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.
nolan, gibson, and darabont are not american
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.
Tim Burton is better than Soderbergh...riiiiight.
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.
please discuss what?
Quote from: pete on August 03, 2008, 12:23:34 PM
please discuss what?
Hey pete, here you go buddy http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=10311.0
drop dead, thread.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
damn, you're right!!!
Doesn't this have something to do with why we have some directors who have dedicated forums while others don't?
TS, I thought it was a valiant effort at starting a thread for the first time. Don't let this scare you away from doing it again. Tough crowd, I know, but don't mind them.
Quote from: Alexandro on August 03, 2008, 12:18:37 PM
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.
have you seen schizopolis? it might change your opinion.
My top 5ive:
1. Malick
2. Lynch
3. Fincher
4. PTA
5. Spike Jonze
Speaking of Malick, Tree of life is listed at imdb as being in post production, I didn't even know it started filming, I hope that's true.
i've been meaning to watch alexander revisited but i haven't found it on any videostore to rent, or sell, actually. still, i know it will be hard for me to ignore vangelis's score, which was one of the things that turned me off the most about alexander, and of course, collin farrell's wig...
i must admit i haven't seen schizopolis. anything could change my opinion, of course. i think i admire soderbergh more than i enjoy the films by themselves. that happens to me also with malick. i love and feel like i'm flying when i watch days of heaven, but i do have a hard time with thin red line and the new world, mainly like halfway through of both films. intellectually they are awesome, but i can't say i enjoy them as much as the films from the other directors i mentioned. if i were to be more objective malick would be in the top 5.
I always get Fernando and Alexandro mixed up. :ponder:
I'm sorry, guys.
Let's keep it short...
1. Lynch
2. PTA
Quote from: cron on August 03, 2008, 09:18:49 AM
nolan, gibson, and darabont are not american
removed Nolan and Gibson, but Darabont was raised in America so I'm leaving him in.
added Joss Whedon and Crispin Glover.
we are all americans.
not me
i love lists. my top 5:
1. lynch
2. pta
3. malick
4. jonze
5. fincher
fincher is on there pretty much based on one movie. i wasn't a huge fan until last year. looking over new feeling's list, tho, there's no other living american director who im obsessed with right now. benjamin button will decide whether he stays or goes.
david t. anderson
McG
Brett Ratner
F. Gary Gray
End of discussion.
did you just decide to see if you could list every director you could think of? cuz that's what i think from reading this.
i wipe my ass with this list.
and you owe me money.
my laptop is now covered with shit because of you, new feeing.
Shit, I forgot Michael Bay.
yeah that's almost exactly what I did, except I excluded everyone who I thought hadn't ever made a particularly good movie and hadn't distinguished themselves in any real way, but anyone who had went on the list. I like all those guys for at last one reason. I posted it here hoping I might be reminded of or turned on to a few other interesting filmmakers, and that maybe it would introduce a few to some fellow xixaxers, or just get people thinking. Sorry simple things bother you so much. Must be a bitch.
Quote from: jtm on August 14, 2008, 07:17:33 AM
did you just decide to see if you could list every director you could think of? cuz that's what i think from reading this.
i wipe my ass with this list.
and you owe me money.
my laptop is now covered with shit because of you, new feeing.
Yeah, that JTM comment has been buggin me for a while now. It's not even that funny.
I'm sorry but really, what a huge waste of time is to read through a thread about american directors. What a pain in the ass. Since we are all here patiently and seriously discussing in such sophisticated ways the work of filmmakers all over the world. How dare someone bring around here, to this sacred cinematic corner of our lives, something as trivial as a list? Ugh... that's for the kids, right? We don't do that shit. We don't have xixax awards and dekantpicon or whatever. We're so above that crap. We're so hip and smart.
yeah, like i'm the first person to bitch about quality control. hell, i'm not even the first one in this thread!
what about saying something remotely interesting for quality control?
I only have 9 fingers. My right middle finger and the finger thats not my middle one are still conjoined.
I think that's pretty interesting.
