love

Author Topic: Filmspotters' Top 100 Film Directors: Your Lists  (Read 71450 times)

MP

  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 572
    • idFilm
Re: Filmspotters' Top 100 Film Directors: Your Lists
« Reply #280 on: May 08, 2014, 11:40:55 AM »
I indexed some directors I've seen three or more works by. You can see it here.

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36129
  • Marathon Man
Re: Filmspotters' Top 100 Film Directors: Your Lists
« Reply #281 on: May 08, 2014, 12:04:25 PM »
I'm currently collecting Director's lists so thanks for your index, along with recommendations.

Also, glad to see you're still with us.

verbALs

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 9446
  • Snort Life-DOR
Re: Filmspotters' Top 100 Film Directors: Your Lists
« Reply #282 on: June 28, 2014, 02:04:45 AM »
Felt it was time to revisit this list. Actually feels like more of a true reflection of my little journey through film over the past few years than a top 100 films would be.

My method? A three film minimum, however good a director with only two great movies might seem; film three might be a turkey. This time I used my top three ratings for a director's films as a starting point. Those with three A rated films are the first ones that appear, then A A A- etc. Then it comes down to body of work considerations, how I separate each grouping. I have listed the top 3 films. Might help someone pick future films to watch. Also, I added, at the top of the list, the total of A rated films for each one to help with my ordering. Some of these directors would rise in the list (Michael Curtiz), but I kept it to films I had reviewed in the "filmspotting period" of my life; when my view on movies has been sharpened by writing about them. I have *'ed the directors who would definitely rise with more reviews.

A A A


1. Alfred Hitchcock [6] (North By Northwest, Rear Window, Strangers On A Train)
2. Sidney Lumet [6] (Network, The Verdict, Prince Of The City)
3. Akira Kurosawa [7] (Ikiru, Yojimbo, The Hidden Fortress)
4. The Archers [5] (I Know Where I'm Going, A Matter Of Life And Death, Black Narcissus)
5. The Coen Brothers [5] (Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, Fargo)
6. Stanley Kubrick [4] (2001, Full Metal Jacket, A Clockwork Orange)
7. Jean-Pierre Melville [3] (Bob le flambeur, Leon Morin pretre, Army of Shadows)
8. Francois Truffaut [3] (The 400 Blows, Stolen Kisses, Shoot The Pianist)
9. Alan J Pakula [3] (Klute, The Parallax View, All The President's Men)
10. Billy Wilder [3] (Double Indemnity, Ace In The Hole, Some Like It Hot)
11. Pedro Almodovar [5] (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, Volver, The Skin I Live In)
12. PT Anderson [3] (Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, The Master)
13. Francis Ford Coppola [4] (The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather)
14. Howard Hawks [3] (Only Angels Have Wings, Rio Bravo, His Girl Friday)

A A A-

15. William Friedkin (To Live And Die In LA, Killer Joe, The Exorcist)
16. Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, Joint Security Area)
17. Ingmar Bergman (Wild Strawberries, Scenes From A Marriage, Winter Light)
18. John Cassavettes (Faces, A Woman Under The Influence, Shadows)
19. Roman Polanski (Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby, Knife In The Water)
20. Steven Spielberg (Jaws, Close Encounters, Duel)
21. Michael Mann (Manhunter, The Last Of The Mohicans, Thief)
22. Alexander MacKendrick (Whiskey Galore, Sweet Smell of Success, The Man In The White Suit)

A A- A-

23. Gus van Sant (Paranoid Park, Last Days, To Die For)
24. John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, Night Of The Iguana, Wise Blood)
25. Sam Fuller (White Dog, Pickup on South Street, Shock Corridor)
26. Steven Soderburgh (Out Of Sight, Traffic, Side Effects)
27. James Cameron (Aliens, Terminator, Terminator 2)
28. Spike Lee (25th Hour, Do The Right Thing, Clockers)
29. Kenji Mizoguchi (Sansho The Bailiff, Ugetsu, The Story Of The Last Chrysanthemums)
30. Richard Linklater (Before Sunrise, Dazed & Confused, School of Rock)
31. Peter Yates (The Friends Of Eddie Coyle, Bullitt, Breaking Away)
32. Martin Scorcese (Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, King of Comedy)
33. John McTiernan (Die Hard With A Vengeance, Die Hard, The Hunt For Red October)
34. Danny Boyle (Sunshine, 28 Days Later, Trainspotting)

