This is the correct answer.

as much as I am a fan, it's kind of odd that I would slam Peter Greenaway, he introduced and did a Q&A after a screening of 'The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story' and 'Antwerp' - listening to him speak or should I say gush over his films and such, it got grating real fast. Being the masochist I am, I'm curious to see how over the top he gets on his 'Zed and Two Noughts' DVD commentary track, or if I want to self inflict myself with a nail gun to the forehead instead.

:up: :lol:

Peter Bogdonavich. He only directs "pictures," you know.

Maybe also Spike Lee with his "joints."

I was just gonna say Greenway - he's certainly a talented director, but he's so full of his own shit, that he's insufferable, as are his movies sometimes.

Wong Kar Wai. I really like Chungking Express and My Blueberry Nights but In The Mood For Love is one of the most pretentious pieces of cinema/art/shit I have ever seen.

Similarly I am a big fan of Michael Hanake. I love both versions of Funny Games and I think Benny's Video is a very good film but Cache (Hidden) I find to be one of the most boring/pretentious/uninvolving wastes of time I can imagine a film to be.

I agree he is pretentious, but have you seen The Brown Bunny? That scene actually made sense in the context of the film, and because it's real actually enhances the scene. I wouldn't call it gratuitous. It's also interesting that in his two films he plays fairly unlikeable characters, they are not flattering in the least. And when you consider the amount of negative feed back he gets, some of it truly hateful, it's hard to see the glamour in that.

or as I like to retitle that movie, 'In the Mood for a Nap'

I'd like to hear many of the posters in this thread to define the word "pretentious"...

I dont know I guess like everything else regarding ones tastes in film it is subjective and based on personal taste/patience/likes/dislikes, etc.
I think a pretentious film is one that has no regard for an audience by not having the correct or right amount of involving elements.

You first, webster.

:confused: Mathew Barney :up:
:bow: Darren Arronofsky :up:
:bow: Tarsem Singh :up:
:clap: Pan Nalin :up:
-popcorn- Alexandro Jodorowsky :up:
:wtf: Dusan Makavejev :up:

:johnwoo2: Wong Kar Wai :bmonkey: :gah:
:boring:Rainer Werner Fassbinder :down:
Whit Stillman :thmbsdwn:
Christopher Guest :thmbsdwn:

Ruthlessly self-indulgent to the point of absolute obfuscation... douchebag.

Ergo, anyone who thinks Michael Bay is "pretentious" either has no idea what the word means, or has the intellectual capacity of a sump pump.

Gus Van Sant

Calling Michael Bay a pretentious director is the equivalent of knighting George W. Bush.

:lol:

Another vote for M. Night.

SOOOO agree!

Guy Maddin. I enjoy many of his films and believe is one of the few true visionaries currently working in film, but dear God was Twilight of the Ice Nymphs insufferable! It played more like a parody of the typical pretentious art film than anything else, and the lead looked and acted as if he had mistakenly wandered off of the General Hospital set.

Since the Original Poster solicited "opinions", I would take everything written in this thread as opinion.

That was my opinion, as the OP requested. Care to share yours?

David Lynch

You mean group himself with us lowly film goers? Hell no. He wouldn't even make eye contact with us. This was back in '95 or '96. He also basically told a girl she was an idiot for not liking Natural Born Killers.

Without the pretty vocab, I consider pretentious ... caught 'pretending' to grasp and understand and, in a directors case, purvey to others ... when they really don't have the capacity to do so. This is frequently caused by aiming far higher than their capacity ... which is nobel ... which is why I don't have a problem with 'pretentious' directors and their snobby upshot films. I guess it's like being an 'unqualified elitist'.

With that, I stand by my Godard comment. If anyone wants to see the interviews, check YouTube. I just want to punch him in the face - and then praise him for making really good movies.

I also stand by my comment that it takes a level of ego and confidence (whether or not deserved) to get a movie made.

Kevin Smith is with Michael Bay as absolutely NOT being pretentious. Actually, I can't really think of many other directors who are less pretentious. They both throw out there universally enjoyable, simple movies that are made FOR a large audience.

My friend studied under him this summer and said he was really cool and down to earth, and would even hang out with his students after classes and drink a couple of beers.

Damien Cockburn