Name your 3 TOP film directors

my answer to this question is different every day. but right now:

Billy Wilder (has anyone even mentioned him yet?)
Fritz Lang
Francois Truffaut
 
Cecil B. DeMille. Try working with 14,000 extras and 15,000 head of livestock making the Ten Commandments. I copied this about him from that movie: 'He suffered a heart attack during the production after climbing 130 feet to check a faulty camera perched on one of the giant gates used in the exodus sequence. He took a couple of days off and then, against his doctor's orders, returned to work to complete the film.'

I think you guys named everyone else
 
Lost in Translation might be the worst film I've ever seen. Certainly one that I hate almost more than any other film.

But I'm glad you enjoyed it.
 
only 3 directors is pretty damned tough, here's 3 current filmmakers:

Fincher - artistry
Lynch - ditto
Rodriguez - what he stands for in modern cinema

Is filmmaking an art form? OF COURSE!

2nd 3 current favorite directors:

Jeunet
Gilliam
Woo
 
surf said:
Sofia Coppola --->Lost In Translation I think that is the best film
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I liked Lost in Translation, just felt that it was cut way too short. I would have loved to have seen the first cut.
 
Lost In Translation is a beautifully photographed movie and made use of the new Kodak 5218 film, which does ever so well in capturing the nightlife of Toyko. Of course, I enjoy all of Lance Acords work, but this movie has that special something. Bill Murray's dead pan emotions are definitely an aquired taste and I would venture to say if someone doesn't like Lost In Translation, neither would they like Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, or Life Aquatic. He basically plays the same type of character in all of these films, more or less.
 
The greatest directors of all time are:

1 John Carpenter
2 Tobe Hooper
3 Lucio Fulci
4 Aleksandar Djordjevic
5 Goran Markovic
 
First of all; he asked about our 3 FAVORITE not the ALL TIME GREATEST LIST. That's the tough part; narrowing it down to three. This is hard.

My (Current) Top 3 (which may or may not change of course depending on the moods and times)

1. Spielberg
2. Tarantino
3. Brian DePalma
 
Lost in Translation is Great. So are Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, and Life Aquatic. I personally love that type of *Bill Murray* character. :)

~reservoir~
 
John_Hudson said:
Do you really like filmmakers such as Tarkovsky, Bresson, Bela Tarr and Antonioni? Are these really your all-time favorites or is this really some self important pretentious bullshit that you think makes you different from the rest?
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Well spoken.

Top five lists are difficult and require finesse. That's why for my Top 3 I picked two safe ones and one kind of "newcomer/art house" filmmaker. I mean, sure I love Stanley Brakhage as much as the next person, but it's total art house snob-foolery.

John_Hudson said:
when the opinion is crap I have to yell bullshit.
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Reminds me of that video Jason Brunner made for Crowell advertising. Did you see it?
http://www.jasonbrunner.com/110.html

Anyways, John, your comments were well timed in this 100+ monster thread and will no doubt bring about some interesting and perhaps fruitful discussions. Or, at least bring fruits into the discussion.
 
thisiswells said:
if someone doesn't like Lost In Translation, neither would they like Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, or Life Aquatic.
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I love each of those films.

Wes Anderson is a pretty good director.

Coppola...Nope.
 
John_Hudson said:
Coltrain; I have to ask:

Why do you think Lost in Translation 'Might be the worst film you have ever seen?'

I also have to ask:

Do you really like filmmakers such as Tarkovsky, Bresson, Bela Tarr and Antonioni? Are these really your all-time favorites or is this really some self important pretentious bullshit that you think makes you different from the rest? Don't get me wrong; we are all entitled to our own opinions of course but when the opinion is crap I have to yell bullshit.

I guess some opinions I can either let go or I can pursue to have a better understanding of them.
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Lost in Translation is the film that more than any other film I have ever seen (or close to it, some others are close, Garden State for example), wishes it was great and thinks it is great. This to me is the worst thing that a movie can be. Lost in Translation is the definition of pretentiousness in film. I hate it. It disgusts me.

I am almost sure you have never seen a single Tarkovsky, Bresson, Tarr, or Antonioni film (if you have, forgive me) and that is fine, but it leaves me to say that you need to see them before you criticize my tastes. These directors strove to create art. I value art more than I do entertainment. Most of the directors that have been named (Fincher, whoever else) make commercial films. The goal is for their films to make money and they would not be employed if they didn't. They are in the business of entertainment. I enjoy watching their films. Are any of them good directors when compared to those I mentioned? Not even close. But at the same time they are in different professions, what they do is not the same, so I won't really crticize them.

I once was exactly like you. I openly would criticize people who would list directors like I have, because I though they were just trying to be different by naming obscure directors and movies I had never heard of. But now I realize that the films made by these men and others like them, truly are not even in the same class as Fight Club.

All that being said, I'll probably see Batman Begins tomorrow and enjoy it. But is Nolan in the same league as Tarkovsky? You gotta be kiddin'.
 
