Best Directors

godspal

I need a little bit of help here.
My friends are really into film and sometimes I feel a little ignorant (haven't really watched that many of the great films.) So recently I have spent my time seeing movies that regularly get mentioned in conversations about great direction.

At this stage I have watched:
The Seventh Seal Director Ingmar Bergman.
Momento Director Christopher Nolan
Vivre sa Vie Director Jean Luc Godard

I also plan to watch a few more by Bergman, and Godard, but also some by Wells and Hitchcock. I have see all the Scorsese, Spielberg, Coppola, Lynch films worth seeing. So I was just wondering is there anybody else ye would recommend?

Otacon

My vote: Akira Kurosawa - try Rashomon and Seven Samurai.

X-Calibre

Anything by Paul Thomas Anderson - Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights

bnt

Some more recent names I look out for:
Steven Soderbergh: seemed to go all commercial (the Oceans n films), but has recently released the arty Che films.
Michael Mann: Last of the Mohicans, Heat and The Aviator are quite spectacular, Collateral is stylish, and the upcoming Public Enemies has Johnny Depp and Christian Bale butting heads in 1930s gangland.
Guillermo Del Toro: broke through with Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth, soon to start on The Hobbit.

Lamper.sffc

Ridley Scott

seanybiker

The coen brothers have a few decent films so far.

Zatman

Talk about the works of Quentin Tarantino people always impressed by his films dont get it myself. he made 3 good films but lives off that reputation.

Robert Rodriguez is much better and underrated

ZiMZuM

Ron Howard has directed a few good films such as Frost/Nixon,Cinderella Man,Da Vinci Code,A Beautiful Mind,Ransom,Apollo 13 and Willow!he also produced Changling!

Eglinton

You could discuss Michael Bay's subtle use of helicopters in his films and also his character driven plots.

JIZZLORD

has to be uwe boll

ztoical

Mike Leigh - Secrets and lies is a personal fav
Carl Dreyer - oldie but still a goodie
Lars von Trier - bit of a twat but makes good films
Alejandro Jodorowsky - Holy Mountain isn't a film, its a trip!
Luis Buñuel - often people focus on his work with Dali but his later work is really worth checking out - Los Olvidados esp.

Basq

Some modern favourites that haven't been mentioned:

Shane Meadows: Dead Mans Shoes, This Is England, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
David Fincher: Zodiac, Fight Club, Seven
Edgar Wright: Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, TV Show 'Spaced'
Peter Jackson: Brain Dead, King Kong, Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Danny Boyle: Trainspotting, Sunshine, 28 Days Later
Wes Anderson: Rushmore, The Royal Tenanbaums, The Life Aquatic
Darren Aronofsky: Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, The Fountain

godspal

Eglinton wrote: »

You could discuss Michael Bay's subtle use of helicopters in his films and also his character driven plots.

Definitely one of the most bitter and sarcastic things I have seen on boards. And to you good sir, I say bravo.

ztoical thanks a nice healthy waft of both classical and international cinema. Much appreciated. Be probably watching Vampyr in the next couple of days looks mad cool.

johnny_ultimate

Otacon wrote: »

My vote: Akira Kurosawa - try Rashomon and Seven Samurai.

Yeah definitely Kurosawa - definitely one of the classic directors whose films still seem fresh and exciting. Rashomon and Seven Samurai are both masterpieces, and check out others like Ran, Yojimbo and Ikiru.

If you're looking for more Bergman, try Persona, Cries and Whispers and his 'faith' trilogy for starters. He has a lot of wonderful films, but those would be the highlights IMO.

Also worth watching some Werner Herzog films - usually completely loopers, but sometimes astonishing. Aquirre: The Wrath of God is stunning. Nosferatu is very creepy indeed.

Other directors worth checking out are Truffaut (Jules et Jim / 400 Blows), Ozu (Tokyo Story), Wilder (Sunset Boulevard) - again, all still stand up today. If you're looking for more Godard, WeekEnd is pretty amazing, although some of the rest of his stuff sometimes comes across as cynical exercises. Contemporary directors at the top of their game for me would be the likes of Takeshi Kitano (Kikujiro, Hana-Bi), Michael Haneke (Hidden, The Piano Teacher) or Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine, Science of Sleep).

