Movie directors - who's the best?

[Golfman]

Who do you think is the greatest film director of all time? Recently it's a tough call. The greatest film trilogy ever was made by a New Zealander who gave us Brain Dead, and a brillaint update of King Kong. However, for me Spielberg tops the list. He has made some stinkers, but overall his track record beats everybody hands down. What does everyone else think?

 

[DK]

Spielberg? Do you know what he and George Lucas have done to Indiana Jones? That's enough to negate his overall record IMHO.

 

[Neal]

Hopefully this won't cause offence. Aliens??? For ***** sake!

For me the best director of all time would be Martin Scorsese but Edgar Wright get special mention as one of the best.

 

[ultrataco]

not michael bay.

I like the Coen brothers, though I've only seen a few of their movies.

Hitchcock was pretty darn good.

 

[RUI]

Orson Welles was pretty darn good too. And Ford. And Hawks, Ray, Rossellini, Fellini, Truffaut, Coppola, Scorsese, Malick...
Better than any of those - and a few others I forget - maybe only Stanley Kubrick.

 

[Nicksfix]

Francis Ford Coppola -

The Godfather series and Apocalypse Now

 

[Jay]

Sergio Leone
Clint Eastwood
Quentin Tarantino

I couldn't pinpoint just one.

 

[DK]

Quentin Tarantino. I love Kill Bill Volume 1 and Inglourious Basterds. Kill Bill Volume 2 was a bit slow for me though. Too anti-climatic also. Then there's James Cameron. Avatar is my favourite movie, no wonder it made (holy 🤬) over $2.7 billion.

 

[Public'sTwin]

Are you asking who we think the best is, or who our favourites are? People often conflate the two, but mine couldn't be any more different.

 

[Golfman]

Spielberg? Do you know what he and George Lucas have done to Indiana Jones? That's enough to negate his overall record IMHO.

Erm, hate to break it to you, but Lucas and Spielberg are the CREATORS of Indiana Jones - they have collaborated on them since the first movie: Spielberg as director, Lucas as writer/producer. I assume it's because you didnt like the last one? Agree there - was a bit naff. But i think Lucas got a bit carried away with the story. Spielberg didnt want a daft Alien mothership ending but Lucas did. Then again, look at his last 3 Star Wars movies - entartaining but not fit to wipe the arse of the originals.

 

[Golfman]

Orson Welles was pretty darn good too. And Ford. And Hawks, Ray, Rossellini, Fellini, Truffaut, Coppola, Scorsese, Malick...
Better than any of those - and a few others I forget - maybe only Stanley Kubrick.

Kubrick was good, apart from a few mis-hits. 2001 was boring as hell, eyes wide shut was just plain crap, and he completely arsed up Stephen King's story with The Shining. It wasnt even a good film - King agreed with this in an interview(he didnt even want his name to appear on the credits he thought it was that bad). If you've read the book, then you'll see why. Best Kubrick film? Full Metal Jacket. And here's a little bit of info not many people know: AI was originally written by Spielberg for Kubrick to direct, then Kubrick changed his mind and wrote it for Spielberg to direct, but when Kubrick died Spielberg decided to rewrite some of it and went on to direct it anyway. Dont know how it would have turned out if Kubrick was still alive.

 

[Public'sTwin]

What are you using to evaluate "best"? Scorcese has certainly made more critically acclaimed films than Spielberg, who is generally acknowledged to have lost almost all cultural relevance to the populations he makes films for.

 

[RUI]

Kubrick was good, apart from a few mis-hits. 2001 was boring as hell, eyes wide shut was just plain crap, and he completely arsed up Stephen King's story with The Shining. It wasnt even a good film - King agreed with this in an interview(he didnt even want his name to appear on the credits he thought it was that bad). If you've read the book, then you'll see why. Best Kubrick film? Full Metal Jacket. And here's a little bit of info not many people know: AI was originally written by Spielberg for Kubrick to direct, then Kubrick changed his mind and wrote it for Spielberg to direct, but when Kubrick died Spielberg decided to rewrite some of it and went on to direct it anyway. Dont know how it would have turned out if Kubrick was still alive.

