Today we kick off our annual tradition of 12 lists in 12 days to celebrate Christmas. Today we have our 12 favorite directors. Be sure to check out the list from last year too. Enjoy!
Ryan's List:
12. Robert Altman - Nashville, The Long Goodbye, M.A.S.H.
‘Cause I feel like I need at least one dead person, and I like Altman a lot.
11. Sofia Coppola - Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette
I saw Lost in Translation on one of the very first dates I had with The Boyfriend. Almost 10 years later I watch it and remember every single moment of those two hours. The way his cologne smelled, the way our legs kept touching, the cold weather outside. That’s what Coppola is good at – making tiny moments into something monumental.
10. Joe Wright - Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, Hannah
Made the two best costume dramas of the new millennium with Pride & Predjudice and Atonement, then followed those up with the best tween girl assassin movie ever, Hanna. We’ll just forget The Soloist ever happened.
9. Stephen Frears - The Queen, Dirty Pretty Things, High Fidelity
Does buttoned up drawing-room dramas better than anyone else.
7. & 8. James Cameron & Kathryn Bigelow - The Terminator, Aliens, Near Dark
They used to be married, share actors all the time, and both are responsible for the most exhilarating action sequences ever. The barroom occupation in Near Dark, Ripley in the power loader in Aliens, every fucking moment of The Hurt Locker. Even Avatar, a monumentally insipid and overlong fantasia had its moments.
6. Paul Verhoeven - Showgirls, Starship Troopers, Total Recall
Should really be higher up on my list – he makes ENDLESSLY rewatchable movies. If there isn’t a boob shown by minute 40, it’s not a Verhoeven.
5. Paul Thomas Anderson - Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Magnolia
Magnolia gets better every time, even though There Will Be Blood doesn’t hold up for me.
4. Kelly Reichardt - Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, Meek's Cutoff
Meek’s Cutoff, Wendy & Lucy and Old Joy all prove that you can make a movie for $50 with almost no dialogue and it will be about 400% more compelling than anything Michael Bay has ever dreamed of.
3. Steven Spielberg - Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T.
The first, last, and best blockbuster-auteur. Jurrassic Park and Close Encounters of the Third Kind are the defining films of my adolescence. I saw E.T. on cable a couple weeks ago and wept like I had just lost a family member.
2. David Lynch - Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Elephant Man
Mulholland Drive. That is all.
1. Lars Von Trier - Meloncholia, Dancer in the Dark, Anti-Christ
I saw Melancholia a few weeks ago and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. The same thing happens every time I see a Von Trier – except Manderlay. He’s a visionary, a genius, and an asshole. Love him or hate him – he’s one of the few remaining ARTISTS working in film today. Chaos reigns.
Luke's List:
This is as close to "in order" as I could get. The first middle few are probably interchangeable.
12. Sam Weisman - George of the Jungle, D2: The Mighty Ducks
The Director at the bottom of your list is supposed to be a ridiculous pick. That's the point. That said, I cannot deny that George of the Jungle and D2 were key movies in my formative years, and that, to this day, I will argue to the ends of the earth that they are perfectly paced, tonally sensible, solid movies for any age.
11. Dario Argento - Susperia, Phenomena, Interno
Dario Argento's vision of pure, unbridled terror, coupled with his penchant for technicolor, make him unlike any other director. He understand the medium better than countless others,
effortlessly incorporating chilling visuals and, at times, nauseating sound effects, all combining to create some of the most immersive movies out there.
10. Robert Zemeckis - Back to the Future I-III, Death Becomes Her, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Another director whose influence on my childhood could never bee underestimated. His more recent movies have, admittedly, all been fairly embarrassing, but when he felt comfortable to be more adventurous and take more risks, he shone more brilliantly than any star in the sky.
9. Stanley Kubrick - 2001, The Shining, Dr. Strangelove
Yes yes yes, I get it, this is the most obvious choice ever. Well shush, his movies are awesome and everyone knows it, on to #8.
8. Brian De Palma - Phantom of the Paradise, Carrie, Blow Out
A long time worshiper at the throne of Carrie, it took me a while to delve into his other movies. Another director who has sort of petered out in the last few years, his mark on cinema will never be forgotten, even if some of his greatest hits remain relatively unknown.
7. Tobe Hooper - Poltergeist, Lifeforce, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1,2
Forget for a moment that the movies I've listed next to Tobe's name are essentially the best he's ever done, and really focus on the fact that the same guy was able to make all those movies, two of which are unarguably cultural landmarks. Poltergeist is, as far as I'm concerned, one of maybe 7 perfect movies out there. That puts you on my list regardless of other movies tied to your name, Tobe.
6. John Carpenter - The Thing, Escape from New York, Prince of Darkness
John Carpenter is yet another director from days of yore that has just been a total disappointment recently. But he made The Thing. Yep, top director.
5. Paul Verhoeven - Robocop, Total Recall, Showgirls
This man somehow pulled off making some of the most culturally recognizable movies with scripts that by all rights should have never been green lit. And they work. Robocop, in my mind, will forever go down as the most serendipitous movie ever made. Maybe Verhoeven is just the luckiest director of them all ... or he's just crazy enough to work!
