Favourite Directors
Apr. 11th, 2010 03:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
philosoraptor42It's my opinion that a director is wholly responsible for the quality of their film. They may be limited by the requirements of the studio or budget limitations, but the best directors will (with any luck) overcome these limits and make something truly wonderful. People often attribute the quality of movies to their stars and, while better actors have the potential to provide better performances, in the end they are puppets for the director. After all, performances seem to be put on film in little bits with many different takes involved at a variety of angles, often in no particular order. I think an actor would be hard-pushed to provide a good on-screen performance over an entire movie without a good director.
So it's long been a tendency of mine to look out for the director name and the following is a list of director's which have managed to catch my attention.
Prolific Directors
Perhaps it makes sense to start with these guys. Sometimes following a particular director can be a punishing process. They won't always come up to scratch. But even if half their movies are disappointing the other half often make them worth following. I'll start the list with someone who most people will tend to want to keep their eye on:
Steven Spielberg
I've never understood the appeal of the movie "E.T." and "War Of The Worlds" was utterly horrific. Still, Spielberg has some undeniable classics in his career. Apparently I ought to check out "Close Encounters" and "Sugarland Express" also sounds intriguing.
Latest Projects:
Interstellar (2011)
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
Enjoyed:
Catch Me If You Can (2002) 96%
Minority Report (2002) 92%
Saving Private Ryan (1998) 90%
Amistad (1997) 79%
Schindler's List (1993) 97%
Jurassic Park (1993) 84%
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) 89%
Empire of the Sun (1987) 80%
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 94%
Jaws (1975) 100%
Duel (1971) 86%
Not Impressed By:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) 77%
Munich (2005) 77%
War of the Worlds (2005) 73%
Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) 72%
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) 48%
Hook (1991) 22%
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) 85%
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 98%
Haven’t Seen:
The Terminal (2004) 61%
Always (1989) 61%
The Color Purple (1985) 88%
1941 (1979) 30%
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) 95%
The Sugarland Express (1974) 92%
Werner Herzog
A recent discovery, but what I've seen so far has blown me away. Particularly incredible was Herzog's documentary "Grizzly Man". I've been keen to check out "Bad Lieutenant" since Filmdrunk was raving about it and having discovered that "Rescue Dawn" starring Christian Bale is also a Herzog movie, I'm keen to check that out too.
Latest Project:
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009) 38%
Enjoyed:
Encounters at the End of the World (2007) 93%
Grizzly Man (2005) 93%
Fitzcarraldo (1982) 82%
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979) 94%
Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (Aguirre: The Wrath of God) (1972) 97%
Haven’t Seen:
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009) 85%
Rescue Dawn (2006) 90%
The Wild Blue Yonder (2005) 68%
The White Diamond (2004) 94%
Wheel of Time (2003) 94%
Invincible (2001) 53%
Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski (My Best Fiend) (1999) 78%
Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997) 93%
Lektionen in Finsternis (Lessons of Darkness) (1992) 100%
Cobra Verde (1987) 86%
Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen (Where The Green Ants Dream) (1984) 80%
Woyzeck (1979) 82%
La Soufrière - Warten auf eine unausweichliche Katastrophe (1977)
Stroszek (1977) 100%
Herz aus Glas (Heart of Glass) (1976) 100%
Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser) (1974) 91%
Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit (Land of Silence and Darkness) (1971) 83%
Fata Morgana (1971) 100%
Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen (Even Dwarfs Started Small) (1970) 100%
Lebenszeichen (Signs of Life) (1968) 88%
John Carpenter
Now this really does feel like an odd selection. John Carpenter's career is very much up and down with the lows including "Ghosts Of Mars" (essentially zombies in space, but without being as fun as it ought to be) and "Memoirs Of An Invisible Man" (made well enough but suffers from being a comedy starring Chevy Chase).
Slightly iffy, but still very enjoyable, is "Vampires" which might just as easily be called "James Woods: Vampire Hunter". It's as much fun as it sounds.
"They Live" is well-known for the line "I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum... and I'm all out of bubblegum." Unfortunately, when that line shows up it feels completely out of place. Also a scuffle between two of the main characters goes on way too long and while quite entertaining to watch also feels rather odd. The main theme of the movie (which is sensibly left uncertain by the title) is nevertheless very cleverly done.
Bizarrely the highest rated of Carpenter's movies is "Escape From Precinct 13", which I actually found very slow-moving and dull. Another highly-rated Carpenter movie with pacing problems was "Escape From New York" which I can only presume has dated rather badly.
