Who's your favorite DIRECTOR(s) - and why?

[Christopher C. Murphy]

Wow, the "movie" thread I started was a huge success! Let's keep this going until we're all "fav'ed" out.

Favortite directors (in no order):

PT Anderson:
- I think Boogie Nights and Magnolia are the best films that have come out in a long time. The storytelling is great - unique enough to allow repeated viewings. His shots, colors, symbolism and overall style is just so damn cool. He was under 30 when he did those two films too. (great start, in my opinion)

Milos Forman:
- One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, People Vs Larry Flint....excellent films that build character. (I'm an activist for the First Amendment (we all should be, its our bread and butter) - so, People Vs Larry Flint is important because it speaks for all other films.)

David Fincher:
- Dark! This guy made me want to live in darkness. Is that good? If you haven't seen Se7en - rent the special edition! It's my favorite lighting in a movie - darkly lit. Watch the flashlight scenes - something about a flashlight beam excites me. Oh, Fightclub is youngblood filmmaking at its best...doesn't try to be new or old. It was a moment in time for that years films...great.

Martin Scorsese:
- Taxi Driver rocks because of pacing. It's slow - thank God these movies are on DVD for all future filmmakers. It's beautiful because the characters hangout a lot...talking at diners. What could be any better than watching DeNiro sitting...talking. Really? Oh, GoodFellas...opening stedicam! Martin directs in a way that feels like a clenched fist. You know what I mean? He's gripping something all the time...you have to focus more with him than most directors. He demands you to pay attention because he wrote those damn lines and he's convinced you should hear them.

Steven Spielberg (and Lucas for Star Wars: A New Hope):
- Yeah, I'm a Steven Spielberg baby. I was 9 when Raiders came out, so that makes me his child. His directoral style even when serious has a childlike humor about it. Schindler's list is the exception, but otherwise usually has childlike situations. I'm not sure if that brings down his films. But, it's unique to have someone inject personal feelings into the threads of a film. Usually, it's a major topic that a director is focused on and let's emotions get into that. But, Steven does this thing where you feel like he wrote down all his childhood dreams in a notebook and takes it out during production. He flips through it and trys to re-create a moment in time where you feel like your in his childlike dreamstate.

Alfred Hitchcock:
- I really love his work because you can pick out so many things to rip off! Ok, not rip off. But, you can get the suspense thing down by watching his movies. One thing I learned from him? Always...always make the audience an active participate in the film. Let a character enter a scary room..and the audience knows where the bad guy is...they sit there talking to themselves and instantly are in the movie. "No, don't go over there!" It's a cheap and easy way for your movie to remain in someone's memories!

Orson Welles:
- I'm young (31 yrs old), but I see lots of value in studying the masters of cinema. I think its like building a house. Even if you are living in 2004 - study architecture from the past. It's probably got some unique aspects not around anymore...like subtle details. Citizen Kane is awesome and I am planning to watch it tonight with my girlfriend...I'm teaching her good cinema. :)

Oliver Stone:
- "Hi, my name is Chris Murphy and I love Oliver Stone movies." I know...JFK had made up characters. So what! It's movie and he never said it wasn't, so there you go. This guy is probably my favorite Hollywood director...just because he's probably the #1 guy I'd want to have lunch with. If you're reading this and work for living in the business...you know what I mean. It's the lunch more than anything...right? Stone makes movies for him and he gets away with it...isn't that worth major respect? I love him for taking the big man's money and making his films.

Quentin Tarantino:
- He did some great 90's films, we'll see about this Kill Bill crap. If the 2nd one stinks I'm going to take him off my list. Quentin should write a killer film like True Romance again - get back to characters. Then..when he's ready direct this massive film centered around his creation. I think Kill Bill is his answer to everyone wanting character driven work. He's not an on-demand player, so he's just going to make a movie and have fun until there isn't anymore Dogs or Pulp pressure...might be never though.

Roman Polanski:
- The Pianist was amazing...underrated because of the 70's wrap he got. Regardless, it's a great film - directed by one of the greats. Chinatown is amazing too. I actually need to see more of his stuff...there are only 24 hours in a day, that sucks when you want to watch 1,000 films! Polanski made the Pianist into a great work of art...schools should run it.

Charlie Chaplin:
- When I was 7 or 8 yrs old, back when parents could drop you off at the library and not worry about the worst...I'd watch old Chaplin films alone in a dusty upstairs room. There was a projector and the librarian would sit me down...and start the projector and leave. There I would sit...watching silent films. Isn't that cool? Also, there was a Ground Round restaurant by my house and they used to play old silent films on the wall while you ate....and you could throw your peanut shells on the ground! People loved walking on them and making them crunch!

Francis Ford Coppola:
- Godfather, Apocalypse Now and Outsiders...all incredible. Apocalypse Now is one of my favorite films...it oozes darkness and death. I love it. The opening of the movie is brilliant and the choice for "The End" is probably the best choice for any song - EVER - in the history of cinema. (anyone have a better song and movie?)

If anyone was left out - I'm sorry, my hands are hurting!

Come on people...tell me what directors you love. I need to know what my next rentals will be from Netflix!

Murph

[Federico Dib]

Christopher you pretty much named all the ones I like, but I´ll add a few ones I like: (some might not be easy to find in the US.. but I do recomend to try and watch some of it).

