favorite directors/favorite films

OK, everybody list their five favorite directors, then their five favorite films from each. I know it's a hard task on both fronts, but give it a shot anyway.


Akira Kurosawa
Rashomon (1950), Ikiru (1952), High & Low (1963), RAN (1985), The Seven Samurai (1954)

Martin Scorsese
GoodFellas (1990), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), After Hours (1985), The King of Comedy (1983)

John Huston
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Under the Volcano (1984), The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Stanley Kubrick
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Paths of Glory (1957), The Killing (1956), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Robert Altman
Nashville (1975), M*A*S*H (1970), Short Cuts (1993), The Long Goodbye (1973), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Well, for me, it simply can't been done -- if only because I haven't seen five of their films -- but love what they do, or I they haven't made five films...

I'll just go and do one film each. It's a cop out, perhaps. Well, no one's asking me to post in the first place.

Guy Ritchie
Snatch
Much better than Lock Stock, despite what people say. *Cough*IDIOTS*cough*!

Stanley Kubrick
A Clockwork Orange
It blew me away, much more so than Spartacus, and a little weency bit more than 2001.

Baz Luhrmann
Moulin Rouge
Big fan of style, me, and I love the way that he makes his films. It's such a family thing, he rallies this family of artists around him, unlike no other really.

Uncle Marty Scorsese
GoodFellas
C'mon. There's something about cooking in a prison that is so cool.

Steven Soderbergh
Traffic
The guy knows how to make great films. Simple as that.


They're my favorites, but I'd say that Coppola, Scorsese, Lean, Speilberg and Kubrick are the five best.

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www.esotericrabbit.com

` Darren Aronofsky
[size=0.5] Requiem for a Dream, Pi.[/size]

`Krzysztof Kieslowski
[size=0.5] Blue, White, Red. [/size]

` Martin Scorcese
[size=0.5] Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Bringing Out the Dead[/size]

` The Coen Brothers
[size=0.5]Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, The Man Who Wasn't There[/size]

`Jean-Pierre Jeunet
[size=0.5] Delicatessen, City of the Lost Children, Amelie[/size]

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I am Jack's smirking revenge.

But that's cool, SilverBullet, whatever list you can make. I know picking just five is impossible. I could list twenty filmmakers and still be saying, "Oh wait, and then there's ___ and ___ and ___....", but that's part of the challenge of the silly exercise.

As for picking five favorite films, the first two or three are probably pretty easy, but then there's that tough decision when you get to four and five - now which favorites do you leave off in defference to others?


But everybody give it a try just the same. There are no wrong answers.*

*unless you choose Joel Schumacher. There ain't nuthin' right about that!

It was a hard descion to compare between Lean and Sodebergh for me, it had to come down to both what films I enjoy the more. I love Lawrence, but [and sue me, please] I haven't seen River Kwai.

Likewise I haven't seen enough Coppola. My list is based almost entirely on style rather than enjoyment of film, because I love style [and I'd give you my excuse for this, but Sades would jump down my throat.] I can't help but pick up style as a big thing for me [I still love plot and character, but I guess you know what I mean].

Hard questions. Great thread!

Alfred Hitchcock

1.)Rear Window (1954), 2.)Rebecca (1940),3.)Psycho(1960), 4.)Notorious (1946), 5.) Vertigo (1958)

Stanley Kubrick

1.)Eyes Wide Shut (1999), 2.)Shining, The (1980), 3.)Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), 4.)2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), 5.)Clockwork Orange, A (1971)

Martin Scorsese

1.)Age of Innocence, The (1993), 2.)Taxi Driver (1976) ,3.)New York, New York (1977), 4.)Goodfellas (1990), 5.)Casino (1995)

Sidney Lumet

1.)Verdict, The (1982), 2.)Murder on the Orient Express (1974), 3.)12 Angry Men (1957), 4.)Network (1976), 5.)Anderson Tapes, The (1971)

Robert Altman

1.)Long Goodbye, The (1973), 2.)California Split (1974), 3.)M*A*S*H (1970), 4.)Gosford Park (2001), 5.)Player, The (1992)

Akira Kurosawa

1.)Ikiru (1952), 2.)Sanjuro (1962), 3.)Yojimbo (1961), 4.)High and Low (1963), 5.)Stray Dog (1964)

John Boorman

1.)Hope and Glory (1987), 2.)Hell in the Pacific (1968), 3.)Point Blank (1967), 4.)Excalibur (1981), 5.)General, The (1998)

Frank Capra

1.)It's a Wonderful Life (1946), 2.)Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), 3.)Pocketful of Miracles (1961), 4.)Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), 5.)Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Mike Nichols

1.)Catch-22 (1970), 2.)Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), 3.)Carnal Knowledge (1971), 4.)Regarding Henry (1991), 5.)Graduate, The (1967)

Woody Allen

1.)Manhattan (1979), 2.)Shadows and Fog (1992), 3.)Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), 4.)Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), 5.)Small Time Crooks (2000)


Sergio Leone I have only seen 4 of his 10 that he's directed but he stand with these guys big time

1.)Once Upon a Time in the West (1969), 2.)The Good, The Bad and The Ugly(1967), 3.)For a Few Dollars More (1967), 4.)Fistful of Dollars, A (1967)

David Fincher he only made 4 movies so far and one is one it's way to the theatre's soon and I know I'm going to dig it.