A- A- A-

35. Louis Malle (Lift To The Scaffold, Lacombe Lucien, Au revoir les enfants)
36. Mike Leigh (Vera Drake, Another Year, Secrets & Lies)



A A B+

37. David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, The Social Network)
38. David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge On The River Kwai, Great Expectations)
39. David Lynch (Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Wild At Heart)
40. Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Blackhawk Down)
41. Wim Wenders (Wings Of Desire, Paris Texas, The American Friend)
42. Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown)

A A B


43. Terence Malick (Days Of Heaven, Badlands, The New World)

A A- B+

44. Luchino Visconti (The Leopard, Rocco And His Brothers, Ossessione)
45. Werner Herzog (Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre, Nosferatu)
46. Sergio Leone (For A Few Dollars More, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Once Upon A Time In The West)
47. Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty)
48. Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust & Bone, The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
49. John Carpenter (The Thing, Dark Star, Halloween)
50. Kristof Kieslowski (The Double Life Of Veronique, Camera Buff, Red)*
51. Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop, Cockfighter, The Shooting)
52. Jack Clayton (The Innocents, Room At The Top, The Pumpkin Eater)

A A- B

53. Tony Scott (True Romance, Crimson Tide, Unstoppable)

A- A- B+

54. Richard Fleischer (Armored Car Robbery, The Narrow Margin, The Boston Strangler)
55. Richard Brooks (Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Elmer Gantry, Looking For Mr. Goodbar)
56. Walter Hill (The Warriors, 48 Hours, Southern Comfort)
57. Nicholas Ray (T-Men, On Dangerous Ground, Rebel Without A Cause)
58. Orson Welles (The Stranger, Mr. Arkadin, Touch Of Evil)
59. Alfonso Cuaron (A Little Princess, Children of Men, Gravity)
60. Anthony Mann (Raw Deal, Winchester 73, The Naked Spur)
61. Delmer Daves (Dark Passage, The Red House, 3:10 To Yuma)
62. John Boorman (Point Blank, Deliverance, Emerald Forest)
63. Jonathon Demme (Stop Making Sense, Silence Of The Lambs, Rachel Getting Married)
64. Max Ophuls (Letter From An Unknown Woman, Madame de...., Lola Montès)
65. Michael Haneke (The Time Of The Wolf, Caché, Amour)
66. Don Coscarelli (John Who Dies At The End, Bubba Ho-tep, Phantasm)
67. Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Manhattan, Crimes And Misdemeanours)
68. Robert Rossen (Body and Soul, All The King's Men, The Hustler)

A A- B

69. Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World's End)

A A- B-

70. George Cukor (Adam's Rib, Pat & Mike, Gaslight)

A- A- B

71. Fritz Lang (The Big Heat, While The City Sleeps, M)

A B+ B+

72. Michael Curtiz (The Sea Hawk, Mildred Pierce, The Breaking Point)*
73. Carol Reed (The Third Man, The Fallen idol, Our Man In Havana)
74. Stephen Frears (Dirty Pretty Things, High Fidelity, My Beautiful Laundrette)
75. Terence Davies (The Long Day Closes, Of Time And The City, The Deep Blue Sea)

A B+ B

76. Peter Weir (Dead Poets Society, Picnic At Hanging Rock, Witness)
77. David O Russell (American Hustle, Three Kings, Silver Linings Playbook)*
78. Otto Preminger (Advise & Consent, Where The Sidewalk Ends, Fallen Angel)
79. David Mamet (Redbelt, Heist, Spartan)
80. Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper, The Brothers Bloom)
81. Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor, Win Win)

