Favourite directors (TV & Film)

[Deleted]

Richard Donner
Robert Zemeckis
Joe Dante
Chris Columbus
Joel Schumacher
Peter MacDonald
Paul Verhoeven
Fred Dekker
Dwight H. Little
John G. Avildsen
Sylvester Stallone
Peter Grimwade 
Andrew Morgan
Lewis Gilbert 
John Glen
Douglas Camfield 

[Monster X]

Roger Corman - incredibly prolific producer/director of B-Movie classics. I like him mostly for his wonderful '60s film versions of Edgar Allan Poe stories, starring Vincent Price - The Fall of The House Of Usher, The Pit And The Pendulum, The Raven, The Masque Of The Red Death, etc. Still going strong at 95!!

[Deleted]

Apart from some already mentioned, Guillermo del Toro. When it comes to creating truly imaginative films he’s second to none. Even his less success films have a genuine sense of creative passion that I can really enjoy.

Also my respect for Stallone went up a lot when I found out he was also a writer/director.

[burrunjor]

Well Ridley Scott I think is technically one of the best. Legend and Alien's visuals are some of the most stunning ever put to film, and he also knows how to get the most out of a scene, but not drag it out too much. 

This moment from Alien contains some absolutely stunning direction. Scott doesn't just have the alien jump down and tear its victims apart to show how badass it is. (Which happens in all of the sequels.) Here he builds up the horror slowly, gives you an idea of how powerful the monster is, how cruel it is all whilst barely showing either it, or what it does to its two victims. We just see how scared and helpless they are and that, with the odd glimpse of the monster is enough. 

Nothing in the sequels approaches this scene in terms of sheer horror. 



The fact that fans to this day are still arguing how it killed her really says a lot. 

Peter Jackson meanwhile, I think is the best for world building. This is most evident in his version of Kong. LOTR is undoubtedly his best work, but with Kong I think we got a better idea of just how much story and thought he and his team put into their movies the way they fleshed out Skull Island in such a fascinating way and creating all those unique creatures for the island. 

Steven Spielberg meanwhile is a lazy choice, but what the hell. Where I think Spielberg is the best is the way that he pays attention to the little things. It's not so much world building like Jackson, but he has a great eye for adding a little detail that can end up making a normal scene iconic. Jurassic Park is rife with these, from the water trembling as the Tyrannosaur approaches, to the banner "WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH" slowly descending as the Tyrannosaurus roars in triumph. The little detail of the banner is what makes that one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history and not just one of hundreds of scenes of a big monster roaring. 

I agree about Roger Corman and Guillermo  Del Toro meanwhile. Toro has got one of the craziest and most over the top imaginations of anyone, whilst Corman's Edgar Allan Poe movies put him ahead of most of the others. 

[Bernard Marx]

Sept 17, 2021 16:41:08 GMT burrunjor said:

Well Ridley Scott I think is technically one of the best. Legend and Alien's visuals are some of the most stunning ever put to film, and he also knows how to get the most out of a scene, but not drag it out too much. 

This moment from Alien contains some absolutely stunning direction. Scott doesn't just have the alien jump down and tear its victims apart to show how badass it is. (Which happens in all of the sequels.) Here he builds up the horror slowly, gives you an idea of how powerful the monster is, how cruel it is all whilst barely showing either it, or what it does to its two victims. We just see how scared and helpless they are and that, with the odd glimpse of the monster is enough. 

Nothing in the sequels approaches this scene in terms of sheer horror. 



The fact that fans to this day are still arguing how it killed her really says a lot. 

Peter Jackson meanwhile, I think is the best for world building. This is most evident in his version of Kong. LOTR is undoubtedly his best work, but with Kong I think we got a better idea of just how much story and thought he and his team put into their movies the way they fleshed out Skull Island in such a fascinating way and creating all those unique creatures for the island. 

Steven Spielberg meanwhile is a lazy choice, but what the hell. Where I think Spielberg is the best is the way that he pays attention to the little things. It's not so much world building like Jackson, but he has a great eye for adding a little detail that can end up making a normal scene iconic. Jurassic Park is rife with these, from the water trembling as the Tyrannosaur approaches, to the banner "WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH" slowly descending as the Tyrannosaurus roars in triumph. The little detail of the banner is what makes that one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history and not just one of hundreds of scenes of a big monster roaring. 

I agree about Roger Corman and Guillermo  Del Toro meanwhile. Toro has got one of the craziest and most over the top imaginations of anyone, whilst Corman's Edgar Allan Poe movies put him ahead of most of the others. 

Scott's films are quite hit and miss broadly speaking, but whenever he hits, he hits hard. Alien and Blade Runner are absolute juggernauts within the genre and nary rivalled by the majority of their counterparts. This monologue is exceptional, albeit improvised and highly renowned already:



It's also a science fiction juggernaut that received a rather good sequel!

I rather liked The Duellists as well. It's not as rich or technically methodical as something like Barry Lyndon (featuring a similar period setting accompanied by many of the same cast members) but it's an excellent debut film by all accounts and doesn't get enough recognition broadly speaking. 

Del Toro is excellent too- similarly hit and miss akin to Scott, but his highs are phenomenal. 

For me, Kubrick, Bergman, David Lean, Fritz Lang etc all stand out from the crowd when it comes to 20th century cinema (Kubrick for his visual and auditory meticulousness and deft exploration of dehumanisation, Bergman for his mastery of the surreal, Lean for his mastery of the epic, and Lang for his pioneering of German Expressionism coupled with apposite social commentary- Metropolis is a masterpiece), though there are several other candidates I'll list in subsequent posts on this thread when I return to it later.