The single greatest director of the past 10 years?

[scatterax]

Nolan's the only one in the past ten year range to make the same career leaps and bounds as people like Spielberg and Scorsese did in the 70s. He may not be the greatest director of all time, or even in the top 5, but the only other directors that have had the same critical and financial success are the directors that came into their own back into the 70s. That's saying a lot. He's only at the beginning of his career and he's already considered as good as industry icons, and has crossed over to the mainstream while still maintaining his own critical acclaim. Based on those accomplishments alone I would say he's not only the greatest director of the past 10 years, but the director who has progressed his career the most. He has yet to make a film I dislike, while some of Scorsese's work in the past 10 years has not quite lived up to its hype for me. The only director I can think of off the top of my head that mirror's Nolan's journey in recent years is darren Aronofsky, but he really isn't a household name yet like Nolan.

Nolan wins.

 

[Black Narcissus]

A Prophet is better film than anything Nolan has made recently...And Jacques Audiard doesn't even enter this convo, but yes, praise Nolan. Oh Lawd.

 

[redfirebird2008]

I'd like to see him do a supernatural noir film. Think Angel Heart.

That would be interesting. I'd like to see him do a dark comedy. I think he could do better with it than people expect based on the small amount of humor in his other movies.

 

[DarkSovereignty]

A Prophet is better film than anything Nolan has made recently...And Jacques Audiard doesn't even enter this convo, but yes, praise Nolan. Oh Lawd.

He made movies batman for our sins, yo.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Based on body of work and not financial success.

Michael Haneke would be over Nolan.

 

[The Endless]

How about McQueen? Shame and 12 Years a Slave.

Tarantino and Basterds.

 

[BatLobster]

I did not! I simply said if you checked other forums which only topics include film criticism in general....Nolan would not make the top ten. This being a cbm forum after all, Nolan and Whedon and even a JJ Abrams will pop up, it is normal, isn't it? There is no shame in that. We love our own.

And the topic of Nolan has been brought up in other film forums I've read....They all for the most part like him, but don't rank him as the best working director today. You can dismiss that opinion if you like. After all, this is all based on opinion.

Fair enough, sorry if I misinterpreted what you were saying. The people whose opinions I wish to dismiss aren't people who simply prefer other filmmakers...it's more the extreme "Nolan is teh hack" crowd, which does exist, both inside and outside of the cinephile community. Hope that clears it up. I'm not saying someone who prefers PTA or Scorsese to Nolan is some sort of troll, that would be ridiculous. Though sometimes I do think some 'types' will go out of there way to rate a more obscure filmmaker over a someone known for doing comic book films, but that's also their prerogative. I've seen it stated many times that Nolan's fanbase is a turnoff for people too, even for other fans of him such as yourself. That becomes a factor.

At the end of the day, like you and Tony Stark said, he certainly belongs in the discussion. Splitting hairs over who is the BEST is always going to get subjective, but objectively speaking it's hard to think of a reason why he doesn't at least belong in the discussion.

I tend to think most of the directors in the discussion are each the best at what they do.

 

[scatterax]

A Prophet is better film than anything Nolan has made recently...And Jacques Audiard doesn't even enter this convo, but yes, praise Nolan. Oh Lawd.

Your basis is because he made a single film that you thought was better than any of Nolan's films. I rest my case.

 

[scatterax]

I'm not saying Nolan is the best working director today. Just that he has accomplished the most in the past 10 years in terms of careers, and he did it without 30 plus years of established acclaim and success like the other big names that get mentioned, like Cameron or Spielberg. He started the decade a nobody in terms of mainstream and is now considered in the same league as tenured icons. No other director from the past ten years has gone through that journey. Period.

 

[BatLobster]

Yup. There's been no rise as meteoric, and he's just getting started.

JJ could be close now with Star Wars though, but I don't know if his voice is as distinct yet as a director.

 

[scatterax]

To me, to be the best you need both talent and success. Guys like Michael may have a lot of success, but they aren't the best. A lot of independent directors may be loved by cinephiles, and may be many people's personal favorites based on their body of work, but until they have handled both small scale AND big budget projects they are still partly untested in terms of what they can deliver as a director. Success, though should not be viewed as a scale for talent, but rather the realization of a directors potential in the movie industry. Like it or not, whether or not your projects can make money (though not entirely the responsibility of the director) is part of what goes into being a good director.

That's, speaking only in terms of the last 10 years, Nolan is the one who has met both criteria the most consistently. Sure his films could use better editing, and TDKR had it's flaws, but that's another discussion all together.

 

[scatterax]

Yup. There's been no rise as meteoric, and he's just getting started.

JJ could be close now with Star Wars though, but I don't know if his voice is as distinct yet as a director.

In terms of success, he's a good parallel. But as far as critical acclaim I feel like his TV work was better received by the critics. Where as the only Nolan movie that didn't have a unanimous positive critical response was TDKR, but even most of those reviews were positive, and the negativity came mostly from comparing it to previous batman films.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Where as the only Nolan movie that didn't have a unanimous positive critical response was TDKR

Ummm...TDKR actually had much stronger critical response than The Prestige. In reality the reception for those two probably should have been reversed.

 

[slumcat]

To me, to be the best you need both talent and success. Guys like Michael may have a lot of success, but they aren't the best.

