Winston T. Boogie
Senior HTF Member
So, this thread is not about directors that are no longer working, it is about the directors still working now. We won't be discussing people like Fellini, Kubrick, Ford, Tarkovsky, Bergman, etc. The strict rule is they have to be alive and at least rumored to be involved in a future project. This means you could list Francis Coppola as he is rumored to be potentially working on making another picture...though he has not made anything in a while and mostly seems to have been working on new cuts of his older pictures. Plus with Coppola, not sure you could call anything he has made in the last 30 years great. That's an open topic for discussion though.
Obviously, I would immediately offer Scorsese, as he is still working and still making amazing pictures and his next, Killers of the Flower Moon, looks to be quite promising. Spielberg still has a lot of clout and seems to be able to make what he wants. I think we can debate what films he has made over the last 30 years might be considered great. I do want these guys mentioned here because they are the old guard. The guys that have been making pictures from the 1970s until the present day and over the course of that time have continued to work and create films that endure despite changing audience tastes and industry preferences are certainly of great interest. We also need to look forward though at more recent directors whose body of work may someday be seen as "classic" or great pictures that stand the test of time.
The reason I wanted to start this topic is, as usual, to see if I can learn something, maybe be introduced to directors I may not be aware of, and to gain an appreciation of directors others are very enamored of. Also it will hopefully introduce me to pictures people see as being particularly well directed.
I also feel that directors are not a big reason most films get made anymore and in fact due to the types of pictures that dominate the mainstream really are pretty far down on the list of reasons people turn up to see a picture now. I believe the 1970s was really the greatest period of time for directors because they had the most clout then and really could make any kind of picture they wanted no matter what the subject matter may be. It was quite possibly the greatest period of American filmmaking in history. Obviously, we can debate this as well.
I grew up during the 1970s so I still am mostly attracted to see a picture due to who is directing. This is a bigger thing for me than who the actors are, or what the subject matter is, or anything else really. I mean Roger Deakins being behind a camera also is pretty much a lock that I will watch a film, ha.
So please, tell us who the directors are that draw you in these days, that their name being attached to a project is a guarantee you will watch a film. Tell us what pictures or maybe even moments in those pictures made you think, "Wow, this person is a great director!"
Obviously, I would immediately offer Scorsese, as he is still working and still making amazing pictures and his next, Killers of the Flower Moon, looks to be quite promising. Spielberg still has a lot of clout and seems to be able to make what he wants. I think we can debate what films he has made over the last 30 years might be considered great. I do want these guys mentioned here because they are the old guard. The guys that have been making pictures from the 1970s until the present day and over the course of that time have continued to work and create films that endure despite changing audience tastes and industry preferences are certainly of great interest. We also need to look forward though at more recent directors whose body of work may someday be seen as "classic" or great pictures that stand the test of time.
The reason I wanted to start this topic is, as usual, to see if I can learn something, maybe be introduced to directors I may not be aware of, and to gain an appreciation of directors others are very enamored of. Also it will hopefully introduce me to pictures people see as being particularly well directed.
I also feel that directors are not a big reason most films get made anymore and in fact due to the types of pictures that dominate the mainstream really are pretty far down on the list of reasons people turn up to see a picture now. I believe the 1970s was really the greatest period of time for directors because they had the most clout then and really could make any kind of picture they wanted no matter what the subject matter may be. It was quite possibly the greatest period of American filmmaking in history. Obviously, we can debate this as well.
I grew up during the 1970s so I still am mostly attracted to see a picture due to who is directing. This is a bigger thing for me than who the actors are, or what the subject matter is, or anything else really. I mean Roger Deakins being behind a camera also is pretty much a lock that I will watch a film, ha.
So please, tell us who the directors are that draw you in these days, that their name being attached to a project is a guarantee you will watch a film. Tell us what pictures or maybe even moments in those pictures made you think, "Wow, this person is a great director!"
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Denis Villeneuve - Just a terrific director who impresses me with his command of a variety of genres.
