Top 5 Favourite Directors of Recent Times (1 Viewer)

[Benny_]

A few rules.

1. No Dead Guys. No Kubrick, No Hitchcock, No Kurosawa, No Renoir, etc.
2. The list should be composed of directors whose first major films released in the 90s or later, so nobody who was making movies in the 70s or 80s either. So, no Lynch, no Gilliam, no scorcese, no Spielberg.
3. Despite rule number 2, you may include directors who released a few minor films or shorts in the 80s, but whose main body of work is in the 90s, such as Peter Jackson or Joel Coen.

Here's a list to jog your memory

Joel Coen- Fargo, Miller's Crossing, Oh Brother Where Art Thou
Wes Anderson- Rushmore, The Royal Tenanbaums
Jean-Pierre Jeunet- Amelie, The City of Lost Children, Delicatessen
Richard Linklater- Before Sunrise, Before Sunset
Darren Aranofsky- Pi, Requiem For A Dream
Fernando Meirelles- City of God
P.T. Anderson- Boogie Nights, Punch Drunk Love, Magnolia
Spike Jonze- Being John Malkovich, Adaptation
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu- Amores Perros, 21 Grams
Yimou Zhang- Hero, Raise the Read Latern, To Live, The Road Home
Ang Lee- Eat, Drink, Man, Woman; Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Ice Storm
Quentin Tarantino- Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs
Wong Kar Wai- In the Mood For Love, Chungking Express
Tim Burton- Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish
Alejandro Amenabar- The Sea Inside, Open Your Eyes
Baz Luhrmann- Moulin Rouge, Strictly Ballroom
Peter Jackson- Lord of the Rings, Heavenly Creatures
Sofia Coppola- The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation
Steven Soderbergh- Traffic, Sex, Lies and Videotape
David Fincher- Se7en, Fight Club
Todd Solondz- Happiness
Christopher Nolan- Momento
Lars Von Trier- Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves
Cameron Crowe- Say Anything, Almost Famous
Takeshi Kitano- Hana-bi, Zatoichi
Richard Kelly- Donnie Darko
Todd Haynes- Far From Heaven, Velvet Goldmine
Michael Moore- Bowling for Columbine, Roger and Me
Sam Mendes- American Beauty, The Road To Perdition
Guy Richie- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch
Pedro Almodóvar- All About My Mother, Talk To Her, Bad Education
Alexander Payne- Sideways, Election, About Schmidt
Frank Darabont- The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile
Kevin Smith- Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma
... Did I miss anyone?

My top 5.

Wong Kar Wai
Joel Coen
Quentin Tarantino (I'm over him, but he's still the most influential director in the past 15 years)
Alexander Payne
Cameron Crowe- Yeah.. he's not as good as the others as a director, but I love his movies usually.

 

[Led-Zep]

no offense it sux to not include the likes of scorsese and coppola..ok
quentin tarantino
christopher nolan
cameron crowe
richard kelly
david fincher

 

[cappen]

tarantino


and fuck wat u say, i must pick kubrick and hitchcock....

 

[asscookie]

Ang Lee, Sofia Coppola, Peter Weir, Ridley Scott

 

[funniboi]

im gonna base these on movies i think are good!

Quentin Tarantino (Four Rooms, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction)
David Fincher (Fight Club)
Frank Darabont (the green mile, the shawshank redemption)
Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects)

the rest are all equal

 

[icecreamdisco]

richard linklater
wong kar-wai
todd haynes
lars von trier
tsai ming-liang

i'd pick atom egoyan, michael mann and zhang yimou, but i get the impression that they've already peaked; those five i reckon have their best ahead of them.

 

[get_born]

hey you missed Micheal Moore, Don Siegel, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Speilberg, Marc Forster, Taylor Hackford, Bill Condon, Martin Scorsese, Walter Salles, Brad Bird, Terry George, Clint Eastwood

 

[icecreamdisco]

hey you missed Micheal Moore, Don Siegel, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Speilberg, Marc Forster, Taylor Hackford, Bill Condon, Martin Scorsese, Walter Salles, Brad Bird, Terry George, Clint Eastwood

read the rules/title (although a few of those qualify).

 

[get_born]

read the rules/title (although a few of those qualify).

woops! my bad.

 

[Benny_]

Thanks icecream.

The reason I didn't include the rest that do still apply is that they've only had only one outstanding movie I've seen. e.g. Walter Salles- The Motorcycle Diaries, Brad Bird- The Incredibles, Bill Condon- Kinsey. Fair enough, this also applies to Nolan, but Momento/Donnie Darko have had a tad more notoriety over the past few years. Good lists though guys.

Haynes, Weir, Scott, Moore and Sam Mendes will be added.

 

[icecreamdisco]

condon and salles are perfect examples of directors who've made good/great films but don't give them a lot of directorial oomph, mainly letting the writing and acting carry them. not that that's a bad thing; simple craftsmanship can be effective, especially in a time when every second filmmaker seems to insist on getting their 'auteur fingerprints' all over their films.

 

[Benny_]

condon and salles are perfect examples of directors who've made good/great films but don't give them a lot of directorial oomph, mainly letting the writing and acting carry them. not that that's a bad thing; simple craftsmanship can be effective, especially in a time when every second filmmaker seems to insist on getting their 'auteur fingerprints' all over their films.

I like simple craftsmanship too, I'm just not as voracious a film watcher as you. So many good movies to watch, so little time.

 

[bazookajoe]

What, no Kubrick? Hmm difficult.
Quentin Tarantino, Ridley Scott, Sam Mendes, David Fincher, Michael Moore

 

[Bunny04]

hmm, i would probably go with
Peter Weir and Peter Jackson

 

[Supra]

tarantino, jackson, weir, scott, lucas...given the restrictions

 

[Pointy Ears]

Peter Jackson (FOTR), Baz Lurhman (Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge), Dacid Fincher (Seven, Fight Club), Sofia Coppola (Lost in translation) and Gore Verbinski (The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean...his stories are always well rounded) even though he isnt on the list.

 

[crazyhomo]

does peter weir count in this list considering he made the cars that ate paris (1974) and picnic at hanging rock (1975)?

 

[my sharona]

My top 5 (i just ranked them according to the number of good films they had directed):

1. Yimou Zhang- Hero, Raise the Red Latern, To Live, The Road Home, Shanghai Triad, House of flying daggers.
2. Pedro Aldomovar - All about my Mother, Bad education, Talk to her
3. Quentin Tarantino- Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill pt 1 and 2
4. Steven Soderbergh - Traffic, Sex, Lies and Videotape
5. Guy Ritchie - Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels, Snatch

I bolded people who hadn't been mentioned before in this thread.

Although honourable mentions to the following for their work on the following:

Kaige Chen - The emperor and the assassin, Farewell my concubine, Temptress Moon
Sofia Coppola- The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation
Ang Lee- Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
David Fincher- Fight Club
Christopher Nolan- Memento
Spike Jonze- Being John Malkovich

There must be others, but i can't remember them.

 

[Benny_]

Pedro Aldomovar made a great deal of movies in the 80s I think.

 

[funniboi]

in reference to crazyhomo's post..
can you add Peter Weir?
since you said their first major film has to be in the 90's, but could of made films in 80's ?

since Peter Weir did direct "Witness" and "Dead Poets Society" in the 80's... and the ones crazyhomo posted, and i think they are some of his 'major' films ?

ahh well who cares, oyu've missed Frank Darabont and Bryan Singer