Favorite film directors!

[Thatfabulousalien]

Cause I'm more interested in film than music at the moment.....and I can't find a pre-existing thread of this topic I may as well ask it.

Who are your favorite film directors and why?

You don't have to write essays on it  but I'm interested in the styles and personalities of different directors and all that kind of stuff that makes certain films or director's works impact me the way they do.


I shall make my list shortly 

[TheGSMoeller]

These three are always on top...

Krzysztof Kieslowski
Terrence Malick
Wong Kar-Wai

Woody Allen
Jean-Luc Godard
David Lynch
Chan-wook Park
Peter Greenaway
Federico Fellini
Takashi Miike
F.W. Murnau
Guy Maddin
Andrei Tarkovsky

I'm sure I could list more, but these are the filmmakers that I can easily say I love their entire oeuvre. I would love to write more on these, and more than likely include my favorite film from each as well.

Ironically, Alien, my next list thread was going to be Favorite Films of the 2000s So Far, I've got films on my mind too!

[Brian]

roughly chronologically

Charles Chaplin
Preston Sturges
Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
John Ford
Alfred Hitchcock
Sidney Lumet
Mel Brooks
Francis Ford Coppola
Robert Altman
Paul Thomas Anderson
Edgar Wright
Barry Jenkins

What's notable about this otherwise totally male, English-speaking list is how many of them are also the authors of their films.

[Brian]

Ironically, Alien, my next list thread was going to be Favorite Films of the 2000s So Far, I've got films on my mind too!

Totally out of order, just as they pop into my head:

Ratatouille
Arrival
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Whiplash
Mad Max: Fury Road
Two Days, One Night
The Master
There Will Be Blood
Inherent Vice
Hot Fuzz
Moonlight
Zodiac
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

(edited to add Zodiac)

[TheGSMoeller]

Edgar Wright

Edgar Wright is great, I still haven't seen Baby Driver, but I need to. And Ant-Man would've been amazing if he had stayed on it.

[Todd]

Dead:
John Ford
David Lean
Stanley Kubrick
Sidney Lumet


Past Their Prime:
Francis Ford Coppola (70s stuff)
Martin Scorsese (through Goodfellas)
Steven Spielberg (solid through Raiders, and a few after)
Ridley Scott (for Alien and Blade Runner alone)


Undecided:
Quentin Tarantino (sometimes great, sometimes definitely not)
Nicolas Winding Refn (like Tarantino)
Gaspar Noe (so much potential, but he hasn't delivered on it)
Derek Cianfrance (there's something there)


Outlier:
Terrence Malick (a visual and atmospheric genius, some of his films feel like random shots stitched together)


Current:
Christopher Nolan (ambition)
Darren Aronofsky (vision)
Alfonso Cuarón (visual inventiveness)
Paul Thomas Anderson (at his best, a bona fide genius)
David Fincher (as slick as Scott, but more inventive in non sci-fi settings)
Andrew Dominik (visual style and pacing mostly)
Lars von Trier (just kidding)

[BasilValentine]

Many of my favorites above ^ ^ ^

Rather than repeating, I will add three (or four ) conspicuously missing: Terry Gilliam, Spike Jonze, Coen Bros.

[vandermolen]

Eisenstein
Hitchcock
Kubrick
David Lean
Tarkovsky
Capra
Bondarchuk

Hitchcock was known before it was usual to focus on directors instead of actors. I love the mystery and suspense. The craft and atmosphere of Eisenstein - especially 'Ivan the Terrible' as with Kubrick a great marrying of music and image.
Much the same for the soviet 'War and Peace' of Bondarchuk.

[Rinaldo]

Edgar Wright is great, I still haven't seen Baby Driver, but I need to.

I've loved it. Loses steam towards the end but otherwise a fun, uhm, ride.

My favourites:

Peter Weir
I feel a deeply personal connection to a lot of the stuff he does. Also, Master & Commander played a huge role in me becoming a classical listener.

Stanley Kubrick
A monolith.

Jonathan Glazer
The modern day equivalent of the above.

Werner Herzog
Fascinating director, even more fascinating person. Most of his films are flawed in some way but hey, aren't we all.

John Carpenter
Two words: panavision anamorphic.

Terrence Malick
If only he did without all the terrible voiceovers.

David Lynch
Heineken? Fuck! Pabst Blue Ribbon!!!

Quentin Tarantino
The director of two of my favourite love stories: Jackie Brown and Kill Bill 2.

Paul Thomas Anderson
As Todd said.

[Hollywood]

In no particular order:

Mel Brooks
Michael Curtiz
Milos Forman
Tod Browning

[Autumn Leaves]

A few off the top of my head:

Alfred Hitchcock
Sergio Leone
Peter Weir
Ridley Scott
George Lucas
Steven Spielberg
George E. Romero
John Carpenter
M. Night Shyamalan
Coen Brothers
Francis Ford Coppola
Martin Scorcese

etc..

