Invincible Shaolin is fine, but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. Chang made at least a dozen (if not 2 dozen) better movies.

And Dance of the Drunk Mantis is fine as well, but clearly inferior to the two with Jackie. Also, it came after SITES and Drunken Master. Not between.

Agreed. But The Wages of Fear definitely is.

Roy Scheider only co-starred in The French Connection. He was the star of Sorcerer.


And speaking of Roy, I prefer The Seven Ups over The FC.

I still love Gene Hackman too though...

I was temped to add Cameron Crowe to the list, but it depends on how one feels about Singles. I think he just misses the cut.
Say Anything (1989), Singles (1992), Jerry Maguire (1996), Almost Famous (2000).

Three masterpieces and one very good rom-com mixed in.

Unlike Blue and Red, White is no masterpiece.

Denis Viileneuve - Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Dune(?)

Polytechnique, Incendies, Prisoners, Enemy

Has anyone mentioned Bob Fosse yet?
Cabaret (1972), Lenny (1974), All That Jazz (1979)

Michael Bay:
Bad Boys -> The Rock -> Armageddon -> Pearl Harbor

I’m not sure how technical we’re being with the rules of the OP but there are a couple made-for-tv movies mixed in there that probably wouldn’t be considered masterpieces by anyone.

I do appreciate you listing The Fog though. An absolutely wonderful, underrated Carpenter flick. My favorite second only to Halloween (hell, maybe #1 depending on my mood that day).

All I can say is that masterpieces gets thrown around rather haphazardly in this thread

I'm the first to mention Billy Wilder!!?? From 1950-1960 we get in order

Sunset Boulevard
Ace in the Hole
Stalag 17
Sabrina
The Seven Year Itch
The Spirit of St Louis
Love in the Afternoon
Witness For the Prosecution
Some Like it Hot
The Apartment.

I guess what is a masterpiece?

McTiernan - Predator, Die Hard, Hunt For Red October
Landis - Animal House, Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places

Yep, too many films considered masterpieces - never mind that they're supposedly coming from the same director 3 or more times in a row... which really shouldn't be this common.

With that said, I'll add to the list of 3 very solid films in a row:

Atom Egoyan: Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter (masterpiece) and Felicia's Journey.

That's the one I had in mind... if not meeting the masterpiece definition it's still a hell of a run. (and just over a three yr stretch)

I’ve always considered a “masterpiece” to be the single greatest work from a particular person. So by my own definition, it’s not possible for one director to have more than one masterpiece.

Considering the number of true masterpieces of cinema is probably a very short list, it wouldn’t make for a very fun discussion to not allow other films in. Like Coral said, the definition for this thread falls more in line with very solid films.

John Hughes and Mel Brooks both had streaks of great movies and if you count writing or producing, it gets more impressive

Never has a hot streak but cut short more definitively (or literally) than John Landis'.

Prisoners, Enemy.

Martin McDonagh: In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Rian Johnson: Brick, The Brothers Bloom, Looper, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (yes, i know many will scoff at that), Knives Out

Ouch

del Toro: The Devil's Backbone, Blade II, Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth

Peter Jackson: LotR: Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers, Return of the King

Frank Capra: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, You Can't Take it With You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace, It's A Wonderful Life

^ I'm sorry, did you just call Blade II a Masterpiece?

well, it's highly regarded as a superhero/comic film. it did a lot for genre, i think. so maybe not masterpiece like The Godfather certainly, but iconic nonetheless. Hellboy could be called out too, but it was highly regarded as well...

I consider a masterpiece to be the pinnacle of the art form, the stuff that all other art is compared by. Shakespeare has multiple masterpieces, so does Van Gogh, and so does Kubrick. Everything I posted in my OP I consider better than very good.

And yeah, I agree that ‘masterpiece’ is being thrown around very liberally at this point, but it’s making for some good discussion at least.