Well you were bored by 2001, didn't like Eyes Wide Shut, care more about a SK novel than the Kubrick horror classic and don't even mention other classic Kubrick stuff such as Clockwork Orange, Dr Strangelove or Barry Lyndon...
But what can I can say? Your favourite director is actually a producer, albeit a fine one, nonetheless someone who has directed a few good films but nothing of genious since ET - or ever!

 

[Public'sTwin]

Well you were bored by 2001, didn't like Eyes Wide Shut, care more about a SK novel than the Kubrick horror classic and don't even mention other classic Kubrick stuff such as Clockwork Orange, Dr Strangelove or Barry Lyndon...
But what can I can say? Your favourite director is actually a producer, albeit a fine one, nonetheless someone who has directed a few good films but nothing of genious since ET - or ever!

I think 2001 was one of the most horrifying films I've ever seen.

Also, Kubrick did a wonderful job with Lolita.

 

[Speedy Samurai]

No love for Kurasawa, Ingmar Bergman, Kar-Wai Wong?

What about Yasujiro Ozu, Jean Renoir, or Fellini?

Nobody's mentioned Truffant or Tarkovsky?

 

[nk4e]

No love for Kurasawa, Ingmar Bergman, Kar-Wai Wong?

What about Yasujiro Ozu, Jean Renoir, or Fellini?

Nobody's mentioned Truffant or Tarkovsky?

Should we put "HollyWood's Best Director"? I think the only movie I have seen of Kurasawa-san was Dreams.

 

[RUI]

No love for Kurasawa, Ingmar Bergman, Kar-Wai Wong?

What about Yasujiro Ozu, Jean Renoir, or Fellini?

Nobody's mentioned Truffant or Tarkovsky?

I did mention Fellini and Truffaut and could as well have mentioned Ozu, Wong Kar Wai, Tarkovsky since I like their films a lot.
The reason I ranked Kubrick so highly is mainly because having directed only a handful of movies, really, he managed to touch nearly all genres (science fiction, war, horror, period piece, etc.) producing a few masterpieces in the process. Now, how many other film directors did that?

 

[Public'sTwin]

I haven't been able to find any non-$40 DVDs of Tarkovsky flicks around here, so I've only gotten around to seeing one of his films.

 

[RUI]

I haven't been able to find any non-$40 DVDs of Tarkovsky flicks around here, so I've only gotten around to seeing one of his films.

I was lucky enough to have watched a few of his works on TV - Andrei Rublev, Stalker, Solaris - but that was way back, at a time when public TV here in Portugal actually made an effort to show good quality cinema.
Seen also Nostalgia (my favorite) and The Sacrifice at theatres, some 20 odd years ago.

 

[Strittan]

Hmm... Tarantino would be my favorite I guess, followed by the Coen brothers, Kubrick and PT Anderson.

 

[Scaff]

I would have to go with Scorsese, his body of work stands the test of time and features very few 'misses', he also gets the nod from me for his work on concert documentaries.

The Last Waltz and Shine a Light both being utterly superb music documentaries.


Scaff

 

[Public'sTwin]

I was lucky enough to have watched a few of his works on TV - Andrei Rublev, Stalker, Solaris - but that was way back, at a time when public TV here in Portugal actually made an effort to show good quality cinema.
Seen also Nostalgia (my favorite) and The Sacrifice at theatres, some 20 odd years ago.

I am utterly jealous of you.

From the sounds of it, though, you have the benefit of having actually existed in that era; most of my favourite films were made long before my 1989 birth year. (And irritatingly, have been displaced on the airwaves by newer, more glamorous films.)

I would have to go with Scorsese, his body of work stands the test of time and features very few 'misses', he also gets the nod from me for his work on concert documentaries.

The Last Waltz and Shine a Light both being utterly superb music documentaries.


Scaff

Didn't Scorcese also work on a 2-part Dylan documentary?

 

[Northstar]

Didn't Scorcese also work on a 2-part Dylan documentary?