A B B

82. Michael Powell (Peeping Tom, The Spy In Black, Edge Of The World)
83. Jules Dassin (Night and the City, Brute Force, Thieves Highway)
84. Shane Meadows (The Stone Roses: Made Of Stone, A Room For Romeo Brass, Somers Town)

A B B-

85. Frank Capra (It's A Wonderful Life, It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington)

A- B+ B+

86. Luis Bunuel (Viridiana, The Exterminating Angel, The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie)
87. Martin Ritt (The Long Hot Summer, Hud, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold)
88. Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Ararat, Felicia’s Journey)
89. Arthur Penn (The Miracle Worker, Alice's Restaurant, Night Moves)
90. Hal Ashby (The Last Detail, Harold & Maude, Being There)
91. Peter Greenaway (The Draughtman’s Contract, A Zed And Two Noughts, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover)*
92. Jim Jarmusch (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Broken Flowers, Down By Law)
93. Ken Loach (Hidden Agenda, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Route Irish)
94. Ken Russell (Women In Love, The Devils, Altered States)
95. John Ford (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Searchers, The Quiet Man)*

A- B+ B

96. Christopher Nolan (Momento, Insomnia, The Dark Knight Rises)
97. Agnes Varda (Cleo from 5 to 7, Le bonheur, Beaches of Agnes)
98. Don Siegel (Charley Varrick, The Big Steal, The Killers)
99. Robert Wise (The Set-Up, Odds Against Tomorrow, The Haunting)
100. Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Down Terrace, Sightseers)
« Last Edit: June 28, 2014, 02:11:39 AM by verbALs »
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36129
  • Marathon Man
Re: Filmspotters' Top 100 Film Directors: Your Lists
« Reply #283 on: June 28, 2014, 11:00:19 AM »
Always love these lists, and I love your method of calculation. Looks like an effective way to balance the 'one a year' directors with the 'once in a blue moon' variety.

sdb_1970

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2294
Re: Filmspotters' Top 100 Film Directors: Your Lists
« Reply #284 on: June 28, 2014, 12:25:52 PM »
Agreed.  That's a great method of balancing breadth and depth.  That said, I would fully expect someone to take the same approach, but go 4 or 5 deep instead of 3.
« Last Edit: June 28, 2014, 12:27:57 PM by sdb_1970 »
letterboxd

[insert pithy expression of false modesty here]

smirnoff

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 26251
    • smirnoff's Top 100
Re: Filmspotters' Top 100 Film Directors: Your Lists
« Reply #285 on: June 28, 2014, 12:30:18 PM »
Felt it was time to revisit this list. Actually feels like more of a true reflection of my little journey through film over the past few years than a top 100 films would be.

This touches on something we all must run into when list making. How to reconcile our most recent great experiences with our most distant great experiences. It's just not possible to experience all the films in contention in a short enough window to gauge evenly. I think 1SO came as close as anyone can realistically come to doing so. You can give the benefit of the doubt to experiences that have faded, or tone down the enthusiasm of a more recent viewing, or a bit of both. But there's always a disconnect between how a film did resonate at the time, and how it would resonate right now. I've tried to bridge this gap by asking the question, which film would I most want to rewatch this second? But that of course is not a perfect solution, as some films cut deeper than others and take longer to heal. It's natural that those won't be highest on a rewatchability-weighted list.

What's your approach?

Anyways, great list. Thorough. :)

verbALs

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 9446
  • Snort Life-DOR
Re: Filmspotters' Top 100 Film Directors: Your Lists
« Reply #286 on: June 28, 2014, 12:51:53 PM »
Agreed.  That's a great method of balancing breadth and depth.  That said, I would fully expect someone to take the same approach, but go 4 or 5 deep instead of 3.
I'm impetuous and flighty.

