The single greatest director of the past 10 years?

[scatterax]

I did. It was awesome and I s*&^t my pantst:

I did and probably most people who saw it then did too. Instant Classic. Also saw The Katniss burning dress scene, not as powerful at all I think, but who knows maybe I'm wrong.

I agree with you on the katniss scene.

 

[The Endless]

I might actually have to get round to watching The Hunger Games films.

 

[DA_Champion]

I might actually have to get round to watching The Hunger Games films.

You definitely should.

 

[DarkSovereignty]

Duncan Jones is defiantly someone to watch out for, IMO.

 

[weezerspider]

Anyone mentioned Richard Linklater, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman or Derek Cianfrance yet? Heard they were pretty good.

All good choices. Linklater has Me and Orson Welles and Bad News Bears these last 10 years which certainly hurt him in this conversation. Jonze has Where The Wild Things Are which isn't bad, but kinda meh. Kaufman has only directed one film in the past 10 years which makes it kind of hard for me to put him in this list unless the film was INCREDIBLE, which Synecdoche, New York was very good, but not incredible, IMO. Derek Cianfrance probably does belong in this conversation more than the others. He's directed two fantastic films in the last ten years(Blue Valentine, Place Beyond The Pines).

 

[scatterax]

I might actually have to get round to watching The Hunger Games films.

They're definitely worth the watch, but just don't set your expectations too high. They are neither oscar worthy nor groundbreaking but they sure stand out from the crowd when it comes to summer blockbusters.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

Christopher Nolan

 

[Hordakfan]

Tarantino and Nolan

 

[Lord]

After a while it gets realy annoying to see Nolan's name everywhere, he's one of my "favorite" Directors, but he's not exactly one of the "best", he's good at making blockbusters that make you think and analyse more than they usualy do.

 

[BatLobster]

I guess it must've been pretty annoying to see Spielberg's name everywhere in the 80s too.

 

[DA_Champion]

After a while it gets realy annoying to see Nolan's name everywhere, he's one of my "favorite" Directors, but he's not exactly one of the "best", he's good at making blockbusters that make you think and analyse more than they usualy do.

You could say that he's made the best in the past ten years of widely-watched Hollywood movies, between the three Batman movies and Inception.

Quentin Tarantino is comparable, but not as popular on a superhero forum, obviously.

Peter Jackson would be up there if he had not been in creative free-fall since the Two Towers, heck if he had maintained the quality level of FoTR in his subsequent movies he'd probably be trouncing Nolan.

 

[Lord]

I guess it must've been pretty annoying to see Spielberg's name everywhere in the 80s too.

The thing with Spielberg is that when he appeared, he was very visionary and had a style that wasn't all that common back then, all the films that later took heavy inspiration from him now make him look a bit more "generic" but i honestly think he deserves all the good reputation he gets.

Nolan's realy good, but he still has a long way to go, i guess he's comparable to Spielberg in the 80s, but i think Nolan's films have been more flawed, if you don't count 1941 of course.

 

[BatLobster]

Flawed or not, the level of popularity with the mainstream is could said to be about on par. Maybe Nolan got it sooner than deserved, idk, I mean to me his track record is pretty damn impressive and if there's one director to be "the guy" of this generation (for mainstream movies), it could definitely go to far less deserving directors.

Don't forget we live in an age where the average Joe on the internet likes to play cinephile and nitpick the crap out of things. That wasn't the case in the 80s.

 

[Lord]

You could say that he's made the best in the past ten years of widely-watched Hollywood movies, between the three Batman movies and Inception.

Quentin Tarantino is comparable, but not as popular on a superhero forum, obviously.

Peter Jackson would be up there if he had not been in creative free-fall since the Two Towers, heck if he had maintained the quality level of FoTR in his subsequent movies he'd probably be trouncing Nolan.

That's true, Quentin Tarantino's name is also thrown around more than it should sometimes, though he's also very good at what he does. I also agree about Peter Jackson, but while films like King Kong, Lovely Bones and Hobbit are much longer than they should, i do find them entertaining. It's a difficult thing to be consistent with the quality of Fellowship, hell, even Return of King's not exactly so easy to top either.

 

[BatLobster]

The other thing to remember about Nolan is that he's not just a director, he's a writer/director. Which almost puts him in a different category from most directors. Very few do what he does on the scale that he does. James Cameron is probably a more apt comparison than Spielberg. Only on opposite ends of the technological spectrum, with Cameron pushing the digital/3D revolution and Nolan being a film purist that pushes IMAX.

 

[Lord]

Flawed or not, the level of popularity with the mainstream is could said to be about on par. Maybe Nolan got it sooner than deserved, idk, I mean to me his track record is pretty damn impressive and if there's one director to be "the guy" of this generation (for mainstream movies), it could definitely go to far less deserving directors.

