Who's Missing from EW's List of 25 Greatest Working Directors?
Get ready to dispute yet another list
Photo: Columbia Pictures
Entertainment Weekly has made a list of their top "25 Greatest Working Directors" and it's a curious list as I think the "Working" aspect of it could be debated on a few of them. There are also some omissions I would assume the folks at EW are probably a little embarrassed about at this point now that their list has been published and people are beginning to weight in.
First, let me give you a look at the list.
- David Fincher
- Christopher Nolan
- Steven Spielberg
- Martin Scorsese
- Darren Aronofsky
- Joel and Ethan Coen
- Quentin Tarantino
- Terrence Malick
- Clint Eastwood
- Pedro Almodovar
- Paul Thomas Anderson
- Guillermo del Toro
- Roman Polanski
- Danny Boyle
- Kathryn Bigelow
- David O. Russell
- David Lynch
- James Cameron
- Peter Jackson
- Edgar Wright
- Spike Lee
- J.J. Abrams
- Brad Bird
- Mike Leigh
- Wes Anderson
Now remember, we're discussing "working" directors. That is a loose descriptor as you could take it to mean directors making films every one to two years, directors currently making films, but may not have made a film in a while, or directors that have made films, are still alive and may potentially make another film some time down the line.
That said, my most notable omissions are Woody Allen, Sofia Coppola, David Cronenberg, Michael Haneke, Michael Mann and Sam Mendes. The question now is who do you replace? It's easy to begin naming people not on the list, but when it comes time to pushing others aside it becomes a little more difficult. In terms of great filmmakers that could be bumped down a few notches to make way for the six I named I'd easily bump J.J. Abrams. Kathryn Bigelow and David O. Russell could easily be moved to slots 26 and 28. I'd also move Spike Lee out of the top 30 if we're discussing just the films made in the last ten years and in that case I'd also argue whether or not Steven Spielberg deserves to be so high. Then again, that opens a whole other can of worms as I'd already debate the ranking of the entire list for that matter.
Finally, not to pick exclusively on the lower half but both Peter Jackson and Wes Anderson are two names I would have no problem bumping below the twenty-fifth slot.
From there I'm not sure what I would do. It begins to get harder and harder and obviously comes down to one's own taste. However, don't you agree it's a bit of a weird list when it comes to international names. Sure, other than the U.S. the UK is represented, but outside of Guillermo del Toro and Pedro Almodovar this list doesn't get too diverse. I guess there aren't too many people at EW rushing out to see the latest films from Alfonso Cuaron, Jean-Luc Godard, Werner Herzog, Wong Kar Wai, Ang Lee, Fernando Meirelles, Hayao Miyazaki or Lars von Trier.
Now I'm not picking on EW, they're obviously an American based outlet with a readership that would probably rather know the majority of the names on the list rather than think it's some hoity-toity bunch of art house freaks that put it together, but we can't ignore the elephant in the room can we?
I have more names on a quick list I put together such as Jacques Audiard, Stephen Frears, Mike Nichols, Jason Reitman, Ridley Scott, Steven Soderbergh, Oliver Stone, Lee Unkrich, Peter Weir and Nicolas Winding Refn, but I don't want to go on forever. I also don't want to steal the spotlight and leave a few names on the board for you to discuss.
All that said, let's open the floor to your thoughts. Agree with the list? Disagree? If you disagree, don't only name the directors that were overlooked, but be sure to name the directors you would replace with those names.
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I would add Stephen Daldry to the mix. 3 acclaimed movies since 2000. And he’s working with Tom Hanks & Sandra Bullock for his 4th Oscar nomination.
well in the lasy ten years speilberg made munich, AI, Minority Report, Indiana Jones, War of the worlds, the terminal,catch me if you can, as well as producing transformers flags of our fathers, letters from iwo jima, the lovely bones, hereafter, and true grit and so much more. so id say speilberg could be number 1…if not of the decade then of all time.
Other then that d say the list hits most of the big ones. though kathryn bigelow only has the hurt locker to her credit and russel has just the fighter recently so ya they could be moved
I'd drop off David O. Russell and add in Gus Van Sant.
