The Ten Greatest Directors Part 3

Welcome to part 3 of our series on The Ten Greatest Directors.

We started with a list of 45 directors and each day until our anniversary, we will each remove five directors from the list and give an explanation as to why we cut them.

Let us know which ones you think should stay, and which should go — and maybe some directors  you thought should have been in the mix that weren’t.

MATT

Francis Ford Coppola
Bram Stoker’s Dracula was probably the last really good film he’s made, and that was in 1992. I know it stings to take Coppola off this list, but he made the Godfather trilogy, and not a lot after or before.

Orson Welles
After Citizen Kane, Welles didn’t do a whole lot. He directed a lot of television projects. It’s strange that someone who directed such a beautiful looking film, with such great influence, never really met his potential.

Pedro Almodovar
I’m a big fan. Volver, if you haven’t seen it, was great. Talk to her, was also quite good. But his collection of work isn’t strong enough to warrant Top 10.

Sam Peckinpah
He only directed 14 films, but made some great ones — like Straw Dogs and The Wild Bunch. But I think his true strength was as a writer.

Steven Spielberg
What?! Yes, Spielberg is getting cut. This is a band-aid that just needs to be ripped off. For Every Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan, there’s an Indiana Jones 4 or War Horse. This one is tough to cut, but again, I go back to relevance. He’s making Indiana Jones 5 right now. Lincoln was great, but you have to go back to 2001’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence for his last good movie. This is a pattern for him.

BRIAN 

Mel Brooks
I’m a huge fan of the Producers but a lot of his humor falls flat with me. Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein are highly overrated one joke premises.

Wes Anderson
He’s the king of the dry humor. I loved Rushmore and Royal Tenebaums. Wasn’t crazy about Zizou and Darjeeling Limited. Either way, he’s not in the top 10

Tim Burton
I loved Pee Wee and think Ed Wood is one of the most underrated films ever made. But, he made Mars Attacks and Planet of the Apes and those weren’t just bad, they were complete disasters.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Delicatessen and City of Lost Children are fantastic. But, he directed Alien: Resurrection, which was horrendous. Also, Amelie is very cute but terribly overrated.

Brian Depalma
He has some great movies on his résumé: Carrie, Blow Out, Scarface. But, he’s still working today and hasn’t even made anything good in 20 years.

Remaining Directors:

Woody Allen
Quentin Tarantino
Charlie Chaplin
Billy Wilder
David Lynch
Ridley Scott
Fritz Lang
Terrence Malick
Robert Altman
Oliver Stone
Paul Thomas Anderson
Ingmar Bergman
Federico Fellini
Martin Scorsese
Joel and Ethan Cohen
John Huston
Stanley Kubrick
Sergio Leone
Milos Forman
Jean-Luc Godard
Yasujiro Ozu
Alfred Hitchcock
Akira Kirosawa
Christopher Nolan
John Ford

The Ten Great Directors Part 2

Wecome to part 2 of our series on The Ten Greatest Directors.

We started with a list of 45 directors and each day until our anniversary, we will each remove five directors from the list and give an explanation as to why we cut them.

Let us know which ones you think should stay, and which should go — and maybe some directors  you thought should have been in the mix that weren’t.

Brian

George Lucas
He made perhaps the greatest popcorn film ever made, THX 1138 was great, American Graffiti was solid, and then… The prequels..oh, those prequels….

Darren Aronofsky
 Loved Pi and Black Swan, liked requiem, and the rest? Meh. Not enough quality to keep him on the list.

Spike Lee
Lately, he’s more famous for attending New York Knicks games than he is for his films. He hasn’t made anything even remotely relevant in at least 15 years. He did direct Do the Right Thing though. That is one of the best films of the last 25 years.

Robert Zemeckis
He has some great work over his career, particularly Forest Gump, Back to the Future, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? But, not really any form of a ground breaking talent.

Cecil B. Demille
An important and historic director whose work dates back to the silent era. The problem is that he’s really only remembered for the Ten Commandments. It’s good, but very dated.

Matt

James Cameron
He’s never made a movie, to me, that is worthy of making the final list. His dialogue is bad – see Titanic. He makes immensely popular movies with formulaic storylines. He’s skilled and makes an entertaining film, but not one of ten greatest.

