Starting tomorrow I will start putting out a list of 5 directors in reverse order each day for the next 4 days of my top 20 directors.
Wednesday: Directors 20-16
Thursday: Directors 15-11
Friday: Directors 10-6
Saturday: Directors 5-1Today I will give you a list of some great directors who did not make my list. I hope everybody enjoys the blog, and the Top 20 Directors list. Check back every day to see what directors make the cut!
Who missed the Cut?
Michael Mann: Directed Heat, Public Enemies, Collateral, and Last of the Mohicans
Michael Mann was left off of the list because I don't like Heat or Miami Vice, and I have yet to see Last of the Mohicans. With only Public Enemies and Collateral left to defend him... that just isn't enough.
James Cameron: Directed Avatar, Titanic, and Aliens
Cameron was left off of the list for many reasons:
1. Cameron has been directing since 1978 and has made 2 (Maybe 3 - I haven't seen Aliens) movies I like.
2. Cameron relies on bloated budgets and directs Blockbusters, he hasn't shown me that he can direct movies on limited budgets.
3. Cameron's story telling skills are sub-par. I love Titanic and I respected his work on Avatar though I find the film itself to be overrated, but aren't these films basically the same. New World: Titanic - The ship, Avatar - Pandora, Forbidden Love Interest: Titanic - Rich girl, Avatar - Alien girl, Longing for a New Life: Titanic - America, Avatar - No More Wheelchair, Climax: Titanic - Destruction of the ship, Avatar - Destruction of Pandora... then you just throw in some CGI and call it a day.
4. Cameron has an inflated ego and has become completely disconnected from reality. He decided to re-release Avatar in the theaters about 8 months after the original release (Avatar was still being shown in many theaters at this time). He complained that Alice in Wonderland had stolen 3D theaters from Avatar and many people did not get the chance to see his film. He compared this to the fact that he had not yet seen Inception while it had been in theaters for 2 months, because he had been traveling. I guess he doesn't understand that the economy has been in shambles and the average American doesn't travel for 8 months at a time. The people who wanted to see his movie saw it. In fact, Avatar is the single highest grossing film of all time, and already had been before the re-release.
Ben Affleck: Directed Gone Baby Gone and The Town
Affleck has some time before he can be considered a great director. He has gotten off to a great start, though.
David Lynch: Directed Eraserhead, Elephant Man, Lost Highway, Mulholland Dr., Blue Velvet
Lynch is an excellent director responsible for some extremely puzzling films, and one gut wrenching film that had the ability to make me cry (Elephant Man). I need to see a little more diversity from him to add him to the list, though.
Woody Allen: Directed Annie Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
I've only seen Vicky Cristina Barcelona, I really liked it, but I need to see his other films before I add him to the list.
Other notable absences:
-Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator)
-Milos Forman (Amadeus, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
-Alejandro Inarritu (Babel, 21 Grams)
-Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile)
-Tony Scott (Man on Fire, Assassination of Jesse James...)
-Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Thank You for Smoking)
-Kevin Smith (Dogma, Clerks.)
-Mel Gibson (Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto)
-Robert Rodrigues (El Mariachi, Machete)
-Brad Anderson (The Machinist, Trainssiberian)
-Marc Forster (Stranger Than Fiction, The Kite Runner)
-Edward Zwick (The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond)
-Gus Van Sant (MILK, Good Will Hunting)
-Ron Howard (American Graffiti, A Beautiful Mind)
-Steven Soderbergh (The Good German, The Informant!)
-George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead, Diary of the Dead)
-Roman Polanski (Chinatown, The Pianist)
-Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride, Misery)
-Wolfgang Petersen (Troy, The Perfect Storm)
-Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes, Snatch.)
-Robert Zemeckis (Cast Away, Forrest Gump)
-Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects)
Brad Anderson did Transsiberian not Trainspotting (Danny Boyle) though I'm sure it was a typo as u seem to know what you're talking about.
ReplyDeleteSteven Soderbergh not in the top 20?
1.) Traffic
2.) Out of Sight
3.) The Limey
4.) Ocean's Movies (11 best by far)
5.) Erin Brokovich (with Traffic, nominated for best picture in same year by same director)
6.) Solaris
Just friendly debate here though. Keep up the good work man.
Typo indeed, thank you very much for the correction, I never would have caught it!
ReplyDeleteSoderbergh is one of those directors that falls in to the category of it being my fault he doesn't make my top 20 (Like Woody Allen). I just haven't watched enough of his movies, nothing against him. I love Traffic. I enjoy watching the Ocean's movies, though I don't consider them to be excellent films. Some day I'll get around to checking out these other movies you listed. I will say I'm very excited to see Soderbergh's film Contagion coming out in 2011 starring Matt Damon (Who else?), Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, & Kate Winslet... but I'll talk about that film in one of my "Future Movie Rumor" posts in the near future.
Thanks again for the comment!
Ya I know, Contagion does sound very interesting. If I had to choose one of Soderbergh's other movies to watch it would be either Out of Sight (great comedy, action, romance) or The Limey (great revenge flick with tremendous editing/score and performance by Terence Stamp)
ReplyDeleteI will look in to them, thanks again!
ReplyDelete