Favorite/Least Favorite Filmmakers

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Agreed re. Hal Hartley (who is awesome) and Tim Burton (who is pretty overrated).

My ultimate favorites are probably Lynch, Hitchcock, and Truffaut.  Also like Bergman, Kurosawa, Jarmusch, The Coens, Fellini, Mira Nair, Robert Altman, John Sayles, a lot (but not all) of Jonathan Demme, Ridley Scott, and Spike Lee.  As for older films, I like Billy Wilder and Ernst Lubitsch quite a bit.  Just started getting into Ealing comedies thanks to the FOT.

These are kind of obvious choices, but I love Casablanca and The Bicycle Thief but haven't seen any other movies by those directors.

My hate list is pretty predictable: Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Larry Clark, Oliver Stone, all that self-important 90s bullshit.

Somewhere in the middle: I like most Steven Spielberg, Blake Edwards, and Ivan Reitman movies.  Godard I just haven't been able to get into, as I've mentioned before, but maybe it's just me.  Not a Matthew Barney fan.  I think Sam Mendes is pretty overrated - his stage and film work are both all about pretty pictures but are mostly sterile, boring, and two-dimensional.  I've only ever seen Women Under The Influence and couldn't hear a damn thing, so I'm pretty neutral on Cassavettes.

[Fido]

I'm dismayed/embarrassed that I like:  Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Jacques Tati, John Waters.

What's wrong with Tati? I can see being embarrassed about liking some of the others (although I too like Woody Allen), but Tati seems out of place in that list.

What's wrong with any of them? All greats in my book.

I was being too much of a damn film snob/wuss in my post before.  What I really should be dismayed about is enjoying Jackass and repeatedly watching and laughing at The Andy Milonakis Show. I don't really care who knows it, though.

Why would I be ashamed of loving Tati's movies?  'Cause some French lady told me she thought he was totally cornball and a relic.  Why would I listen to her? I'm too easily swayed sometimes.

[masterofsparks]

I'm dismayed/embarrassed that I like:  Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Jacques Tati, John Waters.

What's wrong with Tati? I can see being embarrassed about liking some of the others (although I too like Woody Allen), but Tati seems out of place in that list.

What's wrong with any of them? All greats in my book.

I was being too much of a damn film snob/wuss in my post before.  What I really should be dismayed about is enjoying Jackass and repeatedly watching and laughing at The Andy Milonakis Show. I don't really care who knows it, though.

Why would I be ashamed of loving Tati's movies?  'Cause some French lady told me she thought he was totally cornball and a relic.  Why would I listen to her? I'm too easily swayed sometimes.

Well, that's what you get for listening to French people, who are stupid.

Wait, this is in Chinatown, right?

[yesno]

Hal Hartley can be pretty good, but I wasn't too into his monster movie, No Such Thing.

Just watched Diving Bell and the Butterfly:  so Schnabel is ON THE LIST.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I keep hearing that.  I have to check that movie out.  The last Julian Schnabel movie I saw was Johnny Mnemonic.

[yesno]

I keep hearing that.  I have to check that movie out.  The last Julian Schnabel movie I saw was Johnny Mnemonic.

I'm probably missing some joke, but Johnny Mnemonic -- an underrated movie I think -- was by Robert Longo.  Different painter.  Before Night Falls was also really good.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I keep hearing that.  I have to check that movie out.  The last Julian Schnabel movie I saw was Johnny Mnemonic.

I'm probably missing some joke, but Johnny Mnemonic -- an underrated movie I think -- was by Robert Longo.  Different painter.  Before Night Falls was also really good.

Nope, no joke.  It's just a mistake I've been making for about a decade and this is the first time anyone's corrected me.

I also called Leni Reifenstal "Lina Wertmuller" for years (I think that was Lorraine Newman's pardoy name for her on SNL in the 70s).

[jbissell]

Hal Hartley can be pretty good, but I wasn't too into his monster movie, No Such Thing.

Just watched Diving Bell and the Butterfly:  so Schnabel is ON THE LIST.

If not for No Country, TWBB, and Zodiac, it would've been my favorite movie of 2007. Turned me into a blubbering mess.

[yesno]

Best filmmaker:  Gus van Sant

Worst filmmaker:  Also Gus van Sant

[Rainer]

Why would I be ashamed of loving Tati's movies?

Tati is wonderful and  Playtime is a masterpiece.  There is something very Newbridge-ian about the club where everything goes to shit. The waiter who tears his jacket and then gets the remainder of his uniform pilfered by the rest of staff; the "homeless" dish that no one ever gets served; the moment when the door glass shatters.  Slowburn comedy at its finest (just like a certain radio show I am fond of).

[jbissell]

Best filmmaker:  Gus van Sant

Worst filmmaker:  Also Gus van Sant

How would the best/worst distribution break down for you?  The only ones I've seen that I disliked were Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester (I'm going to assume I would hate the Pyscho remake). Best would be: Drugstore Cowboy, Elephant, and Paranoid Park.

[yesno]

Best filmmaker:  Gus van Sant

Worst filmmaker:  Also Gus van Sant

How would the best/worst distribution break down for you?  The only ones I've seen that I disliked were Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester (I'm going to assume I would hate the Pyscho remake). Best would be: Drugstore Cowboy, Elephant, and Paranoid Park.

GWH, FF, Psycho are are irredeemably terrible.

I pretty much like the rest of what I've seen. Not everything, but almost everything.

Gerry is neither good nor bad.  It just exists, man.

[mokin]

Hal Hartley can be pretty good, but I wasn't too into his monster movie, No Such Thing.

Just watched Diving Bell and the Butterfly:  so Schnabel is ON THE LIST.

So far the guy hasn't made a bad movie. Basquiat is uneven, but overall it's okay. Before Night Falls is pretty amazing. Can't wait to see Diving Bell.

He also seems like a badass. And those yellow tinted sunglasses that he always wears actually look good on him.

[Fido]

Best filmmaker:  Gus van Sant

Worst filmmaker:  Also Gus van Sant

So true! 

Ang Lee is the same kind of deal for me.  Loved:  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Lust Caution, Eat Drink Man Woman, Brokeback Mtn.  Liked The Wedding Banquet and Sense and Sensibility . Found the The Ice Storm interesting but mediocre, and The Hulk was an atrocity as far as I was concerned.  I suppose I could say the same of a lot of directors, but the man has let me down before. But he always gets me into the theater.

[Son of Dorvid]

Hal Hartley can be pretty good, but I wasn't too into his monster movie, No Such Thing.

Just watched Diving Bell and the Butterfly:  so Schnabel is ON THE LIST.

What, you never saw Basquiat and Before Night Falls? 
Julian Schnabel is excellent.

Edit: oops, you mentioned Before Night Falls. Well then, we're in agreement!