Keyzer

Michael Mann
Martin Scorcese

markesmith

Sergio Leone - Once Upon A Time In America (& OUATI The West), and Good Bad and the Ugly.

Hal Ashby - Being There and Harold & Maude.

Two very underrated directors.

ztoical

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Aquirre: The Wrath of God is stunning.

+1 seconded, well worth checking out.

Dirk_Diggler

No mention of Jean-Pierre Jeunet yet? Shocking.

mike65

Fritz Lang, Sergei Eisenstein, Buñuel, Chabrol, Franco

eagle eye

No love here for Alfred Hitchcock

Rear Window, 39 Steps, Birds, Vertigo, Psycho, North by Northwest, Notorious, Rebecca, Strangers on a train and Dial M for Murder.

Sidney Lumet

Twelve Angry Men, Before the Devil knows your dead, Serpico, The Pawnbroker, Failsafe, Q & A, Dog Day Afternoon, Prince of the City, The Verdict

Carol Reed is a favourite of mine for these three movies

The Third Man, Our Man in Havana and Oliver

Edit: Add in Orson Welles as well, he came to mind when I was thinking of the third man, three for him as well,

The Trial, Citizen Kane and Chimes and Midnight

JP Liz

I'd also recommend

Hal Hartley

Wim Wenders

John Sayles

Nolanger

Robert Altman puts most contemporary American directors to shame because he was actually innovative rather than just ripping off other movies.
Nashville is well worth a look.

Dibble

I second the Alfred Hitchcock recommendation. Also, David Lean was a superb director and one of my favourites.

BopNiblets

bnt wrote: »

Some more recent names I look out for:
Michael Mann:The Aviator

Martin Scorsese

Penn

Kevin Smith

And I'm not saying that because I think his films are funny, but I genuinely think he's a great director. Look at Chasing Amy, or Zack and Miri. Beautifully directed films

Vamoose Killers

Kevin Smith mentioned in this thread

:cheeky:

shrapnel222

kurosawa and fritz lang definitely, also missing kubrick, and a personal choice would be cronenberg for his early films

foxyboxer

Dibble wrote: »

I second the David Lean was a superb director and one of my favourites.

David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia"

My favourite movie...

Macsimus

Thanks for a great thread folks - lots of interesting suggestions - also never realised the same guy did Dead Mans Shoes and This is England - shall be keeping a close eye on Mr Meadows from now on.

But dont believe I saw Clint Eastwood mentionedyet - Grand Torino, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Unforgiven - a true living Legend

Creature

David Cronenberg is probably my favourite.

The Pontiac

Guillermo del Toro - The Devil's Backbone, Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth

Tusky

paddyirishman85 wrote: »

Kevin Smith

And I'm not saying that because I think his films are funny, but I genuinely think he's a great director. Look at Chasing Amy, or Zack and Miri. Beautifully directed films

...Zack and Miri a beautifully directed film ? I thought it was more like a glorified American Pie.

Kevin Smith is probably the most over rated director around in my opinion.

ReacherCreature

Michael Mann - Collateral & Heat are amazing.
Ridley Scott - Black Hawk Down & Gladiator.

cashback

I really like PT Anderson and Richard Linklater(even if just for Dazed and Confused, though he has others equally as good).

JP Liz

Forgot to mention Sam Raimi, Robert Towne, Clint Eastwood and Roman Polanski

The Pontiac

Danny Boyle deserves a mention - Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire.

pwd

bnt wrote: »

Some more recent names I look out for:
Steven Soderbergh: seemed to go all commercial (the Oceans n films), but has recently released the arty Che films.
Michael Mann: Last of the Mohicans, Heat and The Aviator are quite spectacular, Collateral is stylish, and the upcoming Public Enemies has Johnny Depp and Christian Bale butting heads in 1930s gangland.
Guillermo Del Toro: broke through with Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth, soon to start on The Hobbit.