Quote from: Alexandro on August 18, 2008, 11:30:57 PM
what about saying something remotely interesting for quality control?
exactly! what about it?
i meant instead of acting like an asshole towards some new guy from the safety of our homes and computers. the guy starts a thread with some potential to be at least entertaining and fun and some people act as if this is such a pain in the ass...
when i came to xixax a few years ago i was already 23 and a lot of the opinions i read here sounded like ones made by clueless teenagers just discovering shit. that doesn't mean i had to be an asshole and act all fucking indignated about it. this bully hipster attitude is the one and only thing i truly dislike about this place.
Quote from: Alexandro on August 19, 2008, 12:27:08 PM
when i came to xixax a few years ago i was already 23 and a lot of the opinions i read here sounded like ones made by clueless teenagers just discovering shit. that doesn't mean i had to be an asshole and act all fucking indignated about it. this bully hipster attitude is the one and only thing i truly dislike about this place.
Thank God someone said it.
Quote from: Alexandro on August 19, 2008, 12:27:08 PM
i meant instead of acting like an asshole towards some new guy from the safety of our homes and computers. the guy starts a thread with some potential to be at least entertaining and fun and some people act as if this is such a pain in the ass...
when i came to xixax a few years ago i was already 23 and a lot of the opinions i read here sounded like ones made by clueless teenagers just discovering shit. that doesn't mean i had to be an asshole and act all fucking indignated about it. this bully hipster attitude is the one and only thing i truly dislike about this place.
don't give me this "hipster attitude" shit... about 20% of my posts were greeted with the same stuff you speak of, so save it... i like this place for the same reason you do. it's fun to come here and talk about things "most" of our friends don't give a damn about. that's why i come here.
yeah, sure, sometimes i lash out at people for certain reasons. but considering this place's past towards treating members, is that anything unexpected? i've even made posts here in the (recent) past that people here treat other people like shit. was it noticed? no. but what i did get was "what's this fags problem?" or "this fags just got sand in his vagina" or "this fags a fag!" you get the point... has anything changed? no. of course not. and i don't expect it to anymore..... all that's just pushed me further to not give a shit.
so...Having watched Vicky Christina Barcelona and Cassandra's Dream and thinking about Woody a lot in the past couple weeks, I decided to put him in my #1 spot. I can honestly say that I'm as excited about his next one as any of these guys (especially with the LD factor). And he might put out more movies in the rest of his life than PTA and QT combined at this rate. He's got as strong a voice as Lynch and an even more varied body of work than Scorsese or PTA. So I guess it's Woody all the way>
I would still appreciate it if anyone added someone actually good to the list..I'm sure I must've missed a couple of notables..
okay I'm actually way more excited about Inglorious Bastards than anything, I can't lie.
Quote from: jtm on August 21, 2008, 03:21:13 AM
Quote from: Alexandro on August 19, 2008, 12:27:08 PM
i meant instead of acting like an asshole towards some new guy from the safety of our homes and computers. the guy starts a thread with some potential to be at least entertaining and fun and some people act as if this is such a pain in the ass...
when i came to xixax a few years ago i was already 23 and a lot of the opinions i read here sounded like ones made by clueless teenagers just discovering shit. that doesn't mean i had to be an asshole and act all fucking indignated about it. this bully hipster attitude is the one and only thing i truly dislike about this place.
don't give me this "hipster attitude" shit... about 20% of my posts were greeted with the same stuff you speak of, so save it... i like this place for the same reason you do. it's fun to come here and talk about things "most" of our friends don't give a damn about. that's why i come here.
yeah, sure, sometimes i lash out at people for certain reasons. but considering this place's past towards treating members, is that anything unexpected? i've even made posts here in the (recent) past that people here treat other people like shit. was it noticed? no. but what i did get was "what's this fags problem?" or "this fags just got sand in his vagina" or "this fags a fag!" you get the point... has anything changed? no. of course not. and i don't expect it to anymore..... all that's just pushed me further to not give a shit.
