Monday, January 23, 2006

Reader Feedback

Thanks to everyone for the feedback and comments! One of you wanted to take a crack at his own list of great directors and though I, being a proscrastinator, haven't yet finished mine, I thought I would comment on his. First the list:

1. Ron Howard. I don't really need to explain why do I?

2. Mel Gibson. All his movies are worth watching. Especially the ones that he directs.

3. James Cameron. Not only is he a great writer/director/concept artist, he pushes the technological envelope with every movie that he makes. However, unlike other people, he uses the technology to enhance his story and not for the sake of coolness. He is a great storyteller first and a gadgeteer second.

4. Steven Spielburg used to be great. I don't like his recent movies very much, but his record is too impressive to ignore.

5. Joss Whedon. He is the screenwriter and director of the movie Serenity, the TV series Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (3rd season), and Angel. A young highly talented man.

6. Alfred Hitchcock. If only he were still alive and making movies...

7. Martin Brest. The writer director of Meet Joe Black.

8. Roland Emmerich. His movies are fun.

9. Michael Bay. His movies are fantastic if you could just suspend you disbelief and leave your mind at home.

10. John Carpenter. He has made well over a dozen instant classics. Somehow, his movies always seems low budget, but they are always gripping and leave you wanting to watch more.

Not too many I could really argue with here. Hitchcock is a given and I did really, really like Joe Black, Scent of a Woman, Midnight Run and Beverly Hills Cop, so Martin Brest stays. I know, he also did Gigli, but come on, he's suffered enough and it can't un-do his past accomplishments.

Michael Bay is just plain fun and I love that this guy included directors that were just fun. One thing I wanted to avoid was some pretentious critics list with a bunch of artisticly talented people that made movies no one saw or really, truly enjoyed. This guys list fits that bill pretty well.

I love the James Cameron thing, Sure, he's big, he's commercial, he's not always critically aclaimed, but he has a place here. He created one of the most polarizing, love it or hate movies ever with Titanic. Yep, sorry to say that I liked it, please dont' throw fruit at me if you see me on the street.

Also, before Titanic there was the Terminator masterpieces and one of my favorite movies, the Abyss. Cameron surely has a place in the discussion of best directors. He may even be the most innovative. It would take a great amount of snobbery, I would think, to leave him off the list.

John Carpenter changed modern day horror. Perfected it really. Halloween, They Live, Escape From NY,Starman, the Thing, The Fog, he just churns out potential classics and even brings his own creepy music.

If I were to remove one guy here it would be Roland Emmerich, but I understand his reasoning. He's kind of fun. I didn't like Day After Tomorrow very much, but I don't think the direction sank the movie, it just wasn't well written. But I loved The Patriot and had a blast with Independence Day. Over all though, his body of work could be a little stronger and little more voluminous. One too many Godzillas and Day After's for me. I would re-evaluate him sometime in the future.

Over all though, great list. Thanks to everyone for the feedback, please keep it coming!

1 comment:

sanpiper said...

What kind of a directors list doesn't include the modern day Alfred Hitchcock? M. Night Shyamalan.