I would also drop Kathryn Bigelow in favor of Frank Darabont
Also, Brad, I'd like to get your thoughts on including directors who work primarily in documentary like Steve James, Ken Burns, Michael Moore, Morgan Spurlock, Charles Ferguson etc
THANK YOU! I mean since 1997 the guy has directed:
1997 Good Will Hunting
2003 Elephant
2005 Last Days
2007 Paranoid Park
2009 Milk
What's fascinating about these 5 films is the fact that after directing the mainstream crowd-pleaser Good Will Hunting, from 2003-2007 Gus Van Sant indulged his experimental side and went back to his indie roots delivering 3 of the best examples of the genre I've ever seen.
Then, in 2009 he goes back to the more profitable route and delivers a masterpiece in Milk: which gives The Social Network a run for its money as best film of the past 10 years. Also, 2009 makes him a better choice for "working" filmmaker than Terrence Malick who hasn't really delivered on a film since 1998 – and even if one wants to quibble and call The New World a masterpiece, it came out in 2005, which makes Van Sant more relevant by 4 years.
Thems the facts
Alfonso Cuarón, Tim Burton,
Is this list restricted to directors of films? Or rather films that make it to theaters?
If series, mini-series, and made for television movies along with plays and musicals for the stage are included, a LOT more names can be added to your suggestions.
For me one of the easily removeable names from the list is Spike Lee, it's been said that most writer/directors only have a certain number of movies in them and Lee seems to have hit that number awhile ago. With his last good movie for my taste being the superb 25th Hour (which he didn't write), to me Inside Man was just passable and his WW2 movie being terrible. I'm surprised at the leaving out of Gus Van Sant and also as you said Sam Mendes.
I might have agreed with you were it not for the simple fact that Spike Lee has completely transformed as a filmmaker. Sure, his greatest hits at the dawn of the 21st Century were Do The Right Thing (1989) and Malcolm X (1991); however, in 2006 he delivered possibly the single greatest documentary of the new millineum. As a former President (woodrow Wilson) once said of a film which glorified prejudice and racism, When The Levees Broke was "like writing history with lightening!"
But that was 2006 you might say. After dabbling in a crowd pleaser (Inside Man) and a so-so war flick, Lee went back to the documentary and delivered the best documentary of 2010: If God Be Willing & Da Creek Dont Rise, which is not-only a searing portrait of post-Katrina New Orleans but cries HOW DARE YOU!?! to the government in the wake of the BP Oil Spill.
As far as relevant & important filmmakers, I can't imagine Lee not making anyones Top-25 list.
Thems the facts
It's hard to judge a list of which we don't know the criteria and rules of. It is best filmography of a director still alive today? Most in demand directors today?
At first I thought it was the former, but then I saw Kathryn Bigelow and JJ Abrams, both of which would be nothing without their most recent films.
But then if it's most in demand working directors, then why include Spike Lee who hasn't done much in the last 4 or 5 years besides a lackluster movie, and why include David Lynch who hasn't done anything at all in the last 4 years and has nothing planned at the moment, I certainly would not qualify him as a "working director."
One last beef, I don't know if you guys remember but EW did this same list last year and seemed to have just updated that one with this one. Some of the blurbs are the exact same that they used last year.
It's not really worth picking on EW since, as you say, they clearly constructed this list with their own readership in mind. But still, to put this out there as a list of THE 25 greatest working today is just laughable. It's unsurprisingly homogeneous, with almost all of them English-speaking white men, and I especially like how they grabbed 4/5 of this year's Best Director nominees; I'm just surprised they didn't tack on Tom Hooper.
As for who to drop, I'd say start with J.J. Abrams, Peter Jackson, and David O. Russell, and for who to add… you give some good suggestions, and it could go anywhere from there: Guy Maddin, Alexander Payne, Abbas Kiarostami, Jane Campion, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Claire Denis, Olivier Assayas, etc., etc.
gus van sant and haneke definitely need to be added! I also think reitman should be on the list as well as lisa cholodenko. Glad they didnt leave out mike leigh he is fantastic. love his movies with a passion!
