Author Topic: Filmspotters Top 100 Directors 2011 : FYC and Your Lists  (Read 41057 times)

worm@work

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Re: Filmspotters Top 100 Directors 2011 : FYC and Your Lists
« Reply #120 on: December 01, 2011, 11:09:43 PM »

smirnoff

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Re: Filmspotters Top 100 Directors 2011 : FYC and Your Lists
« Reply #121 on: December 01, 2011, 11:37:16 PM »
@smirnoff, I hope you noticed that for Fincher you scolded him for "slapping his name on an unnecessary remake" that you haven't seen and this is followed immediately by praising The Coen Brothers for their remake of the western classic True Grit. Perhaps you should wait a couple of weeks and see what Fincher is planning for the material.

That would be fair, but it still just reeks of fast money to me. Having seen the original it's going to be impossible to put it out of my mind. And going by the trailers there is almost nothing different about it other than actors and language. Everything, and everyone looks exactly the same. It's like those direct-to-dvd knock offs that try and dupe people into renting the wrong movie by accident, only now Hollywood has decided to get in on the act. Either they are faithful to the book and end up making the same movie, or they are unfaithful and they piss off all the fans. But yes, I'm prejudging it. If people end up liking it without having seen the original, so be it. I don't think I can even give it a chance... what's the point? I'm not going to be able to check my baggage, so it's guaranteed to be an annoying experience. I'm sure he'll bring his solid filmmaking to the project though, so it'll be good for anybody who doesn't get hung up on these sorts of things or hasn't seen it already.

As for True Grit (the new one) I wish I could remember how I felt about it before seeing it. I saw the original some years earlier and liked it okay, but never thought of it as untouchable. Still, coming from an unkown director I might've railed against the idea as Hollywood trying to cash in on name recognition and a good strong cast. But because it was the Cohens, and I didn't hold the film in very high regard to begin with, and 50 something years had passed, and filmmaking technology had come a long way since then, and the film had lots of potential for improvement... that made it okay. None of that is true for Tattoo, it's just "from the director of The Game and Zodiac comes"...

verbALs

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Re: Filmspotters Top 100 Directors 2011 : FYC and Your Lists
« Reply #122 on: December 02, 2011, 01:43:14 AM »
I think the distinction between what has become flogging a dead horse by retelling recently made foreign films- Hollywoodising them (Departed, Let em in (agin)) and the Coens brilliant ability to film books with their deeper meanings left intact (which Kubrick was just as good at, yes in that league) is very clear. Can't see why anyone would confuse the two forms.
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

Bondo

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Re: Filmspotters Top 100 Directors 2011 : FYC and Your Lists
« Reply #123 on: December 02, 2011, 02:00:03 AM »
If remaking old films (or doing new adaptations of works that haven't been adapted for ages) was off the table, then all of Shakespeare's work, all of Austen's work, most musicals would all be off the table (or so I learned during the musicals marathon). These things all show themselves to be quite durable enough to handle new iterations.

So yeah, making a remake of a recent work simply to localize it is more problematic. Sometimes it works out like The Departed (I found the original to be rather messy, though I watched it second) and sometimes it doesn't. The logic that you should only remake mediocre works that can be improved seems fair and GWTDT was not just a fantastic film so I do think it could be done well. My faith in Fincher is balancing against my own skepticism.

Tim

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Re: Filmspotters Top 100 Directors 2011 : FYC and Your Lists
« Reply #124 on: December 02, 2011, 02:16:18 AM »
My list so far:

1: Béla Tarr
"Only cinema narrows its concern down to its content, that is to its story. It should, instead, concern itself with its form, its structure." Peter Greenaway

worm@work

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Re: Filmspotters Top 100 Directors 2011 : FYC and Your Lists
« Reply #125 on: December 04, 2011, 01:09:35 PM »
Thanks to all the people that have submitted ballots so far. If you've submitted a ballot and your name is not on this list, pls PM me so we can make sure all the ballots get counted.

Based on the poll, it looks like December 8th at 8PM works best for the unveiling of this year's list in chat and on the forums. So that's what we're planning for.

Looking forward to receiving a few more ballots before then. I'm looking at you, Tim and edgar00!

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Filmspotters Top 100 Directors 2011 : FYC and Your Lists
« Reply #126 on: December 04, 2011, 02:56:56 PM »
Did flieger ever submit his? He need to atone for past flieger.  ;)

Corndog

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Re: Filmspotters Top 100 Directors 2011 : FYC and Your Lists
« Reply #127 on: December 04, 2011, 03:43:52 PM »
I only did 25. #25-21 blog post.

And the short and sweet of it:
25. David Gordon Green
24. David Fincher
23. Robert Zemeckis
22. Rian Johnson
21. Werner Herzog
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

FifthCityMuse

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Re: Filmspotters Top 100 Directors 2011 : FYC and Your Lists
« Reply #128 on: December 05, 2011, 06:09:30 AM »
A list of 25. It's a flaw of the way I've educated myself that I tend to introduce myself to directors with a single film and fail to follow up, hence some directors with films I really love, like Chantal Akerman, Andrei Zvyaginstev, Vera Chitilova, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Victor Erice, Elim Klimov and Larisa Shepitko, I really need to see more by to earn them a place on the list. There's also a couple, such as Jane Campion, who I've probably need to revisit and see more to feel comfortable putting them on the list.

My having seen two films by a director was generally enough to get them a place on the list, although, notably in the case of Steve McQueen, the obvious skill in his first film (which is still the only one available to me) was enough to get him on the list.

Finally, a note on Miranda July. If this list was for favourite 'filmmaker', I would probably have her as #3, but as much as I love July, and I do think she is a remarkable director, which has only been further strengthened by recently revisiting some of her works, a large part of her impact comes from her presence as a performer and her voice as a writer. Although Tarkovsky better be bloody glad I was feeling fair. If I hadn't already sent in my list, I might be wonderfully capricious and switch the order.

And now that I've wasted minutes of your time with obnoxious preamble, here is the mercifully brief list:

1.   Agnes Varda
2.   Claire Denis
3.   Andrei Tarkovsky
4.   Miranda July
5.   Edward Yang
6.   Bela Tarr
7.   Douglas Sirk
8.   Pedro Almodovar
9.   Lee Chang-Dong
10.   Chris Marker
11.   Jacques Demy
12.   Frederick Wiseman
13.   Lynne Ramsay
14.   Joao Pedro Rodrigues
15.   Krystof Kieslowski
16.   Kelly Reichardt
17.   Gregg Araki
18.   Rian Johnson
19.   Steve McQueen
20.   Hou Hsiao-Hsien
21.   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
22.   Wong Kar-Wai
23.   PT Anderson
24.   Park Chan-wook
25.   Abbas Kiarostami   

worm@work

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Re: Filmspotters Top 100 Directors 2011 : FYC and Your Lists
« Reply #129 on: December 05, 2011, 07:41:38 AM »
Great list, FCM! I love that Joao Pedro Rodrigues made your list. You already know how glad I am to see Denis, Varda and Yang in the Top 5.