How do you define success? What aren't guys like Michael (I assume you mean Haneke) aren't the best but Nolan is?

A lot of independent directors may be loved by cinephiles, and may be many people's personal favorites based on their body of work, but until they have handled both small scale AND big budget projects they are still partly untested in terms of what they can deliver as a director.

Here is the list of the greatest directors of all time from the website TSPDT which is not a subjetive opinion but a collation of thousands and thousands of critics list collected over decades.

http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_top250directors.htm

Listing some of them below who have never directed a blockbuster. Just why should a great director direct a blockbuster? Infact many of them would find it extremely crass to be asked to direct a blockbuster.

2. Orson Welles
4. Federico Fellini
5. Jean-Luc Godard
7. Jean Renoir
10. Ingmar Bergman
11. Yasujiro Ozu
13. Andrei Tarkovsky
14. Luis Buñuel
16. Carl Theodor Dreyer
17. Robert Bresson
19. F.W. Murnau
20. Michelangelo Antonioni
22. Fritz Lang
23. Sergei Eisenstein
24. François Truffaut
25. Kenji Mizoguchi
26. Roberto Rossellini
28. David Lynch
29. Vittorio De Sica
32. Luchino Visconti
33. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
34. Satyajit Ray
35. Jean Vigo
36. John Cassavetes
37. Alain Resnais

PS: Nolan doesn't feature in their list of Top 250 directors of alll time though current directors like Michaele (Haneke), PTA, Terrence Malik, etc. do.

 

[slumcat]

Ummm...TDKR actually had much stronger critical response than The Prestige. In reality the reception for those two probably should have been reversed.

Actually per top critics on RT, Prestige is actually rotten and Batman Begins is almost rotten (at a borderlines 62%).

 

[redfirebird2008]

How do you define success? What aren't guys like Michael (I assume you mean Haneke) aren't the best but Nolan is?


Here is the list of the greatest directors of all time from the website TSPDT which is not a subjetive opinion but a collation of thousands and thousands of critics list collected over decades.

http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_top250directors.htm

Listing some of them below who have never directed a blockbuster.

2. Orson Welles
4. Federico Fellini
5. Jean-Luc Godard
7. Jean Renoir
10. Ingmar Bergman
11. Yasujiro Ozu
13. Andrei Tarkovsky
14. Luis Buñuel
16. Carl Theodor Dreyer
17. Robert Bresson
19. F.W. Murnau
20. Michelangelo Antonioni
22. Fritz Lang
23. Sergei Eisenstein
24. François Truffaut
25. Kenji Mizoguchi
26. Roberto Rossellini
28. David Lynch
29. Vittorio De Sica
30. Steven Spielberg
32. Luchino Visconti
33. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
34. Satyajit Ray
35. Jean Vigo
36. John Cassavetes
37. Alain Resnais

Spielberg has never directed a blockbuster?

 

[slumcat]

Spielberg has never directed a blockbuster?

I edited my post to make the correction but you got the point right?

 

[redfirebird2008]

Actually per top critics on RT, Prestige is actually rotten and Batman Begins is almost rotten (at a borderlines 62%).

Are you trying to correct me or something? Nothing you said here contradicts what I said before, which is that TDKR had a much stronger critical reception than The Prestige. The other dude was trying to argue that TDKR had the weakest critical reception of Nolan's career, but that's not the case.

 

[slumcat]

Are you trying to correct me or something?

Was actually trying to add to your point to strengthen what you were saying.

 

[Lord]

Even among cinema snobs, Memento seems to be well respected, i think many of their more fervent hatred for Nolan has more to do with the fandom and many feeling like he's being overhyped compared to other filmmakes that don't get as much mainstream attention, which is understandable.

I love Nolan films, haven't watched Following yet, but i don't think he has made any film bellow "great", but he still has a lot to improve as an action Director, he delivers well on the plot, but his action scenes aren't very good.

 

[redfirebird2008]

I edited my post to make the correction but you got the point right?

I got the point (which I agree with by the way), but I just thought it was kinda funny that you left that name in. Spielberg is the King of the Blockbusters. t:

 

[slumcat]

I got the point (which I agree with by the way), but I just thought it was kinda funny that you left that name in. Spielberg is the King of the Blockbusters. t:

It is still telling that even being the king of blockbusters, his place as one of the greatest directors of all time is indubitably acknowledged even by cinephiles and film academics.

If nothing else, he's the best director of action ever after the great John Ford. And his blocking is genius.

 

[redfirebird2008]

I think Cameron is a better action director than Spielberg, but Spielberg is a better director overall. Better storytelling.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

My personal criteria was a combination of critical response, director skill (as in how good are the results of movies in more technical terms), mainstream success, and how much I like their filmography as a whole over the last ten years.

I choose both Fincher and Cuaron over Nolan (I changed my mind and decided to put him over PTA because he's been more prolific and the busier director) because I feel like Nolan still holds restrains himself creatively. I feel as though there's a lot more (for lack of a better word) "Creative Madness" with Fincher and Cuaron. Nolan I feel like is almost too tight with his directing and his worlds to the point at which he doesn't realize how much potential his world has.

In short, I feel as though his characters and plotting is excellent, but I don't think he uses the potential worlds of his movies to as far an extent as the others. On the other hand, I do realize that his sense of restraint can be advantage to him.

 

[Lord]

Being in a list of best film Directors is still really impressive.