top 5 filmmakers today

[Guest godthedog]

simple question for debate: who are the 5 best directors working in film today? and i don't mean directors whose best work is obviously behind them and just happen to be alive, like scorsese or polanski. it's got to be directors who are making the best current cinema.

 

what i think:

 

1) david lynch: he's been churning out brilliant stuff on & off since 'eraserhead', but he seems to be in the stride of his career right now. he bounced back in a BIG way after 'fire walk with me', with one of the most original films ever. 2 years later he did a complete 180 and won back all the critics, then does a 180 again, making a film that was great in all the ways 'lost highway' was. visionary.

 

2) paul thomas anderson: 2 great films in 5 years, just like lynch, & a damn good film the year before. he'd be tied for first if he'd released something more recently than 3 years ago (which means i may change my opinion when his new one comes out this year).

 

3) coen brothers: no explanation needed. never made a bad or even average movie. extremely consistent, always entertaining. they might have been higher, but they seem just a tad too self-aware.

 

4) darren aranovsky: gets in on camerawork alone. not so subtle with his apparent obsession to make everything he films as visually interesting as possible (sometimes at the expense of his characters).

 

5) stephen soderbergh: why not. hasn't really made any great movies, but he's talented and prolific enough to make the list for me.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Wes Anderson

Christopher Nolan

Darren Aronofsky

David Fincher

Cameron Crowe

[Guest El Satanico]

I agree with all of those choices and i'm happy to see Aronofsky on your lists.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

I still have yet to see a more beautifully Raw movie than Requiem for a Dream

[Guest MDH257]

Martin Scorsese is still capable of making a great movie.

 

I don't have any names to add to the list. Fincher, Cameron Crowe, Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Coens, Soderbergh.

 

I'm really big on John Sayles. I'm also a fan of Kevin Smith but he's a better writer than director. Tarantino is a favorite, but he's been off the radar for a while.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

I'd agree with the names posted so far, and also add Ridley Scott.

[Guest J*ingus]

Okay. I'll select my picks by looking at the last ten years of their work.

 

M. Night Shyamalan: yeah, I'm ready to give him this after only two movies, I loved Sixth Sense and Unbreakable that much.

 

Atom Egoyan: The Sweet Hereafter alone would be enough to put him here, but it's bookended by some very fine work in Exotica and Felicia's Journey as well.

 

Yoshiaki Kawajiri: in my opinion, the best anime maker working today. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and Ninja Scroll were masterpieces, and interesting to compare in relation to his earlier work.

 

Stephen Soderbergh: I can easily overlook the highly overrated yawner Ocean's Eleven in view of such excellent craftmanship in Traffic, Erin Brakovich, and The Limey.

 

Steven Spielberg: quite possibly the most underrated director working today. Seriously, if any other director had turned out Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, and Minority Report, ALL WITHIN ONE DECADE, they would be universally hailed as the greatest director alive. But, it's just Spielberg, so if anything he gets ignored.

[Guest The Man in Blak]

Paul Thomas Anderson

Steven Spielberg

Darren Aronofsky

David Fincher

Cameron Crowe

[Guest Kingpk]

I'd put Ron Howard up there, Apollo 13 is one of my favorite movies.

[Guest C.H.U.D.]

Steven Spielberg

James Cameron

David Fincher

Peter Jackson

Stephen Soderbergh

[Guest JaKyL25]

Pretty much what everyone else has said

 

In no particular order, here are 5 directors who, if they came out with a surprise movie tomorrow, I would pay to see it with only knowing who made it (Besides Kevin Smith, who really doesn't belong on this list)...

 

David Fincher

Cameron Crowe

Steven Speilberg

Darren Aronofsky

Wes Anderson

[Guest godthedog]

what's with fincher on so many lists? 'seven' was a damn good movie, but what i've seen of 'the game' isn't anything special, and i think he gets way too much credit for 'fight club'. the source material, sense of humor & constant breaking of the 4th wall were what made 'fight club' great, and all are found in the script and actors. fincher's perfectionism & slickness really hurt the production, in my opinion. it's too meticulous and technical. the themes would've made it a perfect movie for a more low budget, slash-and-burn type production (like maybe harmony korine, or early soderbergh), but...the whole anti-corporate message is kind of deadened when it's done by such a slick, obviously commercial hand.

 

speilberg will be remembered as one of the greats, but it seems to me that his best days are behind him (although i understand those who included him). but then again, i think that 'saving private ryan' and 'minority report' are both WAY overrated (and i know almost everyone thinks otherwise), and i just keep thinking of 'the lost world'...

 

i also expected to see a lot of sam mendes & peter jackson. but i can't say i'm disappointed that i haven't seen them pop up.

[Guest C.H.U.D.]

i also expected to see a lot of sam mendes & peter jackson.  but i can't say i'm disappointed that i haven't seen them pop up.

I included Peter on mine. Dead Alive is great. That rings movie is decent too.

