The Criterion Collection

[Fellini912]

[QUOTE=Fellini912;5873971]My favorite directors:

Ingmar Bergman
Terrence Malick
Federico Fellini
Krzystof Kieslowski
Luis Bunuel

Followed by:
Stanley Kubrick
Francis Ford Coppola
Martin Scorsese
Jean-Pierre Melville
Jean-Luc Godard
[\QUOTE]
The reason why they are my favorite directors:

Best art house movie- Seventh Seal
Best movie about movies- 8 and 1/2
Best War movie-The Thin Red Line
Best trilogy-The Three Colors trilogy, (sorry
Godfather fans I would rather see three great movies about beautiful women than the mafia)
Best surreal movie-Un Chien Andalau
Best sci-fi movie-2001: Space Odyssey.

These movies I have watched multiple times and seem to never get old.

[unclemat]

Originally Posted by Fellini912

My favorite directors:

Ingmar Bergman
Terrence Malick
Federico Fellini
Krzystof Kieslowski
Luis Bunuel

Followed by:
Stanley Kubrick
Francis Ford Coppola
Martin Scorsese
Jean-Pierre Melville
Jean-Luc Godard

I am happy no one mentioned George Lucas. He is such an overrated director.

Lucas? Yeah, one trick pony. But then Scorsese is just as overrated IMO, yet he often makes many folks' top list That really baffles me as I consider him average director at best. The only movie I have a desire to re-watch would be Taxi Driver. The rest - meh. E.g. Gangs of New York is exemplary cinematic garbage. IMO.

[Fellini912]

George Lucas has great one dimensional ideas. He is not a great director. Scorsese did three great films based on my opinion: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas. You are right, the one movie I go back the most is Taxi Driver. Gangs of New York is OK to mediocre, same goes with Departed. I liked Infernal Affairs by far.

[blg]

Originally Posted by Fellini912

George Lucas has great one dimensional ideas. He is not a great director. Scorsese did three great films based on my opinion: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas. You are right, the one movie I go back the most is Taxi Driver. Gangs of New York is OK to mediocre, same goes with Departed. I liked Infernal Affairs by far.

While I agree that Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and GoodFellas are his best 3, I would also add Mean Streets, Last Temptation, and to a lesser degree Casino and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore to the list.

I also agree that The Departed was hugely overrated. The best thing about Gangs of New York was Daniel Day Lewis.

[rock, stone]

Originally Posted by blg

While I agree that Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and GoodFellas are his best 3, I would also add Mean Streets, Last Temptation, and to a lesser degree Casino and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore to the list.

I also agree that The Departed was hugely overrated. The best thing about Gangs of New York was Daniel Day Lewis.

I hold King of Comedy, After Hours, and his Life Lessons entry in the otherwise lackluster New York Stories very highly.

His Dicaprio period has produced movies that are "fine", but not great. But they are entertaining enough.

[Yami]

Overrated would imply that somebody rated Lucas as a director in the first place

My favourite director? That's a tough one, I honestly couldn't say. Talking about Scorsese, I'd put Hugo in his top 5. It's a truly marvellous film.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by oildude

It goes without saying that Criterion has an abundance of riches when it comes to great films. Given that, a limited list of favorites would be hard to do. But when I see lists of "top 5" and "next top 5", and don't see Still Walking or The Secret of the Grain, all I can say is, I wish more of y'all would watch these two. Both really are excellent films, among the best Criterion has released, in my opinion, and either one is worthy of a top 10 list, if not both.

I read on another thread somewhere how Clooney's The Descendants seemed very similar in themes to Still Walking, except Still Walking did it all so much better and more naturally. I haven't seen the Clooney film, but I liked reading that.

Having said this, though, I think many of the best films in the collecton are in the Eclipse sets, or on DVDs screaming to be upgraded to blu-ray.

Still Walking definitely gets a recommendation from me; it just doesn't get into my top 5 Criterions. It's a wonderful film though.
Superficially, you can compare it to The Descendants, but I wouldn't bother. I enjoyed The Descendants, but it really is an overrated film. I've enjoyed Payne's films and I am a fan of Clooney, but I'm absolutely mystified at the hype this film gets.
Have people and critics never seen a melodrama before?
Have they never seen a good performance from Clooney before? He has too many better performances for me to list.
The Descendants also leaves a bitter taste in your mouth when the B-plot of the film is really about rich white people trying to decide how to become richer.
If you haven't seen Still Walking you should.
And Oildude, don't waste your time with The Descendants; go and watch Still Walking again

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by billzfan

Who is everyone's favorite director here? I have always been a Kubrick fan with Kurosawa running a close 2nd and Scorsese in 3rd

Probably Kubrick, but there are so many others!
Hitchcock
Scorsese
Welles
Kurosawa
Malick
Coen Bros
Wes Anderson
Christopher Nolan
Brian De Palma
Godard
Hawks
Wilder
Ford

