The single greatest director of the past 10 years?

[titansupes]

Nolan.

 

[P Supreme]

I would have to go with Nolan not just for the Dark Knight movies
but Inception and the Prestige were amazing films

close second for me would be Taratino I LOVED Django and Inglorios Bastards

 

[RetrogradeOrbit]

I think for sheer, consistent quality it has to be Nolan.

 

[The Joker]

Christopher Nolan all the way.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I can tell you the five greatest directors:

Dylan
Dylan
Dylan
Dylan
Dylan

 

[BatLobster]

LOL no he doesn't deserve the credit. The people who won the Oscars deserve the credit. Nolan doesn't have any Oscars.

Yeah, that's why everyone who won an Oscar for Inception thanked Nolan profusely on stage and said they wouldn't be up there if not for him, with Wally Pfister really going out of his way to make a point of it during his acceptance speech.

Saying Nolan deserves credit isn't saying he deserves ALL the credit obviously. But when your film is nominated for 8 Oscars and takes home 4, yeah...certainly, the director has something to do with that. The captain needs his sailors, but the sailors need their captain too.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I'd have to agree that Nolan deserves some credit in terms of his movies being nominated for Oscars and sometimes winning, but why do people always use other people on a director's staff winning Oscars to justify Christopher Nolan and not for other directors?

 

[BatLobster]

I'd have to agree that Nolan deserves some credit in terms of his movies being nominated for Oscars and sometimes winning, but why do people always use other people on a director's staff winning Oscars to justify Christopher Nolan and not for other directors?

Who else has been snubbed as blatantly in recent memory? I could be forgetting, but if there are other films that have been nominated for that many major Oscars without getting a director's nom, the same principle applies.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I wasn't necessarily talking about Oscars, but rather as justifcation for best director in this thread. I take it back though, considering I believe that he should have been nominated for best director for Inception and in my eyes he should have gotten an Oscar nomination.

 

[The Endless]

I think The Prestige is his masterpiece. I'd be happier him getting a nom for that than Inception or The Dark Knight.

 

[BatLobster]

Hey, there were plenty of movies Scorcese should've won for before he did The Departed but they eventually made it up to him. And The Departed it still DAMN good.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Here's my top 10:

1. David Fincher
2. Alfonso Cuaron
3. PT Anderson
4. QuentinTarantino
5. Wes Anderson
6. Christopher Nolan
7. Coen Brothers
8. Martin Scorsese
9. Darren Aronofsky
10. Edgar Wright

 

[The Endless]

That's a pretty good list. I probably pick the same directors but in different order.

1. Coens
2. PTA
3. Anderson
4. Cuaron
5. Tarantino
6. Nolan
7. Aronofsky
8. Scorsese
9. Fincher
10. Wright

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Nice list.

Honorable Mentions: David O'Russell, Steven McQueen, Steve Spielberg, Ang Lee, and Gareth Evans.

 

[The Endless]

Am i the only one who preferred Three Kings David O Russell to American Hustle/Silver Linings Playbook David O Russell?

Don't get me wrong i really like those movies, but for me Three Kings was something else.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Of course it was. Unlike his recent movies, Three Kings doesn't rely on Melodrama.

Though I really liked Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter.

 

[Shikamaru]

It's either Nolan or Tarantino.

 

[slumcat]

I get the feeling people on here have probably seen only Nolan films.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

When you're on a superhero movie forum, it should be expected there's going to be an inherent bias for Nolan. I just hope we continue to discuss about great directors in the last 10 years beyond Nolan.

 

[The Endless]

I think i'll include my favourite of their films

1. Coens - No Country for Old Men
2. PTA - There Will Be Blood
3. Anderson - Grand Budapest Hotel
4. Cuaron - Children of Men
5. Tarantino - Django Unchained
6. Nolan - The Prestige
7. Aronofsky - The Wrestler/Noah
8. Scorsese - The Wolf of Wall Street
9. Fincher - Zodiac
10. Wright - Shaun of the Dead

 

[slumcat]

When you're on a superhero movie forum, it should be expected there's going to be an inherent bias for Nolan. I just hope we continue to discuss about great directors in the last 10 years beyond Nolan.

I think great directors extend the discussion of cinema. Nolan has actually compressed it and tanked it.

I find it so reductive to restrict cinema to stupid big budget studio money grab tent pole blockbusters. I find it the most inferior kind of cinema today.

There is so much wonderful cinema made around the world, in various languages, in various formats of various kinds. Yet we are limited to this extremely limiting form of mass appeal consumerist cinema.

But whatever sells I guess.

 

[The Endless]

I'm not the hugest Nolan fan but i think what makes him pretty great is that he's made big budget movies that still are distinctly his and are not completely compromised. They do have some artistic integrity.

I mean what, Inception had a budget of 150 million. How many 150 million dollar movies are like Inception?

But his best movies are the smaller ones like The Prestige or Memento.

And there is nothing inherently wrong with big summer movies that are made for mass appeal. Ones that are made well anyway. I've seen you praise the hell out of Avengers, for example.

A film lover should love all kinds of movies. From mega budget blockbusters to shoe string indies.

 

[BatLobster]

Yeah, slumcat if you're the kind of guy who snubs his nose at tentpole films...why oh why are you posting on a message board that largely revolves around them?

I agree with The Endless...films that connect with audiences can do it regardless of budget, however it is noteworthy when someone manages to do it with a larger movie, given all the added moving pieces. Large scale filmmaking in and of itself shouldn't be frowned upon...big screens were made for larger than life ideas, images and dreams.

To shift the conversation from Nolan (cause I know slumcat tweaks out everytime his name is mentioned in this thread)...I'm gonna talk about Fincher for a second.

I'm curious about Gone Girl. I feel like the last Fincher film I truly loved was Zodiac. His films are always gorgeous to look at and always feel well-crafted, but Benjamin Button, Social Network and TGWTDT all left me a bit cold in one way or another.

 

[kedrell]

It's a toss up with Scorsese or Spielberg to me. I guess I'll give it to Scorsese(even though I have no interest in Shutter Island or Hugo). Gangs of New York(which I did not care for much) was more than 10 years ago so I won't hold that against him and he made3 films and a TV series that I love in the last 10 years(Departed, Wolf, Aviator, Boardwalk Empire) and while I loved Munich and Lincoln, that's all I can look at for Spielberg of the last decade. Peter Jackson's LOTR series is more than 10 years old now so he's out(would have been a shoe-in otherwise). So yeah, Scorsese is it for me for the last decade.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I think great directors extend the discussion of cinema. Nolan has actually compressed it and tanked it.

I find it so reductive to restrict cinema to stupid big budget studio money grab tent pole blockbusters. I find it the most inferior kind of cinema today.

There is so much wonderful cinema made around the world, in various languages, in various formats of various kinds. Yet we are limited to this extremely limiting form of mass appeal consumerist cinema.

But whatever sells I guess.

If you don't like it so much why are you on a superhero movie forum?