The mis-match between the RT scores and my actual enjoyment of the movies makes it hard to be sure what I ought to watch. "Halloween" scores very highly and while being a slasher, it apparently invented the genre. That said, I really don't enjoy slasher movies. "Dark Star" seems like a better bet since it was apparently the inspiration for the sit-com Red Dwarf, but views seem mixed on this one. "The Fog" isn't particularly highly rated, but the apparent inclusion of ghost-pirates is a definite incentive.
Latest Project:
The Ward (2010)
Enjoyed:
Vampires (1998) 34%
In the Mouth of Madness (1994) 48%
They Live (1988) 88%
Big Trouble in Little China (1986) 81%
The Thing (1982) 77%
Not impressed by:
Ghosts of Mars (2001) 19%
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) 25%
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) 96%
Escape from New York (1981) 81%
Haven’t seen:
Escape from L.A. (1996) 58%
Village of the Damned (1995) 30%
Prince of Darkness (1987) 47%
Starman (1984) 78%
Christine (1983) 67%
The Fog (1980) 69%
Halloween (1978) 93%
Dark Star (1974) 80%
David Cronenberg
Cronenberg's interest in psychological horror (particularly "body horror") makes his latest project annoying, but not entirely surprising. While others are suggesting that he'd be better suited to the fourth Twilight movie, his decision to direct a movie starring Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud sounds like an even more bizarre choice for him. Still, I'll be interested to see what he comes up with.
In the meantime, there's plenty in his repetoire which I want to see. The highest rated appears to be "Dead Zone" which looks pretty awesome. Sure my view of his movies has been mixed, but across such a long career this is hardly surprising and asides from Crash (which I became bored with fairly quickly) all of his movies have successfully caught my attention in one way or another. (Most upsetting was "eXistenZ" which started very promisingly but became far too convoluted. It also appeared to involve the most boring immersive computer games imaginable.)
Latest Project:
The Talking Cure (2011)
Enjoyed:
Eastern Promises (2007) 88%
A History of Violence (2005) 86%
The Fly (1986) 91%
Videodrome (1983) 80%
Scanners (1981) 76%
Rabid (1977) 62%
Not too impressed by:
eXistenZ (1999) 72%
Crash (1996) 65%
Naked Lunch (1991) 67%
Shivers (1975) 83%
Haven’t Seen:
Spider (2002) 85%
Dead Ringers (1988) 83%
The Dead Zone (1983) 89%
The Brood (1979) 80%
Fast Company (1979) 71%
Terry Gilliam
Actually a fairly short list of movies, but they span back to the seventies nonetheless, so I'm putting him here anyway. Terry Gilliam has a flair for the weird and wonderful. It's fairly clear that Gilliam hasn't lost it yet, but he seems to find it rather difficult to bounce back from any setbacks.
Latest Project:
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2011)
Enjoyed:
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) 65%
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) 48%
Twelve Monkeys (1995) 87%
The Fisher King (1991) 89%
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) 85%
Brazil (1985) 98%
Time Bandits (1981) 94%
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) 94%
Not Impressed By:
Tideland (2005) 28%
The Brothers Grimm (2005) 37%
Haven’t Seen:
Jabberwocky (1977) 58%
Robert Rodriguez
Recently linked to a few projects he's not directing, including Red Sonya and Predators. While there's some hope that his connection with these projects might help them along, it must be remembered that this is the same guy who allowed his son to make and release the movie "Shark Boy and Lava Girl".
Still there's little doubting Rodriguez's sense of fun. While movie-makers will often try to persuade people that their movie-sets are great fun places to be, the extras for Planet Terror really give the impression that this was actually the case. Perhaps this is how Rodriguez was able to keep his original feature "El Mariachi" to the unbelievably low budget of seven thousand dollars. (Another sign of Rodriguez's sense of fun was his insistence that Tarantino buy back his "From Dusk Til Dawn" script straight after Pulp Fiction, knowing full well that this was the best chance they'd ever have to make something so utterly ludicrous.)
I was particularly disappointed by his children's movies because of his work in the movie "Four Rooms". While Four Rooms is ghastly and we really ought to pretend it never existed, there's little doubting that Rodriguez's segment is by far the most entertaining section. What it appeared to reveal to me was Rodriguez's talent for directing child actors. Sadly his Spy Kids movies went from bad to worse mainly because of the rather poor scripts, in spite of Rodriguez getting some very engaging peformances from the young actors.