4. Satoshi Kon - Paranoia Agent, Perfect Blue, Paprika
Satoshi Kon's mind was unlike any other. His imagination was a swirling mess of colors which he undoubtedly struggled to pull out and tie to the page. His work seems ever moving, even as you look at a simple static image, and when you see it in motion, it bursts from the screen.
3. Hayao Miyazaki - Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service
If Miyazaki didn't invent magic, you could probably fool me into thinking he did. He is a wizard. I don't even need to go on, do I? If anything could be said, he essentially been making Japanophile's out of American children for the last 30+ years. Nobel Peace Prize worthy? He's got my vote.
2. Jean-Luc Godard - Pierrot le Fou, Breathless, Band of Outsiders
You never forget your first. Godard showed me that "weird" movies could be exhilarating, comical, and engrossing. Pierrot le Fou will forever be one of my all time favorite movies, despite my waning interest in French New Wave. He was one of many pioneers, all of which deserve an awful lot of credit, but this isn't a list of the most worthy directors, is it? Godard doesn't pander to the audience, but he doesn't obscure his vision to the point where it's no longer discernible. There's an awful lot to be said about that.
1. Wes Anderson - Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic
Oh shush. I myself have a long list of qualms with Wes Anderson's movies (lack of non-whites, lack of non-rich [save for Rushmore {kinda}], Bill Murray is the same character in every movie, etc.), but there is no one working in the field currently who so wholly understands the medium as Wes Anderson. His movies are tonal masterpieces, his characters have depth well beyond that of anything we've even remotely come to expect, and they, quite simply, are consistently (visually) gorgeous.
Justin's List:
12. Kenji Misumi - Lone Wolf and Cub Series
I put Kenji Misumi on my list for the work he did on the Lone Wolf and Cub series, which have become some of my favorite movies. Misumi directed 5 of the original 6 movies. His movies are great examples of Japanese exploitation movies as well as being very compelling and artfully shot.
11. Alejandro Jodorowsky - El Topo, Santa Sangre, The Holy Mountain
I became acquainted with Alejandro Jodorowsky's movies and comics for the first time this year. It was one of those moments where I was in disbelief that I had lived my life up until this point without knowing about his work. Jodorowsky's blend of surrealism, cultural and religious commentary, and chaos magic speaks to me in a way that few other artists in any medium do. Aside from his movies, I read his Incal comics that he did with French artist, Moebius. Simply put, I've loved everything Jodorowsky has been involved with that I've come across.
10. Werner Herzog - Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
What made me include Herzog this year as opposed to my list last year is that I saw Fitzcarraldo. Herzog is so in love with art and humanity that it makes all of his movies incredibly vital.
9. David Cronenberg - Videodrome, Scanners, A Dangerous Method
I think I omitted Cronenberg last year purely as an oversight. I love me some Cronenberg. Videodrome, Scanners, and The Fly are some of my favorite movies. As far as I'm concerned he's been batting .1000 in the last decade too. A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, and A Dangerous Method are all masterpieces in their own way. Cronenberg's next movie, Cosmopolis, is an adaptaion of a novel by one of my favorite authors, Dan DeLillo.
8. Henri-Georges Clouzot - Le Corbeau, Diabolique, The Wages of Fear
Clouzot is my favorite thriller director. I think he out Hitchcocks Hitchcock. The Wages of Fear is probably the best commentary on the energy industry ever made, Le Corbeau is probably more relevant now in the wake of George Tiller's assassination, and Diabolique is blood curdling.
7. Dario Argento - Phenomena, Deep Red, Opera
Argento has given us nearly two decades of great movies. He's as fascinating and flawed as he is brilliant. I just hope he can give us some more classic horror sometime soon.
6. Wes Anderson - Bottle Rocket, The Darjeeling Limited, The Fantastic Mr. Fox
He's great. Sometimes I think I'm too cool to admit that I love Wes Anderson as much as I do, but then I'm reminded of how good he actually is. My first date with my wife was to The Royal Tenenbaums. My personal favorite is Life Aquatic.
5. Stanley Kubrick - Paths of Glory, Lolita, A Clockwork Orange
The man was in control of EVERYTHING. Each of his movies is vital and important in its own way. Aside from the one's everyone has seen, you should really check out Paths of Glory for one of the best anti-war movies ever made. Criterion just reissued that one.
4. John Huston - Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, The Maltese Falcon
The thing I love about John Huston is that he knows how to get the hell out of the way of the story. He's the Hemingway of directors. Every time I see a movie that's over-directed, my love of Huston grows.
3. Quentin Tarantino - Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction
Last year, I didn't include Tarantino because I was trying to be cool. The thing that changed my mind: watching Jackie Brown again. Holy shit, that movie is unreal and about as close to perfect as any movie I can conceive of.
2. Martin Scorcese - Raging Bull, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver
Scorcese gets demoted to my #2 this year, but it's no fault of his, but rather how #1 has grown in my esteem.
1. Jean Renoir - The Rules of the Game, The River, The Grand Illusion
Last year's #2 is now my #1. Since last year I've seen more of Renoir's movies and have read a great deal more about him. More than any other director, Renoir both embodies the things that I think art is capable of while also expanding my conception of art. He's idealistic about what man is capable of but completely realistic about what we can actually achieve due to our shortcomings. His movies manage to be life affirming as well as bittersweet. Watch The Rules of the Game or The River to see what I mean.
Who are your favorites?