Sam Mendes isn't on this list? Crazy! I'd put Sam in and take out J.J. Abrams. I'd also replace Brad Bird with Gus Van Sant.
This list has obviously been inspired by looking at the last few year's Oscar nominated directors.
I would drop out David Russell & Bigelow, and replace them with Tim Burton and Gus Van Sant.
Also, surely Tarantino should be higher up in the list than that! I'd switch him places with Spielberg.
In: Claire Denis, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Hsiao-Hsien Hou, Lars Von Trier, David Cronenberg, Werner Herzog, Jean Luc Godard, Johnnie To, Michael Mann, Kar-Wai Wong, Pedro Costa, Abbas Kiarostami, Gus Van Sant, and Steven Soderbergh (the last two tied for my "director of the decade award for the 2000's).
Out without a doubt: Danny Boyle, JJ Abrams (child please), Katherine Bigelow, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Brad Bird, David O. Russell, Clint Eastwood, Spike Lee (the latter two with some reluctance)
Out with much regret: Wes Anderson, Edgar Wright, Darren Aronofsky, Guillermo Del Toro (and I actually liked Splice!), Steven Spielberg
In addition to that last group, other honorable mentions to: Cauron, Assayas, Atom Egoyan, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Park Chan-Wook, Kim Ki-Duk, Miike Takashi, Chantal Ackerman, Bong Joon-Ho, Ulrich Seidl, Gregg Araki, Jafar Panahi (free him now!)
Damn I forgot Gaspar Noe–the world is too big and there are too many good directors for a list of only 25, is I guess what I'm saying. Also, as a side note, I just saw Winding Refn's Valhalla Risisng and thought it was f**king brilliant! I've only seen Bronson by Refn other than Valhalla. The Pusher movies are on the way from Netflix so who knows, maybe that's another name for the list…
Got all my big ones.
I posted on article on my favs just a while back and they all made this list. Check it out here,
http://smartfilm.blogspot.com/2011/01/great-filmmakers-of-our-generation.html
Damn, that's a pretty bad list. And did they really put Spielberg over Aronofsky, Scorsese, Tarantino, Coens etc? His work this decade has been mixed. The new Indiana Jones sucked, War of the Worlds wasn't good at all. Minority Report was quite good, A.I. was very tedious and would have been infinitely better in the hands of Kubrick. However, Munich and Catch me if you Can were fantastic and he's got two very interesting films on the way so I'd count him in but much lower down. Of course, if it counted his earlier work, then that's different.
I noticed hardly anyone complained about James Cameron but made complaints about Kathryn Bigelow who as pushed out The Hurt Locker to his Avatar and neither had done anything else (oh wait, Cameron wrote the script for the AMAZING Terminator 3 *rolls eyes*) and Avatar was nothing more than spectacular visuals. And while I would take David O. Russell off the list, he's done more than Cameron in recent years. However groundbreaking Avatar is, it's one film and it's not that good a film.
I'd get rid of Peter Jackson, his latest was crap and the lord of the rings trilogy is highly overrated. King Kong was pretty good but nothing in comparison to the original.
J.J. Abrahams made Mission Impossible 3 which was surprisingly not terrible but that and Cloverfield, which was alright, don't make him one of the best 25.
Edgar Wright, Guillermo Del Toro, Brad Bird I'd get rid of which is saddening since they are genuinely good directors but this is the best of the best and you have to make cuts of very good people.
Spike Lee and David Lynch are difficult. Lee made 25th Hour, one of the very best of the decade and Inside Man which was very good. However, his WWII film did suck and he doesn't look like doing anything again soon so I'll see when I do my list, if he's on he'll be low down. As for Lynch, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire were excellent but he hasn't made anything since nor does he look like making anything soon. Again, I'll see if there is room.
Ridley Scott not making the list baffles me. He is an excellent director, American Gangster, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, Gladiator, Matchstick Men were all great and his next film, Promotheus is on lots of people's most anticipated list.
