Which Director Would Be Tops For The 1990s? (1 Viewer)

[Jacinto]

What was so important about "Jackie Brown" from a filmmaking perspective? I don't see that movie as influential or as stand-out in any way, either.

I'm not a big Fight Club fan, but I feel Fincher definitely deserves credit for his work in the 90's. Alien3 was a bit of a disappointment, but most of my problems with it are more in the story than the direction. For a first feature film, he definitely showed a mastery of suspense and dread. Follow that up with Seven, which is considered by many to be a modern masterpiece. The Game was a very solid follow-up to Seven, and it certainly helped to further define the unmistakeable "Fincher style". Fight Club rounds out his four films of the 90's. I wouldn't call it great, but I wouldn't be a detractor of it, either.

 

[CharlieD]

I think it would be hard to defend any director other than Tarantino as the most influential, important, fresh or "top" director in the 90's. RD and PF are seminal moments in American cinema. While the others mentioned here (Spielberg, Cameron, Fincher, Wong Kar Wei, etc.) are certainly great filmmakers, none of them came close to the having the impact on the culture, the art form and the business of movie making in the 1990's as QT. I can't say that I even consider Tarantino a great director at this point (with in my opinion, only one truly exceptional film), but I think failing to recognize the impact (good, bad or indifferent) he had on American films in the 90's would be difficult.

In defense of Fincher, he is a fine director who did three very good films in the 90's. I know there a lot of people out there who dislike Fight Club for various reasons, but it is a wonderfully crafted, acted and directed story that not unlike Pulp Fiction, gained most of its detractors with thematic and graphic content as opposed to any failures in execution. Its lack of obvious influence is due to its commercial failure and not because other filmmakers don't admire it. It was/is easy to convince a studio to make a Pulp Fiction clone or a SFX show because those movies made tons of money.

As for discounting the film because of its perceived thematic similarities with Walden, although FC does share many ideas with the first half of Walden, the similarities end there. I guess dismissing an exploration of interesting ideas based on perceived similarities with the limited understanding of a high schooling reading of Thoreau would make someone feel differently about the film, but I don't get that.

One name that hasn't been mentioned here, that I think deserves some consideration is Spike Lee. Two things keep him out of the top spot on my list. One, his best film, Do the Right Thing, was released in '89, and he has two glaring missteps during the decade (Girl 6 and He Got Game). While Spike's record isn't perfect, his ambition, unique voice and provocative films certainly put him near the top of the short list of directors whose work defined the 90's.

 

[Pete-D]

... are certainly great filmmakers, none of them came close to the having the impact on the culture, the art form and the business of movie making in the 1990's as QT.

I think you could make a very, very strong case for James Cameron.

Terminator 2 and Titanic were worldwide phenomenons with huge pop culture resonance themselves.

The CGI in Terminator 2 revolutionized Hollywood filmmaking. When you watch ILM, Stan Winston, and Peter Jackson talk on the T2: Extreme Edition DVD about Terminator 2, it really drives that home. T2 set the stage for Jurassic Park, The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, etc.

In the categorey of business its hard to argue against Titanic.

Its definitely close, that's for sure.

 

[MickeS]

Which is probably why nobody wrote "I don't think I need to spell out why Jackie Brown is important."

I just don't think that the cinematic influence of "Fight Cliub" is so apparent and universally known that one can say that mentioning it requires no explanation. ANyone care to give an explanation, if it is so well-known?

/Mike

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Just take a glance at the imdb reviews. It reached otu to dis-enfranchised 20-some males like few other movies have. It perhaps wasn't all that influential, but it's ranking on ymdb, imdb and other sites based on the votes of the general public show how important it was to its viewers.

 

[chris winters]

I think there definately is a generation gap, as well as a gender gap, when it comes to fight club. Its resonance come largely from boys, now young men who grew up post feminism, post sexual revoltion. Its themes concerning masculinity, frustration, the emasculation, and marginalizing of issues having to do with being modern young male, all make it very importent to a large number of young viewers. Older men and woman often dont connect, or see its relevence, becuase the issues it hits arent on their emotional radar. unfortunetly all of these things really come from the novel. What fisher did was craft a nicely put together, almost perfect adaptation of a groundbreaking book. The movie also benifits from a spot on cast including bradd pitt, and edward norton.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"It reached otu to dis-enfranchised 20-some males like few other movies have."

Fight Club reached out to 20-somethings who have been stripped of their citizenship? I didn't know very many films were made that reached out to disenfranchised 20-something males, making this a dubious achievement. Especially since very, very few American males short of convicted felons are actually disenfranchised...

 

[Dan Rudolph]

I was of course, using it in its figurative menaing wheich many dictionaries haven't picked up o yet, meaning disillusioned with society to the point of opting out.