Latest Projects:
Sin City 3 (2012)
Machete (2010)
Enjoyed:
Planet Terror (2007) 77%
Sin City (2005) 77%
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) 69%
The Faculty (1998) 53%
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) 63%
Desperado (1995) 62%
El mariachi (1992) 92%
Not Impressed By:
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003) 45%
Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002) 75%
Spy Kids (2001) 93%
Haven’t Seen:
Shorts (2009) 46%
The Coen Brothers
I've had mixed feelings about many of the Coen Brothers' movies. Perhaps surprisingly, I count "No Country For Old Men" as a disappointment because of its rather pointless ending. (It was suggested to me that the same could be said for "Burn After Reading", but when the ending to a comedy has the entire audience in fits of riotous laughter, I'm not sure I can really call that pointless. Besides, there is a clear focus for the entire narrative arc of Burn After Reading. It just isn't what you'd initially expected.)
"A Serious Man" is, to my mind, one of the funniest comedies I have ever seen. It had me in fits of laughter from beginning to end.
"Barton Fink" appears to be the highest rated of all the Coen Brothers movies I haven't seen, so I guess I ought to check it out.
Latest Project:
True Grit (2010)
Enjoyed:
A Serious Man (2009) 88%
Burn After Reading (2008) 78%
Intolerable Cruelty (2003) 75%
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) 80%
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) 77%
The Big Lebowski (1998) 77%
Fargo (1996) 94%
Raising Arizona (1987) 90%
Not Impressed By:
No Country for Old Men (2007) 94%
Miller's Crossing (1990) 90%
Blood Simple (1984) 97%
Haven’t Seen:
The Ladykillers (2004) 55%
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) 59%
Barton Fink (1991) 90%
Honourable Mention:
Alfred Hitchcock
Though I've only seen "Psycho" and "North By Northwest", I can tell this is someone whose extensive works I'm going to need to check out. Any recommendations on which of his movies to see first would be highly welcome.
Less Prolific Directors (Or Directors Still Early In Their Career)
Matthew Vaughn
I was inspired to make this post because of this guy. My introduction to his directorial debut was an advert boasting that "Layer Cake" came from "the producer of 'Snatch' and 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells'". Needless to say, I found this less than encouraging. However, after a recommendation from a friend I decided to check it out and was surprised to find a movie that was arguably better than either of Guy Ritchie's movies. I was then shocked to discover that "Stardust" came from the same director and this increased my expectations for "Kick Ass" (which turns out to be pretty awesome).
I can't wait to see what he comes up with next. (Apparently another collaboration with creator of the Kick-Ass graphic novel, Mark Millar.)
Enjoyed:
Kick-Ass (2010)
Stardust (2007)
Layer Cake (2004)
Darren Aronofsky
A director who clearly takes a long time over any project. I've been following his exploits since the intentionally black and white movie "Pi" about a mathematical genius trying to find patterns in the stock market.
"The Fountain" was quite a compromised work due to the leading actors walking out part way through and on first watch I must admit that I disliked it. At first I thought that I was being rather overly bombarded with "tree of life"-related symbolism. Nevertheless, on the second watch, having recognised what was supposed to be real, what was supposed to be fictional and what was symbolic, the movie took on a greater resonance. "The Wrestler" is by far the least 'arty' of Aronofsky's movies and I have to say I was highly appreciative of that.
There are suggestions that Aronofsky might be persuaded to do a remake of Robocop and while I'm not sure we need a remake of Robocop, I'd be very intrigued to see what Aronofsky would do with the material.
Latest Project:
Black Swan (2010)
Enjoyed:
The Wrestler (2008) 98%
The Fountain (2006) 51%
Requiem For A Dream (2000) 80%
Pi- Faith In Chaos (1998) 85%
Guillermo Del Toro
While his earlier work seems a bit hit or miss I absolutely love his recent movies. I'm very excited to see what he comes up with in the upcoming Hobbit movies. I can explain my low opinion of "The Devil's Backbone". While I didn't hugely dislike it, it suffers from a pet peeve of mine which is the inclusion of poorly defined ghosts. (Ghost stories often allow ghosts to do either absolutely anything or practically nothing at all. In worst case scenarios you can even get both of these. It irritates the hell out of me.)
Latest Projects:
The Hobbit: Part 2 (2012)
The Hobbit: Part 1 (2011)
Enjoyed:
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) 87%
El Laberinto Del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) (2006) 95%
Hellboy (2004) 81%
Blade II (2002) 58%
Cronos (1993) 89%
Not Impressed By:
Mimic (1997) 55%
El Espinazo Del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone) (2001) 92%
Christopher Nolan
Fairly consistently awesome, with Dark Knight not actually being one of his better contributions (especially with the rather overly forced change in character from Harvey Dent). Actually more interested in "Inception" than any future Batman projects.
