Who's the best director of all time?

Heresy

In my humble opinion, the accolade would have to go to Stanley Kubrick. His movies are not focused on the dialog but more on vision.
All his movies have wonderful moments, scenes that look well framed and hung on a wall. Another aspect of this guy's brilliance is his choice of music. It is always very striking - a perfect example of this is the docking of the shuttle at the space station in '2001'. The blue danube was not associated with scientific activities until 1968.
More directors that could be awarded this tribute are:

Martin Scorcese
Alfred Hitchcock
Roland Joffe
Oliver Stone
Sergio Leone

I'd like to hear why some of you would agree or disagree with my opinion on this.

ixoy

I'm also going with Kubrick, for pretty much the reasons that you've given. More interestingly, I'm going to nominate David Fincher as the best director currently working in Hollywood. He can even polish a turd like "Panic Room" so that it appears non-turd like...

anthonymcg

Kubrick is in a class above alright. I'd kinda prescribe him as my favourite 'art conscious' director and Steven Spielberg as my general best director.

koneko

I'd like to add Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love). Great style.

Kubrick, Scorcese, Tarantino (to an extent), Stone, Fincher (some of his films), Raimi, Peter Jackson too if he keeps up the good work. Personally think George A. Romero is great too.

avatar

Alright, here's my list

--Stanley Kubrick
--Martin Scorcese
--Oliver Stone
--Ridley Scott
--David Fincher
--Alfred Hitchcock

They're the ones who come to mind, but as soon as I can remember who directed the Seven Samurai, I'm adding him too... classic film (I think it was Akira Kurasowa, butif I'm wrong, please tell me)

Heresy

This is probably a bit like telling a Calculus professor about the unitary method but there's a site out there (www.imdb.com) which will give you information on every director, every actor, every screenwriter (basically all the information there is known by God about films, film making etc.). I recommend a surf through it. Nearly as good as Microsoft's Cinemania. How come that isn't made anymore?

patch

Micheal Mann hasn't really put a foot wrong. Ok, maybe The Keep, but he still gets my vote!

jonno

Well I will have to put Steven Spielberg in there at the top of my list just for therange of films he has made that have made such impact.

After that I'd have:
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Stanley Kubrick
- David Fincher
- Ridley Sccott
- Martin Scorcese
- Oliver Stone
- Sam Raimi
- Michael Bay (I'm serious I like alot of his action work)
- Gore Verbinski

mike65

The greatest is proberly the guy who most informed us of the language of cinema and influenecd others so its proberly someone like Fritz Lang or Sergei Eisenstein. Kubrick is brilliant at his best but never got to grips with the narrative. Which is proberly why his filmed tend to be admired rather than loved.

Mike.

Funky

i Stephen Spielbergo the man's a genius

My favourite directors are

Akira Kurosawa
Peter Jackson
Sam Raimi
Takeshi Kitano
David Fincher
Tim Burton

Caesar_Bojangle

Kubrick

Sergio Leone

I'd like to say Quentin Tarrintino but Jackie Brown kind of sucked large overgrown balls, and I'd like really like to reserve my judgement till both parts of Kill Bill are released.

memphis

Originally posted by Funky
i Stephen Spielbergo the man's a genius

My sentiment exactly. I totally agree with you Funky. Speilberg has done some great things for the film industry.

I also think the guys that directed "The matrix" movies deserves mentioning, but there clever use of cameratography. Can't think of there names off the cuff.

Turnip

I'd say Orson Welles and the rest of my top 10 in no particular order:

Billy Wilder
David Lynch
David Cronenberg
Martin Scorsese
Akira Kurosawa
John Boorman
John Carpenter
Luis Bunuel
Alfred Hitchcock

And an honourable mention for Bruce (Wihnail And I) Robinson.

mr_angry

Gore Verbinski (The Ring, Donnie Darko) - no question. I'd support calls for Peter Jackson too, despite his love of the B-Movie style.

Goodshape

Gore Verbinski didn't direct Donnie Darko, that was Richard Kelly.

Kubrick get's my vote.

daveg

I agree with many above. I'd also throw in:

Brian De Palma
Terrence Malick.
Tony Scott
Wachowski brothers
Coen Brothers

henbane

Sam Peckinpah be the man

Billy Wilder rocked

Curtis Hanson hasn't put a foot wrong yet

Scorcese is excellent when he's doing the right material for him and is brave enough to try things that might not work.

John McTiernan deserves an honourable mention.

John Carpenter was excellent up until recently - pretty much since everything released says John Carpenter's over the title

Kubrick over-rated as he couldn't tell a story to save his life

Spielberg makes money and panders to the cheap seats

Heresy

How silly of me. Forgot to include Brian DePalma in my list. He gets a tough time for obvious reasons but in fact, I think he's more stylish and innovative than Hitchcock! Yes I'm being serious. He'd never be what he is without Hitchcock but, he's standing on his shoulder. Hitchcock is a giant.

mr_angry

Gore Verbinski didn't direct Donnie Darko, that was Richard Kelly.

My apologies. I was thinking of "Pirates of the Carribean".