Michael Mann is another surprise exclusion. Public Enemies and Collateral are two of the best of the decade. Some people complain about Dillinger's lack of motives in Public Enemies but do your research. He was very much a man living in the present and never thought about the future. He was fascinating and Mann brought in a fascinating biopic of him that contained some incredible action to boot. Miami Vice wasn't the greatest film but it was underrated, it was more about the mood than the actual plot and the action was excellent. Mann is almost unparalleled in that area and if we're including Cameron for pretty lights then we should include Mann who not only has spectacular action but depth, beauty and so much more words Cameron cannot begin to understand.
Wes Anderson should be higher, The Royal Tenenbaums was fantastic and so was The Darjeeling Limited and Fantastic Mr Fox. The Life Aquatic was quite good.
Woody Allen should also be included, he may be hit and miss but he has lots of hits like Match Point and Vicky Christina Barcelona. His one with Larry David looks interesting and Midnight Paris should be a treat.
My next post will consist of a list of:
25 best working english language directors
25 best working foreign language directors
25 best working directors overall
Alfonso Cuarón should in there….lists always get ppl riled up!
Jason Reitman, Lone Scherfig, Spike Jonze, and Sofia Coppola.
Is Brad Bird representing all of animation then? The only way I can justify Miyazaki's omission is by assuming he's supposedly retired again.
Has J.J. Abrams directed more than two films? Or were the average MI:3 and the fun but dumb Star Trek so beloved by themselves as to warrant inclusion on this list?
You'd bump directors down or off the list because they haven't made a good movie in the last ten years but would add Woody Allen to the list? That doesn't make any sense.
Match Point, Vicky Christina Barcelona and Whatever Works.
Midnight in Paris looks like a big film for him.
I haven't seen much of his over the past decade but I'm sure he has some other gems.
But are we talking good like old Woody Allen movies or are we talking "good" as in "Well, it's passable for a late-period Allen movie"?
Are The Departed and Shutter Island better than Raging Bull and Goodfellas? Are Munich and Catch me if you Can better than Jaws and Schindler's List? Are Kingdom of Heaven and Gladiator better than Alien and Blade Runner?
No but they're still excellent. So no, Match Point and Vicky Christina Barcelona aren't as good as Manhattan and Annie Hall but they're still very good and his work in the 2000s is among the 25 best.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona was my #1 movie of 2008. So, yes, in the last ten years Woody has definitely impressed me.
That was also my favorite 2008 movie. Then again, You will meet a Tall Dark Stranger and Scoop are too awful to even consider Woody being on a Top 25 list. If someone makes 1 good movie out of a lot of bad ones, it doesn't make him one of the Greatest Working Directors.
I actually like Scoop.
I couldn't disagree with you more on Vicky Cristina Barcelona being the best that year, but I definitely enjoyed it. It's better than the other rom-com trash we've been getting for months.
@Feedback, so you pick his 2 bad ones and say he only has 1 good movie? Have you even seen Match Point or Whatever Works?
@Jack, Match Point was fine, but nothing "great". And I didn't like Whatever Works, and from what I recall, most critics didn't find it that good either.
@Brad As for Scoop, I guess we can just agree to disagree because I found it not only cheesy, but very dumb as well. We can still agree that Vicky Cristina Barcelona was a great movie. It's my favorite of 2008 with In Bruges being a close runner-up.
@Brad: I certainly respect your right to list Vicky Cristina Barcelona as the best film of 2008, it is nonetheless baffling to me. In a year that gave us the masterpiece Wall-E and somehow elevated the comic-book film into art with The Dark, and you choose the good-but-not-great Woody Allen film?
While Woody has directed two good films since 2004: Match Point and the aforementioned Barcelona, its still not quite good enough of a resume to make my Top 25
Thems the facts
David Lynch should be higher on the list, IMO. He only directed two films in the last decade, but they are both in my top three of the last decade. Mark my word, twenty or thirty years from now, Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire will be considered masterpieces and will be stuided and analyzed. More people will know David Lynch in the future than they do now. He makes films on a much higher level than almost everyone else nowadays.