Latest Projects:
Untitled Batman Project (2011)
Inception (2010)
Enjoyed:
The Dark Knight (2008) 94%
The Prestige (2006) 75%
Batman Begins (2005) 84%
Memento (2000) 93%
Following (1998) 80%
Not Impressed By:
Insomnia (2002) 92%
Sam Mendes
Rewatched "Jarhead" recently and found that it was still enjoyable and definitely underrated. "Away We Go", on the other hand, has turned out to be rather less impressive.
Latest Project:
Bond 23 (2011)
Enjoyed:
Revolutionary Road (2008) 68%
Jarhead (2005) 61%
Road to Perdition (2002) 82%
American Beauty (1999) 89%
Not Impressed By:
Away We Go (2009) 66%
Andrew Stanton
Director at the helm of arguably Pixar's best projects.
Latest Project:
John Carter Of Mars (2012)
Enjoyed:
WALL-E (2008) 96%
Finding Nemo (2003) 98%
Not impressed by:
A Bug’s Life (1998) 91%
Quentin Tarantino
Not much to say really is there? Tarantino's more recent projects have been rather silly and initially he seemed to be properly recognising this. When he released "Kill Bill" he said that Kill Bill was the sort of movie that characters within his other movies would go to the cinema to see. If "Death Proof" had actually been remotely exciting, its silliness would be excused by the Grindhouse premise. Now that we've reached "Inglourious Basterds" it feels like Tarantino ought to have been coming back down to Earth and, let's face it, the best part of the movie was Christoph Waltz's performance which, in spite of the cartoon around him, seemed to force the audience to start taking things seriously. In the end, Tarantino's best work has always been his first two movies. While I can't say I'm sorry to see him starting a new Kill Bill installment, it'd be nice if he produced some less disposable movies in the future.
Latest Project:
Kill Bill: Vol. 3 (2014)
Enjoyed:
Inglourious Basterds (2009) 89%
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) 85%
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) 85%
Jackie Brown (1997) 85%
Pulp Fiction (1994) 96%
Reservoir Dogs (1992) 95%
Not Impressed By:
Death Proof (2007) 64%
Alejandro Amenabar
Unlike with Quentin Tarantino, I have as yet to see a movie from Alejandro Amenabar I didn't like. However, the score for his latest project seems quite horrific. I'd like to hope that it's due to a backlash from the majority of Catholic viewers in Spain, but I'm not sure that's enough explanation. I'm hoping this isn't the beginning of a downward spiral from the director.
Latest Project:
Agora (2009) 50%
Enjoyed:
Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside) (2004) 83%
The Others (2001) 83%
Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) (1997) 84%
Tesis (1996) 71%
Directors Who Let Me Down
Kevin Smith
While fairly amusing outside of his directorial role, he hasn't really shown himself to be terribly good at making anything that isn't Clerks.
Latest Projects:
Hit Somebody (2012)
Red State (2011)
Enjoyed:
Clerks II (2006) 62%
Mallrats (1995) 51%
Clerks (1994) 88%
Not Impressed By:
Dogma (1999) 68%
Chasing Amy (1997) 91%
Haven’t Seen:
Cop Out (2010) 19%
Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) 65%
Jersey Girl (2004) 41%
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) 53%
James Cameron
As far as I'm concerned, Terminator 2 was the last thing he did that was worth watching. Seeing as that was pretty much my introduction to him as a director that's not a great track-record. Still, I like three of his movies and that's quite a few really.
Latest Projects:
Avatar 2 (2014)
Battle Angel (2011)
Enjoyed:
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 98%
Aliens (1986) 100%
The Terminator (1984) 100%
Not Impressed By:
Avatar (2009) 82%
Titanic (1997) 83%
True Lies (1994) 68%
The Abyss (1989) 85%
Haven’t Seen:
Aliens of the Deep (2005) 84%
Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) 81%
Piranha Part Two: The Spawning (1981) 8%
David Fincher
While the ending to The Game was pretty stupid, there's no doubting the quality of David Fincher's direction. Since 1999 Fincher's movies have been rather less than impressive and the news that his next project is a movie about the creation of the Facebook website doesn't exactly leave me with terribly high hopes.