Scorsese directed the aviator. Mann was the producer only.

leone, scorsese, tarantino, polanski, reodrigruez, cohen bros, myazaki, vaughn, ff coppola

irish_bob

ReacherCreature wrote: »

Michael Mann - Collateral & Heat are amazing.
Ridley Scott - Black Hawk Down & Gladiator.

i like lots of ridley scott movies but i cant stand black hawk down , cant watch anything with josh hartnett in it

ReacherCreature

irish_bob wrote: »

i like lots of ridley scott movies but i cant stand black hawk down , cant watch anything with josh hartnett in it

Sorta agree with Hartnett but I found him alright.
Love Black Hawk Down, a very intense film about a period of History that's, imo, overshadowed by the likes of conflicts such as the Gulf War or Afghanistan.

purple_hatstand

ReacherCreature wrote: »

Michael Mann - Collateral & Heat are amazing.
Ridley Scott - Black Hawk Down & Gladiator.

Mann: Manhunter & The Insider are also excellent
Scott: BHD is one of his so-so movies (Kingdom of Heaven and the recent Body Of Lies being 2 other examples) and Gladiator is good. Surely his early work (The Duellists, Alien, Bladerunner) is far superior?

ReacherCreature

purple_hatstand wrote: »

Mann: Manhunter & The Insider are also excellent
Scott: BHD is one of his so-so movies (Kingdom of Heaven and the recent Body Of Lies being 2 other examples) and Gladiator is good. Surely his early work (The Duellists, Alien, Bladerunner) is far superior?

I just thought of two directors who I liked off the bat.
Didn't like Alien and only seen bits of Bladerunner.
BHD and Collateral/Heat are just some of my favourites is all.

Cactus Col

I think a good place to start is with the Movie Brats, so speilberg and Scorsese (although King of Comedy is often forgotten about, despite being a great movie) you've already seen, probably some Francis Ford Coppola too. Certainly American Graffiti and THX 1138 by George Lucas are worth a watch (before he started off with Star Wars).
Brian De Palma used to be a favourite of mine, so I'd reccomend Carlito's Way, Carrie, Scarface and The Untouchables by him. Often accused of "homages" to other directors ... ie ripping them off!

I don't think anyone's mentioned Oliver Stone yet. Some of his films from the 80's / 90's are essential. Such as Salvador, Platoon, Wallstreet, JFK, and Natural Born Killers (although I'm certainly not a fan of NBK).

If you're looking at Ridley Scott, then you've got to look at his brother's as well. Tony Scott may have made much more commercial films, but helped define action movies in the 80's and 90's with Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop 2, Crimson Tide, and Enemy of the State. Also made a classic film in True Romance (written by Tarantino).

zipped

I second Darren Aronofsky( Pi etc.)- a duo I love are Jeunet and Caro (delicatessen, city of lost children), Julio Médem (The Red Squirrel, Sex and Lucia), Polish guy Krzysztof Kieslowski (The Double Life of Veronique and the Three colours... films) Second Richard Linklater ( A Scanner Darkly, Waking Life)- also love David Lynch as director as mentioned already ( love mullholland drive)

denon

Why is it there's so few women directors? At least, well known famous ones..

Greyfox

Just realising that when people talk about the best director ever I very rarely ever hear James Cameron been mentioned...

Terminator 1&2 and Aliens are 3 of the best action films ever, and that one with the ship was quite good too

WillieCocker

Martin Scorsese
Coen Brothers
Woody Allen
Walter Hill
Michael Mann
Ridley Scott.
Quentin Tarantino
Robert Rodriguez
John Landis

p to the e

Give David Lynch a go. He directed Eraserhead (which you won't forget anytime soon), Blue Velvet and The elephant man.

David Fincher is another decent director but i see you've already watched Se7en so watch Zodiac and Fight Club.

If you're looking for action look no further than John McTiernan (Die Hards, Predator)

Probably my favourite director is Terrence Mallick (Badlands, Thin Red Line)

If you're looking for foreign language directors try Krzysztof Kiewslowski (trois couleurs: Red, White, Blue) and defintiely others mentioned in other posts eg. Guillermo Del Toro.

Also give some Luc Besson stuff a go (Leon)

Driver 8

Scorsese
Coppola
Christopher Nolan
David Fincher
Ang Lee
Roman Polanski
Paul Thomas Anderson
The Coen Brothers

youcancallmeal

My favourite would have to be Paul Thomas Anderson, he hasn't put a step wrong since he started directing films. Darren Aronofsky would be up there as well.

Worst director has to be Richard Kelly!