1. David Fincher
2. Christopher Nolan
3. Steven Spielberg
4. Martin Scorsese
5. Darren Aronofsky
6. Joel and Ethan Coen
7. Quentin Tarantino
8. Alejandro González Iñárritu
9. Clint Eastwood
10. Pedro Almodovar
11. Ang Lee
12. David Cronenberg
13. Roman Polanski
14. Danny Boyle
15. Ridley Scott
16. Ron Howard
17. David Lynch
18. James Cameron
19. Peter Jackson
20. Alejandro Amenábar
21. Sam Mendes
22. Sofia Coppola
23. James Mangold
24. Mike Leigh
25. Joe Wright
Off went Terrence Mallick, Paul Thomas Andersson, Guillermo del Toro, Kathryn Bigelow, David O. Russell, J.J. Abrams, Brad Bird, Edgar Wright, Spike Lee, Wes Andersson (I know he's very talented but I really don't like his films.)
There's too many good directors. I didn't chance the places but some of them should be higher, some lower on the list.
Ridley Scott??
Kinda getting into the fray late, as most of the comments I'd have made have been made.
EW definitely made this list with only recent, critically-acclaimed directors in mind- it's more of a "Who's Hot in Hollywood" list than anything. I'd be surprised if Tom Hooper isn't on the list next year, particularly if he scores a fairly undeserved win this year.
Of course, with that in mind, Pedro Almodovar's inclusion is kind of odd. I guess he was the most recognizable nod to foreign directors that belong in the conversation- particularly Kiarostami, Wong Kar Wai, Cuaron, Meirelles, Von Trier, Chan-Wook Park, Julian Schnabel…
I'd really have to dwell on it to make my own Top 25, but I'm pretty sure Gus Van Sant, Cuaron, Von Trier, Kiarostami, and Werner Herzog would make it on there.
Also, apologies in advance for website pitchin'….
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Here's My List
1.David Fincher
2.Christopher Nolan
3.Paul Thomas Anderson
4.Martin Scorsese
5.Joel and Ethan Coen
6.Steven Spielberg
7.Darren Aronofsky
8.Alfonso Cuaron
9.Quentin Tarantino
10.Ridley Scott
11.James Cameron
12.Clint Eastwood
13.Peter Jackson
14.Steven Soderbergh
15.Danny Boyle
16.David Cronenberg
17.Terrence Malick
18.Spike Jonze
19.Michael Mann
20.David Lynch
21.Jason Reitman
22.David O. Russell
23.Gus Van Sant
24.Wes Anderson
25.Woody Allen
I like this list much more! Totally agree with the top 10 at least even the top 15, after that the names are about right but places could switch a little.
Thank You Arjuna!
why Gus Van San isn't in the list? he had many good films,one of those is MILK. how about Joe Wright? remember Pride & Prejudice, Atonement? The list is not so reliable. Quentin Tarantino should be on Top 3.
Two words: Psycho remake
why Gus Van San isn't in the list? he had many good films,one of those is MILK. how about Joe Wright? remember Pride & Prejudice, Atonement? The list is not so reliable. Quentin Tarantino should be on Top 3. Not just that, Jason Reitman who have many critically acclaimed movies (Juno,Up in the Air) wasn't in the LIST!
Surely Sofia Coppola deserves to be on this list more than Kathryn Bigelow? Yes, The Hurt Locker is an incredible piece of film making but I can't help feel as if Sofia Coppola is more worthy.
Jonathan Demme. His work on The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia and Rachel Getting Married was golden.
Tim Burton. THe creepiest director of all time, also cool.
Michael Bay. Not the best, but visual kick ass.
1. The Coens
2. Paul Thomas Anderson
3. Quentin Tarantino
4. Steven Spielberg
5. Martin Scorsese
Those are the top 5 IMO.
Fincher's movies are overrated I think, but his visual style is incredible and I always love the technical aspects of his movies. So I don't think he's top 5.
Bigelow, Jackson, and Cameron shouldn't be on there. Woody Allen, Michael Mann and Sam Mendes should be.
I would bump off JJ Abrams, David O'Russell and Bigalow in favor of Micheal Mann, Alfonso Cuaron and Gus Van Sant.