Clint Eastwood
He’s made some great movies, but didn’t really get going until later in life because of a successful acting career that spanned decades. Mystic River was a wonderful film, but he does suffer from being overly nostalgic at times. Great director, but I have to cut him.

Roman Polanski
He’s got some serious chops, and a long list of great films — Rosemary’s Baby, The Pianist, Tess and Chinatown. It’s tough to cut some of these guys because they’re so talented, but Polanski screwed his career with some horrendous decisions and alleged crimes that have held him back.

Sam Mendes
Awesome director with a great start to his career — American Beauty and Skyfall among them. But he’s only made six movies. There’s guys on this list with way more impressive resumes.

Danny Boyle
Another talented director with a couple great movies — 127 Hours and Slumdog Millionaire, but he’s only made 10 films. Talk to me in 20 years and he may be higher.

Here are the remaining directors:
Woody Allen
Francis Ford Coppola
Quentin Tarantino
Orson Welles
Charlie Chaplin
Billy Wilder
David Lynch
Ridley Scott
Fritz Lang
 Terrence Malick
Robert Altman
Oliver Stone
Brian De Palma
Paul Thomas Anderson
Ingmar Bergman
Federico Fellini
Martin Scorsese
Joel and Ethan Cohen
John Huston
Tim Burton
Mel Brooks
Sam Peckinpah
Stanley Kubrick
Wes Anderson
 Pedro Almodovar
Steven Spielberg
 Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Sergio Leone
Milos Forman
 Jean-Luc Godard
 Yasujiro Ozu
Alfred Hitchcock
 Akira Kirosawa
Christopher Nolan
John Ford

The Ten Greatest Directors Part 1

Our three-year anniversary is here! It’s been an awesome run, and we’ve really enjoyed interacting with you and sharing our reviews and articles.

The past two years we’ve had epic lists. Our first year we named the Ten Greatest Films Ever Made, and in year two we did the Ten Worst Movies We’ve Ever Seen. This year we’ve decided to name the Ten Greatest Director.

Here are the list of 45 directors, in no particular order, we will consider for the ten greatest ever. Each day we’ll both cut five from the list until we’re paired down to the Ten Greatest Directors.

Let us know which ones you think should stay, and which should go — and maybe some directors  you thought should have been in the mix.

Woody Allen
Francis Ford Coppola
Quentin Tarantino
Orson Welles
Charlie Chaplin
Billy Wilder
Clint Eastwood
David Lynch
Ridley Scott
Fritz Lang
Terrence Malick
Robert Altman
Oliver Stone
Robert Zemeckis
George Lucas
Brian De Palma
Cecil B. DeMille
Spike Lee
Paul Thomas Anderson
Darren Aronofsky
Ingmar Bergman
Federico Fellini
Martin Scorsese
Joel and Ethan Cohen
John Huston
Tim Burton
James Cameron
Mel Brooks
Sam Peckinpah
Stanley Kubrick
Wes Anderson
Roman Polanski
Pedro Almodovar
Danny Boyle
Steven Spielberg
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Sam Mendes
Sergio Leone
Milos Forman
Jean-Luc Godard
Yasujiro Ozu
Alfred Hitchcock
Akira Kirosawa
Christopher Nolan
John Ford

Brian’s Review – “Django Unchained” (2012)

“With the help of his mentor, a slave-turned-bounty hunter sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.”

Django Unchained

Rating –  8 out of 10

Tarantino has definitely brought credibility back to the “revenge” genre. His last three films were all based on that subject. “Kill Bill” was classic over the top samurai fun, Inglorious Basterds was the Jewish fantasy of being able to get back at the Nazis, and now “Django” again deals with the historical fictional revenge of what would happen if a slave was able to get back at his owners.

A lot has been written about this film and little of it focused on its quality. Most of what I read was about its use of the N-word, its over the top violence, and its realistic depiction of torture towards slaves. All of what you’ve heard is true. It constantly uses the N-word, its violence is the most extreme yet for a Tarantino film, and its depiction of slave torture is gruesome and cruel. But, guess what? It’s also a hell of a film! Tarantino and Westerns were bound to cross paths at some point. All of his films have nods to spaghetti westerns, particularly Sergio Leone’s masterpieces. But, while he takes elements from the past, this is definitely an original piece of work with rock solid direction and a pitch perfect cast all the way around.