He Directed it.

 

[Danoff]

Peter Jackson wins for the Lord of the Rings (and nearly gets booted for district 9). The LOTR trilogy sits at my overall number 1 spot on my top 10 movies list. He (and his team) brought those books to life in a way that I didn't think was possible, and that I still marvel at today. It wasn't a perfect effort, but it was phenomenal.

2nd place goes to the Wachowski Brothers. Wrote produced and directed the matrices as well as writing and producing V for Vendetta. They account for 20% of my top 10 movie list.

 

[Golfman]

Well you were bored by 2001, didn't like Eyes Wide Shut, care more about a SK novel than the Kubrick horror classic and don't even mention other classic Kubrick stuff such as Clockwork Orange, Dr Strangelove or Barry Lyndon...
But what can I can say? Your favourite director is actually a producer, albeit a fine one, nonetheless someone who has directed a few good films but nothing of genious since ET - or ever!

To call Kubrick's The Shining a horror classic is laughable. Even if i hadnt read the book, i would still say that, to put it bluntly, Kubrick's The Shining is terrible. Not even up there with the best horror films in cinema history. Jack Nicholson's talent was wasted, and Shelley Duvall was annoying as hell.

 

[Golfman]

Peter Jackson wins for the Lord of the Rings (and nearly gets booted for district 9). The LOTR trilogy sits at my overall number 1 spot on my top 10 movies list. He (and his team) brought those books to life in a way that I didn't think was possible, and that I still marvel at today. It wasn't a perfect effort, but it was phenomenal.

2nd place goes to the Wachowski Brothers. Wrote produced and directed the matrices as well as writing and producing V for Vendetta. They account for 20% of my top 10 movie list.

Er....ok, the first Matrix film was good. But the sequels? Reloaded was long winded, confusing, boring and had some really dodgy CGI. Revolutions was like going on a really dull rollercoaster for the first time: enjoyable to a degree, thrilling in short bursts, but very forgettable when finished. I wouldnt put the Wachowskis in the top 10.

 

[Danoff]

Er....ok, the first Matrix film was good. But the sequels? Reloaded was long winded, confusing, boring and had some really dodgy CGI. Revolutions was like going on a really dull rollercoaster for the first time: enjoyable to a degree, thrilling in short bursts, but very forgettable when finished. I wouldnt put the Wachowskis in the top 10.

Yea, the 3rd matrix was bad, but I liked the 2nd even more than the first. In some ways it was MORE creative (also much better acting by the supporting cast). Obviously matrix 1 and Vendetta were outstanding.

Given that matrices 1 and 2 (lumped together) and V all made my top 10 list, the W brothers account for a great deal of the best movies I've seen.

 

[Duke]

I think 2001 was one of the most horrifying films I've ever seen.

2001 sucked as a book, so there was only a certain amount of silk-purse-from-sow's-ear that Kubrick could do with it. He did that well, but it was and always will be pretentious tripe.

On the other hand, he took a simple-but-decent scary book (King's The Shining) and somehow sucked all the life and horror out of it. The casting was miserable. I was praying for Shelley Duvall to get axe murdered by 20 minutes in. Worse, he cast Nicholson as the main character. In the book, the father makes a slow, insidious descent from nice guy to homicidal maniac, but in every damn movie, at the first moment you see Nicholson's face, you check your watch to start timing just how long until he loses it. So any trace of subtlety or genuine horror in the story is just stomped flat in the first 15 minutes of the movie, and you're left with a bunch of disconnected visuals that aren't compelling enough to really drag you in.

 

[astrosdude91]

Tarantino. I loved Reservoir Dogs. Inglourious Basterds was really good too. And Death Proof was one fun ride!

Driftking, and Evilneal. You guys are going to hate me for this, but I enjoyed Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! *awaits verbal abuse*

 

[Apok]

Driftking, and Evilneal. You guys are going to hate me for this, but I enjoyed Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! *awaits verbal abbuse*

I enjoyed it too actually. Guess we both get the verbal abuse. Hurray!