This is a two part question.....
1- Who do you think has had the most impressive four film start ever?
2- Who do you think has had the most impressive four film start between Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson?
My answers:
1- I'll try and rank them....nah fuck it... I can't.
I think that Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino Tie
Reservoir Dogs to Hard Eight= Dogs wins- 75-25
Pulp Fiction to Boogie Nights= Pulp wins, but Boogie is very close- 60-40
Jackie Brown to Magnolia= No question, Magnolia. I do enjoy Jackie- 15-85
Kill Bill Vol. 1 to Punch-Drunk Love= This is a tie. 50-50
add them up
QT= 200
PTA= 200
Kubrick's first four films consisted of two of his weaker films (Killer's Kiss, Spartacus), as well as two of his most impressive efforts (The Killing, Paths of Glory). So he kind of evens out.
Lynch has Eraserhead (supposed to be good), Elephant Man (excellent), Dune (supposed to suck), and Blue Velvet (Brilliant). He had a good start.
I'll continue this some other time, right now I have to go to work.....
An intriguing question --
Bob Fosse's first 4 films were Sweet Charity, Cabaret, Lenny and All That Jazz, which is impressive.
PTA's 1st 4 are great.
George Lucas has THX 1138, American Graffiti, Star Wars, Phantom Menace (3 outta 4 ain't bad).
Spielberg -- Sugarland Express, Jaws, Close Encounters, 1941 (.750 batting average).
Mike Nichols has Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Graduate, Catch 22 and Carnal Knowledge -- maybe that's the most impressive one of all time.
Hal Ashby has The Landlord, Harold and Maude, Last Detail and Shampoo.
Peter Bogdanovich's first 4 films: Targets, Last Picture Show, What's Up Doc and Paper Moon.
If only Terrence Malick would make a 4th film, we could add him to this list.
Quote from: j_scott_stroup04
Kubrick's first four films consisted of two of his weaker films (Killer's Kiss, Spartacus), as well as two of his most impressive efforts (The Killing, Paths of Glory). So he kind of evens out.
Fear and Desire was his first film, but that one was pretty bad as well.
Coens had a good first 4
I would've eventually placed the Coens on there, if I hadn't been rushed. They definitely deserve it.
In fact, I did know that Fear and Desire was Kubrick's first movie, but I've never seen it to rent, buy, on any movie channels or anything. The only time I ever heard of it was on that Stanley Kubrick: a Life in Pictures. So I usually don't bother counting it.
Tim Burton had a good first four....I haven't seen Pee-Wee's Big Adventure since I was a little kid, so I don't even know how good that is. Beetlejuice, Batman, and Edward Scissorhands are all great.
I'm not counting Vincent (which I love) or Frankenweenie (which I don't love), I'm only counting his first "official" FILMS.
Terry Zwigoff has a good start going for him: Louie Bluie (I haven't seenm supposed to be really good), Crumb (great), Ghost World (even better), and Bad Santa (hilarious).
Orson Welles had Citizen Kane (one of the best movies of all-time, considered to be the best), Magnificent Ambersons (most people claim it's the only movie by Welles that almost reached Kane's quality, I have yet to see it), The Stranger (good), and Lady From Shanghai (excellent film).
Woody Allen (excluding What's Up Tiger Lily?) had: Take the Money and Run (supposed to be one of the funniest movies ever made), Bananas (hilarious), Sleeper (hilarious), and Love and Death (possibly the funniest movies I've ever seen in my life). I would say that's a good start.
I need to quit counting all of these people in which I've only seen 3 of their first 4.
Wes Anderson needs to make a fourth.
Christopher Nolan needs to make a fourth film as well.
Robert Rodriguez had El Mariachi (his best), Desperado (good action flick), From Dusk Till Dawn (his second best), and The Faculty (an OK movie), that's not a bad start.
Kevin Smith bats .750 for his first 4 (only if he didn't make Mallrats, ugh)
...jarmusch has an impressive 4 ffilm start.....
and taranntino....
Jean-Pierre Jeunet and François Truffaut
Quote from: j_scott_stroup04I think that Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino Tie
Reservoir Dogs to Hard Eight= Dogs wins- 75-25
Pulp Fiction to Boogie Nights= Pulp wins, but Boogie is very close- 60-40
Jackie Brown to Magnolia= No question, Magnolia. I do enjoy Jackie- 15-85
Kill Bill Vol. 1 to Punch-Drunk Love= This is a tie. 50-50
add them up
QT= 200
PTA= 200
I think Boogie Nights is better than Pulp Fiction. I would have ranked Jackie Brown a bit higher, but Magnolia sould still win over. Why the constant competition on here between PTA and QT anyway? I know they're buddies, but I don't feel their movies are similar enough to justify constant comparisons. Both are amazong directors who have made four of the best movies of the last decade or so apeice. In the end preference just comes down to personal taste. Both kick ass.
i just visited the future..
chris cunningham's first 4 films are the best the world ever saw. oh and trust me on the sunscreen.