Some of the people included on the list seem to be there because of a recent "hit" movie, where as I think body of work should be a huge factor too. I mean thats why Spielberg is so high and that David Lynch is on there in the first place.
Also I think Paul Thomas Anderson should be in the top 10 instead of Almodovar, its a one spot switch lol
If Spike Lee and Steven Spielberg are on there I think Paul Verhoeven should definitely make the list… I haven't seen Black Book, but the technical mastery he displayed in RoboCop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Showgirls (yes, showgirls! the movie is beautiful, despite its sleazy subject matter, which apparently turns off many people) and Starship Troopers. While a lot of these movies are campy, the craftsmanship is mind bogglingly good. I really can't say enough about it.
It's pretty ridiculous that Tarantino and the Coen Bros. aren't in the top 5. Just sayin'. They are the greatest filmmakers not just working today, but in general, but that's just one man's opinion.
Working today, here's my top 5:
5. David Fincher
4. Martin Scorsese
3. Christopher Nolan
2. Quentin Tarantino
1. Joel and Ethan Coen
My top 5 in general wouldn't be much different. Stanley Kubrick would just be placed between Scorsese and Nolan.
There is no way that David Fincher is better than Martin Scorsese
For me, just remove James Cameron then add in Werner Herzog.
What an Oscar Hyped list is that, uhn?
David Fincher ahead of Martin Scorcese or Steven Spielberg?? Come on, you've got to be kidding me!!
And James Cameron bellow David O. Russel?
Sure, "The Fighter" is a good film, but ask about it again when it is as old as Aliens or Terminator or even Titanic. =/
Probably won't even have to wait a whole year to forget about it…
I hate lists that makes sense only withing a two month period. Like "Best Movies of All Time" with The Social Network ahead of Citizen Kane or Wizard of Oz. Lame, lame…
Well I left a comment on their site that said although I liked the list I gave them demerits for not including any Asian directors such as: Takashi Miike, Ang Lee, John Woo, Chan-wook Park, Yimou Zhang and Ji-woon Kim.
At the risk of being cheeky, it can't be too much of an Oscar hyped list, because Nolan's on it.
Drop Spike Lee, Kathryn Bigelow and David O. Russell on principle, and… I'm not sure who I'd add in their stead. Just get them off. I like at least one film each, but I reckon three great films is the minimum standard.
1. Paul Thomas Anderson
2. Martin Scorsese
3. David Lynch
4. David Fincher
5. Wong-Kar Wai
6. Christopher Nolan
7. Michael Haneke
8. Terrence Malick
9. Werner Herzog
10. David Cronenberg
11. Joel and Ethan Coen
12. Quentin Tarantino
13. Darren Aronofsky
14. Clint Eastwood
15. Pedro Almodovar
16. Steven Soderbergh
17. Olivier Assayas
18. Danny Boyle
19. Gaspar Noe
20. Gus Van Sant
21. Mike Leigh
22. Noah Baumbach
23. Alfonso Cuaron
24. Sofia Coppola
25. Lars Von Trier
Guys set to make a comeback on this list: Jason Reitman, Alexander Payne, Wes Anderson, Jane Campion
Not sure if they were overrated to start with: Atom Egoyan & Ang Lee
Legends who are still making films, but just…….IDK: Roman Polanski, Spike Lee, Woody Allen
Young guns coming up: Jacques Audiard, David Michod, Derek Cianfrance
First person I thought of when I read "working director", is Jon Favreau and he didn't even make this list. *smh*
Four words – Michael Mann, Terrence Malick. Top 15 at least.
I'd probably drop Abrams, Spike Lee, David O. Russell, Kathryn Bigelow, Spike Lee, add David Cronenberg, Michael Haneke, Jason Reitman, Alfonso Cuaron, Gus Van Sant.
As much as I liked Match Point, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, still really look forward to everything he does, I just can't find room in the top 25 for Allen at this point in his career. Miyazaki, Herzog also just miss the cut.
woops, that second Spike Lee should be Peter Jackson.
Woody Allen is definitely over-rated for me…I havent seen a single 'great' movie from him.
