The single greatest director of the past 10 years?

[slumcat]

You know the drill.

NO LISTS.
NO TIES.
NO RUNNER-UPS/HONORABLE MENTIONS.

Just. One. Name.
---------------------------
Based on a director's work solely in the last 10 years, meaning beginning from 2004 onwards to just about now.

It will be interesting to see the different names that different people come up with.

I'd go with

Michael Haneke (Cache, The White Ribbon, Amour)

You?

 

[Tony Stark]

Scorsese

The Aviator
The Departed
Shutter Island
Hugo
The Wolf of Wall Street

'nuff said...

The guy can still bring it.

 

[childeroland]

Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Malick has Tree of Life, but this guy did Uncle Boonmee and Syndromes and a Century. And Tropical Maladay.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Christopher Nolan

Batman Begins
The Prestige
The Dark Knight
Inception
The Dark Knight Rises

Loved all of them.

 

[DarkSovereignty]

Idk, maybe Alfonso Cuaron.

 

[slumcat]

Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Malick has Tree of Life, but this guy did Uncle Boonmee and Syndromes and a Century. And Tropical Maladay.

He would definitely be the one I would list 3rd if I broke my own rule of listing just one director.

 

[scatterax]

I'm leaning towards Nolan.

 

[Lily Adler]

James Cameron. BLAM! Proving once again that all you need is to make one movie that makes 2 billion at the box office to be recognized as greatness.

 

[Hurm...]

It's tough to say, and as much as I'd love to pick my personal favourites like Derek Cianfrance or Steve McQueen, Nolan is certainly eligible for that title simply because of how quickly he's been able to move up as an A-list director in a short span of time and bring integrity to summer blockbusters. Another major candidate is Paul Thomas Anderson, with a movie like There Will Be Blood, it's hard for him not to make an appearance on this list.

McQueen and Cianfrance I think, to me, would take the number one spot in the NEXT 10 years, but for right now, I think Nolan gets the title. Clearly I don't just recognize blockbuster movies, those aren't the films that I'm most compelled by, but based on cultural impact, Nolan deserves a title like this one.

And I also agree that Scorsese still brings it. That man still puts out films that I feel are almost instantaneous classics.

 

[Pittman4Two]

Spielberg deserves to be on the list for at least these entries:

- War Horse
- Munich
- Lincoln

 

[Lord]

George Lucas:

Star Wars Prequels and portions of Red Tails

 

[slumcat]

Spielberg deserves to be on the list for at least these entries:

- War Horse
- Munich
- Lincoln

Absolutely adore Spielberg, one of my favorite directors for sure. But his direction has become very flat these days. I thought both War Horse and Lincoln were tepid, though they had their moments.

His best work of direction to me was Tintin which again showcased his genius for blocking including the stupendous one shot chase scene in Baggar.

Overall not a good representative of great direction at all. His last great film was A.I.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Paul Thomas Anderson

There Will Be Blood
The Master

Enough said.

 

[Lord]

Paul Anderson

Resident Evil Afterlife

The Three Musketeers

Pompeii

Anyone can do better?

 

[Rorschach2012]

from 2004 onwards? its clearly Nolan

 

[Rorschach2012]

Spielberg deserves to be on the list for at least these entries:

- War Horse
- Munich
- Lincoln

i wanted to walk out of lincoln

 

[Lord]

from 2004 onwards? its clearly Nolan

Clearly? I'm quite sure there are plenty of better film Directors outside the mainstream Hollywood system

 

[Rorschach2012]

Not in my opinion.He's the most consistently excellent imo.

 

[weezerspider]

Paul Thomas Anderson

There Will Be Blood
The Master

Enough said.

Yep. It's clearly Paul Thomas Anderson and it's not even very close. Nolan is to Spielberg in the 70's/80's as PTA is to Scorsese in the 70's/80's. Mainstream shoots their wad over Nolan, while the real cinephiles know PTA is king. Scorsese became 'cool' in the mainstream after Goodfellas and really blew up in the mainstream due to his living legend status among the film world and his collaborations with Leo, who is a natural draw. Most youngsters don't realize Scorsese wasn't quite a household name among mainstream audiences during his heyday of the 70's-early 80's. He was a lot like PTA. People sort of knew of him, but he was only worshiped among cinephiles and critics.