nothing personal against you. im sorry if it sounds as if i'm going after you alone or something. i know a lot of people around here do exactly that and it always bothers me. i don't see the point of being an asshole to strangers who do me no harm. by your logic, since everyone else does it, why should you not? are we in fucking kindergarden or something? and is not like new feeling or whatever his name is called you a fag or an idiot or told you that he wipes his ass with your last post...anyway if that's the way it's gonna be, we'll just let it be...
someone mentioned HAL HARTLEY to me yesterday and he seemed like a good candidate for this list. I've only seen one of his films and barely remember it. Anyone have anything to say about this guy, or care to rank him between two other filmmakers? Where is the best place to start? I heard his first two were the best.
Yeah you forgot Hal Hartley. You don't have Arthur Penn, Sidney Lumet, or Blake Edwards on the list for fuck's sake. Or Paul Schrader or Todd Solondz or Tobe Hooper or Jack Hill or John Landis or Walter Hill or Kenneth Anger, etc, I mean is this list going to Congress or what?
Yes it's going to the Congress of Jeff and we thank you for your support. I had Sidney Lumet though, who you missed at 34. That was exactly what I was looking for. If you can get me to 100 I'll kiss you.
I also noticed I left off John Waters.
One superb filmmaker that's been overlooked thus far: Frederick Wiseman.
Quote from: Walrus on September 17, 2008, 10:55:39 PM
One superb filmmaker that's been overlooked thus far: Frederick Wiseman.
I looked him up and he is intriguing. Got any personal comments to introduce him?
Someone was just telling me about High School last night.
Quote from: New Feeling on September 16, 2008, 12:01:48 AM
someone mentioned HAL HARTLEY to me yesterday and he seemed like a good candidate for this list. I've only seen one of his films and barely remember it. Anyone have anything to say about this guy, or care to rank him between two other filmmakers? Where is the best place to start? I heard his first two were the best.
he's a Purchase College alum (and he also taught for a few years here in the 90's), so people tend to suck him off around here. in my opinion, he's the most godfuckingawful director i've ever encountered. we're talking Ed Wood, but with more dutch angles. the first time i saw the trailer for fay grim, i found it so visually offensive that i didn't even hear the words. maybe it's just me, but fuck hal hartley.
Quote from: The Gold Trumpet on September 18, 2008, 12:25:56 AM
Quote from: Walrus on September 17, 2008, 10:55:39 PM
One superb filmmaker that's been overlooked thus far: Frederick Wiseman.
I looked him up and he is intriguing. Got any personal comments to introduce him?
He makes the most objective documentaries I've ever seen. He's really quite fascinating because he doesn't use any conventional documentary gimmicks like a main character, narrator, over-arching story. He just films public institutions and/or public programs, and edits it to give you a flat, yet very sharpened look at it. Some of his earlier features have a sense of irony in the shots, and have more artistic liscence, which he later claims he is less proud of than his more rectent movies that are more straightforward and unfiltered.
I highly recommend you see Tititcut Follies and High School to get a real feel for his early stuff (which I like better). If you get into it, check out Missile, which is so darkly and unintentionally funny, but that was probably the point. It's about military students learning how to launch missiles, what the buttons and codes are, etc. But where it gets comical is that they're human beings who are just trying to soak it in, but you see things like students nodding off during class and the teachers speaking so frankly about learning how to use weapons that when used correctly, can be responsible for great loss of life and if used improperly, can cost your own among everyong else withing a large radius.
If you make it through those, move to check out Welfare and Public Housing, which would both be hard to start with since they're both about 3 hours each, and since Wiseman never uses any music unless it's found sound, they become quite staggering to see people arguing with social workers.
he, like the maysles brothers, was a part of the direct cinema movement, in which documentaries are stylized as having no style, if that makes any sense. it's a dated genre and a dated aesthetic, though now many comedies are beginning to use the style for punchlines.
the pay phone scene from Rushmore was lifted from Wiseman's "High School." Herzog and him have butted heads several times, as they have completely different views on how truth should be captured. Herzog has repeatedly called direct cinema "truth accountants" and claim that superficial facts cannot lead the viewers to the realm of the "ecstatic truth." However, those are beautifully made movies. Beautiful cinematography, editing, and characterization. Salesman by the Maysles is one of my favorites of all time.