1.)Game, The (1997), 2.)Fight Club (1999), 3.)Se7en (1995), 4.)Alien³ (1992)

That was hard I was on a roll and for some reason I couldn't just name just five. I don't know how you do it Holden great list thou.

Cheers

• Baz - Moulin Rouge
• Terrance Malick - Badlands
• Not tim burton.

Nice to see you really answered the 5/5 question there in full detail.


Excuse my ignorance [or yours], L.B, but isn't Leone's 1967 film: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly? Not The Good, The Ugly and The Bad? Or am I wrong?

Your right that you are bud I fixed it thou I guess I got ahead of myself on that one.

Cheers

You're kinda both right. The Italian title has them in the other order: Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo, which translates literally as "The Good, the Ugly, the Bad", which is I thought maybe what Jeffries was referencing. But the English title was and always will be The Good, the Bad & the Ugly.

And Leone's proper filmography of substance is only the six films: A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, GB&U, Once Upon A Time in the West, Duck,You Sucker and Once Upon A Time in America. The cheesy Sword & Sandal epic The Colossus of Rhodes is his only full directorial credit before Fistful, and there is practically none of Leone's trademark visual or editing style evident (he had very little control over the final product). He was rumored to have ghost-directed portions of two pictures he produced in the '70s, My Name Is Nobody and The Genius, but those are debateable and impossible to discern exactly how much he had to do with them hands-on (though by all accounts his presence on the Nobody set was strong). Plus he did some uncredited pick-up work on two other pre-Fistful Biblical pics, but again you can hardly call him the director on those projects.

So when talking about Sergio Leone, there are just the six movies - seven if you must include The Colossus of Rhodes.

okay okay I cut and pasted it from the IMDB the secrets out that's why it was the different one I'm a lazy *** oh well there you go.

and yeah I would have to agree with you again I got that from IMDB that he had done 10 sorry.

I think he had a lot to do with My Name is Nobody it totally looks like his film and it has been said a couple of times that he had a lot to do with the descions while they were film also he was the producer on that picture too.

You can't ever trust the IMDb at face value. It is a great resource, but chock full of errors, both little and big.


Nobody was also a story idea of Leone's, and ol' Hank Fonda agreed to be in it so you gotta figure Leone's being there made that happen, and there are dozens of on-the-set stills of Leone...but all the same, it isn't an official Leone film. Even those who worked on the film don't ever give Sergio full directorial credit, even after all these years. He had some involvement, no doubt, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he even "co-directed" it. I'm sure Tonino Valerii, the credited director, got some invaluable input from master Leone, but most Leone scholars don't consider it a Leone film. It's a footnote and an asterisk. It's also a damn good movie, one of my favorites.


The credit controversy with My Name Is Nobody is similar to that of the Howard Hawks-produced The Thing From Another World (1951). Christian Nyby, an editor for Hawks who got his first directorial credit with The Thing, worked for many years as a director afterwards, but never anything as lasting as that film (mostly just in television). So the rumors began to circulate - and stuck - that Hawks himself REALLY did the directing. Like Nobody, this is impossible to prove (especially now), and while Hawks was surely a presence on the set and a help to Nyby, I wouldn't credit him as the actual director.

Anywho.

The Coen Brothers

Millers Crossing, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, Raising Arizona, Blood Simple

Francis Ford Coppola

Godfather part 1, Godfather Part 2, (is that cheating?), Apocalype Now, The Conversation. I would say he was best in the 70's everything else was, well, uh, rumble fish wasn't that bad

Stanley Kubrick

Full Metal Jacket, The Shining, Dr.Stangelove, A Chocolate Orange, The Killing, Lolita, his whole lot.

David Lynch

Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, The Elephant man, Eraserhead, The Straight story - this dood has what I would call style...

Akira Kurosawa

Throne of Blood, Ran, Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Doomed, Yojimbo - hmm that's too many already

Others: i really like Fincher's style... even though I didn't particularly enjoy Alien3, I could still appreciate the style of it and it's ever present in The Game, Seven, Fight club etc.

Sam Raimi - hmm maybe I'll stick him in favourite directors...but he did make some inexcusable ****e too... I only liked Evil dead Series and A simple plan but Spider-man trailer was looking good...

