My Top 5 Directors

The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible

07-13-15

During the next few days I'll present here my Top 5 Directors.

On this list, I'll include just the ones from who I have seen the entire filmography, because I believe that's the fairest way to have a global view of their work.

My goal is to make a solid Top 10 some months from now, and then a Top 15, Top 20 and so on, always applying the same rule!

Hope you enjoy it!

mojofilter

Keep Moving Forward

07-13-15

Here are my Top 12:

1. Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained)

2. Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, The Color of Money, Goodfellas, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Departed)

3. The Coen Brothers (Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O' Brother Where Art Thou, No Country for Old Men)

4. Steven Speilberg (Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. Extra Terrestrial, Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can)

5. Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut)

6. Oliver Stone (Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July, J.F.K., The Doors, Natural Born Killers)

7. John Hughes (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Weird Science, Planes Trains and Automobiles)

8. James Cameron (The Terminator, Aliens 2, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic, Avatar)

9. Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Back to the Future Part II, Back to the Future Part III, Death Becomes Her, Forrest Gump, Cast Away)

10. Alfred Hitchcock (Rear Window, Psycho, The Birds, Vertigo, North by Northwest)

11. Alexander Payne (Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants)

12. Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar)

neiba

The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible

07-13-15

5. Darren Aronofsky

If I had to define Aronofsky's work only on a few words word I'd say: disturbing, intense, controversial and dark. Well, those are probably my 4 favourite adjectives when we are talking about a movie!

Darren Aronofosky is a director who focus a lot on addictive behaviour, why is it caused and what can it do to you! He always presents this with a very dark and heavy visual style, portraying the viewer to the world of the addiction. This vision was already present in Pi, his debut movie - that I think it only suffers from being exactly that - and it was perfectioned in his second film and masterpiece, Requiem for a Dream! Since then he continued making amazing films, developing a lot his way to show depth in every character and storyline.

He is known by the using of the "Hip Hop Montage", a term he coined himself, a special type of fast cutting editing, done in fast motion and with sound effects. The most famous example of this is every time drugs are consumed in Requiem for a Dream.

My first contact with his filmography was precisely with Requiem for a Dream, which immediately became a favourite of mine. I can't describe how dizzy I felt after watching it and how good that made me feel.
Later, I watched Black Swan which I also loved! However, on that time I wasn't into cinema yet, or at least not as I am now, so I didn't realize these 2 films were made by the same director.
Some time has passed, I became a Mofo, watched the rest of his filmography as soon as I found out who this guy was and soon he became one of the first directors I fell in love with.

How I rate his films:

Pi (1998)

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

+
The Fountain (2006)

-
The Wrestler (2008)

-
Black Swan (2010)

-
Noah (2014)

Last edited by neiba; 07-20-15 at 11:35 AM.

Derek Vinyard

Msg

Fly Eagles Fly

07-13-15

Love Aronofsky definitely one of my favorite

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Swan

CIA Spook

07-13-15

Aronofsky is great. Black Swan is one of my faves.

Gatsby

Msg

Master of My Domain

07-13-15

I love Aronofsky. That dude is still underrated.

This is what I wrote about him in my own Top Directors thread:

Originally Posted by Gatsby

9. Darren Aronofsky

Thriller and Surreal are two genres I enjoy, but I dislike films of the former that are released the days, the ones who think thrilling an audience is nothing but same old car chases and an explosion to top it off. Well made typical thrillers can be quite the experience, but I haven't seen a case such as that in years. The latter is very hard to come by as it's not a popular genre to make and doesn't bring in good box office results. That's why I cling on to Aronofsky for squashing my sweet tooth.

Pi, his debut film, set up the tone of the rest of films. It's why it feels like a mix of this and that, therefore it isn't one of his greatest movie. But it's understandable because it's his debut, so it means he hasn't made a proper film before. To have Pi as a debut is sheer class of talent. Had it not been his debut, thus have been more polished, it would have been one of my favorites of his,

Requiem for a Dream, the second film, on the other hand, is my favorite. The strong and terrifying portrayal of addicts is disturbing and a pain to the eye for some, but the acting and Aronofsky's gritty style and direction makes it into a powerful experience instead of 100 minutes of violent imagery porn.

