Favourite directors?

AoifeCN

Hi
was wondering what some of your favourite directors are?
mine would be Christopher Nolan (god) , Alfred Hitchcock (classic) , danny Boyle (epic) and Martin Scorsese.

Bullseye1

Fincher, Scorsese, Mann, Malick... (modern)
Hitchcock, Ford...(classic)

krudler

Steven Spielberg for sheer entertainment even though his recent output has been hit and miss in the extreme, havent really enjoyed one of his films since Munich and before that Minority Report was probably his last great film. But I'm a child of the 80's so he'll always be one of my favourite directors. Flawed at times sure, but can craft an audience pleasing scene or an instantly iconic moment like no other.

Michael Mann because he can make films look effortlessly cool.

Danny Boyle sticking to genres? what genres? Scottish junkies, space, Indian poverty, zombies, a guy cutting his arm off, not being diverse in his choice of films to make is something you can't say about him. Fantastic visualist.

Ridley Scott- like Spielberg his recent output is it and miss, but his early work contains several cinematic masterpieces. amazing visuals in everything he does.

David Fincher- dear other directors, this is how you use CGI subtley and to the benefit of the story rather than just having it in there to make sh1t look pretty and blow up. made one of the best movies of the 90's in Se7en, made a gripping film about facebook.

to name but a few.

oh and Nolan, The Prestige is my favourite film of his. has issues with pacing and timelines in his movies but at the mo he's one of the few directors and studio would give a blank cheque to.

don ramo

i think at the moment nolan will be in almost everyones list , im very interested to see if hell attach himself to another franchise, i can see him working with DC Comics for their Justice League series of films,

ive nearly always likes fincher, didn't realize it till a year or two ago that i enjoyed so many of his films, and im always looking forward to his films, the only reason i watched the dragon tattoo remake was because he was directing it, and TBF he done a good job,

as you said his name danny boyle i just love some of his films, i nearly always list the beach as one of my top films, its one of them films i can just watch over and over, i really wish he would pick up more projects, but he does have a good body of work as a director,

cameron is another no matter how much people complain about the man the things he can do with a camera are endless, with the likes of aliens, terminator and T2, even the abyss and true lies have his engineering fingerprints all over them, this is a man who took it upon himself to revolutionize the way we watch films, for the better or worse is yet to be known but he definitely started something,

Clint Eastwood i probably haven't watched half of what the man has made, but god damn it that man can tell a story in so many ways, even when hes not directing himself,

i can think of a few more director that draw me to film just by having their name on it, like ridley scott, roman polanski, woody allen, a newer one would be ben affleck, im really interested to see how he turns out as a director, hes off to great start already,

paddy kerins

I'd have to say Gillermo Del Torro. There's not many directors with such imagination and the creative ability to create rich worlds for his characters to inhabit.

Christopher Nolan as well. One of few directors who can make an intelligent film which also appeals to a mass audience, as well as small, personal films which might require a certain taste. He also has a great sense of style and prefers to make his films as practical as possible (this also applies for Del Torro)

Others would include Duncan Jones and Neill Blompkamp

stateofflux

ridley scott
james cameron
stanley kubrick
alfred hitchcock
sergio leone
frances ford coppolla

krudler

Frank Darabont too, not afraid to expect audiences to invest nearly 3hrs in a story, and one that isnt driven by setpieces but actual storytelling.

JohnMearsheimer

I really like Paul Thomas Anderson, he's made some excellent movies that are amongst my favourites. Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood. He's got a good way of looking at society.

scouttio

Nolan, Scorsese and Tarantino really would be the only directors that would effect how excited id get for a film
ah might as well throw in Joss Whedon there as well

krudler

you know who doesnt get enough love? Richard Donner, he had a hell of a run of movies . Superman, The Omen, Superman 2, Ladyhawke, The Goonies, Lethal Weapon, Scrooged and Lethal Weapon 2, all infintely rewatchable.

JustAThought

Anthony Minghella

Truly Madly deeply, Mr Wonderful, The Talented Mr Ripley,the lighthouse film & that Beckett one ...genius.

Mickeroo

krudler wrote: »

Frank Darabont too, not afraid to expect audiences to invest nearly 3hrs in a story, and one that isnt driven by setpieces but actual storytelling.

Good call, was so impressed with The Mist, an under-apprectiated gem it is.

