Favourite Film-Makers

[jekylljuice]

Alright, I've had a little look around the Other Entertainment section, and I've noticed that we've threads about our favourite movies, our favourite movie franchises, movie theme music, movies which have made us cry, but, unless I'm very much mistaken, nothing thus far in honour of those magical people who actually brought them into being in the first place. Well, I couldn't find any such threads, but if one already exists and I simply missed it, then I apologise, and hope that one of the mods will merge them together.

Anyhow, the title is fairly self-explanatory. Tell us who your favourite film-makers are (and I am envisioning the term rather broadly - it can refer to directors, producers, screen-writers, cinematographers, even entire production companies, if you wish). Obviously, in the interests of generating some discussion, it might be a good idea to give some explanation as to why you like them so much, which of their output you particularly favour, etc, etc.

Here are mine:

Ethan and Joel Coen - Legendary. I won't go into the full details as to how much I love these guys, and how much fascination and enjoyment I have invested into so many of their individual projects since first I first discovered them (hard to believe now that there was ever a time in which I lived in ignorance of them), since we don't have a century to spare. So instead I'll say this - I don't think there's anyone in possession of a better knack for taking established genres, dusting them off and then tweaking them in such a way that they become fresh and uncoventional, whilst at the same time still paying homage to the films and genres that inspired them. They're probably best known for doing this with film noir - the results of which include Fargo, Blood Simple, the Big Lebowski and, more recently, No Country for Old Men - but my favourite has always been their screwball comedy homage, The Hudsucker Proxy, which was literally love at first sight for me, and it's remained my all-time favourite movie to this day. And, not in the least bit hindered by the presence of some recurring themes and cast members, I think that their output has been very rich and varied - it can be funny, colourful, macbre and disturbing, plus they've even dabbled in a bit of devilish surrealty in the form of the magnificent Barton Fink. Yep, here's to you both, Ethan and Joel, you hurricane of fraternal brilliance, you.

Nanni Moretti - An Italian film-maker I've brought up a couple of times within the "Last Movie You Watched" thread. I discovered him early last year and he and his entire catalogue (or at least whatever I could find upon these shores) quickly went on to become massive favourites of mine. On the whole, I find his films to be very quirky, wry and spirited, and to celebrate a general enthusiasm for living, but there's often also an undercurrent of poignancy and sadness, which, for a change, he allowed to take the front seat in his utterly heart-rending The Son's Room, which deals with a family's efforts to cope with the sudden death of one its younger members. In addition to being a very talented director, producer and screen-writer, he's also immensely likeable and entrancing as an actor - I particularly loved him in Caro Diario (Dear Diary), which is my favourite of all of his films that I've seen.

Jim Jarmusch - This man's sense of miniature detail and understatement is simply awe-inspiring. His scripts are also very delicately written and entertaining. I think that my favourites would have to be Night on Earth, Dead Man and Ghost Dog; Way of the Samurai.

David Lynch - Beautiful, strange, surreal, unnerving, terrifying and at times downright grotesque, Mr. Lynch is indeed a film-maker of many, many talents. Though most famous for his darker, more twisted and disturbing projects, along the lines of Eraserhead and Mulholland Drive, he was able to demonstrate with the much gentler, but no less amazing, The Straight Story that there's more than one side to his creativity, whilst The Elephant Man is one of the most emotionally resonant pictures that I think you're ever likely to find. I'd have to say though that the all-out bizare Rabbits, which I only just saw last week, is in a very strong position right now to become my favourite of all of his output.

Derek Jarman - I'm including him in my list, since although I've only actually seen two of his films, The Garden and Blue (the latter being his last ever movie before his AIDS-related death in 1994), both of them made quite an impression upon me, and I'm very eager to see what else he was able to leave to the world throughout his sadly rather short lifetime. The Garden is easily one of the most aesthetically interesting and beautiful films that I've ever seen. The visuals in Blue, by contrast, consist entirely of a blue screen (a representation of the blindness which Jarman was having to face toward the end of his life), accompanied by a very haunting and verbally very beautiful monologue upon his current life and deteriorating health and eyesight. I wouldn't quite say that either film was a consistently easy experience to sit through, but they were both very rivetting, unique, powerful, and at times downight disturbing, and both ended up delivering quite a hefty emotional blow.

Well, that's all I can think of right now. Obviously there are many other film-makers whose output I've really enjoyed, but I think I've covered all of my major favourites. So, over to you.

[Invader Bloo]

Steven Spielberg- He's made tons of classic films & the only movie of his that I've seen & don't like is 'Munich'....boooooring.

George Lucas- Yes he's not the greatest writer, but he does come up with some great ideas.

[koosie]

It's a big question as so many filmshave had an influence on my life, created by giants with initials like (it's a game!), GL, ML, SS, another SS, QT, JB, SE, KL, DC, MS, all of them well deserving of a more inspiring tribute than I can possible give them and of course theres all those guys who got the praise they deserved in the previous post there so I'd would just like to mention these three lads:

Sergio Leone ? Made Beautiful films despite his violent reputation
Stanley Kubrick ? Went a bit wobbly toward the end but everything before that was gold.
Werner Herzog ? Fantastic, crazy, ambitious genius. He has a great voice too.

[Mr_Bloo_Veins]

David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick all the way. The Shining is a piece of cinematic excellence, The shot of the blood flowing out of the elevator and Kubrick's use of near-subliminal imagery are amazing.


