Poll: Best Cinema Director of the last 50 years

[ProfessorLayton]

Absolutely Woody Allen. He's easily my favorite director of all time and the fact that Michael Bay has more votes than him is upsetting...

Either way, he is my favorite director and is one of my heroes. The way he films is always so distinct yet creative and the writing is intelligent without being pretentious. He's probably the only director who can make romantic comedies that are not only hilarious but thought provoking and completely unpredictable. You never know if their relationship will work out or not, which is much more realistic and entertaining than the other romantic comedies (you know the drill, their relationship will be perfect, there will be an event where they will "separate" for a bit, then they'll somehow get back together in the end). There will be times when you are actually interested in the characters which is nearly unheard of for movies in this genre. Every single line is so completely witty that sometimes when you watch his movies a second time you'll catch something you didn't the first time around. Constant historical, film, and literary references are always making sure you're paying attention and always with an interesting message. Nearly every shot is so wonderfully set up in a way that feels so real and artistic... He's one of the few directors who can make films where I will constantly be sucked in by what's going on and when it ends I want the story to continue.

Of course, now I'm reminding myself of this scene...


And my second favorite would be Tarantino. I've only recently discovered how much I like his movies (I seriously watched Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction for the first time this summer... I know, I'm extremely late to the party) but for some reason he's another director who just seems to pull me in. I was watching Aliens today and after the first half of the movie I was kind of just sitting there waiting for it to end, but when I watched Pulp Fiction (which was even longer) I was completely interested in every single scene from beginning to end and it never felt like it was dragging on.

So... Pulp Fiction is my favorite movie, but Woody Allen is my favorite director. Please, someone quote me and respond because I need someone to talk about Woody Allen with/to.

 

[CthulhuRlyeh]

Stanley Kubrick

No Guillermo del Toro?

Son, I am disappoint.

Cameron, Bay and Lucas don't even deserve to be in the same page as the others.

Bay and Lucas definitely (even though Lucas used to be good), but if you are gonna include Del Toro, then might as well include Cameron as well, since he is a much more established director (Terminator, Terminator 2 and Aliens), that also pulled out an oscar nominated performance out of Weaver, a landmark in sci-fi.

Other directors worthy of mention: Sam Raimi (bash him all you want, but he is a very intelligent, influential director - influencing Edgar Wright, Peter Jackson and the Coen Bros.) , Coen Bros., David Fincher, Danny Boyle, David Cronenberg, Ridley Scott, Terry Gilliam, Steven Spielberg,...

EDIT: This is from an interview with Del Toro about Cameron, who has been Del Toros close friend for over 20 years:
"He's a guy I completely admire. This is a guy who, in every sense of the word, is formidable. This guy has literally gone to the depths of the ocean. He has pushed the medium. He's not the most successful filmmaker in history. He's the first and second most successful moviemaker in history."

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

snip

I respect your right to have an opinion about TDK it's okay not to like it but I just want to point some things out to you.

The Joker? That's not clown makeup...it's his actual face. He's also a sociopath, blowing up a hospital is pretty hilarious for him. That's the point.

Dent and Wayne are friends? Why is this surprising they are both wealthy and sucessful and the same age? The coin business is basically to show, that later, although Dent is Two Face he's still gone from good to evil. Even though Two Face is schizophrenic he is also psychotic.

This also should explain the 'blow up my friends and co- workers' part. Dent is traumatised and has most likely suffered brain damage, he blames Batman for it so he basically joins Team Joker. I think only half his face is effected becuase Batman could only cover so much of him in the explosion? I think that is correct, although I haven't seen the film for a while.

There is no way you can make a Superhero movie completely straight faced but Nolan has tried to capture the essense of the original Batman comics which were pretty goddamn dark. Batman has mental problems and so do all of his enemies. I think the only way you could make it any darker would be to get Frank Miller to direct it.

In the words of Martha Kent 'You need to tell them what your intentions are I don't want them thinking you're like that nutcase in Gotham' Well said Martha, well said.

 

[AT God]

I picked Tarentino but I would have prefered to vote twice for both Tarentino and Kubrick.

 

[CupboardNinja]

So you decide to include Michael Bay, who has never made a good movie in his life, but you decide to omit Speilberg?

 

[GamerKT]

snip

I respect your right to have an opinion about TDK it's okay not to like it but I just want to point some things out to you.

The Joker? That's not clown makeup...it's his actual face. He's also a sociopath, blowing up a hospital is pretty hilarious for him. That's the point.

Dent and Wayne are friends? Why is this surprising they are both wealthy and successfull and the same age. The coin business is basically to show, that later, although Dent is Two Face he's still gone from good to evil. Because even though Two Face is schizophrenic he is also psychotic. This also should explain the 'blow up my friends and co- workers' part. Dent is traumatised and has most likely suffered brain damage, he blames Batman for it so he basically joins Team Joker. I think only half his face his effected becuase Batman could only cover so much of him in the explosion? I think that is correct although I haven't seen the film for a while.

There is no way you can make a Superhero movie completely straight faced but Nolan has tried to capture the essense of the original Batman comics which were pretty goddamn dark. Batman has mental problems and so do all of his enemies. I think the only way you could make it any darker would be to get Frank Miller to direct it.

In the words of Martha Kent 'You need to tell them what your intentions are I don't want them thinking your like that nutcase in Gotham' Well said Martha, well said.

