Ok, I am relatively new here and I know that this thread has probably already been done like Mom's meatloaf but I see that their are some serious film lovers here so I am just curious to who your fav. directors are:

Mine in no part. order are:

PT Anderson
Speilberg
Aronosky
Soderberg
Kubrick
Scorcese

And I am a late bloomer at most things so I am just getting acquainted with some other directors like Fellini. (just saw 8 1/2).

BTW...any suggestions?

Thanks.

Great directors who have proven themsleves over and over again:

Martin Scorsese
Robert Altman
Stanley Kubrick
David Lean
Akira Kurosawa
Ingmar Bergman
Alfred Hitchcock
Francis Ford Coppola
Woody Allen

Excellent modern day directors who have yet to falter:

Quentin Tarantino
Paul Thomas Anderson
Wes Anderson
Darren Aronofsky
Atom Egoyan
David O. Russell

Have created some incredible films and others that make you think "What happened!?" No less talented than some of the other filmmakers listed above, but definitely more hit or miss.

Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brokovich?!)
Oliver Stone (Natural Born Killers, Any Given Sunday?!)
Joel Coen (O Brother Where Art Thou, Rasing Arizona!?)
Tim Burton

Other very good directors whose films I enjoy immensely who could fit into one or more of the above categories

Curtis Hanson
John Dahl
Spike Lee
David Fincher
Robert Redford
John Sayles
Michael Mann
Neil LaBute (his writing has a lot do with my love of his films)
David Mamet(same comment as the above)
Albert Brooks(same)
Errol Morris
Jean Renoir
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Federico Fellini
George Roy Hill
Orson Welles
Edward Yang

so many more...

and some filmmakers who I feel are very overrated (though in some cases they have made a couple of very good films):
Steven Spielberg
Kevin Smith (his writing is very overrated)
Ridley Scott
James Cameron
George Lucas
Sergei Eisenstein
Milos Forman
Bryan Singer
Jonathan Demme
M. Night Shyamalan
Wolfgang Petersen
Rob Reiner

Though I often get flack for my ranking, here goes:

Steven Spielberg (my all-time fav, and more than any other single individual, the reason why I want to be a filmmaker)

Stanley Kubrick (the master--the bar that I judge every creative choice I make against, and invariably come up short...but the gulf is closing ever so slightly...)

(from this point on, the ranking becomes more vague, so just because I list one name above the other, that doesn't necessarily mean that I prefer that director over the other)

James Cameron
David Fincher
Alfred Hitchcock
David Lynch
John Carpenter
Robert Zemeckis
Spike Lee
Kevin Smith (though more from a writing standpoint than a directing one)

If you haven't gathered, yes, my passion lies primarily with modern filmmaking and filmmakers--it's not that the classic greats aren't classic or great, they just tend to inspire and fascinate me less...

Great directors whose works don't ususally speak to me:

Martin Scorcese (though I do adore TAXI DRIVER and I enjoy CAPE FEAR)
Francis Ford Coppola (though I do adore APOCALYPSE NOW)

Famous directors who I personally think suck the fat one :

Woody Allen (the guy makes me ill--he's not funny, his scripts are too self-aware and he's incredibly one-note as both an actor and director)
Oliver Stone (uses film to preach, rather to inform--makes Spielberg look the reigning master of subtlety in comparison)
Steven Soderbergh (frankly, his stuff plays like TV movies of the week, except for OUT OF SIGHT, which played like Tarantino-lite)

My top 3, in order of preference:
Stanley Kubrick
Alex Cox
Jim Jarmusch

And plenty others in alphabetical order:
Robert Altman
Terry Gilliam
Werner Herzog
Alfred Hitchcock
Abbas Kiarostami
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Akira Kurosawa
David Lean
Spike Lee
David Lynch
David Maquiling
Errol Morris
John Sayles
Martin Scorsese
Penelope Spheeris
Liv Ullmann
Orson Welles
Edward Yang
(some are well-established, and some I've only seen one film of theirs. nevertheless I admire their work. and this list is certainly not definitive)

and the directors of my top 5 films seen this year:
Wong Kar-Wai (In the Mood for Love)
David Gordon Green (George Washington)
Shinji Aoyama (Eureka)
Anh Hung Tran (The Vertical Ray of the Sun)
Liv Ullmann (Faithless)

MY FAVORITES
------------------
No Longer Directing Films:

Orson Welles
Stanley Kubrick
Alfred Hitchcock
David Lean
John Ford
Billy Wilder

Still Directing:

Steven Spielberg
Martin Scorsese
Oliver Stone
Woody Allen
Francis Ford Coppola (though he was only good in the 70's)

Foreign Film Directors:

Akira Kurosawa
Ingmar Bergman
Federico Fellini

The American New Wave Directors:

P.T. Anderson
David Fincher
Steven Soderbergh
Kevin Smith
Christopher Nolan

Favorite Directors:
Oliver Stone, everyone seems to hate him because his films are so contraversial. Roger Ebert is the only one who has given him the respect he deserves.

