Name your 3 TOP film directors

Rosestar, I've got a fairly cheap RCA 5.1 system with amplifier hooked up to my workstation, I don't know if these are good enough monitors to get the job done, and I can't really afford to plunk down 2 or 3 hundred on new monitors... is there some kind of calibration test or something I can use to check and see if what I have will work?

Cruising sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out. Thanks for your help.

Now back to topic (heh), spidey, if your story about Lucas denying Coppola's suggestion is true, that's really infuriating. One thing that really annoys me more then anything about the present day Lucas is he seems willing to settle for just good enough. Episode III should have and could have been THE epic tragedy of the current filmic age.... I think 3 is definitely the strongest of the prequels, and I was just happy to be able to say I finally enjoyed a new Star Wars movie unashamedly, though it still had alot of problems... but imagine what it could have been, what the prequels could have been.... man....

I agree about Kurosawa.
 
My top 3 directors would be:

Tarkovsky
Tarr

...and that's it.

It would be an insult to these two filmmakers to put any name next to theirs.

I would add that I also like directors like Dreyer, Kubrick, Lynch, and PT Anderson.


I also disagree with much of what Coltrain has said, despite our similarities when it comes to our top directors.

And nothing will ever top an experience like Jurassic Park. For as long as I live, I will never have that feeling again. And that is one of the few things on this earth than can bring me to tears.
 
Chance White said:
Rosestar, I've got a fairly cheap RCA 5.1 system with amplifier hooked up to my workstation, I don't know if these are good enough monitors to get the job done, and I can't really afford to plunk down 2 or 3 hundred on new monitors... is there some kind of calibration test or something I can use to check and see if what I have will work?

Cruising sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out. Thanks for your help.

Now back to topic (heh), spidey, if your story about Lucas denying Coppola's suggestion is true, that's really infuriating. One thing that really annoys me more then anything about the present day Lucas is he seems willing to settle for just good enough. Episode III should have and could have been THE epic tragedy of the current filmic age.... I think 3 is definitely the strongest of the prequels, and I was just happy to be able to say I finally enjoyed a new Star Wars movie unashamedly, though it still had alot of problems... but imagine what it could have been, what the prequels could have been.... man....

I agree about Kurosawa.
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I'm not sure about the monitor calibration question. I have a quy that has a great post audio set-up and we hook up when I need high end stuff. There should be a way, though. That would be a good post for the "Audio" forum.

Cruising is a tough movie, but the sound mix kicks my ass... when you first listen to it, is sounds like it has to be a mistake, but then it hooks you and really gets creepy. When you realize that William Friedkin did it and he also did The Excorsist, which is a film with an oustanding sound track, you know he is up to something.

Sorry for the off topic.
 
oh yeah john, doesnt empire seem less powerful now knowing the past? when vader tells luke he's his father. now it doesnt even effect me like it once did.
 
GenJerDan said:
Oh, ****. Darth Vader is Luke's father?

Bummer of a spoiler, there.

Dan
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Sh*t, next your gonna tell me that Princess Leia is Luke's sister, yeah, like that is gonna happen!!!
 
In ANH Vader is a man whose will has been broken down, he has nothing to live for anymore. When Luke shows up, this wakes him up a little bit, but his first instinct is to get him to join him so they can take down the Emperor. When Luke shows he'd rather die, this stirs something in Vader, shows him his son had the strength that he did not, and he starts to 'go good' again.

I've had this argument countless times already, that the prequel Vader does not weaken the original trilogy's Vader, but indeed adds more to the character. I don't even feel like going through it again, so I'm just going to stop now, lol.
 
well i thought the only way to save the series was obi wan and padme had an affair and luke was actually his son.
 
Return said:
And nothing will ever top an experience like Jurassic Park. For as long as I live, I will never have that feeling again. And that is one of the few things on this earth than can bring me to tears.
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...yet you don't mention Spielberg... How come?

Did you just watch AI or something? :laugh:
 
mmm said:
...yet you don't mention Spielberg... How come?

Did you just watch AI or something? :laugh:
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Spielberg is one ofthe great storytellers and because ofthat one ofmy favorite directors but my true favorite directors are those who have inspired my own filmmaking.

I ain't makin' E.T. type movies, but I love watching them.
 
I wonder if everyone's top three directors actually represent the films they've watched more than anyone else?

