Kevin's Watch

OK, I'm not going to fault any picks I saw on the 'best director' thread ... not out loud, anyway. But how about what you think is the best film of these directors.

Let me grab a few names I saw and lay out a few of my picks:

Hitchcock: "North By Northwest" - this one has it all: great cast, compelling mystery and action, and fantastic direction; that early scene in the club where Grant's character calls for a page boy while the crooks have paged the 'agent' runs smoothly and is brilliant.

James Cameron (not on my list of great directors, but): "True Lies". I heard this was based on a French movie?... Well, even though Arnold is in it, I must say it is a great blend of action, drama, and savy direction and film-making. Forget Titanic, that Alien sequel and even Terminator, this movie is very well crafted.

David Lynch: "Blue Velvet". Never can I recall a movie so jarring in its blend of humour and horror, yet retaining a dignity in story telling that is so powerful. It is his best (though Elephant Man runs a close second).

Terry Gilliam: "Brazil". Too many good things to be said about this one. But any movie that could get Orson Wells and Robert DeNiro out to promote and fight for, back in the 80's HAS to be a good movie (no comments on DeNiro of the last few years *coughselloutcough*).

Speilberg: .... Actually, this b@stard has made so many good movies I can't pick one. But the first that comes to mind is "Jaws". Just overall great storytelling through effective direction, acting and camera work.


OK, that's all for me...

Shame this thread went unnoticed....

Scorsese: Good Fellas. Fantastic movie, should have been Best Picture, but the epic Dances with Wolves won instead.

Wim Wenders for Until The End Of The World and Wings Of Desire.

(Ooo a second crack at this. neat.)

One of my all time favourites from the Coen Brothers: Miller's Crossing. I know most people will pick something else from them, like Fargo, but to me this was the best crafted movie. The script was perhaps one of the best ever. If you ever get a change, just turn away from the screen and listen to the dialogue. There is so much being said on many different levels (or just pick up the script like I did ). The cast of characters are turly memorable and well acted. Gabriel Burn, Marcia Gay Harding, John Tuturro, Albert Finney, even Steve Bushcemi is in this one.
The first 5 minutes of this movie, in my opinion, are perfect. In this short span of tense dialogue the WHOLE movie is set up. Amazing script.

OK, I could really go on an on about this movie, but I have finished my mornign coffee and better get some work done. (no reason for picking this emoticon ... I just liked this new one... )

David Lynch : Eraserhead. a truly disturbing film.

Steve Buscemi: Animal Factory. the man knows actors.

Clint Eastwood: Mystic RIver. another actor's director. got so many actors to shine in this. i would also say A Perfect World for getting Costner to truly act.

Since Usivius brings up the Coen Brothers...I've seen two of their films: The Hudsucker Proxy and Fargo. They're both excellent, but Hudsucker Proxy remains something special. It's a funny, demented and visually amazing piece of work. I had never seen a film like it before, and nothing like it since. Okay, maybe it reminded me of the gothic-yet-whimsical industrial design of Terry Gilliam's Brazil from ten years before, but that's about it.

Miller's Crossing I know nothing about. I guess the movie didn't look appealing to me at the time.

Speaking of brothers -- the Wachowski Bros for The Matrix. (You knew I had to mention it.) So their film resume is a tad skimpy...ah, whatever.

James Cameron for Terminator 2: Judgment Day. May be the greatest action movie ever. It gets my vote, in any case. And yes, I do consider Cameron to be a great director in general.

Stanley Kubrick for 2001: A Space Odyssey. Well, it's my favorite movie of all time. But I love The Shining, too. Aarrgh...

Steven Spielberg...you're right, Usivius. He's made such a variety of quality films over the years (and continues to do so!) that it's a bit unfair to pick just one. His latest one, Munich, is on my mind a lot right now. It's a complete contrast from War of the Worlds. It's like when he made both Jurassic Park and Schinder's List in the same year. In fact, he was editing JP while filming SL in Auschwitz, or so I've heard. How does this guy keep his movies straight in his mind? I'd have a nervous breakdown.

Ingmar Bergman for The Seventh Seal. Moving, haunting story of a Knight returning home from the Crusades, only to be greeted by the misery of the bubonic plague. Also must mention The Virgin Spring, about the rape and murder of a young virgin and the revenge her parents exact. I think these are Bergman's two finest films. The Seventh Seal is more spiritual, while The Virgin Spring is more raw emotion.

sgtnull wrote:David Lynch : Eraserhead. a truly disturbing film.

Clint Eastwood: Mystic RIver. another actor's director. got so many actors to shine in this.

Eraserhead is such a famous/infamous movie, yet to this day I still have not seen it.

Thanks for reminding me about Clint. How could I forget him? I think he's one of the best directors around. His best movie: Unforgiven. It completely changed my outlook on the Western genre, which up to that point I had thought of as basically unintelligent and irrelevant. But Unforgiven showed me just how intelligent, relevant and profound a really good Western could be.

Clint Eastwood has so many Matrix. Unforgiven is also one of my favorites. Hackman was wonderful.
i nice problem to have like Clint, too many great movies.

At 75, he's making the some of the finest movies of his career (acting and directing)

I was going to mention Kubrick and "The Shining" - good one, MM.

Eastwood is also another good mention, and my favorite is "Unforgiven." Easily the best western ever made, and I agree with Sarge that Hackman is brilliant.

I agree about Hackman.
I have four favourite (living) actors that I could see them in ANYTHING ... including just reading the phone book: Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Denzil Washington and Michael Caine.

(Ok different topic .. oo that sparks a new one...)

Don't forget Morgan Freeman in Unforgiven. Really, the film's entire cast is memorable. Eastwood has a knack for putting together strong casts for his films, which is one reason why he's one of the best.

However, Unforgiven does remain an extra special movie to me, apart from being a Clint Eastwood project. I'll post more on why I love this extraordinary movie once I can pull my thoughts together. (I smell a new thread...)

Pale Rider, need I say more?

I'll post more on why I love this extraordinary movie once I can pull my thoughts together. (I smell a new thread...)

I'm looking forward to that!

Michael Caine.

meh - overrated.