wilder, Chris Nolan, etc...
Some others I would add: Spike Lee, Jean-Pierre Jeunet (whose only bad film was Alien: Resurrection, IMO; a film that wasn't as strong as it should have been due to language issues and him not having the control he should have); and also Guillermo del Toro.
I think Tarantino is over-rated, Spielberg is good occasionally; Hitchcock is a master, Kurosawa is a master, etc...
In any event, Zhang Yimou is also director who has some films I like: Shanghai Triad, Happy Times, Hero, Ju Dou...House of Flying Daggers....
Voted for Hitchcock. Rebecca and Rear Window are two of my favorite movies...
I'd include Orson Welles, David Lean, and Peter Weir in that poll.
I'd include Orson Welles, David Lean, and Peter Weir in that poll.
Really? Far be it from me to bash Michael Bay, but everyone here hates the guy, so if this is a joke, I didn't get it.
The Island was ruined by the trailer where they gave away the ending. Made the film totally boring. And I absolutely hate Armageddon. What a load of waffle.
Transformers, on the other hand, I like. Apart from plastic zombie barbie and her magical lipgloss and please-kill-me-now strident excuse for a voice.
Edit: a note on why I hate Armageddon: the action sequences were okay, but the film was ripe with cliches, and all that fucking flag waving made me physically ill. It's idiotic. But that's my opinion. Oh, and there is wind blowing on the asteroid. Wtf?
Then again, don't listen to me, I like the SW prequels.
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hey, i like the PT trilogy too!
i seriously do like Bay's movies, but yes, saying he's the Greatest Ever Director is me taking the mick.
i seriously do like Bay's movies, but yes, saying he's the Greatest Ever Director is me taking the mick.
All righty. But I feel compelled to ask, as one can never know on the internetz.
I find some of his films enjoyable, but others lay it on a little too thick. Such as Armageddon. What was it with the corny nationalism? I hate that crap.
I find some of his films enjoyable, but others lay it on a little too thick. Such as Armageddon. What was it with the corny nationalism? I hate that crap.
lolololol
That's because he's stupid.
Stanley Kubrick, for 2001. 