[oildude]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

Still Walking definitely gets a recommendation from me; it just doesn't get into my top 5 Criterions. It's a wonderful film though.
Superficially, you can compare it to The Descendants, but I wouldn't bother. I enjoyed The Descendants, but it really is an overrated film. I've enjoyed Payne's films and I am a fan of Clooney, but I'm absolutely mystified at the hype this film gets.
Have people and critics never seen a melodrama before?
Have they never seen a good performance from Clooney before? He has too many better performances for me to list.
The Descendants also leaves a bitter taste in your mouth when the B-plot of the film is really about rich white people trying to decide how to become richer.
If you haven't seen Still Walking you should.
And Oildude, don't waste your time with The Descendants; go and watch Still Walking again

Ha ha, will do! No problem there with rewatching Still Walking. As I posted here before, that film opened my eyes to Japanese cinema beyond Kurosawa and the monster movies I watched as a kid. In that respect, it has been the most influential Criterion I have watched to date, and my wallet has been stung ever since. Still Walking makes my top 5, and Secret of the Grain makes my top 10.

And I finally watched Branded to Kill this weekend. Wow, loved it. It and Tokyo Drifter are the only two Seijun Suzuki films I have seen. I think he has a film in the Nikkatsu Noir set (too lazy to get up from my computer and verify), but I have not yet watched that set.

Many of Criterion's best films, Japanese or otherwise, are in the Eclipse sets, or still on DVD. Which is why I am frustrated at the pace of blu-ray upgrades so far this year.

[Yami]

I hope that Criterion nabs Kore-eda's Nobody Knows from MGM.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by Fellini912

Scorsese did three great films based on my opinion: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas.

I would replace GoodFellas with Last Temptation of Christ. As much as I love Taxi Driver, Temptation (I think) is his masterpiece.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by Joe Dalek

Werner Herzog.

Damn it! I forgot to put Herzog on my list!
He also has one of my favourite voices ever

[retablo]

Fav directors:

Bergman
Kieslowski
Rivette
Herzog
Hawks
Sayles
Rohmer
Malick

[bizarre_eye]

Originally Posted by billzfan

Who is everyone's favorite director here? I have always been a Kubrick fan with Kurosawa running a close 2nd and Scorsese in 3rd

If you'd asked me ten or so years ago, I probably would have said Cronenberg, but given I'm not a huge fan of his more recent output he has slipped further down my ranking.

A toss up between Tarkovsky and Jodorowsky for me, although Lang would certainly be in the mix.

Originally Posted by joie

Would any criterions make the list of five best movies ever?

Solaris is my (current) favourite film, ever since I first saw it about 8 years ago, so that would certainly feature in my no. 1 spot.

As for a top 5, it tends to fluctuate slightly, but currently:

1. Solaris
2. M
3. Videodrome
4. The Wicker Man
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey

Three of which have currently been released by Criterion.

[Querelle]

Costa
Tarr
Ruiz
Sokurov
Grandrieux

[lemonski]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

The Descendants also leaves a bitter taste in your mouth when the B-plot of the film is really about rich white people trying to decide how to become richer.

While I found The Descendants to be quite beguiling - there was something a little off about it that I couldn't put my finger on. You're right, it's exactly this. The whole land sale subplot was irritating and pointless.

[jrsl76]

My Favs:

1.) Kubrick
2.) Kurosawa
3.) Scorsese

The Rest:

Powell & Pressburger
Truffaut
John Carpenter
Tarantino
Argento
Cronenberg
Lynch

[lemonski]

Favorite directors

1. Malick
2. Nolan
.
.
.
.
.
3. Fincher
4. Hitchcock
5. Kubrick

[BohemianGraham]

My favourite Directors, in no particular order, with the exception of number one of course:

1. Billy Wilder
2. Blake Edwards
3. Roman Polanski
4. Ingmar Bergman
5. Terry Gilliam
6. John Ford
7. Norman Jewison
8. Christopher Guest
9. Stanley Kramer
10. Akira Kurosawa
11. Henri-Georges Clouzot
12. Alfred Hitchcock
13. Sergio Leone
14. Federico Fellini
15. Bob Rafelson, even though I think the man's a bit of a jerk
16. Stanley Kubrick


Those of you bashing Lucas, while I agree the man is a hack, American Graffiti is awesome, and I actually prefer it to Star Wars.

[trombone dixie]

1. Stanley KUBRICK
2. David LYNCH
3. Krzysztof KIESLOWSKI
4. Roman POLANSKI
5. David CRONENBERG
6. Akira KUROSAWA
7. Robert ALTMAN
8. Woody ALLEN
9. Terrence MALICK
10. Alfred HITCHCOCK