David Cronenberg
PT Anderson
David Lynch
The Coen Brothers
Wes Anderson

Maybe I've already written on this topic but, whatever, here are my favourite directors:

1/ Tim Burton
2/ Woody Allen
3/ The Coen Brothers
4/ Alfred Hitchcock
5/ Steven Spielberg
6/ Terry Gilliam
7/ Takeshi Kitano
8/ Mel Brooks
9/ Stanley Kubrick
10/ Billy Wilder

Selection and deciding on great directors was exceptionally difficult, particularly in deciding the distinction between great movie, actor, and director as well as the many directors who have been involved with one, two, three goods movies and either few other movies to their credit or many other movies to their credit (e.g. Paul Thomas Anderson and Punch-Drunk Love, 2002; Magnolia, 1999; Bille August and Smilla's Sense of Snow, 1996; Cameron Crowe; Frank Darabont, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Lawrence Kasdan, Ang Lee, Anthony Minghella, Christopher Nolan, Alexander Payne, Otto Preminger, Robert Redford, Jim Sheridan) or directors that have focused on specialized genre like animation (e.g. Don Bluth, Wilfred Jackson, or Wolfgang Reitherman) or horror (Roger Corman or David Cronenberg) or directors of popular movies (e.g. James Cameron, John Carpenter, Jonathan Demme, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, John McTiernan, Vincente Minnelli, Robert Mulligan, Roman Polanski, Rob Reiner, Herbert Ross, Franklin J. Schaffner, John Schlesinger, Joel Schumacher, Tony Scott, John Sturges, William Wellman, Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnermann). Then there are those directors whose movies overall raise more questions than answers in terms of great director (Barry Levinson, George Lucas, Sidney Lumet, Wolfgang Petersen, Sydney Pollack, Robert Rodriguez, Quintin Tarantino, Andrei Tarkovsky).

Favorite Directors in alphabetical order (it will take me months to attempt any semblence of an order):

Robert Aldrich
Woody Allen
Robert Altman
Michael Anderson, Sr.
Richard Attenborough
Bruce Beresford
Ingmar Bergman
Richard Brooks
Tim Burton
Frank Capra
Charlie Chaplin
Francis Ford Coppola
George Cukor
Cecile B. DeMille
Stanley Donen
Clint Eastwood
Federico Fellini
Victor Fleming
John Ford
Milos Forman
John Frankenheimer
Terry Gilliam
D.W. Griffith
Lasse Hallstrom
George Roy Hill
Alfred Hitchcock
Ron Howard
John Huston
James Ivory
Stanley Kubrick
Akira Kurosawa
Fritz Lang
David Lean
David Lynch
Michael Mann
Martin Scorsese
Ridley Scott
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Spielberg
Oliver Stone
Erich von Stroheim
Francois Truffaut
Peter Weir
Orson Wells
Robert Wise
William Wyler
Zhang Yimou

The only way I could feel comfortable listing my most favorite director's is to base the list on the movies that I liked the most. However, if they only directed one movie, no matter how good, I really couldn't say it was the director, the script, or the actors - the following list is what I hope are those directors whose movies the I enjoyed and who may have had a large role in why I like them (in alphabetic order):

Alfred Hitchcock
Stanley Kubrick
David Lean
David Lynch
Michael Mann
Ridley Scott
Steven Spielberg
Peter Weir
Robert Wise

Gun to my head, I'd name Brian DePalma as my favorite director. I like directors who tells their stories visually with the camera. And no one does this better than DePalma. Among his impressive oeuvre I'd have to say that my favorites are BLOW OUT, which was the first DePalma movie I caught; BODY DOUBLE, kind of a riff on Hitchcock's VERTIGO; MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, a first-rate popcorn picture; and THE UNTOUCHABLES, the film that made Kevin Costner a star and up to that point DePalma's biggest hit.

quote:

ChrisFromAstoria posted:

Gun to my head, I'd name Brian DePalma as my favorite director. I like directors who tells their stories visually with the camera. And no one does this better than DePalma. Among his impressive oeuvre I'd have to say that my favorites are BLOW OUT, which was the first DePalma movie I caught; BODY DOUBLE, kind of a riff on Hitchcock's VERTIGO; MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, a first-rate popcorn picture; and THE UNTOUCHABLES, the film that made Kevin Costner a star and up to that point DePalma's biggest hit.

When I reviewed my own list of film directors that I considered, De Palma wasn't even on it. In looking over Brian De Palma's filmography and the recognition he has received from the awards industry, I failed to find any significant recognition that he has obtained and in fact he has been nominated as the worst director five times by the Razzie Awards. When I think of visual directors, I am drawn towards Ridley Scott in Black Hawk Down (2001) or even Stanley Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

DePalma has made some stinkers, but he's also made some terrific films, and when he's on, he's on. "Blow Out", "Casulties of War", "Carlito's Way", and "Mission Impossible" were all great movies, and 2002's "Femme Fatale" is one of the most underrated films from the past few years, with a visual style that would knock anybody's socks off.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
DePalma has made some stinkers, but he's also made some terrific films, and when he's on, he's on. "Blow Out", "Casulties of War", "Carlito's Way", and "Mission Impossible" were all great movies, and 2002's "Femme Fatale" is one of the most underrated films from the past few years, with a visual style that would knock anybody's socks off.