I feel it covered all the bases that I wanted to. Directors like Fleischer, Rossen, Brooks and Ritt are right in my wheelhouse so I'm very happy to see their placings.
« Last Edit: June 28, 2014, 12:54:23 PM by verbALs »
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

jascook

  • Member
  • **
  • Posts: 491
  • Cue the sun
    • Jas Watches Movies:  The Blog
Re: Filmspotters' Top 100 Film Directors: Your Lists
« Reply #287 on: June 28, 2014, 07:48:55 PM »
Nothing formal until I've seen a lot more films, but here are some directors whose work fascinates me (in no particular order, and with my current favorite of each):

Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Story)
Ingmar Bergman (Wild Strawberries)
Richard Linklater (Before Sunset)
Zhang Yimou (To Live)
Charlie Chaplin (Modern Times)
Alfred Hitchcock (Vertigo)
Francois Truffaut (Day for Night)
Joel and Ethan Coen (Fargo)
F.W. Murnau (Sunrise)
Abbas Kiarostami (Close-Up)
Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali)
Christopher Nolan (The Prestige)
« Last Edit: June 28, 2014, 07:58:04 PM by jascook »
Sara: Good-bye, father Isak. Can't you see you're the one I love? Today, tomorrow and forever.
Isak Borg: I'll keep that in mind.

Bondo

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 23082
Re: Filmspotters' Top 100 Film Directors: Your Lists
« Reply #288 on: February 21, 2015, 07:03:18 PM »
Been way too long since I had put this together. Here's a non-scientific update to my list. I find I tend to hold failures against directors. Hitchcock's top three might put him in the top 10 of top three films but he's got so many misses for me that it moves him down below newer directors who haven't had the time to disappoint me yet.

1.   Alfonso Cuaron
2.   Danny Boyle
3.   Richard Linklater
4.   Steven Spielberg
5.   Andrea Arnold
6.   Lois Weber
7.   Steve McQueen
8.   Christopher Nolan
9.   Lukas Moodysson
10.   Hayao Miyazaki
11.   Catherine Breillat
12.   Gurinder Chadha
13.   John Cameron Mitchell
14.   Lars von Trier
15.   Joe Wright
16.   Hirokazu Koreeda
17.   Mike Leigh
18.   M. Night Shyamalan
19.   Muriel Box
20.   Celine Sciamma
21.   Edgar Wright
22.   Charles Chaplin
23.   Martin McDonagh
24.   Suzanne Bier
25.   Clio Barnard
26.   Frederick Wiseman
27.   Denys Arcand
28.   Paul Greengrass
29.   Sydney Pollack
30.   David Fincher
31.   Rian Johnson
32.   Morgan Spurlock
33.   Tom Hooper
34.   Niki Caro
35.   Joel and Ethan Coen
36.   Tomas Alfredsson
37.   Alice Guy
38.   Alfred Hitchcock
39.   Lucile Hadzihalilovic
40.   Stanley Kubrick
41.   Jason Reitman
42.   Amma Asante
43.   Gaspar Noe
44.   Makoto Shinkai
45.   Nadine Labaki
46.   Peter Greenaway
47.   Ashutosh Gowariker
48.   Kimberly Peirce
49.   Debra Granik
50.   Roland Emmerich

DarkeningHumour

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 10453
  • When not sure if sarcasm look at username.
    • Pretentiously Yours
Re: Filmspotters' Top 100 Film Directors: Your Lists
« Reply #289 on: May 21, 2015, 05:58:15 AM »
I'm not able to do a Top 20 yet but here are my 10 favourite directors at the moment (in no order) with their one-above-all marvels next to them :

Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve)
Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will be Blood)
Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom)
Jean Renoir (La Règle du Jeu)
Akira Kurosawa (Ran)
Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke)
Stanley Kubrick (2001 : A Space Odyssey)
Woody Allen (Annie Hall)
The Coens (The Big Lebowski)
Frederico Fellini (La Dolce Vita)

I have more trouble loving directors than specific movies. I can't say there are ten others who excite me in the way these do. Usually I like a few of a director's works but am underwhelmed or only slightly amused by the rest. I'll go see anything by Linklater or Scorsese and so forth, but they're still mostly hit and miss. Then there are those I don't know or don't know well enough of course...
« Society is dumb. Art is everything. » - Junior

https://pretensiouslyyours.wordpress.com/

 

love