Favorite/Least Favorite Filmmakers

[Eric]

All this talk of movies in the chat last night got me wondering about what filmmakers are liked/hated here.

[Dorvid Barnas]

Top 6:  These aren't very edgy choices but I don't care. I see as many obscure movies as the next guy, but my list of true favorites hasn't changed in about ten years, though Ladykillers and Man on the Moon certainly put my faith to the test.

Paul Thomas Anderson
The Coen Brothers
Pedro Almodovar
Milos Forman
Sidney Lumet
Errol Morris

On the other side, and I don't want to start an argument, because it's an impossible one, but I really can't stand any of the David Lynch movies.
They're always lit and shot so beautifully, so I watch them all, and I always have three distinct thoughts:

1)What a beautifully lit and shot movie. 
2)God, I wish I hadn't seen that awful movie. I hated that a lot.
3)Now I get to hear all of my friends dissect it for a year and a half! I'll make a face, they'll make a face. I can't wait.

There is a single exception: I loved The Straight Story and saw it twice in a row.  Cried hard during the WWII discussion.
I guess that was the one that many saw as an "anti-Lynch" movie, ostensibly because that was the one that had human beings in it.
The Straight Story? My hardcore Lynch-fan friends didn't even fucking see it! Too busy watching Twin Peaks on VHS for the 20th straight year.

I just don't get it.  We don't bring it up anymore.

[Chris L]

Consistent favorites, along w/ flick picks:
Ingmar Bergman (Winter Light), Andrei Tarkovsky (Stalker), Wong Kar-Wai (Chungking Express), David Lynch (Mulholland Drive), Werner Herzog (Stroszek), Errol Morris (First Person tv series), Hal Ashby (The Last Detail), Robert Altman (McCabe & Mrs. Miller), John Cassavetes (A Woman Under the Influence), Akira Kurosawa (Red Beard), Mike Leigh (Naked), Jean-Pierre Melville (Army of Shadows), Orson Welles (Magnificent Ambersons), Krystof Kieslowski (Double Life of Veronique), Luis Bunuel (The Exterminating Angel), Michael Powell (Life and Death of Colonel Blimp), Woody Allen (Hannah & Her Sisters)

[Laurie]

Ooh, Chunking Express is a favorite of mine, too. I also really, really like Takeshi Kitano's Kikujiro. It makes me cry, it makes me laugh. I love it. And you know, that's fairly atypical for a guy who brought you classics like Violent Cop, you know? It's a really touching movie, though. I saw its US premier for the Miami International Film Festival in 1999, I think. Takeshi Kitano was there, charming as ever. Awww, I wish he could be my grandfather or something.

[Chris L]

Chungking Express is amazingly, weirdly romantic.  I remember reading about Kikujiro but I admit I pulled a "Straight Story" - I couldn't see Kitano in a "touching" movie.  I'll check it out though. 

[John Junk]

I love:
David Lynch
Godard
Richard Linklater (well, Slacker and Dazed in particular)

I hate:
Oliver Stone
Kevin Smith (duh)
Lars Von Trier (okay, maybe I only saw Breaking The Waves, so sue me)

I love to hate (meaning I love parts, but hate the whole):
Roman Polanski
Robert Altman (that's right, I said it)

I hate to love:
Woody Allen (Manhattan was one of my all time favorite movies when I was 18.  So sue me. But holy moly--did anyone see Deconstructing Harry?)

[moonshake]

"Chungking Express" & "In The Mood For Love" are absolute favorites of mine. I highly recommend "Last Life in the Universe" to any WKW fans. Chris Doyle's cinematography in it is so very gorgeous.

And one of the funniest movies I've ever seen that doesn't get enough recognition: "How to get ahead in advertising". Here's a clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWUQixBeDtw

[Laurie]

Ooh, word on Last Life in the Universe. That's a beautiful looking movie. I love Noi.

[Sarah]

As usual when faced with questions like this, I can't haul any names to the surface.  Thankfully, the rest of you are posting, so I can be reminded of whom I like.

So far, you've made me remember Pedro Almodovar, Mike Leigh, Michael Powell, and Lars von Trier.  On my own, I've managed to come up with Ken Loach (got to love the politics).  I know there are many more.  Perhaps subsequent posts from others will either jog my memory or prompt my poor, tired brain to spit out some names on its own.

[Richard_From_CHI]

I'm with Sarah on this one. Although I must say Peter Greenaway (sp?) has made some nice movies and some f-ing heinous awful horrid movies. The Infant of Prague being the worst of the worst. I, nor anyone else, shold be subjected to watching  a 30 minute long rape scene.

[Sarah]

I must say Peter Greenaway (sp?) has made some nice movies and some f-ing heinous awful horrid movies.

Yes!  Thank you, Richard.  I was trying to remember him.  I find his movies strangely fascinating, although I don't think the part of me that responds to them is particularly admirable.  But they're so fraught, and perverse, and constructed, and pretentious, and, often, handsome that I just can't resist them.  Besides, his A Zed and Two Noughts was the catalyst of a long and fiery correspondence about censorship I had years ago with the program director of Bravo, so I'm bound to think of him fondly for that alone.

P.S. A few more: David Cronenberg, Hal Hartley, John Sayles, and Michael Winterbottom.

[Jason]

Jesus, I love Mike Leigh and Peter Greenaway.

[Jason]

Oh and I hate Guy Ritchie.

[bruce]

I loved The Straight Story still has the funniest Title cards ever Walt Disney Films followed by A film by David Lynch

Love Robert Altman, Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci, Akira Kurosawa, Hal Needham and of course Russ Meyer (Have seen it all except for Black Snake)

Hate and I do mean Hate Greg Akari, Whit Stillman, and Michael Bay

[John Junk]

Holy Cow I totally love Whit Stillman.  I know there's probably some kind of cognitive dissonance with that or something. Pretentious and chatty Yuppies?  --Who knew I could fall in love with them?!  Stilted and unnatural dialogue plus C- acting?  Somehow it works!
 I also like Hal Hartley, but Velvet Goldmine ate it.