Duck Sauce > Jay Z
Reservoir Dogs = Hard Eight
Pulp Fiction > Boogie Nights
Jackie Brown = Magnolia
Kill Bill < Punch-Drunk Love
I love those guys movies too much and I had to find a way for them to break even :P
I agree with previously mentioned Mike Nichols.
and would like to add
Jean-Luc Godard:
Breathless
The Little Soldier
A Woman Is A Woman
My Life To Live
also, while Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill kick the crap out of Hard Eight and PDL, and Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown are wonderful movies, I will still put PTA ahead of QT, based on the power and grace of Boogie Nights and Magnolia...
TECHNICALLY, since Duel was released theatrically abroad it could be considered Spielberg's first. Then you've got: Duel, The Sugarland Express, Jaws, and Close Encounters.
This is a decent thread. I think it could be broadened to ask who had the greatest 4 film stretch of the modern era?
Kubrick 1964-75...
Coppola 1972-79...
Coens 1984-91...
Quote from: mutinycoTECHNICALLY, since Duel was released theatrically abroad it could be considered Spielberg's first. Then you've got: Duel, The Sugarland Express, Jaws, and Close Encounters.
This is a decent thread. I think it could be broadened to ask who had the greatest 4 film stretch of the modern era?
Kubrick 1964-75...
Coppola 1972-79...
Coens 1984-91...
Leone 1964 - 1968: A Fistfull of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West
Tarantino 1992 - 2003: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill
Quote from: mutinycoI think it could be broadened to ask who had the greatest 4 film stretch of the modern era?
Such a better question. This idea just feels desperate in extending the question, "Which filmmaker made the best debut ever?" I mean, if you're going to ask what are the best four films for a filmmaker, why stop at four? Why not go to five or even six? Or contain it to just two or three? Its just focusing on the trouble of finding a filmmaker who didn't screw up once or twice in the beginning of their career. With asking the best streak of four (or whatever small number), you get more specific on comparing great filmmakers who were consistent.
i think four was just the arbitrary number because pt and qt have four films and he is impressed by them.
Fincher has... (i think i fucked up the order)
Alien 3
Fight Club
Seven
Panic Room
Panic Room wasn't horrible, but not worthy of 25%, so i'd say Fincher has a 65% great movie rate...
Quote from: aClockworkWalrusFincher has... (i think i fucked up the order)
Alien 3
Fight Club
Seven
Panic Room
Panic Room wasn't horrible, but not worthy of 25%, so i'd say Fincher has a 65% great movie rate...
The Game came before Panic Room.
Terry Gilliams' first four are also quiet cool.
Brazil
Time Bandits
Jabberwocky
Monty Python And The Holy Grail
And Peter Jackson:
Heavenly Creatures
Braindead
Meet The Feebles
Bad Taste
But also the Hughes Brothers:
From Hell
American Pimp
Dead Presidents
Menace II Society
Hal Needham:
Smokey and the Bandit -- wonderful improv stuff between Burt Reynolds and Sally Field. Exquisitely choreographed vehicular mayhem. Jackie Gleason should've been up for Best Supporting Actor.
Hooper -- on the surface, a knockabout farce about macho stunt men, but it is also a self-reflexive look at the filmmaking process.
The Villain -- Arnold Schwarzenegger's first starring role, which displays his adroitness at light comedy.
Smokey and the Bandit 2 -- like Empire Strikes Back and Godfather 2, it expands upon and improves upon the original.
Quote from: soixanteHal Needham:
oh come now. surely you dont believe THAT is the most impressive four film start. admit it, you're just being willfully obscure.
Darren Aronofsky (SPOILER for Requiem below):
Pi
Requiem for a Dream
The Fountain
Requiem for a Dream 2: Harry Still Has the Other Arm...
Actually, I chose four ultimately because I feel that after four films, it's official whether or not the filmmaker has proven himself. His work can offically be critiqued as a whole.
And....yeah...PTA and Tarantino had something to do with it. I was just wondering if they were the only people who's had this phenomenal of a four film start. Apparently, they are not, but they are 2 of no more than 10 others.