In any case, for me, Tim Burton Sam Mendes and Cronenberg should be on the list. My favorites are:
Peter Jackson
David Fincher
Christopher Nolan
Quentin Tarantino
Steven Spielberg
Sam Mendes
Martin Scorsese
Darren Aronofsky
Joel and Ethan Coen
Paul Thomas Anderson
David Cronenberg
Tim Burton
Gee, I didn't know that nearly all the greatest living directors in the world were from America. I wonder where the world's worst list-makers are from…
I may not agree with the entire Entertainment Weekly list; however, they did get one thing right: The #1 "working" Director.
David Fincher is currently the Best Director working in Hollywood. The Social Network set the bar as not only the film of the new decade, but is a masterpiece of 21st Century filmmaking. So, as of February 2011, Fincher has and must take the take. Marty surpasses him from the sheer volume of his work; however, its been 5 years since he crafted the crime masterpiece which was The Departed.
Using the strick model of Best "WORKING" Directors which I take to mean current more than anything else: Here's my Top Five*:
1. David Fincher
2. Chris Nolan
3. Darren Aronofsky
4. Joel & Etan Cohen
5. Gus Van Sant
*A special mention must go out to James Cameron for his epic space yarn, Avatar. His amazing film, while not better than Milk, captured my imagination and created a reaction in me I thought nearly impossible: my mouth dropped. That is a feeling I wait years for.
Thems the facts
Thems the facts
James Cameron has only done one movie since 1997. He doesn't deserve to be on the list, regardless of how much money that movie has made. Kathryn Bigelow probably has made more movies, but I've only heard of The Hurt Locker. David Lynch hasn't done a movie in the last 10 years either. Edgar Wright has done some funny movies, but "One of the greatest"? Come on. Neither he nor David O. Russell deserve to be on this list. O. Russell made one good movie which was The Fighter which was good, but not great. Steven Spielberg hasn't done anything great in the past 10 years other than Munich, but it is definitely overshadowed by such bad movies like War of the Worlds and Indiana Jones 4. I don't even know why Terrence Malick is on this list seeing that he's only directed one movie in the past 13 years, and it was hardly critically acclaimed. Spike Lee has directed a lot of movies in the past years, but neither of them was spectacular. Even though he never really had a bomb, it probably proves that he doesn't deserve to be on the list if he can't get not 1 super-universally-critically acclaimed movie out of all the ones he's directed. Also, Wes Anderson had Fantastic Mr. Fox and JJ Abrams had Star Trek, but that's it. They haven't done anything great other than those two.
These 10 directors should be replaced by:
1. Lee Unkrich – In the past 12 years, he's directed Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo AND the current Best Picture nominee Toy Story 3. I think that shows that Unkrich is a titan in not only animated film making, but in the industry as a whole.
2. Ang Lee – I have no idea what they were thinking by snubbing Lee, but he's directed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm, Taking Woodstock, "Lust, Caution" and most importantly, Brokeback Mountain which is a masterpiece in my opinion. His snub was the most ridiculous.
3. Sophia Coppola – She's only done four films, but they're all pretty fantastic. She's definitely much more deserving than Kathryn Bigelow.
4. Jason Reitman – Reitman is another one who has only directed a few movies, but unlike Spike Lee, Reitman has actually had GREAT movies that have been unanimously acclaimed by critics. Up in the Air and Juno were fantastic although my favorite will always be Thank you for Smoking.
5. Gus Van Sant – Sure, he did Psycho which was pretty bad, but Paranoid Park, Last Days, Milk, Finding Forester, Good Will Hunting and especially Elephant are all GREAT movies and he really is someone who is going to continue to make better and better movies with each time he tries.
6. Alejandro González Iñárritu – All of his movies have been pure gold. 21 Grams was a very underrated movie as were Babel, Amores Perros and Biutiful. Biutiful is probably his best film to date which means he only gets better with time as our friend Van Sant up there.
7. Werner Herzog – I don't think I even need to defend myself with this one. He's the best documentarist right now, but I noticed this list was biased against documentaries anyway.