[ritter]

Not that much of a film guy myself, but if I were to mention just one name, it would undoubtedly be that of Michelangelo Antonioni. Rarely if ever have I seen films to which the tag "work of art" can be applied as unhesitatingly as to e.g. La Notte or L'Eclisse.

[71 dB]

Paul Thomas Anderson (at his best, a bona fide genius)

I don't think I have seen anything by him. An unknown name to me.

[snyprrr]

Y'all gonna get nosebleeds with all that loftiness!!


Blatty, 'The Ninth Configuration'

[Brian]

I don't think I have seen anything by him. An unknown name to me.

Hard Eight
Boogie Nights
Magnolia
Punch Drunk Love
There Will Be Blood
The Master
Inherent Vice

I think that's his complete filmography. It is short, diverse, and great. Hard Eight is a casino story about a professional gambler learning his trade; Boogie Nights is a 3-hour epic set in the world of 70s adult films; Magnolia is an "everyone is connected" melodrama; Punch Drunk Love is a romantic comedy with Adam Sandler; There Will Be Blood is an American capitalist/western epic; The Master is another American capitalist/western epic but with religion instead of oil; Inherent Vice is a shaggy-dog it's-all-about-the-journey comedy about a stoned detective unearthing a conspiracy.

BN, TWBB, and TM are masterpieces; The Master is downright Kubrick-like. There is a new Paul Thomas Anderson film coming this Christmas with Daniel Day Lewis, supposedly his last role before retiring.

PTA is probably my favorite living director, and Boogie Nights, The Master, and Inherent Vice are some of my favorite recent movies. Lot of good stuff in the others, too, even Magnolia, which is overall a little bit too much.

[Sergeant Rock]

Y'all gonna get nosebleeds with all that loftiness!!

Jesús Franco
Joseph W. Sarno
Russ Meyer
Radley Metzger

Is that better? 

Sarge

[snyprrr]

Jesús Franco
Joseph W. Sarno
Russ Meyer
Radley Metzger

Is that better? 

Sarge

Duuuuude!!! You have no idea how close I was to just putting Franco down and being done with it!! Enjoying Jean Rollin lately, too.

[drogulus]

Hard Eight
Boogie Nights
Magnolia
Punch Drunk Love
There Will Be Blood
The Master
Inherent Vice

I think that's his complete filmography. It is short, diverse, and great. Hard Eight is a casino story about a professional gambler learning his trade; Boogie Nights is a 3-hour epic set in the world of 70s adult films; Magnolia is an "everyone is connected" melodrama; Punch Drunk Love is a romantic comedy with Adam Sandler; There Will Be Blood is an American capitalist/western epic; The Master is another American capitalist/western epic but with religion instead of oil; Inherent Vice is a shaggy-dog it's-all-about-the-journey comedy about a stoned detective unearthing a conspiracy.

BN, TWBB, and TM are masterpieces; The Master is downright Kubrick-like. There is a new Paul Thomas Anderson film coming this Christmas with Daniel Day Lewis, supposedly his last role before retiring.

PTA is probably my favorite living director, and Boogie Nights, The Master, and Inherent Vice are some of my favorite recent movies. Lot of good stuff in the others, too, even Magnolia, which is overall a little bit too much.

     Hard Eight is one of the great first films.

     https://www.youtube.com/v/sOPB9c4t0Ok

     

[71 dB]

Hard Eight
Boogie Nights
Magnolia
Punch Drunk Love
There Will Be Blood
The Master
Inherent Vice

I think that's his complete filmography. It is short, diverse, and great. Hard Eight is a casino story about a professional gambler learning his trade; Boogie Nights is a 3-hour epic set in the world of 70s adult films; Magnolia is an "everyone is connected" melodrama; Punch Drunk Love is a romantic comedy with Adam Sandler; There Will Be Blood is an American capitalist/western epic; The Master is another American capitalist/western epic but with religion instead of oil; Inherent Vice is a shaggy-dog it's-all-about-the-journey comedy about a stoned detective unearthing a conspiracy.

BN, TWBB, and TM are masterpieces; The Master is downright Kubrick-like. There is a new Paul Thomas Anderson film coming this Christmas with Daniel Day Lewis, supposedly his last role before retiring.

PTA is probably my favorite living director, and Boogie Nights, The Master, and Inherent Vice are some of my favorite recent movies. Lot of good stuff in the others, too, even Magnolia, which is overall a little bit too much.

That's a nice introduction, thanks! Magnolia is a film I know by name, but I don't think I have seen it. If I have seen it, it must have been forgettable.

[bwv 1080]

Boogie Nights is brilliant

https://www.youtube.com/v/UtOviHnmAlE

PT Anderson is high on my list, but Kubrick is probably on top