The Fountain had high hopes when I got to watch it, for the fact that its a secret favorite among movies buffs, a cult film coming from Aronofsky. Of course I had to get into this! Sadly it was disappointing, unlike other films of his it didn't have anything to make all the themes and disturbing imagery thrown and the audience and confuse them together into a masterpiece. In other words, it lacked the biggest thing.

I had Black Swan on my top films list, and the reaction from other MoFos wasn't good at all. I don't get why, in contrast to let's say The Wrestler, it is hated whenever it is brought up. Sure, it has disturbing content and not very conventional but that's a trademark of every one of Aronosfky's films. The cinematography is gorgeous, direction bold and daring, and ballet and Aronosfky really work well together along with wrestling. Maybe it's just his magic that makes everything compatible?

Lastly, I won't talk much about Noah, but I'm the only person I know who actually liked it.

How I rank his films

Requiem for a Dream

Black Swan

The Wrestler

Noah

The Fountain

EDIT- I didn't write about The Wrestler because I'm currently too exhausted. Will add some words about it tomorrow.

neiba

The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible

07-13-15

Originally Posted by Gatsby

I love Aronofsky. That dude is still underrated.

This is what I wrote about him in my own Top Directors thread:

Agree with everything you said, except on The Fountain!

It's still one of my favourite movies by Aronofsky!
I really liked Noah too, a lot more than I was expecting!

neiba

The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible

07-13-15

Small note: my ratings may seem a bit low but that's because I'm trying to be more strict in my rating system! A 3 popcorn movie is still a really good movie for me!

cricket

Msg

Registered User

07-13-15

Only seen 3 from Aronofsky so far; I love The Wrestler and Requiem, and I really liked Black Swan. Definitely a great talent.

Sane

Registered User

07-13-15

Aronofsky is great - currently one my top 5 American directors.

Requiem For a Dream

+
Black Swan

The Wrestler

Noah

-
Pi

+
The Fountain

neiba

The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible

07-19-15

4. David Fincher

If Hitchcock is the master of suspense, Tarantino is the master of dialogue and Kurosawa is the master of movement, then Fincher has to be to the master of atmosphere! There's no director in the world that creates tense and dark atmospheres like David Fincher, and that's the main reason he is on this list.
He's a technically gifted director with an incredible eye for details that relies on the camera work to tell a story and define his characters' personalities and states of mind.

He started his career with the unbeloved Alien 3. Though I agree that is way worse than the original Alien, it would be fair to say that it's way better than Alien 2, done at the time by a way more experienced director - James Cameron - with way less studio impositions.
Fincher would eventually impress the world with his second film: Se7en, probably his masterpiece and my favourite serial killer film of all time.
Among some of his other movies, there's obviously Fight Club, one of the most revered movies of all time especially among teenagers. It was once my favourite film, as any 16 year old kid, but some rewatches later it lost a bit of the magic, probably because I have outgrowned it. It's still a terrific film with two impressive perfomances by Norton and Pitt and again, an amazing atmosphere.
There's also Zodiac, his most ambitious work so far and a movie which I believe will be called a classic some years from now and his most recent brilliant work: Gone Girl.

How I rate his films:

Alien 3 (1992)

-
Se7en (1995)

+
The Game (1997)

-
Fight Club (1999)

-
Panic Room (2002)

+
Zodiac (2007)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

-
The Social Network (2010)

+
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

+
Gone Girl (2014)

Last edited by neiba; 07-20-15 at 05:55 AM.

christine

Dreams is freedom

07-19-15

Excellent first two choices.
My rating for Aronofsky would be :
1.Requiem for a Dream
2.Pi
3.Black Swan
4.The Wrestler
5. Noah
6.The Fountain - I really can't get into that film

Can't comment on all Fincher's films as I've not seen Gone Girl yet , but Se7en and Zodiac have equal top placings for me

rauldc14

2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ

07-19-15

I would say Carpenter is the master of atmosphere. Maybe Fincher is the master of something else?

Cole416

I have to return some videotapes.

07-19-15

My favorite director so far! I really loved all of his movies that i've seen except Panic Room

AdamUpBxtch

Registered User

07-19-15

Fincher is a great selection....love almost all of his films I've seen

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seanc