David Lynch is definately one of my favorite filmmakers, because he is one of the few people who can scare and/or confuse his audience without resorting to cheesy "jump out and scare you" gimmicks.

[emperor26]

Steven Spielberg-Whether it is the heart-warming E.T. or the action-packed Indiana Jones films, Speilberg knows what makes a movie good for the public to watch.

Peter Jackson-Although he has done horror films in the past, what I really like about him is the Lord of the Rings films that actually got me interested in the fantasy genre, plus, he did a great job with the King Kong remake.

George Lucas-The Star Wars franchise wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for a man who was able to write a great story with an inspirational cast to make it a reality.

Francis Ford Coppola-He directed some of the greatest films in his career, especially the three Godfather films, with its gritty atmosphere, dramatic plot and characters that developed over time.

[jekylljuice]

Originally Posted by koosie

It's a big question as so many filmshave had an influence on my life, created by giants with initials like (it's a game!), GL, ML, SS, another SS, QT, JB, SE, KL, DC, MS, all of them well deserving of a more inspiring tribute than I can possible give them and of course theres all those guys who got the praise they deserved in the previous post there so I'd would just like to mention these three lads:

Well, QT is most certainly Quentin Tarantino (that's an easy one). GL is probably George Lucas, and I'm assuming that one of those two SS's has to be Steven Speilberg. I'll probably be kicking myself when I find out who the others are (and I'm assuming that you do intend to clarify), but right now I'm afraid that you've more or less got me.

Also worthy of mention in this thread, I believe, is Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli is, of course, just swimming with talent, but his movies really are something very outstanding. Particularly Howl's Moving Castle (yeah, obviously I think that Spirited Away is great too).

[Ditchy McAbandonpants]

Koosie: Hmm, that's got me scratching my trivia-filled head. I'm going to go with jj's guesses on George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino, and I'm also going to put forward Martin Scorsese for MS, Sergei Eisenstein for SE, and David Cronenberg for DC, as well as expressing my hope that the other SS is not Stephen Sommers, of Van Helsing "fame".

Additionally, since I can't come up with actual guesses for the other ones, I'm going to suggest that ML is the hateful, eminently slappable football pundit Mark Lawrenson, JB is late TV prankster Jeremy Beadle, and KL is Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia.

Do I win the prize?

PS - Excellent topic, jj. I wouldn't mind posting my own list when I have a bit of free time to think about it...

PPS - Ah! Wait! ML is Mike Leigh, and KL is Ken Loach, surely? Or were my other guesses right?

PPPS - SS #2 is Steven Soderbergh! It must be! Damnit, just that JB to get, now...I hope you realise that obsessing over this is keeping me from my studies, koosie.

[jekylljuice]

Well, my prophesy about me having to go and kick myself certainly came to pass. I really should have gotten Scorsese and Cronenberg; it's inexcusable that I didn't.

Originally Posted by Ditchy McAbandonpants

PS - Excellent topic, jj. I wouldn't mind posting my own list when I have a bit of free time to think about it...

Thanks. I'll look forward to seeing what you have to say.

[koosie]

Originally Posted by Ditchy McAbandonpants

Koosie: Hmm, that's got me scratching my trivia-filled head. I'm going to go with jj's guesses on George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino, and I'm also going to put forward Martin Scorsese for MS, Sergei Eisenstein for SE, and David Cronenberg for DC, as well as expressing my hope that the other SS is not Stephen Sommers, of Van Helsing "fame".

Additionally, since I can't come up with actual guesses for the other ones, I'm going to suggest that ML is the hateful, eminently slappable football pundit Mark Lawrenson, JB is late TV prankster Jeremy Beadle, and KL is Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia.

Do I win the prize?

PS - Excellent topic, jj. I wouldn't mind posting my own list when I have a bit of free time to think about it...

PPS - Ah! Wait! ML is Mike Leigh, and KL is Ken Loach, surely? Or were my other guesses right?

PPPS - SS #2 is Steven Soderbergh! It must be! Damnit, just that JB to get, now...I hope you realise that obsessing over this is keeping me from my studies, koosie.

Sorry to have kept you from your studies but really I'm no more to blame than the ballpoint-pen and ruler you make the improvised aeroplane with. OK you guys did very well with 8/10 but really it should be 9 as, looking again at Steven Soderbergh's resume, it's clear he should have been in there, maybe with about 10 others I've thought of since.

No, the other SS was Sergio Sollima who made the brilliant Faccia a faccia but I couldn't have expected anyone to get that.

JB was John Boorman from the 'Kitchen-Sink' school of film-making. His version of the King Arthur myth, Excaliber was one of my big movies growing up. Zardoz is pretty out there too.

Funnily enough Soderbergh was involved with the third part of the Koyanisqatsi trilogy which is a great fav of mine, though mostly for the brilliant music which is also why I like some of the movies of Peter Greenaway, whose old arch-enemy Alan Parker I quite like too.

No it wasn't a complete list, I didn't think it through. Where was Terry Gilliam and the other Pythons?

Who made American Werewolf in London?

Why was there only men on this list?

[jekylljuice]

Originally Posted by koosie

Why was there only men on this list?

Good question. It did occur to me when I was trying to compile my own list just how much of a male-dominated industry this clearly still is. The only female director who instantly comes to mind for me is Penelope Spheeris, director of the Wayne's World movies.