Who do you feel are the greatest, best, your favorite directors WORKING today? (1 Viewer)

[Reggie W]

and my favorite directors are:
-Richard Linklater

Linklater

I certainly am a fan of Mr. Linklater but I'd say I have not followed him as closely as some other directors. The first picture of his that I saw was Before Sunrise and I loved it. Then I really was into his films Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly (which is probably with Sunrise my favorite from him). I've not seen all of his pictures and the most recent one I watched was Last Flag Flying which is a sequel of sorts to one of my favorite pictures, Hal Ashby's The Last Detail. He appears to have a film in the can to be released this year, is shooting another as I type this, then has two more lined up to go. So, he is staying busy.

 

[Bryan^H]

Richard Linklater got my attention with "Slacker" it was so unlike any film I had seen (apparently there is a French film that uses the same formula). Funny mainly, but also sad, and strange throughout. Of course "Dazed and Confused" is the ultimate hang out movie. And no one director living today captures the detail, and authenticity of the 70's that he does. He cares enough about the decade to represent it verbatim as to how he saw it. His time capsule of a film took the "American Grafitti" concept and did it better...something I didn't think possible. "Everybody Wants some" is fun too.
Waking life, and A Scanner Darkly were more experimental films from him and worked, but they aren't my favorites.

The "Before" trilogy is simply phenomenal. They left no doubt in my mind of him being my favorite director. His passion for life, and the caring/ loving experiences people have with each other are always subtly, or overtly peppered in his films. And that gentle touch is something I really admire about his work.

 

[Joe Wong]

I would add James Cameron (I don't think he has been mentioned yet). Maybe not someone to "discover", and his (film) directing has become very sporadic (only Avatar in the last 22 years), but one of the better directors of action and generating thrills and chills. And someone who uses special effects in service of his story, rather than the other way around.

Aside from his debut Piranha II, his resume contains some iconic films (including 2 films many consider to be among the best sequels):

Terminator
Aliens
The Abyss
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
True Lies
Titanic
Avatar

 

[Keith Cobby]

Further to Bryan's comments, I would also mention Boyhood, a wonderful film made over 12 years. Inevitably overlooked at the AAs.

 

[Bryan^H]

Further to Bryan's comments, I would also mention Boyhood, a wonderful film made over 12 years. Inevitably overlooked at the AAs.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that one. Great film, and innovative.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

A few of mine have already been mentioned. I'll add one more: Michael Mann. He is currently working on a TV show (Tokyo Vice), but I believe he still has a movie or two left in his career. I think his filmography is both potent and unique. His talent is sufficiently prodigious that his misfires are still interesting and watchable. His best films are all-timers: Thief, Heat, The Insider, Last of the Mohicans.

 

[questrider]

David Lynch, America's finest living surrealist.

While he hasn't made a film since 2006's Inland Empire, he did helm the entire 18-episode epic third season of Twin Peaks in 2017. He's rumored to be working on something new for Netflix this year but we'll see how that pans out as he is perfectly happy to stay at home and work on his mixed-media art or music.

Although he also has a side-job as a weatherman on YouTube.

 

[Jeffrey D]

I would add James Cameron (I don't think he has been mentioned yet). Maybe not someone to "discover", and his (film) directing has become very sporadic (only Avatar in the last 22 years), but one of the better directors of action and generating thrills and chills. And someone who uses special effects in service of his story, rather than the other way around.

Aside from his debut Piranha II, his resume contains some iconic films (including 2 films many consider to be among the best sequels):

Terminator
Aliens
The Abyss
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
True Lies
Titanic
Avatar

Yes it’s strange that it took 22 replies to mention Cameron. Linklater is another good mention- the Before films are really good (I haven’t watched the third Before film yet). Dazed And Confused is fantastic.

 

[Maxman43]

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!"

 

[Maxman43]

Joel & Ethan Coen, Scorsese, & Tarantino.

 

[Bartman]

Christopher Nolan
David Fincher
Neill Blomkamp
Alphonso Cuaron and all the other Spanish speaking directors keeping the film industry alive.

