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| | My buddy, bangpitcher, took my movie listing idea and transformed it his favorite albums list. Not to be out done, I ll have to follow suit. May take me some time though... my musical tastes are disparate and sundry to say the least (as were the esteemed bp s).
In the mean time, I have my list of favorite directors (luckily we ve been having a ton of company meetings lately so I ve had ample time for list compilation). Again, I ll add some annotation for your reading pleasure:
1. Terry Gilliam Everything Terry does is pure genius. I m serious. From his early Python days to his most recent works he has been consistently amazing. An incredible visual sense, an ability to make the absurd feel commonplace, and a rapier wit and intellect... the ultimate director.
2. David Fincher I m willing to overlook that lamentable Aliens debacle in favor of his pure genius displayed in Fight Club and Se7en. I m really curious to see what he does with MI:3 after that last awful installment.
3. Coen Brothers For brilliant comedy these guys will always reign supreme. They ve proved there is a place for intelligent humour in the oft deplorable cinema mainstream. The amazing thing about them is the quality never flags...from Raising Arizona through Hudsucker to O Brother... every film is great. And we shall forever be in their debt for gracing us with the stylings of Walter, Donnie and The Dude.
4. Guy Ritchie Not only was Lock Stock and Snatch both amazing films but they ve ushered in a new era of stylistic cinematography. Quite a feat. Now let s just hope that Madonna doesn t destroy his entire career. Resist her, Guy, resist!
5. Quentin Tarantino Another guy who birthed an entire genre. Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs will remain eternal classics. After a 6 year writer/director absence, let s hope that Kill Bill will re-affirm our wonderment for Quentin.
6. Peter Jackson Obviously the of Lord of Rings is the main reason he has garnered this spot. The project was such an amazingly huge undertaking and he has handled it so incredibly well... wow. The first installment was amazing and the early reviews posit Two Towers to be even better. I can t wait. If you haven t seen any of his earlier work, rent Dead Alive... the flashes of brilliance are there amongst the cubic tons of gore and zombie guts!
7. Sam Raimi He would be a serious contender for this list even without Spiderman to his credit. The Evil Dead series is just so damn good. Plus without Sam there would be no Bruce Campbell... and a world without the chin is a world I d rather not live in!
8. Darren Aronofsky This guy has amazed me so with just two films... I am extremely excited to see his portfolio grow. He has such an incredible sense of style and flow.
9. Christopher Nolan Another young new director with amazing promise. With just a couple films to his credit he s really shown endless potential. Pulling off Memento was an amazing accomplishment. Can t wait for more.
10. Baz Luhrmann Another master of visual style. Bold new approaches to filmmaking is what really grabs my attention (as this list clearly attests) so he had to be included. He s in pre-production of an Alexander the Great movie... now that could be amazing!
A couple of honorable mentions...
Paul Verhoeven, John Milius, John Woo, Akira Kirusawa, Tony Scott, M. Night Shyamalan, Troy Duffy (there s a Boondock sequel in the making, let s hope it doesn t suck), and I m sure I ll think of some others later.
Well there you go. This may be my last movie list for a while. I considered a favorite actors list but with so much overlap with the roles list it seemed pointless.
-b
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| 12/11/2002 8:14:20 PM John Woo | John Woo made your list?? Are you serious?? You are talking about a man that takes a 40 minute movie and slows it down to an hour and forty-five minutes. I just don't even see him as an honorable mention. ?? And how is M. Night just an honorable mention?? Here is a list I think you left out, Ang Lee, James Cameron, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Milos Forman, The guy who made disco Lando (forget his name),Wachowski Brothers, Oliver Stone and George Lucas (mind you he did destroy star wars but hey I did love it for years). I think the list could go on and on if we let it. But John Woo?? Really go look at his Credits at IMDB and you will see what I mean. John Woo??
J.Karr
| | 12/11/2002 8:25:08 PM Since I am commenting on your lists | Here are two roles I can't believe you left out
Lester Burnham - Kevin Spacey - American Beauty
Bacon - Jason Statham - Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Also I have thought about a good female role and I can't think of any that stand out. Although Annette Bening was awesome in American Beauty.
J.Karr
| | 12/12/2002 7:11:36 AM | For a good female role see Ghost World. Bloody brilliant flick, Thora Birch just grows in my esteem...she wasn't even terrible in that steaming pile of cinematic excrement known as Dungeons & Dragons.
How about Helena Bonham Carter in Fight Club? Winona "Addict" Ryder in Beetlejuice? Christina Ricci in the first Addams Family?
To be sure, none of them are really genre defining roles mainly because women are rarely given a film to carry on their own. Oh well. Can you tell I really dig screwed up brunettes?