Don't forget we live in an age where the average Joe on the internet likes to play cinephile and nitpick the crap out of things. That wasn't the case in the 80s.

True, but Nolan also plays with bigger scale than Spielberg usualy did, and the bigger the scale, the more easy it is to start getting plot holes or other problems. I wasn't around back then, but wasn't Spielberg more liked during that time than Nolan is now? His name was pretty much everywhere due to other big Productions he was involved with like Goonies, Pultergeist and Back to the Future, and the oscars seemed to like him more too.

Ben Affleck is doing a good job at making quality mainstream films, i think he's somebody to watch for as film Director, and i'm saying this as someone who realy dislikes him as an actor.

But yeah, right now Nolan is a great mainstream film Director, but i think it's not very respectful for others that make better movies but are ignored due to not having such a big fan base.

 

[BatLobster]

It's impossible to say, I think Spielberg probably had more mass-appeal then because he made a lot of "4 quadrant" movies for the whole family. Interestingly though Nolan seems to be consciously stepping into that territory with Interstellar, which already has clear Spielberg-ian influences in the marketing.

Affleck is great, but he's seemed to strictly work in adult-driven R-rated movies so far. Which is great, but it'll be interesting to see if he ever tries to transition into more mass-appeal filmmaking.

The other thing is, if one movie is more impressive in its ambition but has more flaws than a "safer movie" with less flaws... to me it's totally subjective which is the better movie. A lot of people seem to have this grading system for movies where they only subtract points for little things that bother them, but I'm usually more interested in what makes me add points.

 

[Supernova]

Nolan for me. Spielberg has declinced over the past 10 years where as Nolan is going up.

Nolan:

Insomnia
Batman Begins
The Prestige
The Dark Knight
Inception
The Dark Knight Returns
Interstellar?

 

[Lord]

I think Spielberg made a lot of things back then that makes me add him points, and he handled most of what he did at the time with little problems, Nolan gets a lot of points for what he tries to do, but considering the risks each has taken in their repective times and how each succeeded, i think Spielberg was the more successful of the two.

Nolan for me. Spielberg has declinced over the past 10 years where as Nolan is going up.

Nolan:

Insomnia
Batman Begins
The Prestige
The Dark Knight
Inception
The Dark Knight Returns
Interstellar?

Nobody's comparing present Spielberg, it's not realy fair to compare the last decade of films from a Director who has been making movies for 30 years and has given most of his classics already with a person like Nolan who may right now be in the prime of his career.

 

[DA_Champion]

Did anybody vote for Spielberg lol?

He hasn't been a bum these past 10 years.

Lincoln, Tintin, Indiana Jones 4, Munich, War of the Worlds ... hardly awful lol, did he get any votes in this thread? Even Zack Snyder got a vote.

 

[Supernova]

I think Spielberg made a lot of things back then that makes me add him points, and he handled most of what he did at the time with little problems, Nolan gets a lot of points for what he tries to do, but considering the risks each has taken in their repective times and how each succeeded, i think Spielberg was the more successful of the two.



Nobody's comparing present Spielberg, it's not realy fair to compare the last decade of films from a Director who has been making movies for 30 years and has given most of his classics already with a person like Nolan who may right now be in the prime of his career.

Im responding to the thread title istelf of the past 10 years. To me its been mostly Nolan, Trantino, Spielberg and Scorcesse as the 4 manin directors making quality pics these past 10 years but in terms of scale and risk taking these past 10 years my cap tips towards Nolan. Now if were talking career then its unquestionably Spielberg with Scorcesse a close 2nd. I Didnt mean to compare just giving my reason why I favor Nolan over others.

 

[Lord]

For many he has been on auto-pilot for the past few years, i have yet to watch Munich or war horse, but his latest track record has been strong, even if it pales in comparison to his prime years.

Zack Snyder's like a less offensive version of Michael Bay to me, he's good at entertaining, and fails miserably when he starts to think he can do deep and complex movies.

 

[Lord]

Im responding to the thread title istelf of the past 10 years. To me its been mostly Nolan, Trantino, Spielberg and Scorcesse as the 4 manin directors making quality pics these past 10 years but in terms of scale and risk taking these past 10 years my cap tips towards Nolan. Now if were talking career then its unquestionably Spielberg with Scorcesse a close 2nd. I Didnt mean to compare just giving my reason why I favor Nolan over others.

I see, though i think most of the names have been restrained to the most mainstream of the Directors, i think Refn, Wes Anderson or David Fincher can give those guys a run for their money.

 

[Supernova]

Oh no doubt but the problem is directors like anderson and fincher are more less known with the general public which is a shame really but hey not every director is widely marketable as others. Its just the way the entertainment business is mostly.

 

[Lord]

Yeah, well, i'm sure that there were also some forgotten film Directors and movies through the years, as before the 60s it seems like most of the classic films were popular when they came out, so i wonder about the forgotten gems that must be hiding around.