[Guest J*ingus]

I ruled out Fincher because I just hated The Game, I just loathed that movie for reasons which are still murky even to myself. I think Se7en is good, but overrated, it's just a standard "cops chasing serial killer" flick with better acting than usual. Fight Club was a masterpiece in my opinion, but Panic Room wasn't too great. And til my dying day I'm going to keep defending the horribly maligned reputation of Alien 3.

[Guest Intimacy Goblin]

I'm a big fan of these five:

Martin Scorsese (can't wait for Gangs of New York)

John Woo

Ridley Scott

Michael Bay

James Cameron (But I accept Titanic as a mind slip on his part)

[Guest ShooterJay]

Sam Mendes is HORRIBLY overrated. It's a pretty well known, but unconfirmed rumor around Hollywood that Spielberg had most of the creative control on "American Beauty."

 

I don't like any of Fincher's work. I see the skill, but it's just personal taste. Same for Soderbergh.

 

My list:

Christopher Nolan

Cameron Crowe

Sam Raimi

Darren Aronofsky.

Farrelly Brothers- (shoot me, I really couldn't think of a fifth, and I enjoy their movies.)

 

I enjoy Spielberg's and Lucas' efforts, and they are two of my all-time favorite directors, but I think their time has passed.

 

BTW, Polanski is one of the worst directors of all time, in my opinion, who happened to get lucky more than once. Read Ebert's "I HATED HATED HATED This Movie" and you'll find more than half his filmography there. I'm not even taking into account how morally reprehensible he is, because that has no real affect on his "skill". So, in conclusion, fuck Polanski up his artsy, Eurotrash ass.

 

Edit: I forgot Peter Jackson, make him #6 I guess.

[Guest godthedog]

BTW, Polanski is one of the worst directors of all time, in my opinion, who happened to get lucky more than once. Read Ebert's "I HATED HATED HATED This Movie" and you'll find more than half his filmography there. I'm not even taking into account how morally reprehensible he is, because that has no real affect on his "skill". So, in conclusion, fuck Polanski up his artsy, Eurotrash ass.

 

haha...i feel the same way about coppola. he made 3 movies that were better than most of the movies my favorite directors have made (first 2 godfathers & 'the conversation'), but since then, the man has been making absolute crap. i just can't admire him as a director, because so much of his body of work is so bad. i'm still of the opinion that 'apocalypse now' is a piece of steaming pretentious cinematic cow shit, & coppola's failed to impress me since then. what were the last movies he made? ...'jack' and 'the rainmaker'? MAYBE he was an artist back when he was 30, but now he's a fucking hack. no different from michael bay. sometime soon i'll start a "5 most overrated directors" thread & he'll be in it.

 

about polanski...i just can't bring myself to hate him. i love 'rosemary's baby', 'chinatown' and 'repulsion', and 'repulsion' alone makes me forgive anything else he's done. it's a double standard (and a weird one, since 'the godfather' was better than 'repulsion'), but i don't care.

[Guest C.H.U.D.]

Sam Raimi

I would have considered Raimi at one point, but he totally abandonded his personal style to make it in Hollywood rather than sticking to his guns. Spider-Man had barely any "Ramiesque" appearance, and For Love of the Game was a horrible, mainstream chunk of crap.

[Guest J*ingus]

BTW, Polanski is one of the worst directors of all time, in my opinion, who happened to get lucky more than once. Read Ebert's "I HATED HATED HATED This Movie" and you'll find more than half his filmography there. I'm not even taking into account how morally reprehensible he is, because that has no real affect on his "skill". So, in conclusion, fuck Polanski up his artsy, Eurotrash ass.  

 

Yeah, he's made a lot of clunkers, and hasn't done a good movie in years. But "morally reprehensible"? The guy slept with a 17-year-old twenty years ago, give him a break.

 

haha...i feel the same way about coppola. he made 3 movies that were better than most of the movies my favorite directors have made (first 2 godfathers & 'the conversation'), but since then, the man has been making absolute crap. i just can't admire him as a director, because so much of his body of work is so bad. i'm still of the opinion that 'apocalypse now' is a piece of steaming pretentious cinematic cow shit, & coppola's failed to impress me since then. what were the last movies he made? ...'jack' and 'the rainmaker'? MAYBE he was an artist back when he was 30, but now he's a fucking hack. no different from michael bay. sometime soon i'll start a "5 most overrated directors" thread & he'll be in it.

 

I'd add Apocalypse Now in there, and his pre-Godfather work showed some potential, but I'll agree with you on everything since then.

 

I would have considered Raimi at one point, but he totally abandonded his personal style to make it in Hollywood rather than sticking to his guns. Spider-Man had barely any "Ramiesque" appearance, and For Love of the Game was a horrible, mainstream chunk of crap.

 

I don't know that he had any choice in the matter. FLOTG was supposedly controlled by Costner all the way, with Raimi there as a figurehead as much as anything else. As for Spider-Man, it's a nine-figure budget Hollywood film, the studio will have him direct it exactly as they see fit.