-bp | | 12/12/2002 8:03:53 AM In Defense | OK, you guys do bring up some good points. I stand by most of my decisions though. Ang Lee has only one good film to his credit (that I ve seen) if the Hulk rocks he ll be propelled into my top 10. Same thing for the Wachowskis... they have one awesome movie and one hot-ass lesbian scene to their credit, if Reloaded and Revolutions are as good as the original Matrix they will be as gods.
Guys like Cameron and Lucas get dogged for making some crappy fluff. I like Cameron, but that over-hyped monster, Titanic, reduces his clout in my mind. Lucas is just the anti-Christ, of this I am certain. Speilberg can be wonderful but has also mad some hideously bad films... the Jurassic Parks come to mind, Temple of Doom, Hook.
Hitchcock is cool, but overhyped. Some of his 'classics' are kinda dumb... have you watched The Birds lately? That, and I m just not a fan of the Hitchcock genre.
Milos Forman? He hasn t done a great film in 27 years.
John Woo, I ll admit was a tenuous choice and really probably shouldn t have made the list (I forgot Stanly Kubrick who shoulda weighed in around #8, bumping Woo). But I must say with Woo films you know what you re gonna get... some incredibly kick ass action scenes. Hell, he made a Van Damme film (other than Bloodsport) pretty damn cool. That s a feat.
As far as roles... Spacey is great and was awesome in AB (and in Usual Suspects) but I don t think they stood out enough to make the list. I considered Bacon (and Tom) as candidates, but decided much of the strength of Lock Stock was how evenly all four characters were portrayed... all four equally cool in their own way, but none strong enough to outshine another.
As for those women roles... all good roles and pretty good actresses (especially Ricci) but all were overshadowed by stronger male characters in each of their respective movies.
Never saw Ghost World. Have to check it out (although for the record Thora Birch was pretty gawd-awful in D&D).
Well, good comments... feel free to rebutt my replies. This is kinda fun.
-b
| | 12/12/2002 9:08:56 AM Missing my favorite | Jerry Bruckhiemer
-D | | 12/12/2002 9:26:41 AM Omission | Is that Jerry Bruckheimer a rebuttal for my assertion of Lucas as the Anti-Christ? Cause if that s what yer saying then you may have a point... although I m willing to wager that Bruckheimer is just as likely the devil himself as the anti-Christ.
In other news, a glaring omission was pointed out to me by jkarr... I missed a biggie on my roles list...Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith in the Matrix. Great role, indeed. Defintaley shoulda made the top 10 or 15.
-b | | 12/12/2002 11:12:43 AM Don't see Solaris for God's sake | I recently caught Solaris. For the love of all that is holy and good do not see this movie.
The film wallows in its own self-importance and comes off as a graduate student's project on postmodernism rather than something intended for the silver screen. The whole plot wanders through a fog, and the film's occasional tidbits of interesting information never build to anything worth pondering. I found that the artistic egoism of the movie divorced the audience from any measure of enjoyment.
In short, this film should never have been made. I don't know if the book is ultra-pretentious, too, but the movie is dire. The only reason to see this flick is if you want to glimpse George Clooney's bare arse.
Steven Soderbergh can rot for this one. I haven't been this dissapointed in a film since The Ninth Gate.
-grm | | 12/14/2002 7:52:50 PM Hmm how about Scorsese | I like Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas are pretty damn good movies. Now of course Gangs of New York could suck because of Leonardo DiCaprio but that's hardly Scorsese's fault. At least I don't think it is. I dunno, what do you think?
-The Huy | | 12/16/2002 8:48:16 AM Scorsese | The problem with Scorsese is that his best stuff was done in the 70s and 80s. His more recent stuff is lacking in comparison and often over-hyped. I thought Goodfellas was a very mediocre film and never understood why it garnered so much praise.
Then he went and directed a Michael Jackson video... losing all the credibility he had worked so hard to accumulate.
-b | | 12/18/2002 6:38:22 AM Scorsese | Ok I agree his best stuff was earlier in his career, but I don't think he's lost too much of an edge. I did like Goodfellas, and the Michael Jackson video he directed was his earlier stuff when Michael Jackson was cool!! And you have to admit, he was cool at one point. Obviously, not now, but you know. Anyways, I think its up to this Gangs of New York deal to see how he does now. I'm hearing good things, Daniel Day-Lewis is a star, but man Leo DiCaprio could do this whole film in. (Cameron Diaz is in it though and she's hot)
-The Huy | | 2/22/2007 8:58:52 PM g3 - There is something new | Interesting!
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G'night. |
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