Top Living American Filmmakers

Started by New Feeling, August 03, 2008, 02:32:28 AM

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New Feeling

inspired by a thread on imdb I made this list. 

Top Living American Filmmakers

1.   Woody Allen
2.   Martin Scorsese
3.   David Lynch
4.   Coen Brothers
5.   Quentin Tarantino
6.   Paul Thomas Anderson
7.   Steven Spielberg
8.   Wes Anderson
9.   Errol Morris
10.   Michael Moore
11.   Brad Bird
12.   Richard Linklater
13.   Spike Lee
14.   Brian DePalma
15.   Jim Jarmusch
16.   Oliver Stone
17.   Terrence Malick
18.   David Fincher
19.   Francis Ford Coppola
20.   John Lasseter
21.   Todd Haynes
22.   Trey Parker & Matt Stone
23.   Terry Gilliam
24.   Tim Burton
25.   Spike Jonze
26.   Ken Burns
27.   Clint Eastwood
28.   Michael Mann
29.   Alexander Payne
30.   David O. Russell
31.   Joss Whedon
32.   Darren Aranofsky
33.   Steven Soderbergh
34.   Sidney Lumet
35.   Vincent Gallo
36.   Julien Schnabnel
37.   Cameron Crowe
38.   Ben Stiller
39.   Andrew Stanton
40.   Robert Rodruigiez
41.   Gary Ross
42.   Warren Beatty
43.   John Cameron Mitchell
44.   David Gordon Green
45.   Wachowski Brothers
46.   Jonathan Demme
47.   Abel Ferrara
48.   George A. Romero
49.   Mel Brooks
50.   Crispin Glover
51.   Mike Nichols
52.   John Carpenter
53.   Curtis Hanson
54.   D.A. Pennebaker
55.   Harmony Korine
56.   Larry Clarke
57.   Charles Burnett
58.   Kevin Smith
59.   Sean Penn
60.   Robert Zemekis
61.   Sophia Coppola
62.   Sam Raimi
63.   Mike Judge
64.   Rob Zombie
65.   Bill Condon
66.   Bryan Singer
67.   Richard Kelley
68.   M. Night Shamalan
69.   John Hughes
70.   Jon Favreau
71.   Gore Verbinski
72.   Edward Zwick
73.   Peter Bogdanovich
74.   John McTiernan
75.   Frank Darabont
76.   Michael Cimino
77.   William Friedkin
78.   Harold Ramis
79.   Rob Reiner
80.   George Lucas



please discuss, rearrange, and add anyone I've left off that has  a body of work worth noticing.  This was everyone I could think of.  the further down the list I got the less thought went into my rankings though.

cron

nolan, gibson, and darabont are not american
context, context, context.

Kal

That list is not very good... other than naming them the order is based out of what? Somebody's own opinion?

But I would love to see the look on George Lucas face if he saw he is LAST on that list, way down after Ben Stiller, Kevin Smith and Harold Ramis... very funny.



cinemanarchist

Tim Burton is better than Soderbergh...riiiiight.
My assholeness knows no bounds.

Alexandro

Quote from: cinemanarchist on August 03, 2008, 11:47:01 AM
Tim Burton is better than Soderbergh...riiiiight.

i would say so. burton's output in the eighties to mid 90's is infinitely better than anything soderbergh has ever made. bubble is the best film he's done since out of sight. never been a fan of erin or traffic, solaris is good though, but all the exercises in genre and that stupid, unbearable ocean's sequels are enough for me to say without hesitation that burton wins. and unlike the majority of people around here, i laughed a lot with charlie and the chocolate factory and the corpse bride, could appreciate (though not really enjoy) sweeney todd (i hated the music) and really was only disappointed by big fish, a little.

pete

"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Kal


Pozer


hedwig


Gold Trumpet

I started to look through the list but couldn't get past 40. Average filmmakers were starting to be mentioned but if you want to make this idea competitive amongst board members just stick to a top ten list. After 30 you begin to name filmmakers you have little interest in.

Convael

I agree with Golden Trumpet... make the list smaller otherwise you're basically just listing off every semi-known director that's worked in the past two decades.

Alexandro

in a way the top 10 is already there...

i would take out wes anderson and michael moore and throw in there david fincher and michael mann. it would be something like this:

1) david lynch
2) paul thomas anderson
3) martin scorsese
4) steven spielberg
5) coen brothers
6) woody allen
7) quentin tarantino
8) david fincher
9) errol morris
10) michael mann

i do think david lynch has been the most consistently interesting and good in terms of quality of american directors in the last 20 years. scorsese is really close but his decision to work in the mainstream has resulted in at least one semiflawed film (gangs). spielberg can do great and terrible things, but he has shown an impressive range, specially since schindler's list. his only downside is his tendency to sweeten up everything and aim for the bigger audience possible, making moves that sometime hurt his films.

i don't think i have to explain about pta, basically his youth and therefore the fact his ouvre is not too big so far is the only thing that kind of puts him behind other masters. the coen brothers were going down until no country and their (to me) four awesome films streak of fargo-lebowski-man-brother is a miracle. i love oliver stone but really hated wtc and felt bad for him after alexander, which was a mess in my view. if W turns out to be as great as it seems, it would feel like a comeback to me.

all the others, i don't think an explanation is necessary. obviously this is an opinion and the only judgement i used to make these calls is my own personal taste and how i perceive both these directors and their body of work. it's supposed to be fun and that's that.


Gold Trumpet

Quote from: Alexandro on August 03, 2008, 03:12:31 PM
i love oliver stone but really hated wtc and felt bad for him after alexander, which was a mess in my view. if W turns out to be as great as it seems, it would feel like a comeback to me.

I hope someday you watch Alexander Revisited. I myself disliked the theatrical version of Alexander but was very happy and content with his retooling of it in the final cut. Stone addressed every major problem I had and made it an epic more situated to the themes in the story. I think it was one of the best films of last year. It was that much of an improvement to me.


Pozer

Quote from: Alexandro on August 03, 2008, 03:12:31 PM
1) david lynch
2) paul thomas anderson
3) martin scorsese
4) steven spielberg
5) coen brothers
6) woody allen
7) quentin tarantino
8) david fincher
9) errol morris
10) michael mann

Fincher should be number seven  8)

Alexandro