Steven Speilberg One of two directors who knows the meaning of the phrase: Awe-Inspiring

James Cameron The king of big-budget movies that are long and enjoyable. The second of two directors who knows the meaning of the phrase: Awe-Inspiring

Obvious choices:

Hitchcock
Welles
Ford
Polanski
Spielberg
Scorsese
DePalma
Kubrick
Mann

Modern choices:

Tarantino
P.T. Andersen
Aranofsky
LaBute
Shayamalan
Soderbergh

Underrated choices:

Argento
John Dahl
Michael Winner
Monte Hellmen
Tom DeCillo
Richard Linklater
Peter Jackson
Sam Raimi

Wow! There are alot here that I haven't heard of. I will have to check out their resumes'.

I enjoy the works of these directors:

Alfred Hitchcock
Robert Siodmak
Francis Ford Coppola
Sam Raimi
Luc Besson

My top 10 in order:

1. Joel Coen - Every film that the Coens have put out has been perfection. Only director that I can think of where I like 100% of their work.

2. Alfred Hitchcock - obvious choice, but there are still a couple of his films that I'm not real crazy about. Still, Hitchcock's worst is better than most people's best.

3. Stanley Kubrick - 2001: A Space Odyssey was the first time I saw a film and realized it wasn't just a movie, it was a work of art.

4. Orson Welles - It's just a shame he burned so many bridges early on. He was pure genius.

5. George Lucas - I am proud to say that I am a card carrying Star Wars geek. Sue me.

And rounding out my top 10 are:

6. Francis Ford Coppola
7. Billy Wilder
8. David Lean
9. Akira Kurosawa
10. Sergio Leone


Then there is the list of directors that haven't done enough yet to make my list, but could end up in my top 10 someday if they continue on their current pace:

Wes Anderson
Quentin Tarantino
M. Night Shyamalan
Steven Soderbergh
David Fincher
Christopher Nolan
Peter Jackson - (I have a feeling that in a few months, I'll be proud to say I'm a card carrying LOTR geek )


And of course, my overrated list - also known as, directors I avoid like the plague:
P.T. Anderson
Oliver Stone
Kevin Smith

Here are some Davids I like:

David Lynch (a personal favorite of mine)
David Cronenberg
David Fincher
David Koepp

Ford
Scorsese
Hitchcock
Welles
Demme
Stone

These are directors who are consistent in their great work.

I see that Ridley Scott gets no props. Blade Runner, Alien, Gladiator c'mon peeps he made some good movies! Paul Verhoeven not mentioned. Most of the aforementioned directors are merely working with a good script, Soderberg, PT Anderson, Tarantino, Wes Anderson. Sure maybe they wrote them too but we're not discussing that right now. Visual directors like Burton, Fincher, Spielberg, Hitchcock, Kubrick is where the talent lies.

lesterlong, whoa whoa whoa...you're saying Tarantino isn't a visual director?! I couldn't agree less. He's much more adept at utilizing the full 2.35:1 frame than many of his peers, and every frame of his movies smack of his individual stamp. Only Tarantino films look like Tarantino films.

Point two, Ridley Scott. Scott's good, sometimes great, but I entreat you to look at the following:

GREAT RIDLEY SCOTT FILMS: THE DUELLISTS, ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER

RIDLEY SCOTT FILMS WITH EQUAL PARTS GOOD AND BAD ELEMENTS: THELMA AND LOUISE, G.I. JANE, GLADIATOR, HANNIBAL

POOR OR FORGETTABLE RIDLEY SCOTT FILMS: LEGEND (I know some would take umbrage at this being listed as poor but, c'mon, admit it--this film is sh*t! ), SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME, BLACK RAIN, 1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE, WHITE SQUALL

Now, of course, this is an entirely subjective list but the point is, his quality work is at least equal to his creative missteps (sometimes inside the same film!), making his canon spotty...not the sign of a great director, in my book, just a decent one...

Decent or great? You can make the call but he seems to be one of the "It" directors right now.

Not that this makes him an aesthitics genius or anything!

Just wanted to add

John Carpenter
and
Wes Craven

as a couple more who's work I enjoy watching.