P.S.
I'm not an intellectual and I don't want to be.

But the first Tarkovsky film I ever saw (The Sacrifice, 1986) was the greatest single cinematic experience I have ever had. It put my Jurassic Park experience as a 10 year old to shame. That says something.

It woke me up.
 
I thought Lost in translation would have really sucked without Bill Murrey.

Also I think Quentin Tarantino gets maybe to much credit. Sorry but that is my opinion. I think people like to give him credit because he came from a video store to the big time. I give him credit for that too, but I just don't like his movies all that much.
 
Thanks for entertaining me on this and well said.

I am not the connoisseur of the listed filmmakers but I am familiar with them; either through clips, photographs or readings. From what I have seen of Tarkovsky; yes; a masterful painter of light.

I can appreciate what these filmmakers do/have done. Do they work at a higher level? No. A different one, but not a higher one; they do seem more concerned with the artform of filmmaking than the entertainment side of filmmaking. And I can never negate that important and noble ideal.

Internationally; these guys are huge. World Cinema at it finest I assume? The almost surreal and abstract style of these filmmakers is unique and bound to find a niche audience.

I think where these filmmakers fail (for me anyway) is in entertaining. There is a fine line I think with a film that not only entertains but also says something that can be considered universal in theme or symbology. Like art on canvas; I better be moved by the piece to appreciate it.

Out of a list like this I might think Kurosawa, Bergman or Godard would make the list but am more surprised you would not find Coppola (early works) at this stature; what about Scorsese? Hitchcock?

Don't fret the 'open criticism'. I am merely calling you out on controversial choices and applaud you for sticking to your guns. If I was attacking you you would know it.

---------------------------------------------------------

I loved Lost In Translation. I missed the singulary defined personification of being the definition of pretentiousness. I would save that sound bite for Bela Tarr or Brackhage; really. I completely related to Lost in Translation. It spoke to me. It didn't change my word but I was moved cinematically.

---------------------------------------------------------

Tarantino

I love QT. A film by him is an event; period. Do I think he is the greatest ever? No. Not yet. He still has a ways to go and a track record to boot. BUt, he is on my list of Favorite Directors.

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We all have our own tastes; some people like Pollack, some like Monet. I like Bellows personally. As long as each of us are moved; then that's better than those who have no passion and are not moved at all, isn't it?
 
Sofia Coppola is just getting started as a director!! I mean WTF? Did you not like *The Virgin Suicides* either? Blasphemy!! Come on man....give the girl a break. She's got a long road ahead of her to even begin to fill her father's shoes, but let's not get too crazy.

I'm glad that most people (Film Critics Included) DON'T share the same feelings of pretentiousness for *Lost in Translation*. I feel the same as Hudson....it did speak to me. Not in a life altering way, but in a way that I related to the characters and story that just felt *right* for *me*. :)

Tarantino - Overrated? Maybe just *slightly*....but damn if he doesn't put on a good show!! His movies are truely and event or "Extravaganza" or whatever. Until he does a *shot for shot remake* of Akira Kurosawa's *Seven Samurai*....I won't have any negative thing to say about my "Hero."

~reservoir~
 
I also loved Lost in Translation. It moved me more then Virgin Suicides, which I was not expecting. Coppola has a way of finding those very intimate, authentic, tender character moments... And I'm sure that statement will cause you to spout out names like Cassavettes (who I also love).....

There are quite a few film snob types who, oddly enough, pay to see the same films I do in the theater, and without fail call them 'too commercial' or 'too conventional'. If it doesn't have subtitles and is not by some obscure fringe director, it's 'too conventional'. While I understand where they are coming from, and I feel that way when I see certain films that are just obviously paint by the numbers hollowness, I often feel that their 'I am a sophisticated film elitist' attitude clouds their judgement, and they are afraid that liking something 'popular' and 'mainstream' would reduce their 'status' among the 'film elite'.

I love Godard as much as anyone else, but I think he indulges sometimes to the detriment of the stories he is telling. Breathless and Contempt, I absolutely love, but most of his other flicks, I respect him for experimenting and doing what he wants, but just don't work as well.

Bergman is absolutely amazing, someone I truly admire for NEVER pandering to the audience and filling his films with psychological subtext and meaning in ways that are truly inspiring. Great storyteller.

But so is Fincher, and many of the other 'commercial' directors.

FIGHT CLUB is a 50 million dollar art film. It's a miracle that film was ever made the way it was, so it bothers me a little when someone calls it 'commercial'... There are plenty of better examples you could have chosen.

Is Scorsese less of an artist than Tarkovsky because his films have made more money?

BTW I'm not saying that you (Coltrain) are one of the above mentioned people, you have stated your views eloquently, and reminded me to go check out The Sacrifice again (I haven't seen it in years)... I just felt like venting a bit about that subject... Hudson sort of triggered it in my mind when he asked if you were stating your list 'to look cool' and asked you to back it up, which you did.
 
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