8. Andrew Stanton – A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, Wall•E… Do I need to say more?
9. Ron Howard – Sure, critics aren't really inlove with the Dan Brown trilogy, but I find those movies quite fun. The real story is that Howard has directed The Missing, Apollo 13, Frost/Nixon and A Beautiful Mind. Let's ignore The Dilemma and say that Ron Howard is hopefully going to be making even better movies soon.
10. Hayao Miyazaki – He's considered one of the, if not THE, best animated director of all time. His Japanese animations are incredible and he definitely deserves the praise. The only non-Pixar director we can all TRUST to deliver a great animated film.
Not bothered about your list because it's just personal opinion, I do heavily disagree with it.
However, only good thing Wes Anderson has done is Fantastic Mr Fox? The Royal Tenenbaums was comedy genius and an affecting drama too. One of the best of the decade. The Darjeeling Limited was a great film and The Life Aquatic was pretty good. You seem to count 90s films for some reason so we'll do that with Wes. Bottle Rocket made SCORSESE's list of top 10 films of the 90s and Rushmore is a great film.
Spike Lee hasn't done anything great recently? 25th Hour is an incredible, harrowing masterpiece.
That wasn't my list, it was just a replacement for those 10 people up there. And I didn't say Anderson and Lee haven't done anything, I just don't think their films have really set the bar like the other directors on the list. When you think of "TOP 25 GREATEST WORKING DIRECTORS", you have to think about the best ones. Cameron, Lynch, Russell, Anderson, Lee and Wright are very very good, but they're not one of the Top 25. For example, Life Aquatic is a very entertaining movie, but come on, you're actually using it as an argument to consider Wes Anderson a Top 25 director?
Oh yes, I see that now.
Cameron, Russell, Wright, Bigelow etc don't deserve to be there.
Wes Anderson however? Yes, yes he does. I'll repeat. The Royal Tenenbaums is an amazing film and so are The Darjeeling Limited and Fantastic Mr Fox. Rushmore and Bottle Rocket are both great films and Bottle Rocket made Scorsese's list of best film of the 90s.
And no, I wasn't using Life Aquatic as an example. I'm saying it's his worst film and it's still pretty good. More than I can say for Ang Lee or Ron Howard. You lost quite a bit of credibility when naming Ron Howard.
David Lynch is easily one of the very best directors alive and of all time. And, "he hasn't done anything in the past 10 years". Actually, he made two of the best films of the century in Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire, might wanna read up on those ;)
25th Hour is most definitely one of the best of the past decade and his work before that was full of gems like Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing, Crooklyn and Clockers. Inside Man was a very efficient thriller and his documentary work has been superb.
Here is my English Language list, foreign language and overall will be posted soon.
1. Martin Scorsese
2. Darren Aronofsky
3. Coen Brothers
4. David Fincher
5. Quentin Tarantino
6. Michael Mann
7. Christopher Nolan
8. Steven Spielberg
9. Gus Van Sant
10. Ridley Scott
11. Clint Eastwood
12. Wes Anderson
13. Paul Thomas Anderson
14. David Cronenberg
15. Steven Soderbergh
16. David Lynch
17. Danny Boyle
18. Spike Lee
19. Sofia Coppola
20. Jason Reitman
21. Mike Leigh
22. Sam Mendes
23. Spike Jonze
24. Peter Weir
25. Terrence Malick
What about Jean Pierre Jeunet? I haven't seen Micmacs yet but A Very Long Engagement was a good movie and Amelie was absolutely perfect. Throw in Delicatessen and City of Lost Children as well.
Where is Paul Greengrass? He's a great director. I know Green Zone was kind of a stinker but Bloody Sunday, Bourne Supremacy, United 93, and Bourne Ultimatum were all excellent films.
I just can't understand how on earth they could forget, or what is it they did, about Woody Allen. He is one of the greatest icons of directing of our age ! If we didn't know Woody Allen we would miss whole chapter of the development of movies. I would kick anyone out to get him in, my first choice however would be Kathryn Bigelow because I just can't find any interest in her films, I would definitely add Bernardo Bertolucci and kick out Abrams. Last thing would be moving Polanski much higher,lets say instead of Spielberg.
Lars von Trier was snubbed.