 

[Laderlappen]

Paul Thomas Anderson

There Will Be Blood
The Master

Enough said.

Yeah.

 

[slumcat]

Yep. It's clearly Paul Thomas Anderson and it's not even very close. Nolan is to Spielberg in the 70's/80's as PTA is to Scorsese in the 70's/80's. Mainstream shoots their wad over Nolan, while the real cinephiles know PTA is king. Scorsese became 'cool' in the mainstream after Goodfellas and really blew up in the mainstream due to his living legend status among the film world and his collaborations with Leo, who is a natural draw. Most youngsters don't realize Scorsese wasn't quite a household name among mainstream audiences during his heyday of the 70's-early 80's. He was a lot like PTA. People sort of knew of him, but he was only worshiped among cinephiles and critics.

That comparison is extremely unflattering to Spielberg. Seriously, you compare him to Nolan for that period?

He made Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders and E.T. All monumental classics.

 

[weezerspider]

That comparison is extremely unflattering to Spielberg. Seriously, you compare him to Nolan for that period?

He made Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders and E.T. All monumental classics.

Four classic blockbusters. Nolan's made one blockbuster trilogy(Batman) that Spielberg himself called art films and another original extremely well received(critically and financially) blockbuster(Inception). Also, both are well respected directors who have found major B.O. success while still making critically well received films. I know you hate Nolan, but the facts are his movies make money and they generally are well received by critics, much like Spielberg's. His actual style is vastly different from Spielberg's, but his approach(critically successful blockbusters) is very similar. He's not nearly as iconic as Spielberg, nor is he as good, but as a mere comparison, I think it's fair.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Edgar Wright

Shaun of the Dead
Hot Fuzz
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
The World's End

That comparison is extremely unflattering to Spielberg. Seriously, you compare him to Nolan for that period?

He made Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders and E.T. All monumental classics.

As I suspected, another thread for Slumcat to complain about Nolan. I mean, how dare anyone think Nolan makes great films? How can anyone think Begins, TDK and Inception are monumental classics?

 

[slumcat]

Four classic blockbusters. Nolan's made one blockbuster trilogy(Batman) that Spielberg himself called art films and another original extremely well received(critically and financially) blockbuster(Inception). Also, both are well respected directors who have found major B.O. success while still making critically well received films. I know you hate Nolan, but the facts are his movies make money and they generally are well received by critics, much like Spielberg's. His actual style is vastly different from Spielberg's, but his approach(critically successful blockbusters) is very similar. He's not nearly as iconic as Spielberg, nor is he as good, but as a mere comparison, I think it's fair.

Their prestige is nowhere close. Spielberg got Oscar nomination for Best Director for 3 of these and 3 of these were Best Picture nominated. Nolan has drawn a blank from the directors and only one film was nominated in a year of 10.

Even with critics, Spielberg's films were winning lots of awards and had a much better reputation than Nolan. Also his movies were very very warm, and had a great humanistic bent, again putting him further away from Nolan.

Their appeal was also universal, whereas I would say Nolan's appeal is perhaps majorly concentrated amongst the "young male" aka Hollywood's box office crowd. I don't think they are comparable at all. It's not about me disliking one director (I don't hate either of them) but they are extremely different in every way.

I would sooner compare J.J. Abrams or even Andrew Stanton to Spielberg before Nolan.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Edgar Wright

Shaun of the Dead
Hot Fuzz
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
The World's End


As I suspected, another thread for Slumcat to complain about Nolan. I mean, how dare anyone think Nolan makes great films? How can anyone think Begins, TDK and Inception are monumental classics?

I love Nolan, but he ain't the best in the past 10 years.

When you have these wonderful film makers still making masterpieces:

PTA
Coen Bros
Malick
Scorsese- When Scorsese is on, he is the best. The old man still got it.
Tarantino

And you is talkin' to someone who lost his eye from fapping way too much to the Dark Knight.