Latest Project:
The Social Network (2010) (post-production)
Enjoyed:
Fight Club (1999) 80%
Se7en (1995) 84%
Alien³ (1992) 34%
Not Impressed By:
Zodiac (2007/I) 89%
Panic Room (2002) 77%
The Game (1997) 79%
Haven’t Seen:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) 72%
So it's long been a tendency of mine to look out for the director name and the following is a list of director's which have managed to catch my attention.
Prolific Directors
Perhaps it makes sense to start with these guys. Sometimes following a particular director can be a punishing process. They won't always come up to scratch. But even if half their movies are disappointing the other half often make them worth following. I'll start the list with someone who most people will tend to want to keep their eye on:
Steven Spielberg
I've never understood the appeal of the movie "E.T." and "War Of The Worlds" was utterly horrific. Still, Spielberg has some undeniable classics in his career. Apparently I ought to check out "Close Encounters" and "Sugarland Express" also sounds intriguing.
Latest Projects:
Interstellar (2011)
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
Enjoyed:
Catch Me If You Can (2002) 96%
Minority Report (2002) 92%
Saving Private Ryan (1998) 90%
Amistad (1997) 79%
Schindler's List (1993) 97%
Jurassic Park (1993) 84%
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) 89%
Empire of the Sun (1987) 80%
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 94%
Jaws (1975) 100%
Duel (1971) 86%
Not Impressed By:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) 77%
Munich (2005) 77%
War of the Worlds (2005) 73%
Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) 72%
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) 48%
Hook (1991) 22%
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) 85%
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 98%
Haven’t Seen:
The Terminal (2004) 61%
Always (1989) 61%
The Color Purple (1985) 88%
1941 (1979) 30%
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) 95%
The Sugarland Express (1974) 92%
Werner Herzog
A recent discovery, but what I've seen so far has blown me away. Particularly incredible was Herzog's documentary "Grizzly Man". I've been keen to check out "Bad Lieutenant" since Filmdrunk was raving about it and having discovered that "Rescue Dawn" starring Christian Bale is also a Herzog movie, I'm keen to check that out too.
Latest Project:
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009) 38%
Enjoyed:
Encounters at the End of the World (2007) 93%
Grizzly Man (2005) 93%
Fitzcarraldo (1982) 82%
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979) 94%
Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (Aguirre: The Wrath of God) (1972) 97%
Haven’t Seen:
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009) 85%
Rescue Dawn (2006) 90%
The Wild Blue Yonder (2005) 68%
The White Diamond (2004) 94%
Wheel of Time (2003) 94%
Invincible (2001) 53%
Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski (My Best Fiend) (1999) 78%
Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997) 93%
Lektionen in Finsternis (Lessons of Darkness) (1992) 100%
Cobra Verde (1987) 86%
Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen (Where The Green Ants Dream) (1984) 80%
Woyzeck (1979) 82%
La Soufrière - Warten auf eine unausweichliche Katastrophe (1977)
Stroszek (1977) 100%
Herz aus Glas (Heart of Glass) (1976) 100%
Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser) (1974) 91%
Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit (Land of Silence and Darkness) (1971) 83%
Fata Morgana (1971) 100%
Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen (Even Dwarfs Started Small) (1970) 100%
Lebenszeichen (Signs of Life) (1968) 88%
John Carpenter
Now this really does feel like an odd selection. John Carpenter's career is very much up and down with the lows including "Ghosts Of Mars" (essentially zombies in space, but without being as fun as it ought to be) and "Memoirs Of An Invisible Man" (made well enough but suffers from being a comedy starring Chevy Chase).
Slightly iffy, but still very enjoyable, is "Vampires" which might just as easily be called "James Woods: Vampire Hunter". It's as much fun as it sounds.
"They Live" is well-known for the line "I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum... and I'm all out of bubblegum." Unfortunately, when that line shows up it feels completely out of place. Also a scuffle between two of the main characters goes on way too long and while quite entertaining to watch also feels rather odd. The main theme of the movie (which is sensibly left uncertain by the title) is nevertheless very cleverly done.
Bizarrely the highest rated of Carpenter's movies is "Escape From Precinct 13", which I actually found very slow-moving and dull. Another highly-rated Carpenter movie with pacing problems was "Escape From New York" which I can only presume has dated rather badly.
The mis-match between the RT scores and my actual enjoyment of the movies makes it hard to be sure what I ought to watch. "Halloween" scores very highly and while being a slasher, it apparently invented the genre. That said, I really don't enjoy slasher movies. "Dark Star" seems like a better bet since it was apparently the inspiration for the sit-com Red Dwarf, but views seem mixed on this one. "The Fog" isn't particularly highly rated, but the apparent inclusion of ghost-pirates is a definite incentive.
