Today...who is the best director?

[nite-owl]

David Gordon Green

 

[lime]

Nolan is the best in writing, but not THE best in directing.

I think Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the best pure directors.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Hi,

It depends on the kind of movie.

Explosion and cars chase : Michael Bay
Intriguing story : Nolan
Gothico comico stuff : Burton
SciFi : Cameron

These are just examples, there is no best director, some are better than other in their predilection genre.

 

[Bunker]

Good god! I am going to have to stick my head up Camerons ass to see what all the fuss is about. He is a mediocre director at best. He just knows how to manipulate the masses. Now if we are talking about the best Sheep Herder of all time....

Haha, the Cameron backlash here is insane. He's actually made films that aren't named Avatar and Titanic.

The Terminator
Aliens
Terminator 2
The Abyss

All of them should be on any respectable "Best Sci-Fi Movies Ever" list.

 

[Passdom]

Haha, the Cameron backlash here is insane. He's actually made films that aren't named Avatar and Titanic.

The Terminator
Aliens
Terminator 2
The Abyss

All of them should be on any respectable "Best Sci-Fi Movies Ever" list.

All great, iconic films. And Terminator 2 is definitely the greatest action film of all time.

Cameron haters are basically sheep.

 

[xwolverine2]

Nolan is a great writer and cinematographer.. but not the greatest director there is. He certainly can be one day though.

As for james cameron... the question was who the best director TODAY.. not 20 years ago.. and from what avatar has shown us is that he just doesnt have it anymore (maybe because his huge break and underwater hard-on after titanic). Ill give him one more chance after Avatar though.. he deserves it.

Quentin Tarantino is both the best writer and director...
Peter Jackson is also my favorite for the bigger epic/vfx movies
they have been uncapable in making a bad movie imo..

 

[Bunker]

Peter Jackson is also my favorite for the bigger epic/vfx movies
they have been uncapable in making a bad movie imo..

Yeah, he directed 3 of the most epic movies of all-time, but The Lovely Bones was retched and King Kong was bloated. Hopefully he turns it around with his next film.

 

[Passdom]

Nolan is a great writer and cinematographer.. but not the greatest director there is. He certainly can be one day though.

As for james cameron... the question was who the best director TODAY.. not 20 years ago.. and from what avatar has shown us is that he just doesnt have it anymore (maybe because his huge break and underwater hard-on after titanic). Ill give him one more chance after Avatar though.. he deserves it.

Quentin Tarantino is both the best writer and director...
Peter Jackson is also my favorite for the bigger epic/vfx movies
they have been uncapable in making a bad movie imo..

Im guessing you havent seen the Lovely Bones. One of the worst movies of 2009.

And the directing in Avatar is better than the large majority of blockbusters from the 2000s. Jon Favreau, JJ Abrams, Gore Verbinsky, Michael Bay, Bryan Singer, etc can only dream to be as proficient a director as Cameron is. He outclasses them all with ease. Camerons latest movie was critically and commercially successful, it won and was nominated for awards. If thats your definition of someone who doesn't have "it" anymore, then...lol.

As far as who is the single best all around director working today, the one name I would mention is Alfonso Cuaron. Actually, Terrence Malick would probably be my pick. The Thin Red Line and The New World are some of my absolute all time favorites, and I can't wait for the Tree of Life.

 

[xwolverine2]

i happened to love both king kong and the lovely bones... no idea why they get such hate.. they were both visually stunning and had amazing acting

 

[TNC9852002]

I'll add Edgar Wright to the list

 

[terry78]

Right now, Abrams and Favreau are on my list because they're basically making the movies right now that Spielberg, Zemeckis, and the rest made back in the 80s. Movies that are fun, yet still have that hint of urgency with danger and drama.

 

[Tequilla]

My favorites :

Terrence Malick

Hayao Myazaki

Mamoru Oshii

Christopher Nolan

Martin Scorsese

Wong Kar Wai

Quentin Tarantino

Werner Herzog


I don put cameron in the list because i find avatar and titanic to be gigantic pieces of turd. So since mid 90's i dont see anything good from him

The same goes for Carpenter. He hasnt made a good movie in a long time so i cant put him on my list , although i truly love his filmography

 

[Mr.Webs]

Obviously there is Christopher Nolan, but I would also have to throw in Jon Favereau, Frank Darabont, David Fincher, and Darren Aronofsky for sure. All very different with a different view point to tell, and they all bring something incredible to the table.