I think all four of those director's have a distinct visual style. Look at Out of Sight, The Limey, and Traffic, granted they had good scripts but the style is what brought them to life. I agree that PT Anderson is an excellent writer, but how can you say he is not a wonderful director? Haven't you seen Boogie Nights and Magnolia? Both of those films are extremely well directed, and Anderson uses the camera to achieve levels of suspense and joy that many director's could not even hope to achieve. Anderson is intoxicated with the power of film and I think it really shines through. Filmmaker already addressed Tarantino, and I feel that though Wes Anderson may not be a flashy director, he is still very good. His films remind me of the French New Wave style of directing, with slight twists. He is a good visual storyteller in addition to being a very good writer.

However, I know what you're saying. From my list alone I can name three directors (Albert Brooks, Neil LaBute, and David Mamet) who I like mainly for their writing. Their directing is probably best described as competent, but I wanted to include them just because I like their work so much.

I remember reading an entertainment weekly article on movie previews that mentioned "The Heist" by Mamet. They had brief snipets of what to expect for every movie and in this instance it said of Mamet, "Mamet is an award winning writer and as for his directing skills...well, did we say he was an award winning writer?"

Origianlly posted by zooroaster:
Decent or great? You can make the call but he seems to be one of the "It" directors right now.

He is decent...I don't think a director can have as many problematic and full-fledged awful films under his belt and be considered a true great, no matter if he has the ocassional ALIEN or BLADE RUNNER to help off-set them or not. The fact that he is a Hollywood "It" boy right now is of little consequence. Steven Soderbergh, Oliver Stone and Woody Allen have all had their turns in Hollywood as the "It" boy of the moment and, as I've indicated above, I think their collective work amounts to little more than toe-cheese (well, except for THE DOORS, which manages to be great in spite of Stone's usual tendency to sink his own films). Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys are considered "It" in music circles right now. Would you consider their work to be great? If so, please, for my own sanity, lie to me...

As for Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys, enough said! Just tap me on the shoulder when their chalice has runth empty and you shall find a gleeful countance upon my face.

IN OTHER WORDS...I HATE THEIR ****!

In regards to "Would you consider their work to be great? ", I hope you weren't talking to me. I wasn't stating either one. Just clearing that up.

As for me going on the record, I think he is okay. I really enjoyed Alien and some others but most of it hasn't blown my soxes off.

Originally posted by zooroaster:
In regards to "Would you consider their work to be great? ", I hope you weren't talking to me. I wasn't stating either one. Just clearing that up.

We may be suffering from miscommunication. When you originally said "Decent or great? You can make the call but he seems to be one of the "It" directors right now", I took that to mean "Whatever one may personally think, he's extremely popular right now, which translates to greatness." My comment was meant to show that being popular, or the resident "It" boy, does not necessarily translate into being truly great at what one does. In simplest terms, Ridley Scott being the current "It" director doesn't make him a great director anymore than Britney Spears being the current "It" girl makes her a great singer.

In no order:

Andrei Tarkovsky
Ingmar Bergman
Wong Kar-Wai
Carl Theodor Dreyer
Stanley Kubrick
Theo Angelopoulos
Michaelangelo Antonioni
Krzysztof Kieslowski

Others that I'm impressed with, but I need to be more familiar with their whole filmography:

Yasujiro Ozu
Abbas Kiarostami
Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Kenji Mizoguchi
Luis Bunuel
Masaki Kobayashi
Orson Welles

Usually not to my taste:

Federico Fellini
Akira Kurosawa
Werner Herzog

I also quite like (although not as much as the ones I first listed):

Mike Leigh
Zhang Yimou
Louis Malle
Jean-Luc Godard
Wim Wenders
Terrence Malick
Lars von Trier
Fruit Chan

Here they are (maybe I am missing some):

- Víctor Erice
- Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Äki Kaurismäki
- Jean Vigo
- Darren Aronofsky
- Krizstof Kieslowsky
- Yasujiro Ozu
- John Ford
- Terrence Malick
- Robert Bresson
- Stanley Kubrick
- François Truffaut
- David Fincher
- Fritz Lang
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Orson Welles
- Eric Rohmer
- Alejandro Amenábar
- Zhang Yimou
- Lars Von Trier
- Charles Chaplin
- José Luis Guerín
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- David Lean
- Luis Buñuel
- David Lynch

Am I drunk or has everyone left off MILOS FORMAN?

"AMADEUS"
"ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS' NEST"
"MAN ON THE MOON"
"THE PEOPLE VS LARRY FLINT"

Come on people!

He was actually on my overrated list. Other than The People vs Larry Flynt I personally didn't care for any his other films. I don't know, I just feel like he goes through the motions of making what could be a great film, but never really injects that special quality...