 

[Ernest Rister]

Then say "disillusioned", not "disenfranchised". Words mean things. Tyler Durden would certainly agree.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

I know my Lewis Carroll. Words mean whatever we use them to mean.

 

[Eric Peterson]

In my opinion it's hands down for the Coens.

1990 - Miller's Crossing (Great Gangster Flick)
1991 - Barton Fink (Palm D'or)
1994 - Hudsucker Proxy (Slight Misfire but still enjoyable)
1996 - Fargo (Best Picture Nom)
1998 - Big Lebowski (Best Comedy of the Decade)

I can watch all of these films over & over again, and while I enjoy Fight Club, Pulp Fiction, and many of the other films mentioned above none of them have the repeated viewing potential of the Coen's films.

 

[Lew Crippen]

And if you really knew your Lewis Carroll, you would know what he meant by that.

 

[MickeS]

But is repeated viewing potential really the sign of a good director? I don't agree at least. There are many great movies I have no or little desire to see again, and many very average ones that I watch all the time. I wouldn't say Hal Needham is the top director of the 70's, for example, but I watch his first movie a lot.

Thinking about it though, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe that IS the sign of a good director, since what matters in repeated viewings is not so much the story or acting (in general), but the overall "feel" of the movie, which the director is responsible for...

 

[Stevan Lay]

I like the cases put forward for Spielberg, Cameron, and Coen Brothers but for me the 1990s belonged to Tarantino who could be considered as placing Miramax on the Hollywood studio map.

 

[Ernest Rister]

We all know the best film of the 90's was Snow Dogs, why are we afraid to admit it? Ah, Snow Dogs - what genius!...how sublime!...how visionary! The dream sequence with the talking dogs - a scathing condemnation of the oppression of the proletariat and the internal repression of the fulfillment of the realization of psycho-somatic memes trapped in a rigid paradigm of didacticism. Brilliant, just brilliant. The genius of Snow Dogs is so overwhelming, it intimidates the viewer, hence it never appears on "best of the 90's" lists. No more, I say! Embrace the Snow Dogs, do not fear them! Snow Dogs now, Snow Dogs forever!

 

[TerryRL]

In my opinion, these were the top five directors of the 1990s.

#1 Quentin Tarantino
Arguably the most influential director of his generation. Helmed the ground-breaking films "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction" (for which he and co-writer Roger Avery won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar). Also helmed the under-appreciated gem "Jackie Brown". Tarantino's rise to fame started a mini-revolution of sorts for Independent movies. The Weinsteins owe a great debt to what Tarantino pulled off in the '90s.

#2 Steven Spielberg
Began the decade with "Hook", which wasn't as well received as hoped for. Two years later he helmed "Jurassic Park", which went on to become one of the biggest hits in history. That year also saw The Berg deliver what I think is the best film of the decade in "Schindler's List" (for which he won his first Best Director Oscar, as well as the Oscar for Best Picture). He followed that up with "The Lost World: Jurassic Park", "Amistad", and "Saving Private Ryan" (for which he won his second Best Director Oscar).

#3 Joel Coen
The '90s saw Coen helm "Miller's Crossing", "Barton Fink", "The Hudsucker Proxy", "Fargo" (for which he and his brother Ethan won Oscars for Best Original Screenplay), and "The Big Lebowski" (one of my favorite comedies from the decade).

#4 James Cameron
Helmed the biggest box office hit in "Titanic". Also had huge hits with "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and "True Lies" as he continued his reign as the fanboy poster child (at least until Peter Jackson came on the scene with his 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy).

#5 David Fincher
Fincher began the '90s as a music video director, then went to battle with Fox while helming "Alien 3". Following that ordeal, Fincher showed just what he was capable of when he directed "Se7en", "The Game" and "Fight Club".

Honorable mentions go out to Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, Jim Sheridan, Ron Howard, and Mike Leigh.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Snow Dogs (2002)

 

[Tony_P]

Should Bob Zemekis even be mentioned here? I probably wouldn't rank him above the others put forth (Coen Bros., Fincher, Spielberg) but he did bring us Contact (1997, Forrest Gump (1994), and Death Becomes Her (1992).

Everybody knows about Gump, but Contact and Death are really underrated films IMO. In these films Zemekis also pushed computer generated effects to new levels (especially with the body mutilations in Death and the historical footage integration in Gump.) I would place him up there with Spielberg and Cameron on that level.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

If we're just going on the quality of the body of work, no influence, it's gotta be the Coens, hands down. Miller's Crossing, Fargo, and The Big Lebowski are three of the best films of the decade, IMO, with Lebowski being in my all-time top ten. Oh yeah, and Barton Fink wasn't exactly chopped liver either. I don't think there's anybody else out there who made four films that could arguably be counted among the best of the decade.

 

[chris winters]

zemekis also brought us castaway and what lies beneith, although I cant remember now if they snuck in before or right after 2000. They were inovative in their own ways to some extent.