Did you pay attention? Yes, in the comics, the Joker's face is really white, but he was talking about the MOVIE. In the movie, it's makeup. We clearly see his face without makeup in one scene.

 

[DasDestroyer]

No Zemeckis?? How is this possible...

From the list provided I'd probably have to say Tarantino, although Cameron would be second if only because of his success and how awesome Aliens was.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Imma say Christopher Nolan, despite him not being up there.

 

[wooty]

List broken, you include mickey bay, but neglec Ridley Scott?

Thats who my vote and support is behind on this matter.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Dude, not enough love for Hitchcock! Also I'm not sure how much English Kurosawa spoke, but he would be my choice in the event that he spoke English

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Did you pay attention? Yes, in the comics, the Joker's face is really white, but he was talking about the MOVIE. In the movie, it's makeup. We clearly see his face without makeup in one scene.

I though that he had put makeup on to do that. Even if he does put clown makeup on he's crazy why does he need a reason to do anything lol.

@RT It seems what you expect is a summer blockbuster type film which personally I don't think suits Batman at all and not a dark twisted version of those types of films which arguably what the first two Burton and Nolan films were.

Batman isn't meant to be heartwarming, the feeling of the comics even to today is miles away from the wisecracking Marvel Spiderman. Even in Justice League the rest of them are wary of him and Superman is often shocked by his tactics.

Anyway sorry for derailing the thread I will be quiet now.

 

[GamerKT]

Did you pay attention? Yes, in the comics, the Joker's face is really white, but he was talking about the MOVIE. In the movie, it's makeup. We clearly see his face without makeup in one scene.

I though that he had put makeup on to do that. Even if he does put clown makeup on he's crazy why does he need a reason to do anything lol.

@RT It seems what you expect is a summer blockbuster type film which personally I don't think suits Batman at all and not a dark twisted version of those types of films which arguably what the first two Burton and Nolan films were.

Batman isn't meant to be heartwarming, the feeling of the comics even to today is miles away from the wisecracking Marvel Spiderman.

I guess I could see how you came to that conclusion, but, if he didn't that, wouldn't he have put makeup over his scar(s), too?

 

[tehroc]

Of the choices available, Alfred Hitchcock, he deserves his moniker of Master of Suspense.

My favorite director is Paul Verhoeven. Robocop and Total Recall are two of my favorite action movies of all time.

 

[epialesofaergia]

Alejandro Jodorowsky, Ingmar Bergman was still making really strong films after 1961, Terry Gilliam, John Woo, David Lynch, Akira Kurosawa definitely made some beautiful and awesome films after 1961, Robert Altman, Federico Fellini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wong Kar-wai, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodovar, Takeshi Kitano, David Fincher...

Those are just some of my favorites, the higher-ups are definitely the ones I feel are in stronger contention with the ones listed here. If you only get eight options, you should probably try a less ambitious poll, like, say, best director of the new millennium. You'd be more likely to see Micheal Bay winning something like that, which seems to me the only reason this poll was even put up.

Absolutely Woody Allen. He's easily my favorite director of all time and the fact that Michael Bay has more votes than him is upsetting...

Either way, he is my favorite director and is one of my heroes. The way he films is always so distinct yet creative and the writing is intelligent without being pretentious. He's probably the only director who can make romantic comedies that are not only hilarious but thought provoking and completely unpredictable. You never know if their relationship will work out or not, which is much more realistic and entertaining than the other romantic comedies (you know the drill, their relationship will be perfect, there will be an event where they will "separate" for a bit, then they'll somehow get back together in the end). There will be times when you are actually interested in the characters which is nearly unheard of for movies in this genre. Every single line is so completely witty that sometimes when you watch his movies a second time you'll catch something you didn't the first time around. Constant historical, film, and literary references are always making sure you're paying attention and always with an interesting message. Nearly every shot is so wonderfully set up in a way that feels so real and artistic... He's one of the few directors who can make films where I will constantly be sucked in by what's going on and when it ends I want the story to continue.

Of course, now I'm reminding myself of this scene...


And my second favorite would be Tarantino. I've only recently discovered how much I like his movies (I seriously watched Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction for the first time this summer... I know, I'm extremely late to the party) but for some reason he's another director who just seems to pull me in. I was watching Aliens today and after the first half of the movie I was kind of just sitting there waiting for it to end, but when I watched Pulp Fiction (which was even longer) I was completely interested in every single scene from beginning to end and it never felt like it was dragging on.

So... Pulp Fiction is my favorite movie, but Woody Allen is my favorite director. Please, someone quote me and respond because I need someone to talk about Woody Allen with/to.

Btw, I fucking love you.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I guess I could see how you came to that conclusion, but, if he didn't that, wouldn't he have put makeup over his scar(s), too?

Hmm I would say that the Joker seems very obsessed with his scars so it's unlikely he would feel the need to cover them up. They would be arguably hard to cover up with basic makeup aswell as any girl who tried to cover a pimple will tell you rofl.

 

[Goldeneye103X2]

I voted Tarantino, but really, I should have been able to vote for Lynch.

 

[Cazza]

Peter Jackson, Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg etc.

Just to many to single out one and say they are the best. Each one added their something to film.

 

[Instant K4rma]

No Scorsese? In that case, none of the directors listed. If I had to pick the best from that list, I would have to say Tarantino. While my favorite remains Marty, I wouldn't hesitate to put Quentin right up there with him.

On a side note: I assume you're trolling with Michael Bay in that list?