 

[Bunker]

Right now, Abrams and Favreau are on my list because they're basically making the movies right now that Spielberg, Zemeckis, and the rest made back in the 80s. Movies that are fun, yet still have that hint of urgency with danger and drama.

Abrams and Favreau have directed one good film each. They shouldn't even be mentioned in the same paragraph as Spielberg and Zemeckis.

 

[Laderlappen]

The Nolan fanboys need to stop this annoying little war. Its pathetic. Nolan is not God and Cameron is not Satan. Except that their movies make money, they have almost nothing incommon. All it takes to be hated is to direct a movie that is not a masterpiece. Im guessing over half of the haters actually like Aliens and T2.

My favorites are Anderson, Coens, & Tarantino.

 

[CGHulk]

When I was growing up the best directors alive were, Spielberg, Truffaut, Lucas, Scorsese, Coppola, Gilliam, Kubrick, etc. Today I'm not so sure who's the best. I like JJ Abrams work on Star Trek and Nolan's few films. But today who's the best, I dunno. There hasn't been a film in a long time that screams masterpiece! Maybe big violence and elaborate special effects and studios big demand of big box office numbers and studio control is what hurting the art of film making.

 

[That-Guy]

Nolan.

If you combine Stanley Kurbick's ability to challenge his audience with intelligent filmmaking with Steven Speilberg's ability to create original movies with a mass appeal, you'd have something along the lines of Chris Nolan.

 

[bullets]

I don't think Wes Anderson is the best but I love his films


Im suprised people consider The Lovely Bones bad , it may have been dissapointing but a bad movie?

 

[That-Guy]

I liked The Lovely Bones. It was far from a perfect movie, but it was well-made and featured two knockout performances by Ronan and Tucci. Hell, even the usually one-note Mark Wahlberg was really good in it. I was so afraid he was going to act the way he did in The Crappening.

 

[co2]

I've kept a running list of directors through my life, that I am willing to see a movie based on the fact that they are involved. That's usually a stronger indicator of a quality film that the cast.

From the 70's
Spielberg
Scorcese
DePalma

80's
Cameron

90's
Tarantino
Fincher

In the last decade, the only guy I have added to that exclusive list is Nolan. Cameron used to be my top guy, but honestly, Titanic and Avatar were good, but are probably my least favorite films of his.....which if we are talking Cameron movies is still saying a lot...so I'm not into him as much as I used to be. Nolan is number one for me right now.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

The best of the best is Max Pecas !

 

[Hound55]

The "Today" part of this thread makes it a blowout to me...

The Coens.

Others that'd be up there are Paul Thomas Anderson, Danny Boyle and Jason Reitman.

I love Nolan, he's probably my favourite director at the moment but I think he's second tier with Fincher and a few others after those guys. Nolan takes on more interesting projects to me though.

Scorsese's best works are behind him (although he's still churning out better stuff than most others), "today" takes Cameron out of this for mine as well.

 

[Jack O Lantern]

The Nolan fanboys need to stop this annoying little war. Its pathetic. Nolan is not God and Cameron is not Satan. Except that their movies make money, they have almost nothing incommon. All it takes to be hated is to direct a movie that is not a masterpiece. Im guessing over half of the haters actually like Aliens and T2.

My favorites are Anderson, Coens, & Tarantino.

What's interesting is that they often accuse Cameroon of putting out easy to understand movies, but it's Nolan's movies that are full of expositionary dialogue. He refuses to let the visuals do the telling.

 

[Tron Bonne]

For me it would be Aronofsky and The Coens. The former probably doesn't have enough films for that kind of title really, but I've enjoyed each movie he's made, and found each of them utterly fascinating in their own ways. The Coens may have some minor slips here and there, but they're films are nearly always really good.

 

[Max J Power]

My top five favorite active directors:

Woody Allen
The Coen Brothers
Martin Scorsese
Steven Spielberg
Quentin Tarantino

Other great ones:

Paul Thomas Anderson
Wes Anderson
James Cameron
Cameron Crowe
Alfonso Cuaron
Guillermo Del Toro
Clint Eastwood
Stephen Frears
Christopher Guest
Werner Herzog
Peter Jackson
Spike Jonze
Ang Lee
Sidney Lumet
David Lynch
Hayao Miyazaki
Christopher Nolan
The Pixar directors
Alexander Payne
Roman Polanski
Jason Reitman
Ridley Scott
Steven Soderbergh
Edgar Wright