I mean, I've watched the Monty Python films a dozen times at least, 'Brazil' a dozen times, Martin Scorcese's 'After Hours' another dozen (that’s right, probably Scorcese’s least “credible” film), and I’ve also watched 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf' quite a few times, and praise it till the end of time... so, based purely on the evidence of my viewing habits (and definitely NOT on my favorite cinematography), here goes a quick list of the directors I've watched the most, which might speak more accurately to my favorite writing/acting and not necessarily my favorite "directing"... on that note, what IS the difference (really, I'm curious how you all make the distinction between best director vs. most watched films/movies, best writers, as then of course best cinematographers, which is obviously NOT what is being asked here):

1. Woody Allen: ( Annie Hall, Husbands and Wives, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Deconstructing Harry, Hannah and Her Sisters... don't like most of his latest films or his earliest)

2. Hal Hartley ( Surviving Desire, Amateur, Unbelievable Truth... didn't like most of his recent films)

3. Terry Gilliam: ( purely for the three main Python flicks and Brazil )


*I have to say that my ego desperately wanted to put down the names of some of the classic "high art" directors, ones that I do love, but I guess to be totally honest, I don’t love them enough to watch them as much as the ones I listed above.

**As time goes on, a film like Pulp Fiction will have been watched by me as much as some of those I listed above, and I personally can't stand Tarrantino in an interview, but I do respect the stylistic (eye candy) brilliance of Pulp Fiction.
 
Just a random update... David Fincher just directed a video for Nine Inch Nails, for the song 'Only'. The video should be coming out towards the end of July.

Trent Reznor is my favorite musician, and Fincher is one of my favorite directors, so this qualifies as extremely freakin cool, thought the others who appreciate Fincher's work might like to know.

That's an interesting point Shawn makes about 'most watched directors'... I went through a phase where I watched Adaptation almost every single day for about 3 weeks. That film is drenching with clever, layered subtext. Much more then simply a quirky comedy on the surface. Though I've found that's another 'love it or hate it' type of film.

As far as directors I have watched the most... probably Kubrick, seen Full Metal Jacket and Clockwork Orange countless times... Scorsese ranks as well, mainly for Goodfellas and Taxi Driver, which I watch several times a year each since I came to appreciate them.

And FIGHT CLUB I have seen probably a hundred times. Ha ha.

Most viewed comedy has to be The Big Lebowski. Which I watched about twice a week for what seems like a year. I know every line in that movie and quote it constantly.

Ridley Scott ranks highly as most watched director for Blade Runner, Gladiator and Legend to a lesser extent.

Seen Rushmore a bunch, and Magnolia is most viewed PTA flick.

Tarantino-wise, Reservoir Dogs has become my favorite film of his and is the one I watch the most. I've found Pulp Fiction doesn't hold up as well in repeat viewings. I think Reservoir Dogs is his best. (Though Kill Bill Vol. 2 I loved the everlovin snot out of, need to watch it more to see how it ranks)
 
Shawn Murphy said:
3. Terry Gilliam: ( purely for the three main Python flicks and Brazil )
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How much of the python films do you think are due to the Director? Seems like a really team effort and he just decided where to put the camera, sometimes quite badly IMO.
 
Admittedly I’m fairly new to the "study" of film, and as such I'm sure I probably don't really know what it means to be a great "director", I have a good idea and my own personal opinion, but I only know the films I love, and admittedly many probably succeed despite the director as opposed to because of the director. Obviously opinions vary as to what makes a director “great” or “good”, (as evidenced by the responses in this thread), but you raise a good point and example in regards to the Python films, indeed I have no idea what role Gilliam played in their ultimate success, which is why I thought I should make the distinction about the difference between the directors/movies I've watched the most vs. the directors that are probably considered a "director's director"...

Some of what I like is purely for the visual style (Tarkovsky's Nostalghia, Kirosawa's Dreams, Brazil, etc), some are for their writing/directing? (Woody Allen, Hartley, Cukor, Hawkes ), some are for their "cool" factor (Pulp Fiction, Natural Born Killers, etc), and some are for a freshness that perhaps will bore me in years to come, but blow my mind today (Acord/Jonze, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine, American Beauty, Lost in Translation, etc)


I'm just starting to read the book 'The Film Director', Richard Bare... in time I’m sure I’ll have a better sense of who and what is actually responsible for the films that I love, and aspire to be like, some will be the Director, some will be the Cinematographer, some will be the writing, the acting, etc… and some will be all of them together!
 
John_Hudson said:
Well said and I have to admit that Star Wars does not mean what it used to me; this isn;t an age thing as I still am in love with Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Road Warrior, The Thing and boat's of other films.
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George Miller was actually in talks to do a Mad Max 4!! The Road Warrior I nominate for Best Child thatthrowsmetalboomeranganddecapitatesshimbeast (whew!).
 
mmm said:
How much of the python films do you think are due to the Director? Seems like a really team effort and he just decided where to put the camera, sometimes quite badly IMO.
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I'd like to buy a vowel...

I'd like to swap one Gilliam for one Peter Greenaway please ;-)

(Drowning by Numbers & The Cook, the Thief... easily tops on my list)

..but perhaps I'll have to start a separate thread for your 'TOP 3 DARK & TWISTED DIRECTORS').
 
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