My favourite director is Wes Anderson, I love love love all his films, even the lesser ones. I know some people don't like his style but I'd rather have a director have a unique style than be generic, there's very few directors who's work I could recognise straight away without prior knowledge. The humour in his movies absolutely kills me too, the snappy dialogue, the quirky characters and he is gifted at picking the right piece of music for the right scene. His films generally rely on actual songs rather than original scores (though I love the work Mark Mothersbaugh has done for him) but he's one of the few who knows how to utilise music without it feeling like a temp track. Still miffed I missed out on Moonrise Kingdom in the cinema.

There's others I would mention but they've already been said. I would have said Michel Gondry too but his work since Science of Sleep has been fairly iffy unfortunately.

Banjaxed82

John Landis - Animal House, Blues Brothers, American Werewolf in London, Trading Places. Cracking run of films, then the career wheels started to slowly come off, and nosed dived pretty fast by the late 80's.

What happens to these guys?!! Such a shame.

krudler

John Carpenter- Halloween, The Thing, Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little China. amazing. recent stuff...ehhh, moving on lol

johnny_ultimate

Let's avoid just listing names folks. Makes for the makings of a dull thread.

Kenji Mizoguchi - Several of his films have made my fall in love with cinema all over again. The Life of O-Haru, Ugestu Monogatari, Gion Bayashi - long takes, considered storytelling and all around timeless filmmaker. See also: Kobayashi, Kurosawa, Ozu - the brilliant masters of Japanese cinema.

Sion Sono - the man of the hour. Making wildly distinctive (and messy) films that constantly surprise, provoke and entertain. He has some ever-present overindulgences, but you'd miss his wild film lengths and unusual pacing if they weren't there I'm also very fond of Satoshi Miki's charming, light-hearted output, and despite his more recent misfires (even as a fan, I didn't quite get Takeshis...) there are several films by Takeshi Kitano that have completely wooed me.

Ingmar Bergman - nothing has yet surpassed the revelation of watching Persona for the first time. Well, the revelation that Ingmar Bergman has a ridiculously healthy filmography full of equally intense, brilliant films comes close. Also have a soft spot for Tarkovsky: really should get around to that Andrei Rublev DVDs one of these days years...

Sofia Coppolla - a wildcard. Lost in Translation and Somewhere are the kind of infectious, beautiful films that come around all too rarely. Virgin Suicides is pretty neat too. We don't talk about Marie Antoinette. It looked and sounded nice, though. Francis Ford is cool and all, but Sofia makes films that really resonate with me personally.

Segio Leone for being one of the slickest, most brilliant genre artists who ever done lived.

I find it hard to pick one or two of the current wave of Korean auteurs to go with, but I'm particularly fond of Jee-woon Kim's recent genre subversions that still are wildly entertaining. But there's also Lee Chang-dong and Park Chan-wook to consider...

Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and Hideaki Anno are all continuing to make some of the best animated films around - with subjects ranging from the intensely personal to the giddily fantastical. They all have new stuff out in the next year or so - 2013 will be a good year for anime

Michael Haneke, that grim old Austrian, is one of the few contemporary directors who has the potential to be recognised as an all time great. Caché is a particular favourite, but The Piano Teacher and The White Ribbon enthrall too.

Christopher Nolan, for making smart, thrilling & surprising blockbusters like no-one else currently working. The brothers Coen for their distinctiveness and mastery of artful irony.

I'll stop, because I could go on :pac:

FlashD

Favourite directors are.

Fincher: Has his ups and downs but he is the best at exploring deep dark twisted adult themes.

David Lynch: Strange characters, surrealism, out thereness & WTF moments.

Woody Allen: Upbeat funny films about relationships and with chatty interesting characters. Cool jazz!

David Cronenberg: Solid and consistent in exploring strange dark characters, his films are getting less surreal and more mature as the years go by.

Tarantino: Chatty characters discussing random rubbish surrounded by over the top cartoonish violence. Great music too.

Nolan: Obviously! Reliable and solid storylines.

Carpenter: What's with this guy? I pray for the day when he will make another great film. :pac:

Tipsy McSwagger

krudler wrote: »

you know who doesnt get enough love? Richard Donner, he had a hell of a run of movies . Superman, The Omen, Superman 2, Ladyhawke, The Goonies, Lethal Weapon, Scrooged and Lethal Weapon 2, all infintely rewatchable.