 

[JimJasper]

Christopher Cantwell
First mentioning a potential up and comer. Hoping he does more. I just saw the low-budget, 2019's The Parts You Loose, which he directed (imdb: "A young boy in a small North Dakota town befriends a potentially dangerous fugitive.")

Despite having done very little directing especially in the company of esteemed directors here, Cantwell must have had a good team. This film was surprising: constantly compelling, nuanced, and with....alluringly grand photography, silky-smooth direction & compositions (reminding me of Fincher) convincing acting with every scene compulsively watchable.

Also, as many others have said, some favs when they are on point:
* David Fincher
* James Cameron
* S. Spielberg
* Ridley Scott
* Ang Lee
* Jonathan Liebesman
* James Wan
* Christopher Nolan

About 4 other high-profile directors mentioned in previous posts I think generate WOODEN, STIFF films that lack magic, despite very good stories and confident productions. But I won't say who they are to avoid getting piled on.

 

[StuartK]

Some I love not mentioned yet:

Spike Jonze
Hal Hartley
Baz Luhrmann
Guillermo del Toro
Jean-Pierre Jeunet (looking very forward to Big Bug this year)

 

[Malcolm R]

Yes it’s strange that it took 22 replies to mention Cameron.

Well the key word in the thred title is "working". One movie in 22 years isn't working very hard.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Well the key word in the thred title is "working". One movie in 22 years isn't working very hard.

He’s working on Avatar sequels now, right?

 

[Malcolm R]

He’s working on Avatar sequels now, right?

Yes, but I'm not sure I'd consider that something "new".

 

[Keith Cobby]

The Avatar blu ray came with my first player, i watched half and gave it away. Although a huge financial success, Avatar never appears on anybody's favourites list (unlike other Cameron films). The sequels are going to have to be spectacularly good to make them worth the wait.

 

[Jeffrey D]

The Avatar blu ray came with my first player, i watched half and gave it away. Although a huge financial success, Avatar never appears on anybody's favourites list (unlike other Cameron films). The sequels are going to have to be spectacularly good to make them worth the wait.

Yes I watched only about an hour of it, and couldn’t get into it. That was forever ago- one of these years, I’ll give it another try.

 

[Reggie W]

David Lynch, America's finest living surrealist.

While he hasn't made a film since 2006's Inland Empire, he did helm the entire 18-episode epic third season of Twin Peaks in 2017. He's rumored to be working on something new for Netflix this year but we'll see how that pans out as he is perfectly happy to stay at home and work on his mixed-media art or music.

Although he also has a side-job as a weatherman on YouTube.

Ha, I've been watching his LA weather reports and wondering why he is doing that. He literally just reads the weather and wishes everybody a good day. Is there something I am missing or is this leading up to something?

 

[Reggie W]

Cameron fits the criteria of "working director" because he has for some time had ongoing projects on the books. He certainly takes his time but I'd say he is very much a working director as he has been "working" on this series of sequels for some time. I do wish he would have focused on doing new projects/stories rather than Avatar for the rest of his career but I think he is going for the big cash grab here. His problem is that these Avatar pictures were meant to be big events you would see in the cinema and now post pandemic and the long wait in general probably increases the chances that these will be failures financially.

On Avatar not being listed as a favorite, people that like the picture always tell me it is a picture you had to see in a cinema to appreciate because it was so immersive. Even these fans of it tell me it just is not the same experience at home because you can't replicate that.

I did not see Avatar in a cinema and my attempts to watch it at home, not in 3D, have been failures as I just did not get into the film. So, I love the idea that he made a picture that you HAD TO go to a cinema to see but I missed that aspect of it. I'm mostly a fan of his run of Aliens, Terminator, and The Abyss. Everything else, I seem able to do without.

I always look at him as a guy that puts technological accomplishments over things like story, characters, acting, dialogue...these seem to be far less important to him than the idea that you sit in your chair and say "Holy cow, look at that!" which I admit can be thrilling. The drawback to me is his pictures just tend not to stick with me at all. I don't ponder them later or think about them even for a bit when they end. I think pictures that make favorites lists, for me anyway, tend to stick in your mind and keep popping up in your thoughts.