Latest Project:
The Ward (2010)
Enjoyed:
Vampires (1998) 34%
In the Mouth of Madness (1994) 48%
They Live (1988) 88%
Big Trouble in Little China (1986) 81%
The Thing (1982) 77%
Not impressed by:
Ghosts of Mars (2001) 19%
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) 25%
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) 96%
Escape from New York (1981) 81%
Haven’t seen:
Escape from L.A. (1996) 58%
Village of the Damned (1995) 30%
Prince of Darkness (1987) 47%
Starman (1984) 78%
Christine (1983) 67%
The Fog (1980) 69%
Halloween (1978) 93%
Dark Star (1974) 80%
David Cronenberg
Cronenberg's interest in psychological horror (particularly "body horror") makes his latest project annoying, but not entirely surprising. While others are suggesting that he'd be better suited to the fourth Twilight movie, his decision to direct a movie starring Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud sounds like an even more bizarre choice for him. Still, I'll be interested to see what he comes up with.
In the meantime, there's plenty in his repetoire which I want to see. The highest rated appears to be "Dead Zone" which looks pretty awesome. Sure my view of his movies has been mixed, but across such a long career this is hardly surprising and asides from Crash (which I became bored with fairly quickly) all of his movies have successfully caught my attention in one way or another. (Most upsetting was "eXistenZ" which started very promisingly but became far too convoluted. It also appeared to involve the most boring immersive computer games imaginable.)
Latest Project:
The Talking Cure (2011)
Enjoyed:
Eastern Promises (2007) 88%
A History of Violence (2005) 86%
The Fly (1986) 91%
Videodrome (1983) 80%
Scanners (1981) 76%
Rabid (1977) 62%
Not too impressed by:
eXistenZ (1999) 72%
Crash (1996) 65%
Naked Lunch (1991) 67%
Shivers (1975) 83%
Haven’t Seen:
Spider (2002) 85%
Dead Ringers (1988) 83%
The Dead Zone (1983) 89%
The Brood (1979) 80%
Fast Company (1979) 71%
Terry Gilliam
Actually a fairly short list of movies, but they span back to the seventies nonetheless, so I'm putting him here anyway. Terry Gilliam has a flair for the weird and wonderful. It's fairly clear that Gilliam hasn't lost it yet, but he seems to find it rather difficult to bounce back from any setbacks.
Latest Project:
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2011)
Enjoyed:
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) 65%
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) 48%
Twelve Monkeys (1995) 87%
The Fisher King (1991) 89%
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) 85%
Brazil (1985) 98%
Time Bandits (1981) 94%
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) 94%
Not Impressed By:
Tideland (2005) 28%
The Brothers Grimm (2005) 37%
Haven’t Seen:
Jabberwocky (1977) 58%
Robert Rodriguez
Recently linked to a few projects he's not directing, including Red Sonya and Predators. While there's some hope that his connection with these projects might help them along, it must be remembered that this is the same guy who allowed his son to make and release the movie "Shark Boy and Lava Girl".
Still there's little doubting Rodriguez's sense of fun. While movie-makers will often try to persuade people that their movie-sets are great fun places to be, the extras for Planet Terror really give the impression that this was actually the case. Perhaps this is how Rodriguez was able to keep his original feature "El Mariachi" to the unbelievably low budget of seven thousand dollars. (Another sign of Rodriguez's sense of fun was his insistence that Tarantino buy back his "From Dusk Til Dawn" script straight after Pulp Fiction, knowing full well that this was the best chance they'd ever have to make something so utterly ludicrous.)
I was particularly disappointed by his children's movies because of his work in the movie "Four Rooms". While Four Rooms is ghastly and we really ought to pretend it never existed, there's little doubting that Rodriguez's segment is by far the most entertaining section. What it appeared to reveal to me was Rodriguez's talent for directing child actors. Sadly his Spy Kids movies went from bad to worse mainly because of the rather poor scripts, in spite of Rodriguez getting some very engaging peformances from the young actors.
