Criterion Collection Discussion

[pro-bassoonist]

1. Michelangelo Antonioni
2. Krzysztof Kieslowski
3. Federico Fellini
4. Luis Bunuel
5. Andrey Tarkovskiy
6. Ingmar Bergman
7. Andrzej Zulawski
8. Leos Carax
9. Charlie Chaplin
10. Carlos Saura


Pro-B

[blujazz]

Just watched Rosemary's Baby and wow... what a truly thrilling example of female gothic and paranoia! Will definitely pick this up when it comes out.

Haven't seen Repulsion, yet. Is it also this good?

As for directors, there are only two directors who I religiously follow: Haneke and Almodovar.

[Halation]

Originally Posted by blujazz

Haven't seen Repulsion, yet. Is it also this good?

Even better in my opinion, but yes - you should definitely see it if you loved Rosemary's Baby.

Polanski's another director I'd place well ahead of Kubrick.

[KubrickFan]

Honestly, even with my user name, I wouldn't call Kubrick the best director, since that would basically mean that no other director would make better movies than him. He does have the interesting fact of having made several movies that are at the top their genres. Like, 2001 is one of the best sci-fi movies, Dr. Strangelove is one of the best comedies of all time, Paths of Glory and Full Metal Jacket are two of the best war movies, etc.
I would obviously call him my favorite director, since that's a more subjective term. Probably because he was the first director that showed to me there's more than the standard Hollywood fare.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by Old Geezer

Bergman would be my favorite but Krzysztof Kieslowski would be a close second followed by Godard and Lang.

Nice 3 out of 4, but you ruined it with Godard

[CinemaBlu]

Originally Posted by blujazz

Just watched Rosemary's Baby and wow... what a truly thrilling example of female gothic and paranoia! Will definitely pick this up when it comes out.

Haven't seen Repulsion, yet. Is it also this good?

As for directors, there are only two directors who I religiously follow: Haneke and Almodovar.

Rosemary's Baby is better than Repulsion but it's definitely another great film worth checking out.

[Old Geezer]

Originally Posted by retablo

Nice 3 out of 4, but you ruined it with Godard

I agree with you (to a point)

I gave my list last night rather quickly without really thinking about it too deeply. I do like Godard, but not near as much as Bunuel, or even Tarkovsky.

My revised list would be;

Bergman
Kieslowski
Bunuel
Lang
Tarkovsky

with no disrespect to Godard or Kurosawa - there are just other directors I enjoy more.

[blujazz]

Done! Will have to watch Repulsion soon!

Re: Godard.

I have a love/hate relationship with this guy. Loved his stuff several years ago. Revisited his stuff recently and his characters bug me on how needy they are.

I think I will need to revisit his stuff several years from now as my opinion on him might change.

[Cinemach]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

1. Michelangelo Antonioni

I was surprised I hadn't seen that name sooner!

I'll do a favorite five, by alphabet:

Michelangelo Antonioni
Alfred Hitchcock
David Lynch
Martin Scorsese
Francois Truffaut

There are myriad other names out there that at any time would populate my top 25 or so, with little to no variances between them. But at this time these five sit at the summit for me.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by octagon

Kes is one of my favorite foreign language films.

After the first couple of times I watched it, I was able to get through it on subsequent viewings without the Sub-titles.

It's a tough one though..... sometimes I think something inappropriate is said, and laugh at a moment that is nothing but serious

[Yami]

In no particular order:

Dreyer
Welles
Bergman
Kieslowski
Mizoguchi
Kurosawa
Hitchcock
Powell/Pressburger
Yang
Kubrick

Special Mentions: Allen, Renoir, Hsiao-Hsien

[mport5150]

Here's my list off the top of my head:

Lumet
Scorsese
Lean
Spielberg
Francis Ford Coppola
Hitchcock
Eastwood

Also just started watching/buying Kurosawa's films and have enjoyed them thus far.

[billzfan]

Originally Posted by mport5150

Here's my list off the top of my head:

Lumet
Scorsese
Lean
Spielberg
Francis Ford Coppola
Hitchcock
Eastwood

Also just started watching/buying Kurosawa's films and have enjoyed them thus far.

You'll get hooked on Kurosawa films. Don't miss Rashomon, High and Low, Seven Samurai, and Ran. He never made a bad film though and I can't think of any director I can say that about except Kubrick.

[monque]

The booklet inside my Samurai trilogy is crimpled. Did anybody else experience this?

[BluPix]

Originally Posted by billzfan

I was just having a discussion with some of my friends about which directors were better than Stanley Kubrick. I personally couldn't think of one. I have always loved Kurosawa and consider him a close 2nd but Kubrick is, in my opinion, the greatest ever.

Some others in the group agreed but a few stragglers picked Scorsese, Fellini, and Lean. I love all these directors but if you could pick a favorite, who would it be?

I definitely can't say I have a single favorite director—just as I don't have a single, favorite film of all time or even a favorite of the year. Really, there are many directors whose work I admire and who would be considered among my favorites with an "s" at the end.

Stanley Kubrick would certainly be one of them, as would Akira Kurosawa and Martin Scorcese. But so would Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Pedro Almodovar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Hal Ashby, Bernardo Bertolucci, Danny Boyle, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Francis Ford Coppola, David Cronenberg, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Clint Eastwood, David Fincher, Milos Foreman, Alfred Hitchcock, Ang Lee, Spike Lee, Sergio Leone, Ken Loach, Sidney Lumet, Takashi Miike, Hayao Miyazaki, Mira Nair, Christopher Nolan, Roman Polanski, Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, Robert Wise and several others.

[trombone dixie]

Originally Posted by blujazz

Done! Will have to watch Repulsion soon!

Jumping into this late, so I'm sorry if this has already been discussed... If you haven't already, check out The Tenant as well.

[CoopFilm]

Going along with the favorite director discussion happening..... I'm wondering, how many works by a director would you think it's necessary to see until you can call them your favorite---nearly all of them, or most?

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by CoopFilm

Going along with the favorite director discussion happening..... I'm wondering, how many works by a director would you think it's necessary to see until you can call them your favorite---nearly all of them, or most?

At least 75-80%.

Terry Gilliam is another favourite of mine, and Tideland still evades me for viewing. I've been holding off since most people hate it. I also wasn't so enamoured with Parnassus (Ledger really brought the film down) and lOved Brothers Grimm (which most fans absolutely hate apparently), so go figure.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

At least 75-80%.

Terry Gilliam is another favourite of mine, and Tideland still evades me for viewing. I've been holding off since most people hate it. I also wasn't so enamoured with Parnassus (Ledger really brought the film down) and lOved Brothers Grimm (which most fans absolutely hate apparently), so go figure.

I think one or two from different time period in the director's life. You are not the same person you were in your 30's once you are 40, 50 and 60 for example. Life experience changes how you look at the world and it will impact how they make their movies.

[P@t_Mtl]

It's a lot of fun discovering the work of a new director. I have been doing that in recent months with Luis Bunuel. I wonder who I will discover next