Who are your 3 favorite genre filmmakers?

[The Fatman]

I got into this debate with a buddy of mine, and was surprised how different his answers were. So, I thought I'd pose the same question to the group and see what kind of lists are out there. My list:

1) James Cameron - When a director's worst movie is "True Lies"... that to me says something about his quality. His legacy has been largely untarnished thanks to his decade long semi-sabbatical... and if even HALF of what I've heard about AVATAR is true, I can't even describe how excited I am for it.

2) Chris Nolan - the "newcomer". Maybe I'm still in my honeymoon phase with him, but even 6 months later, I still regard The Dark Knight as one of the 5 or 10 best movies ever made. it's Godfather good. Between that, Memento, and the Prestige.... he's more than won me over.

3) Brad Bird - The Iron Giant. The Incredibles. Enough said, as far as I'm concerned.

*Honorable mention... Spielberg. Even though he hasn't released a great genre film since Jurassic Park, he's earned a lifetime pass from me. his genre highs were all so good, that I'll pay to see whatever he releases. and I have high hopes for Interstellar, writen by Jonathan Nolan, which should be his next project.

 

[Ben Sisko3]

1. Stanley Kubrick
2. Steven Spielberg
3. Bryan Singer

 

[The Evil Dead]

Cameron.
del Toro.
Cuarón.

 

[TheArsenal]

Terry Gilliam
Stanley Kubrick
Tim Burton

 

[T'Baio]

James Cameron

George Lucas

Steven Spielberg...even though he hasn't made a great one in over a decade.

 

[Kirkman1987]

Classic Spielberg is tough to top

 

[Starbreaker]

Christopher Nolan - The Prestige, Memento, The Dark Knight
Alfonso Cuaron - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men
Tim Burton
Peter Jackson - you have to admit LOTR is a masterpiece. And even if King Kong wasn't 5 star material, it's still very very impressive to look at.

 

[Rÿcher]

Cameron
Speilberg
Lucas

 

[DigificWriter]

Here's mine:
Peter Jackson
Alfonso Cuaron
Tim Burton

Honorable mentions go to David Yates, Andrew Adamson, and George Lucas.

 

[Admiral2]

Steven Speilberg
James Cameron
John McTiernan

 

[Shurik]

Tim Burton
Guillermo del Toro
Terry Gilliam

 

[Barbados Slim]

The Idols
1. James Cameron (Aliens, Terminator 1 & 2, The Abyss)
2. Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator)
3. Steven Spielberg (Raiders, Close Encounters, Jurassic Park)

Not Quite There Yet
1. Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain)
2. Chris Nolan (Momento, Batman/Dark Knight, The Prestige)
3. David Fincher (Alien3, Se7en, Zodiac, Benjamin Button)

Up & Comers
1. J.J. Abrams (M:I-III, Star Trek)
2. Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen)
3. Joe Carnahan (Narc, Smokin' Aces)

Blew Their Chance At Greatness
1. John Woo - Started up great with Hard Boiled, Broken Arrow and Face/Off but M:I-2 and Paycheck were enough to kill his Hollywood career.

2. John McTiernan - The man behind Predator, Die Hard and Hunt For Red October went on to do The Last Action Hero, Rollerball and Basic before going to movie jail with the potential for real jail.

3. Renny Harlan - Had the chops with films like Die Hard 2 and Long Kiss Goodnight. But he also made Cutthroat Island and is now doing dreck like Driven and The Covenant.

Too Many Bad Films To Be Considered Great
1. Michael Bay (Pearl Harbor, The Island)
2. Tim Burton (Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
3. Tony Scott (Domino, Deja Vu)

Disappeared For No Reason
1. Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie, A Very Long Engagement)
2. Luc Besson (Leon, The Fifth Element)
3. Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, Strange Days, K-19: The Widowmaker)

Blew Their Sophomore Effort
1. Richard Kelly - He followed up the cult classic Donnie Darko with the unwatchable Southland Tales

2. Neil Marshall - His answer to The Descent, arguably the best horror film of the 2000s? Doomsday.

3. Tom Tykwer - He got international love for Run, Lola Run and followed it up with small indie films.

Under-The-Radar Greatness
1. Martin Campbell (The Mask of Zorro, Casino Royale)
2. Paul Greengrass (Bourne Ultimatum, United 93)
3. Alfonso Cuaron (A Little Princess, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men)

Good Filmmaker Who Gets A Bad Rap
1. David Twohy (Below, Pitch Black)
2. Alex Proyas (I: Robot, Dark City)
3. Jonathan Mostow (U-571, T3)

Bad Filmmaker Who Inexplicably Made A Good Film
1. Louis Leterrier (Unleashed)
2. Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard)
3. Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend)

Should Never Direct Again
1. David Goyer (Blade: Trinity, The Invisible, The Unborn)
2. Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil, Death Race)
3. Eli Roth (Hostel 1-2)

Great Filmmaker, Bad At Genre Films
1. Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, Quantum of Solace)
2. Ang Lee (Brokeback Mount, Hulk)
3. Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Sunshine)

 

[The Fatman]

Damn, Barbados... That's a list!

I can't believe I'm the only one showing love for Brad Bird. I'm ashamed of you all

 

[Admiral2]

Damn, Barbados... That's a list!

I can't believe I'm the only one showing love for Brad Bird. I'm ashamed of you all

I like Brad Bird, but you said three favorite genre filmmakers. I picked my three. [shrug]

 

[Mr Light]

1. George Lucas 2. Steven Speilberg 3. Peter Jackson

 

[Brutal Strudel]

1. David Croenenberg (funny, since I can't seem to spell his name ) 2. Ridley Scott 3. A tie: Nicholas Roeg (for The Man Who Fell to Earth) and Stanley Kubrick

 

[AvBaur]

1. David Cronenberg (Videodrome, The Fly - fantastic stuff)
2. James Cameron (can't wait for Avatar)
3. Stanley Kubrick (esp. A Clockwork Orange)

Brilliant genre directors who haven't made anything great in a while:
Ridley Scott (Alien! Blade Runner!), John Carpenter, Spielberg, Terry Gilliam

Too few (genre) movies to include them: Brad Bird, Alfonso Cuaron, Chris Nolan, David Fincher

 

[Leroy]

1. Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy I & II, Cronos)
2. Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings trilogy, Dead Alive)
3. Yoshiyuki Tomino (Gundam movie trilogy, Char's Counterattack)

 

[JiNX-01]

James Cameron

George Lucas

Steven Spielberg...even though he hasn't made a great one in over a decade.

I agree with this list... with the proviso that I'm only happy with early Lucas... (the original Star Wars movies, Raiders and Last Crusade movies.

 

[chrisspringob]

Doing an all time list is too hard. So I'll limit myself to my favorite directors who are still directing, and whose *current* work I like the best:

Christopher Nolan (Following, Memento, Prestige, Batman movies)
Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings, King Kong)
Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine, The Science of Sleep, Be Kind Rewind)

If I was to do an all time list, it'd probably be topped by Gilliam, based on his work from 1975-1995. But I actually haven't seen his more recent movies.....and from what I hear, they're not nearly as good.