Darren Aronofsky, hopefully he'll come up with some equally disturbing **** as Requiem for a Dream - although he is directing batman year one

Martin Scorcese - made some of my favourite films - goodf3llas, taxi driver, king of comedy, raging bull, casino, but what can I say, I hate him!

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henry hill - Disclaimer: This disclaimer disclaims any claims that could be claimed from my post.

Holden--GASP! Where's Eastwood?

Is he in the top 10?

Well there aren't too many directors out there that I've seen five of their movies, but I'll give it a shot: (most of these are the usual picks)

stanley kubrick -- 1- the shining 2- paths of glory 3- 2001 a space odyssey 4- eyes wide shut 5- barry lyndon

martin scorsese -- 1 - taxi driver 2 - goodfellas 3 - casino 4 - raging bull 5 - mean streets

woody allen -- 1- annie hall 2 - manhattan 3 - interiors 4 - zelig 5 - hannah and her sisters

steven soderbergh -- 1- traffic 2 - out of sight 3 - the limey 4 - sex, lies, and videotape 5 - king of the hill (liked it better than brockovich! )

robert zemeckis -- 1 - forrest gump 2 -- who framed roger rabbit 3 -- back to the future 4 -- cast away 5 -- what lies beneath?

Steven Spielberg, Cameron Crowe, Rob Reiner and Oliver Stone also make work which I admire. Others have only made 3-4 films (like David Fincher and PT Anderson).

:

I can't meet the five/five criteria. Sorry. I'm going with three/three, though.

• The Coen Brothers
  O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy
  
• Alfred Hitchock
  Dial "M" For Murder, Rope, North by Northwest
  
• Robert Zemeckis
  Cast Away, What Lies Beneath, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Honorable mention: M. Night Shyamalan. I believe he's only directed three films in any truly wide release, two of which I've seen, and loved: The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. I wouldn't be surprised if Signs is equally as good, either. I also feel compelled to mention Bryan Singer, as I thought he did a great job with both The Usual Suspects and X-Men.

I cheated and went with a couple more than 5. And sometimes I couldn't come up with only five films (or even five films). So my answers are completely useless for the purposes of the game. But I'm posting anyway.

1. Savage Steve Holland - Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer, Several Episodes of Lizzie McGuire (okay, I'm just kidding on that one).

2. Kevin Smith - Mallrats, Clerks, Jay & Slent Bob Strike Back, Chasing Amy (whatever happened to BrodieMan or BrodieFan or whatever his name was, by the way).

3. Steven Soderberg - Out of Sight, Traffic, sex, lies and videotape, Oceans 11

4. Robert Altman - The Player, Nashville, MASH, Gosford Park, Short Cuts

5. The Coen Bros - Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Fargo, Blood Simple

6. Brian De Palma - Bonfire of the Vanities (I liked this movie, okay?), Blowout, Snake Eyes (Liked this one, too), The Untouchables, Mission Impossible

7. Alfred Hitchcock - Dial M For Murder, North By Northwest, The Trouble With Harry, Suspicion, The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, Strangers On A Train, Rear Window, Rope, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and so on and so on.

Honoable Mention:

Howard Hawks (Bringing Up Baby, I Was A Male War Bride, The Big Sleep, His Girl Friday)

Frank Capra (Arsenic and Old Lace, It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Lost Horizon, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, It Happened One Night)

I also like the visual style of David Fincher, and I've got my eye on Alexander Payne. Sam Raimi would probably be on up there, too. I lvoe his visual style (oftentimes more than I like the movies themselves). And Woody Allen is way up there, too. I used to not care for Woody Allen, but I've come to appreciate his films more as I've gotten older and rediscovered them (or seen them for the first time).

How could I forget Capra? I'm a moron. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a truly awesome flick.

Yes, must agree there.

Also, have to agree with the Coen Brothers.

I would have to say Speilberg WAS a favorite of mine, before he became commercialized and started making crap. Of course, I haven't seen Minority Report so I can't say much much about that.

Although he hasn't made but three movies, M. Night Shyamalan is a great director.

Another agreement with Chris here, Bryan Singer has done very well with X-Men and The Usual Suspects, and he'll probably keep that going for a while.

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

Speilberg has become commercialised?
I beg to differ, I think he used to be very commericalised. I'll get shot dead by some members here, but I truly dislike E.T. Three of my favorite films [not top ten, but up there] are Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan and A.I: Artificial Intelligence.

I'm not arguing with you, I mean, you're opinion's fine -- the comment that he has become commericialised just threw me a bit.


Another honorable mention for me, at least.
Luc Besson. I've only seen one of his films and [bar one shot of it] I thought it was perfect.