Dunno if the Maysles qualify for the list cos they are half dead. And Al is losing it. I had a buddy that interned with him a few years ago, and the dude refuses to shoot anything but digital. He's all hardcore about his tapes "only costing $8" or some such thing. I love 'em, and agree that Salesman is a masterpiece, but still... Dave is dead. They don't qualify, imo.
Schrader should of course be on any list of great American directors, even if half of his output is complete shit.
I would also nominate Bob Rafelson and Mike Nichols each for their first four movies. Then they, again, have sucked enormous dick since then, but it doesn't matter, since the legacy was set in stone from the outset.
EW made a list of the top active filmmakers that is not so good
1. Steven Spielberg
2. Peter Jackson
3. Martin Scorsese
4. Christopher Nolan
5. Steven Soderbergh
6. Ridley Scott
7. Quentin Tarantino
8. Michael Mann
9. James Cameron
10. Joel and Ethan Coen
11. Guillermo del Toro
12. David Fincher
13. Tim Burton
14. Judd Apatow
15. Sam Raimi
16. Zack Snyder
17. Darren Aronofsky
18. Danny Boyle
19. Clint Eastwood
20. Ron Howard
21. Ang Lee
22. Paul Thomas Anderson
23. Paul Greengrass
24. Pedro Almodóvar
25. Jon Favreau
26. Woody Allen
27. Brad Bird
28. David Cronenberg
29. Sofia Coppola
30. Bryan Singer
31. Sam Mendes
32. Mel Gibson
33. The Wachowski Brothers
34. J.J. Abrams
35. Alfonso Cuaron
36. Hayao Miyazaki
37. Mike Leigh
38. Oliver Stone
39. Roman Polanski
40. Spike Jonze
41. Richard Linklater
42. Spike Lee
43. David Lynch
44. Wong Kar-Wai
45. Wes Anderson
46. Mira Nair
47. Andrew Stanton
48. Michael Moore
49. Mary Harron
50. Sidney Lumet
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20259527,00.html
_________________
What a horrible list. I'm not faulting it for what directors are at what place. Even if a list had all the filmmakers I liked I would never agree with the standings. For me lists are more about who makes the final cut. With that said, I am faulting the list for having no foreign filmmakers outside the mainstream at all. Every one of them has either dabbled in American films of their own or have become celebrities within the film world. It's just ridiculous to leave out so many names and then have someone like Jon Favreau on there. I think by his admission he just makes movies and tries to make them good. Listing someone as a filmmaker does entail some auteur standing which Favreau seems to have no interest in.
GT, what did you expect? EW is a mainstream magazine. As Denis Leary once said "Life sucks, (especially when it comes expectations and what we want) get a fuckin' helmet." I apologize, I know that is a huge generalization and I don't mean to attack you personally. But, really?
I know EW is mainstream, but they generally are a little better than other publications. This list could have been done by People magazine. I also don't care that you "personally attacked me" because you really overshot my frustation. I really don't care what EW says and if all I had to say was, "What a horrible list.", then I wouldn't have posted. I mainly wanted to make the other point about lists in general.
Granted.
It is, indeed, a terrible list. If Entertainment Weekly wasn't wholly irrelevant, in film and pop culture, it might make me respond with something more than a shrug.
As it stands, I don't think anyone who reads this list is gonna read this list or care. Save for a few curious teenagers who might potentially use it as a primer, but even they will wise up and expand their shit after a couple months.
So, aside from that and among the many (MANY) glaring omissions - no love for Terrence Malick or Alexander Payne? Not "active" enough, maybe, yet Cameron makes the cut?
You know, maybe this list was written by a fifteen year old.
they just looked at all the directors they've interviewed in the last five years, and added one woman and one foreigner.