JaneyMackers

Speilberg.
Sam Pekempah
Leone
Ridley Scott
Alfred hitchcock
Mann
Martin Scorsese
Stanley Kubrick

No particular order

Heresy

Lads, I've compiled all "mentions" to date allowing 1 point for every mention. Here's how it came out:

Martin Scorcese: 6
Stanley Kubrick: 9
Roland Joffe: 1
Oliver Stone: 4
Sergio Leone: 3
David Fincher: 5
Steven Speilberg: 4
Paul T. Anderson: 1
Quentin Tarantino: 1
Sam Raimi: 3
Pete Jackson: 3
George Romero: 1
Scott Ridley: 3
Alfred Hitchcock: 5
Michael Mann: 2
Michael Bay: 1
Gore Verbinski: 2
Fritz Lang: 1
Sergei Eisenstein: 1
Akira Kurosawa: 2
Takeshi Kietano: 1
Tim Burton: 1
Orson Welles: 1
Billy Wilder: 2
David Lynch: 1
David Cronenberg: 1
John Boorman: 1
John Carpenter: 1
Brian DePalma: 2
Terence Malick: 1
Tony Scott: 1
Wachowski Bros: 1
Coen Bros: 1
Sam Peckinpah: 1
John Mc Tiernan: 1


If I've left anyone out, woops. Glad to see Kubrick got the most mentions, and I'm delighted that Sergei Eisenstein got a mention. He is after all, one of the pioneers of film editing.
Thanks lads. This was an education for me as well.

sod

ah come on, am I the only one who thinks Jim Cameron deserves mention in this thread?

like, even Michael Bay has recieved a mention, i really hate him.

Caesar_Bojangle

Yeah. I'll second Jim Cameron, solely for T1 and T2 though.

sod

Originally posted by Caesar_Bojangle
Yeah. I'll second Jim Cameron, solely for T1 and T2 though.

... and aliens and the abyss

LegacyUser

once upon a time in the west was on there recently, class movie, wouldn't say he was the best ever but Sergio leneo deserves another mention

shotamoose

Er, hello, David Lean? The man did direct Lawrence of Arabia (which George Lucas has been ripping off ever since), Brief Encounter, Great Expectations, The Bridge on the River Kwai and Doctor Zhivago ...

Kubrick was a genius but left so many people completely cold it's hard to see him as the greatest.

Kurosawa and Sergio Leone, along with Lean, revolutionised film-making in the mid-century and both deserve to be in any top ten.

Orson Welles made films like nobody else - Touch of Evil, The Trial, Chimes at Midnight, Magnificent Ambersons, and oh yeah Citizen Kane. They're all totally unique and unforgettable.

Great modern directors? Spike Lee, Richard Linklater, the Coens, Jim Cameron and, possibly, the Wachowskis. For starters.

Heresy

Lads, I don't see that list I compiled as carved in stone. All those lads ye mentioned (especially the older ones) like Jimmy Cameron and David Lean are regarded by people like me and Leonard Maltin as up there with the best. Why weren't they in my own personal list? I slipped up.
So, what I suggest is, we have a 'top 10 directors of the month', every month. Each month, based upon new arguments, new releases and new people contributing to the threads we get a dynamic list that changes with respect to what's going on in the world, in this community etc.
Any seconds to the motion?

henbane

Originally posted by Heresy
So, what I suggest is, we have a 'top 10 directors of the month', every month. Each month, based upon new arguments, new releases and new people contributing to the threads we get a dynamic list that changes with respect to what's going on in the world, in this community etc.
Any seconds to the motion?

Sounds like a plan. I assume it's gotta be limited to films released in the last month.

ixoy

Originally posted by henbane
Sounds like a plan. I assume it's gotta be limited to films released in the last month.

Isn't that very limiting? Only movies in the last month? Very few movies have direction behind them worth noting. I guess I'll nominate Ozon's "Swimming Pool" for last month...

Heresy

Sounds like a plan. I assume it's gotta be limited to films released in the last month.

Absolutely not. The list just *changes* every month.
When somebody sees a film by Alfred Hitchcock (they've never seen before) for example, they could nominate him. I've seen every Kubrick film, so by right, I should nominate him every month without change.
Maybe it's a stupid idea, whatever.

henbane

Just seems a bit weird to be treading the same ground over and over to come up with a top ten every month.

Originally posted by Heresy
Absolutely not. The list just *changes* every month.
When somebody sees a film by Alfred Hitchcock (they've never seen before) for example, they could nominate him. I've seen every Kubrick film, so by right, I should nominate him every month without change.
Maybe it's a stupid idea, whatever.

Just thinking though from what you said above, say limit it where possible to new movies, or stuff that just came out on dvd or was on tv that month?

For instance Once upon a time in the West is out 06/10/2003 so Leone could get a mention for October.

I think Roger Rabbit got a recent dvd release and Robert Zemeckis is definitely a little under-rated?

I is probly off on a wild n' crazy tangent at this stage.

Heresy

The more I think about it, the more I realise that there would be a huge amount of work involved in this (possibly fruitless) exercise. Everyone has there own point of view and I respect everyone's opinion when it comes to movies (although I usually disagree).
End of thread me thinks.