Ye and all different genres too, superhero movie, horror, fantasy, adventure, buddy cop, comedy.

Hank_Jones

The majority of my favourites have already been posted, just wanted to mention Sidney Lumet, as he is certainly one of my favourites.

12 Angry Men, Network, The Verdict, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico.

He really was one of the greatest directors ever, getting the best possible performances from actors.

Sadly missed.

spiritcrusher

Paul Thomas Anderson would probably be my favourite modern director. His films are just so... Unique, I suppose is the best way of putting it. He's very like Robert Altman (another of my favourite directors) but with a kind of uneasy, underlying intensity, especially since Magnolia. I love how he's not afraid to get stuck into some seriously odd characters and try to get you to understand them. And he has some moments of wicked dark humour.
Ugh, I'm trying my best to describe why he's my favourite but I'm struggling.

It's hard to be a fan of PT Anderson without also being a fan of Robert Altman. They seem to have similar ways of putting things together and looking a characters, obviously Altman being the first of the two to do so. One thing I find Altman did really well is have characters or lines of dialogue that sort of seemed to ramble and go nowhere but could just sweep you along like being in a trance. Really enjoyable.
And he was a genius at the intertwined plot / ensemble cast film. And long takes. I love a good long take.

Hitchcock is also easily one of my favourites, not really much to say that hasn't already been said.

And like a lot of people I also really enjoy Christopher Nolan's stuff, although I wasn't blown away by TDKR. I hope what he's done in the last few years will maybe allow a few more interesting blockbusters get made like Memento, TDK and Inception.

duckworth

My Favourite Directors:

Werner Herzog - Truly the maddest bastard of them all. Makes the weirdest and most wonderful films. My favourites are Fitzcarraldo, Grizzly Man and Aguirre.

Alfred Hitchcock - Everybody loves this guy, no need to explain.

Woody Allen - I'm never in the mood to NOT watch a Woody Allen film. They're funny, moving and profound in an unassuming way. And I like the fact that he just keeps going, making a movie a year and not giving a ****e what others think.

Wim Wenders - Paris Texas, Kings of the Road, Wings of Desire. He makes big huge poems of movies that are beautiful.

Stanley Kubrick - Again, everybody loves this guy, so no need to explain too much. My favourites are Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut, two that usually get less attention than some of his more iconic films.

Wong Kar Wai - Makes the most amazing looking films. With Happy Together and In the Mood For Love, he made two of the most heartbreaking films I've ever seen. I've been waiting years for The Grandmasters, and it looks like I'll be waiting a while longer.

Directors I hate:

Stephen Spielberg - Sentiment merchant. Guilty of the cheapest shots in audience manipulation, he treats the viewer like an idiot. He searches for the most trite and sentimental part of a story and emphasizes it until the whole rest of the film becomes trivial.

Christopher Nolan - Doesn't seem to know anything about pacing. Makes over-long, humourless films that hint at a seriousness that just isn't there (i.e. the very definition of pretentiousness).

Tipsy McSwagger

John McTiernan - Surely the best director of action movies in the history of cinema? He has made two masterpieces in Die Hard & Predator and a few other brilliant films like The Hunt for Red October, Last Action Hero and Die Hard with a Vengeance.

AoifeCN

don ramo wrote: »

i think at the moment nolan will be in almost everyones list , im very interested to see if hell attach himself to another franchise, i can see him working with DC Comics for their Justice League series of films,,

I sort of hope he doesn't. I love the batman films but I think his originality is limited working in a franchise like DC.

AoifeCN

Forgot to add also I'm really getting into roman polanski and Woody Allen. I watched the pianist and chinatown the other day and absolutely loved them. Then a week back watched annie hall and Manhattan (decided to watch them after I saw midnight in paris). must pick up a box set of their movies some day.

Thelonious

Stanley Kubrick was, in my opinion, a visionary.

ricero

chris nolan for the way he can make clever blockbusters that stick with you for days after.

danny boyle just like his style and how he likes to vary his projects.

peter jackson his vision especially for large scale scenes are truly epic and amazing.

nicolas refn i just love his style of film making and he gets great performances out of his actors.

bullvine

Apart from the ones listed already, I really like Matthew Vaughn, I think all of his movies have been excellent!

Mike Litoris

At the top for me would be Steven Spielberg, Tarantino, Scorsese and Donner for directing a number of good movies.