Latest Projects:
Sin City 3 (2012)
Machete (2010)
Enjoyed:
Planet Terror (2007) 77%
Sin City (2005) 77%
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) 69%
The Faculty (1998) 53%
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) 63%
Desperado (1995) 62%
El mariachi (1992) 92%
Not Impressed By:
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003) 45%
Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002) 75%
Spy Kids (2001) 93%
Haven’t Seen:
Shorts (2009) 46%
The Coen Brothers
I've had mixed feelings about many of the Coen Brothers' movies. Perhaps surprisingly, I count "No Country For Old Men" as a disappointment because of its rather pointless ending. (It was suggested to me that the same could be said for "Burn After Reading", but when the ending to a comedy has the entire audience in fits of riotous laughter, I'm not sure I can really call that pointless. Besides, there is a clear focus for the entire narrative arc of Burn After Reading. It just isn't what you'd initially expected.)
"A Serious Man" is, to my mind, one of the funniest comedies I have ever seen. It had me in fits of laughter from beginning to end.
"Barton Fink" appears to be the highest rated of all the Coen Brothers movies I haven't seen, so I guess I ought to check it out.
Latest Project:
True Grit (2010)
Enjoyed:
A Serious Man (2009) 88%
Burn After Reading (2008) 78%
Intolerable Cruelty (2003) 75%
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) 80%
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) 77%
The Big Lebowski (1998) 77%
Fargo (1996) 94%
Raising Arizona (1987) 90%
Not Impressed By:
No Country for Old Men (2007) 94%
Miller's Crossing (1990) 90%
Blood Simple (1984) 97%
Haven’t Seen:
The Ladykillers (2004) 55%
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) 59%
Barton Fink (1991) 90%
Honourable Mention:
Alfred Hitchcock
Though I've only seen "Psycho" and "North By Northwest", I can tell this is someone whose extensive works I'm going to need to check out. Any recommendations on which of his movies to see first would be highly welcome.
Less Prolific Directors (Or Directors Still Early In Their Career)
Matthew Vaughn
I was inspired to make this post because of this guy. My introduction to his directorial debut was an advert boasting that "Layer Cake" came from "the producer of 'Snatch' and 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells'". Needless to say, I found this less than encouraging. However, after a recommendation from a friend I decided to check it out and was surprised to find a movie that was arguably better than either of Guy Ritchie's movies. I was then shocked to discover that "Stardust" came from the same director and this increased my expectations for "Kick Ass" (which turns out to be pretty awesome).
I can't wait to see what he comes up with next. (Apparently another collaboration with creator of the Kick-Ass graphic novel, Mark Millar.)
Enjoyed:
Kick-Ass (2010)
Stardust (2007)
Layer Cake (2004)
Darren Aronofsky
A director who clearly takes a long time over any project. I've been following his exploits since the intentionally black and white movie "Pi" about a mathematical genius trying to find patterns in the stock market.
"The Fountain" was quite a compromised work due to the leading actors walking out part way through and on first watch I must admit that I disliked it. At first I thought that I was being rather overly bombarded with "tree of life"-related symbolism. Nevertheless, on the second watch, having recognised what was supposed to be real, what was supposed to be fictional and what was symbolic, the movie took on a greater resonance. "The Wrestler" is by far the least 'arty' of Aronofsky's movies and I have to say I was highly appreciative of that.
There are suggestions that Aronofsky might be persuaded to do a remake of Robocop and while I'm not sure we need a remake of Robocop, I'd be very intrigued to see what Aronofsky would do with the material.
Latest Project:
Black Swan (2010)
Enjoyed:
The Wrestler (2008) 98%
The Fountain (2006) 51%
Requiem For A Dream (2000) 80%
Pi- Faith In Chaos (1998) 85%
Guillermo Del Toro
While his earlier work seems a bit hit or miss I absolutely love his recent movies. I'm very excited to see what he comes up with in the upcoming Hobbit movies. I can explain my low opinion of "The Devil's Backbone". While I didn't hugely dislike it, it suffers from a pet peeve of mine which is the inclusion of poorly defined ghosts. (Ghost stories often allow ghosts to do either absolutely anything or practically nothing at all. In worst case scenarios you can even get both of these. It irritates the hell out of me.)
Latest Projects:
The Hobbit: Part 2 (2012)
The Hobbit: Part 1 (2011)
Enjoyed:
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) 87%
El Laberinto Del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) (2006) 95%
Hellboy (2004) 81%
Blade II (2002) 58%
Cronos (1993) 89%
Not Impressed By:
Mimic (1997) 55%
El Espinazo Del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone) (2001) 92%
Christopher Nolan
Fairly consistently awesome, with Dark Knight not actually being one of his better contributions (especially with the rather overly forced change in character from Harvey Dent). Actually more interested in "Inception" than any future Batman projects.