Jamie Foxx hold down the lead just fine, Christoph Waltz is utterly brilliant, Leonardo DiCaprio will no doubt get an Oscar nod, and Samuel Jackson should win one. This is the best performance of Jackson’s entire career and you will develop a hatred for him unlike anyone in a film in some time. While DiCaprio’s slave owner is expected to be a cold and heartless piece of shit, Jackson’s turn as the Uncle Tom is really what will piss you off. The script is really terrific as well and I particularly like Tarantino’s use of time. There’s flashbacks and flash forwards several times to explain back story and they’re never confusing or superfluous. In fact, the first hour of the films is pretty damn near perfect.

So, why not a 10? The middle section bogs it down a bit. There’s a very long stretch where we’re waiting to get to DiCaprio’s plantation that could have been tightened up significantly. There’s also a double ending(I’m trying to stay vague to avoid spoilers) that was fairly unnecessary. It is literally about 25 minutes of cut footage away from being damn near perfect because you really couldn’t ask for much better of a script and certainly not better performances. Highly recommended!

Our Oscar Season Preview

The leaves are changing a golden hue, little trick-or-treaters will soon be ringing our bells, and the quality of films suddenly takes a huge leap after the September lull that always follows a summer of blockbusters. Yes, Oscar season is here, and we can’t wait to see some of the enticing films coming to theaters very soon or are already here. We each picked three we can’t wait to see.

BRIAN
The Master
Currently in limited release but I have not seen it yet. Director Paul Thomas Anderson is currently, in my opinion, the finest American director working today. This has a chance at a second, wider release, like last year’s best picture winner “The Artist.”

Skyfall
Academy Award-winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty) steps in to direct the new James Bond film. How could you not get excited?

Argo
Ben Affleck directs another thriller, and if his last two films are any  indication, this will be fantastic.

MATT
Wreck It Ralph
It’s not too hard to predict that a Pixar film will be nominated for an Oscar, but this is the first one in a while I’ve been pumped for. It looks stocked full of video game nostalgia wrapped in a nice story.

Lincoln
Steven Spielberg has whiffed on a lot of movies over the last decade, but this ambitious period piece could just put him back on the map. Academy Award-winners Daniel Day Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, and Sally Field round out an excellent cast.

Django Unchained
Any time Quentin Terrantino makes a movie, the world sits up and pays attention. He has yet to win best film or director, but perhaps this is the one to do it. Academy Award-winners Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz star in Terrantino’s first western — a genre that feel made for him.

Sin City

Four tales of crime adapted from Frank Miller’s popular comics of the same name, this film, directed by Miller and Robert Rodriguez (Grindhouse, Once Upon a Time in Mexico) and Quentin Tarantino (Inglorious Basterds, Pulp Fiction), that focuses around a muscular brute looking for the person responsible for the death of his beloved Goldie, a man fed up with Sin City’s corrupt police department who takes the law into his own hands, a cop who risks his life to protect a girl from a deformed pedophile, and a hit man looking to make a little cash.

Brian
Rating: 10 out of 10

Anyone who has ever loved comic books has always waited for a film that conveyed the feeling you get while reading one.  Well, comic book lovers, your movie has come!

Sin City is a film that is so unbelievable visual, so unrelentingly interesting, and so fleshed out with interesting characters and multiple plot lines that, yes, I would call it a living and breathing comic book.  Rodriguez has hit one out of the park and created by far his best film to date and the performances he’s given by Mickey Rourke, Nick Stahl, Clive Owen, and Bruce Willis are stellar all around.

The thing I noticed while watching this movie was that once one story ended and another began, I kept thinking the last part couldn’t be topped and I was wrong.  Each part of the plot perfectly complements the other to create one large story in the vein of Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” or “Reservoir Dogs.”  I will give a word of warning to the squeamish:  This film contains ultra explicit violence that is almost unrelenting from start to finish.  If you can handle that and love comic books, you’d be doing yourself a disservice to miss out on this gem.