There are others who've directed some of my all time favourite films but it's a single effort or maybe 2. Carpenter, Boyle, Fincher, Scott, Cameron, Allen.

QikBax

Terrence Malick - Nobody shoots a more beautiful film. Never compromises, making films when he wants and taking as long as he needs to make sure the film is perfect. (Although the Sean Penn scenes in Tree of Life are twaddle :P)

Least favourite is Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu - Pretentious rubbish. I think I'd rather have Aids than sit through Babel again.

quickbeam

A lot of the ones I'd have chosen have already been mentioned, Nolan, Boyle, Kubrick, Lumet, Hitchcock - they have made either my favourite films, or consistently very good films.

One not mentioned yet though is Alfonso Cuarón for making two of my favourite films, Children of Men and Y Tu Mama Tambien and for making the least objectionable HP film.

Cameron Crowe might have been included except for his output since Vanilla Sky exclues him.

Oh Charles Laughton would win hands down for average film rating for a director on film.

Mickeroo

ricero wrote: »

nicolas refn i just love his style of film making and he gets great performances out of his actors.

Have you seen Valhalla Rising?

marienbad

Of the older generation Hitchcock of course but also

Martin Ritt -The Long Hot Summer-Hud -Hombre-The Outrage -TheSpy Who Came In From The Cold.

John Frankenheimer- Birdman Of Alcatraz-The Manchurian Candidate-Seven Days In May-The Train- The Fixer and right up to Ronin in 1998

David Lean- Great Expectations -Bridge On The River Kwai-Dr.Zhivago-Laurence Of Arabia .

But when it comes to all time favourites that I return to again and again it has to be the French -

Francois Truffaut The 400 Blows-Day For Night-Farenheit 451- Jules et Jim

Louis Malle -Lacombe Lucien-Atlantic City- Au Revoir,les enfants ( all time favourite film)

And of todays directors - Michael Haneke- could be the greatest of all.

Tomorrow though I could change my mind and pick Pakula/Mulligan , Jean-Pierre Melville and Scorsese

Sleepy

Most of the directors that I'd watch a film because their name is attached have been mentioned already so I'm going to throw in a wildcard who's made some movies I love: Richard Linklater.

Dazed & Confused is just eminently quotable and makes great use of some stars very early in their careers.

Before Sunrise is a perfect example of a movie that stands on nothing but dialogue, chemistry between the two leads and an intimate shooting style.

School of Rock is a master class in making a "family" movie, one mum and dad will enjoy as much as the kids.

Before Sunset is how to make a sequel that fans of the original don't want and subsequently win them over.

Sure, he's made some clunkers but those four movies are enough to earn his mention in this thread I think.

Da Shins Kelly

Pedro Almodovar - I like how he deals with sexuality and identity, and I particularly love the female characters he creates. His films are visually stunning, too.

Wes Anderson - He has a really interesting perspective on life, particularly family issues, which I enjoy.

FishBowel

Fritz Lang would be my favourite famous name.

Joseph Losey would be my favourite lesser-known director.

Roger Corman would be my favourite bad director.

Nichololas

According to my criticker account, my top 5 directors are ;
1. Terry Jones
2. Alfonso Cuaron
3. Michael Haneke
4. Kar Wai Wong
5. Terry Gilliam

which seems about right, but I have to add in;
* Jean-Pierre Jeunet [Amelie, Delicatessen, City of Lost Children .. lets not talk about Alien Resurrection]
* The Coen Brothers [for every film except Intolerable Cruelty]

gaelicred

Danny Boyle because of his diversity
Hithcock for obvious reasons
Ridley Scott
David Lean
John Houston

AllWasWell

Martin Scorcese, Peter Jackson, Chris Nolan, Tony Scott and Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino, David Fincher and Frank Darabont

Fishooks12

David Rietman

Doesn't make perfect films, far from it. But I just adore watching anything he comes out with. So slick

WatchWolf

I don't see how people can think Tarantino is a good director. He's insanely derivative. A good writer perhaps, but a good director? Hm...

livinsane

Some of my favourites include:

Todd Solondz for Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness and Palindromes. Controversial themes of adolescence captured so beautifully.

Tim Burton for the classics he's given us - Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood particularly.

Darren Aronofsky for visceral and creative movies.

mike65

FishBowel wrote: »

Roger Corman would be my favourite bad director.

What the ****?