Latest Projects:
Untitled Batman Project (2011)
Inception (2010)
Enjoyed:
The Dark Knight (2008) 94%
The Prestige (2006) 75%
Batman Begins (2005) 84%
Memento (2000) 93%
Following (1998) 80%
Not Impressed By:
Insomnia (2002) 92%
Sam Mendes
Rewatched "Jarhead" recently and found that it was still enjoyable and definitely underrated. "Away We Go", on the other hand, has turned out to be rather less impressive.
Latest Project:
Bond 23 (2011)
Enjoyed:
Revolutionary Road (2008) 68%
Jarhead (2005) 61%
Road to Perdition (2002) 82%
American Beauty (1999) 89%
Not Impressed By:
Away We Go (2009) 66%
Andrew Stanton
Director at the helm of arguably Pixar's best projects.
Latest Project:
John Carter Of Mars (2012)
Enjoyed:
WALL-E (2008) 96%
Finding Nemo (2003) 98%
Not impressed by:
A Bug’s Life (1998) 91%
Quentin Tarantino
Not much to say really is there? Tarantino's more recent projects have been rather silly and initially he seemed to be properly recognising this. When he released "Kill Bill" he said that Kill Bill was the sort of movie that characters within his other movies would go to the cinema to see. If "Death Proof" had actually been remotely exciting, its silliness would be excused by the Grindhouse premise. Now that we've reached "Inglourious Basterds" it feels like Tarantino ought to have been coming back down to Earth and, let's face it, the best part of the movie was Christoph Waltz's performance which, in spite of the cartoon around him, seemed to force the audience to start taking things seriously. In the end, Tarantino's best work has always been his first two movies. While I can't say I'm sorry to see him starting a new Kill Bill installment, it'd be nice if he produced some less disposable movies in the future.
Latest Project:
Kill Bill: Vol. 3 (2014)
Enjoyed:
Inglourious Basterds (2009) 89%
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) 85%
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) 85%
Jackie Brown (1997) 85%
Pulp Fiction (1994) 96%
Reservoir Dogs (1992) 95%
Not Impressed By:
Death Proof (2007) 64%
Alejandro Amenabar
Unlike with Quentin Tarantino, I have as yet to see a movie from Alejandro Amenabar I didn't like. However, the score for his latest project seems quite horrific. I'd like to hope that it's due to a backlash from the majority of Catholic viewers in Spain, but I'm not sure that's enough explanation. I'm hoping this isn't the beginning of a downward spiral from the director.
Latest Project:
Agora (2009) 50%
Enjoyed:
Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside) (2004) 83%
The Others (2001) 83%
Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) (1997) 84%
Tesis (1996) 71%
Directors Who Let Me Down
Kevin Smith
While fairly amusing outside of his directorial role, he hasn't really shown himself to be terribly good at making anything that isn't Clerks.
Latest Projects:
Hit Somebody (2012)
Red State (2011)
Enjoyed:
Clerks II (2006) 62%
Mallrats (1995) 51%
Clerks (1994) 88%
Not Impressed By:
Dogma (1999) 68%
Chasing Amy (1997) 91%
Haven’t Seen:
Cop Out (2010) 19%
Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) 65%
Jersey Girl (2004) 41%
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) 53%
James Cameron
As far as I'm concerned, Terminator 2 was the last thing he did that was worth watching. Seeing as that was pretty much my introduction to him as a director that's not a great track-record. Still, I like three of his movies and that's quite a few really.
Latest Projects:
Avatar 2 (2014)
Battle Angel (2011)
Enjoyed:
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 98%
Aliens (1986) 100%
The Terminator (1984) 100%
Not Impressed By:
Avatar (2009) 82%
Titanic (1997) 83%
True Lies (1994) 68%
The Abyss (1989) 85%
Haven’t Seen:
Aliens of the Deep (2005) 84%
Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) 81%
Piranha Part Two: The Spawning (1981) 8%
David Fincher
While the ending to The Game was pretty stupid, there's no doubting the quality of David Fincher's direction. Since 1999 Fincher's movies have been rather less than impressive and the news that his next project is a movie about the creation of the Facebook website doesn't exactly leave me with terribly high hopes.
Latest Project:
The Social Network (2010) (post-production)
Enjoyed:
Fight Club (1999) 80%
Se7en (1995) 84%
Alien³ (1992) 34%
Not Impressed By:
Zodiac (2007/I) 89%
Panic Room (2002) 77%
The Game (1997) 79%
Haven’t Seen:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) 72%