Any filmmaker with a body of work as extensive as DePalma's is going to make their share of stinkers. I do agree about FEMME FATALE. I loved that film! In fact, I loved it so much I bought the DVD and watched it again. That opening set piece regarding the robbery at the Cannes Film Festival was some bravura filmmaking.

This was an extremely difficult cut to make, but I've selected five, along with the films I consider masterworks of each director:

1. Billy Wilder (Double Indemnity, Sunset Blvd., Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment)
2. Orson Welles (Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil, and Chimes at Midnight)
3. Alfred Hitchcock (Rebecca, Notorious, Rear Window, North by Northwest, Vertigo, and Psycho)
4. Stanley Kubrick (The Killing, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, and Barry Lyndon)
5. Terry Gilliam (The Holy Grail, Meaning of Life, Brazil, 12 Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing)

Alternates: Fellini, Wes Anderson, Lynch, Ford, Tarantino, Melville, Cronenberg, and The Coen Brothers.

1. Martin Scorsese
2. David Fincher
3. Billy Wilder
4. Joel Coen
5. Michael Mann
Honorable Mentions: Alfred Hitchcock, Cameron Crowe, Terry Gilliam, David Cronenberg

Also, Woody Allen and John Carpenter at their better moments

1. Quentin Tarantino
2. Stanley Kubrick
3. Martin Scorses
4. Darrne Arronofsky
5. Steven Speilberg

*honorable mention - Zach Braff

Based on criteria of originality, risks, vision, final product, consistency.

Jean Luc Godard
Richard Linklater
Luis Bunuel
David Lynch
Michelangelo Antonioni

All five filmmakers depend on their visions, significantly their sense of detail. Risk taking is eminent for these filmmakers, who surpass challenges. All five have variety in their works, including the frequently misunderstood Lynch, who attempted and succeeded in his three accessible movies (Elephant Man, Dune, The Straight Story). Their final products have been established with copious details that determine the quality of their films.

quote:

Originally posted by briggsjazzgroup:
David Cronenberg
PT Anderson
David Lynch
The Coen Brothers
Wes Anderson

Ditto, my like minded friend - though I would replace Cronenberg with Scorsese and add Kubrick and Ridley Scott.

Today's selection. It'll change next week. No particular order.
Spielberg
Welles
Dreyer
Hitchcock
Satyajit Ray
Those who knock Spielberg have no idea what they are talking about. His eye is incredible, his spatial construction is superb. Watch the scene in ET when the government first arrive at the family home. Everything is filmed from a child's perspective, carefully, economically and realizing the sense of horror, intimidation and confusion Elliot and the others feel.

Another selection of Directors I adore:

Robert Bresson: He had a remarkable sense of tension and release, and I love the fact that he rarely used the same actor twice, mostly working with non-actors, thus allowing the viewer to believe more whole-heartedly in the characterization.

Billy Wilder: For the ability to make slapstick work in films like Kiss me, Stupid, and then turn around and get serious with Double Indemnity and the Apartment.

Terence Malick: His films are not static postcards as so many often critique. Badlands is dynamic as hell and the Thin Red Line takes a single man and makes a universe.

Peter Weir: Because he is yet to make a truly terrible film, and his storytelling instinct is up there w/ Spielberg.

Werner Herzog: If for nothing else, the majesty of Aguirre. But watch a lot of his films, and he always begins at the crisis point, as so few filmmakers do. (for that, also look to Cronenberg)

Luchino Visconti films are a favorite

Steven Spielberg (sometimes)

Clint Eastwood

Billy Wilder

Tim Burton

Pedro Almodovar

1.Quentin Tarantino
2.Eli Roth
3.Robert Rodriguez
4.Steven Spielberg
5.M. Night Shymalan

1. Sam Raimi
2. Peter Jackson
3. Mel Brooks
4. Ben Stiller
5. Speilberg

I can't narrow it to 5. This list is in no particular order...

Godfrey Reggio (Koyaanisqatsi is a masterpiece)
David Fincher
Ridley Scott
Quentin Tarantino (For Dogs and Fiction)
Peter Richardson (the 'Comic Strip' films)
Bruce Robinson
Stanley Kubrick
David Cronenberg

There are numerous directors I should mention who blackened their name later in their career. I wish John Carpenter and George A Romero would return to form. Spielberg did some amazing films before he started churning out cliche blockbusters for cash. Sam Raimi too - Evil dead 1 & 2 are hugely enjoyable and Tobe Hooper's chainsaw massacre is incredible (why did he do The Mangler?).

I forgot Ed Wood.

Say what you like, but I find his films very entertaining.