- Takashi Miike:
He might be no master... but more than 60 movies in less than 15 years, about 5 a year (and that´s Japan not India)... And the four I´ve seen are plain great... This guy is a monster, and If I can see a few more and like them he will become my role model.

-Kátia Lund
-Fernando Meirelles
This ones directed "City of God", the Brasilian movie I forgot to add to my favorite movies.. I´ve only seen this one movie.. but I have really high hopes for them. They impressed me... and I recommend to read a bit about the production of this movie, to see how they worked....

- Luc Besson: Don´t shoot me... But I´ve liked all of his movies... And I liked them because of the direction more than anything.

- John Carpenter: He has not given me a minute of his movies to get bored.... and besides I can´t stop the Halloween theme to get out of my head... Please someone make it stop....

- The Cohen Brother that directs (Joel??): This is another guy that has never let me down...

There might be a few more, but they´ll pop up when I´m far from my PC... and then I´ll forget when I come here...

P.S.
Someone make the Halloween theme go away...

[K. Forman]

Kevin Smith is my current fav, because he was just like me- A nobody that wanted to make movies. There is more to him than dick and fart jokes, even if he won't admit it.

[John Lee]

In addition to Christopher's list,

I'd have to also include Stanley Kubrick.

And also, I like John McTiernan--yes, he's done some awful movies over the last few years, but Predator is still one of my all time favorite films.

[Rik Sanchez]

Mine is Juzo Itami, the Japanese director. His movie Tampopo, is my favorite movie.

Having lived in Japan for so long I understand his movies better and I see the characters from his film everyday when I go out.

I also like Robert Rodriguez, his go at it himself attitude is a big inspiration.

[John Hudson]

Wow. A lot to think about here:

Francis Ford Coppola - Yeah, Godfather 1 and 2, Black Stallion, Apocalypse Now, Dracula, The Conversation. The Outsiders
Quentin Tarantino - The best writer of dialog. P E R I O D.
Steven Spielberg - When he is not selling out.
David Fincher - We have yet too see his greatness. He is still a baby rattlesnake.
Martin Scorsese - Makes one want to actually be in the Mob.
Brian De Palma - Body Double, Scarface, Blow Out.
John Carpenter - Before he had a thing called budgets.
Ridley Scott - The fact that he can reconstruct the Mogadishu incident is amazing. Gladiator could have been Hollywood popcorn and was not even close.
M. Night Shyamalan - If the Village is as great as his first 3 films...
David Lean - If I can watch Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago and love them while only being 33 years old?
Alfred Hitchcock - I have never seen anything he has done that sucked.

Hard to pick my favorite. If I could only pick one, I'd have to say...

Ohhh, but I can't just pick one, can I? You can't make me!

[Robert Knecht Schmidt]

Just about everything by Zemeckis, even without Gale riding shotgun. Lucas's pre-1980 work. Almost all of Capra, especially the Bob Riskins. Some of Altman. Most of Ridley Scott. A small fraction of Woody Allen. Ooh, David Lean's a good one, good thinking.

I can't think of many instances where a director has been a real innovator without having been the writer as well. Joe Mankiewicz's dialog eats Tarantino for an appetizer.

M. Night--come on, it's bulldozers.

[Nicholi Brossia]

John Ford. I'm not big into westerns or looking at the "artistic" side of films, but Stagecoach and Grapes of Wrath were great great films. His shots portray 100% emotion, without any words. I took... well, flunked... a film class in college and hated every minute of it, except those two films.

[John Hudson]

<<<--
M. Night--come on, it's bulldozers. -->>>

? ? ?

[Rob Lohman]

I actually never had a favorite director. I like a lot of works from
some directors (like Tarantino) but only some works of others
(like Spielberg and M. Night). I do have favorite movies though!

[Frank Granovski]

Re: "who's your favourite director(s) - and why?"

Answer: all the Canadian ones. Why? Because they're Canadian. But Iran also has some great directors, in my opinion. Sorry, I don't know how to spell their names. :-))

[John Locke]

You guys have covered quite a few, but here are a few more:

Robert Redford
One of the greatest storytellers ever

Sydney Pollack
Even his small films have an epic feel to them

Terry Gilliam
For taking stories that seem impossible to depict visually...and doing it...AND better than you'd imagined possible.

Coen Bros.
I know they've already been mentioned, but they deserve to be mentioned again.

Carl Reiner
The king of clever comedies

Nora Ephron
For filling her films with romance and hope and comedy... and not one explosion or gunshot.

Peter Wier
A great storyteller...but often in a visual sense rather than through dialogue

Clint Eastwood
A great storyteller.

Barry Levinson
For having the perserverance to get "Diner" made, and from there making some notable movies

Richard Linklater
"Before Sunrise" is still one of my favorites...and he lives in Austin, so he has to be okay.

Wes Anderson
He and Owen Wilson are two of my favorites now. "Bottle Rocket" and "Rushmore" are full of classic lines.

All the Lady X Producers
For having the chutzpah to get off their duffs and make a short film and expose themselves to public scrutiny

[Zac Stein]

John you are missing a great one from your list,

Jerry Lewis, one of the most inovative and underated directors ever!!

seriously.

Zac

[John Locke]

Zac,

Are you French?

[Zac Stein]

John,

I have been thought to be so, but i lack the attitude... my father is though (technically).

John, are you a yiddish texan who looks like Dr Phil?