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Topic:
Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever: 38. Roman Polanski
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General_Dodonna
Registered:
Feb '05
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Date Posted:
9/23/07 5:43pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - #97: Baz Luhrmann
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"I wonder if Murnau made the list."
Hahahah, no. Easily the worst oversight of them all.
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"A film is difficult to explain because it is easy to understand." - Christian Metz
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Zaz
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
9/23/07 6:18pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - #97: Baz Luhrmann
- Date Edited:
9/23/07 6:30pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Zaz
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They *have* to be joking!!!! Sofia Coppola and Baz Luhrman and no Murnau? Who chose this list, gremlins?
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Drac39
Registered:
Jul '02
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Date Posted:
9/23/07 7:30pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - #97: Baz Luhrmann
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The list can't be taken seriously then. Murnau is a top five director.
How about Fritz Lang?
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Zaz
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
9/23/07 8:14pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - #97: Baz Luhrmann
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Hawks? Huston?
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Rogue1-and-a-half
Title: Manager: Amphitheatre
Registered:
Nov '00
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Date Posted:
9/25/07 7:56pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - #97: Baz Luhrmann
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John Sturges is a great workman's director. He sets it up, gets it done and gives you maximum impact. Gunfight at the OK Corral is pretty blase, frankly, but Magnificent Seven, Great Escape, Last Train from Gun Hill . . . these are all magnificent films.
Baz Luhrmann, only on the basis of Moulin Rouge, is a great director. That film just sang to me.
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I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
Without having ever felt sorry for itself.
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Jango10
Registered:
Sep '02
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Date Posted:
10/13/07 2:10pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - #97: Baz Luhrmann
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96. M Night Shyamalan
The phenomenon
The wünderkind polymath who could do no wrong? Lady In The Water put paid to that, its failure giving his many detractors a $75m stick to beat him with. Prior to that, however, Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan was shaping up to be the new Spielberg: a master storyteller with a gift for twists and a keen understanding of public taste. Will he get his mojo back? As far as he’s concerned he didn’t lose it. “Don’t judge movies from commercial success,” he cautions. “It’s my job to be brave and I have been brave...”
Picture perfect The Sixth Sense. Dead brilliant.
My favorite films of his: The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. All of them are great.
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"I love the smell of Napalm in the morning."
McCain/Palin '08
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JohnWesleyDowney
Registered:
Jan '04
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Date Posted:
10/13/07 2:44pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - 96. M Night Shyamalan
- Date Edited:
10/13/07 2:44pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
JohnWesleyDowney
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“It’s my job to be brave and I have been brave...”
Just stick to directing and leave the bravery to the police and the military!
Honestly, I know what he's talking about - taking artistic risks, but dear God
would someone please tell this man to shut up? Let your films speak for themselves
Mr. S, and please don't break your arm patting yourself on the back. You may have
showed artistic courage, but you don't have a lick of sense when it comes to keeping
your mouth closed. Even by Hollywood standards, this guy has an insufferable ego.
I'm sure many of you have seen the kind of quotes and stories about him that I'm
referring to.
I absolutely love SIGNS and THE SIXTH SENSE, I've watched them both many, many times.
Not quite so much a fan of UNBREAKABLE and THE VILLAGE, but I enjoyed them.
I think he's one of the most talented directors working today. I won't bring up
that last film though. Everyone stubs their toe from time to time. But I'm still a fan!
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How many movies do you think Industrial Light and Magic has worked on? WRONG. http://www.ilm.com/ilm_services.html "Films fulfill an unconscious spiritual desire that human beings have to share a common memory." - Martin Scorcese
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Zaz
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
10/13/07 6:36pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - 96. M Night Shyamalan
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I have nothing against this guy other than he appears to believe his own press notices. That makes him a target; but one more success will shut them up. He should shut up as well, because he is talented.
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Cobranaconda
Title: Ex-FF-UK: South CR
Registered:
Mar '04
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Date Posted:
10/13/07 6:41pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - 96. M Night Shyamalan
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I've enjoyed all the films of his I've seen (Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, Lady In The Water), so yeah, his work does talk for him 
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"We find that your American beer is a little like making love in a canoe."
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"It's ****ing close to water."
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annie_skywalker001
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
10/14/07 8:13am
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - 96. M Night Shyamalan
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Unbreakable and The Village are two of the worst movies I've ever seen. A complete waste of time. Signs was ok. The Sixth Sense was brilliant.
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You will be a Jedi - I promise.
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Zaz
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
10/14/07 3:40pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - 96. M Night Shyamalan
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What this guy doesn't understand is that antagonising the press is dangerous. They can ruin his career, and were practically cheering the failure of his last film.
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Rogue1-and-a-half
Title: Manager: Amphitheatre
Registered:
Nov '00
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Date Posted:
10/14/07 5:43pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - 96. M Night Shyamalan
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The Sixth Sense made me weep; it was a brilliant meditation on the frailty of human life and both Willis and Osmont gave picture perfect performances.
Unbreakable was quiet and utterly unpretentious; it had no ambitions but it worked.
Signs was brilliant, thoughtful and utterly moving.
The Village was an exercise in production design with a twist that was so obvious it was beyond insulting and a plot with so little energy as to be practically comatose.
Lady in the Water was witty, charming and surprisingly inspirational.
His first three films will stand as classics of all time, The Village as one of the worst of all times and Lady in the Water (hopefully) as the beginning of a great comeback. Lady in the Water couldn't equal his first three films, but after the Village it made me have a little hope again.
That said, when he does things like have a pretentious film critic be messily devoured and cast himself as the visionary poet/author whose book will change the world, he makes me feel a little embarassed for him, quite frankly. He makes brilliant thrillers with a human face; he needs to stop trying to do more than that.
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I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
Without having ever felt sorry for itself.
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Jango10
Registered:
Sep '02
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Date Posted:
10/16/07 3:38pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - 96. M Night Shyamalan
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95. George Lucas
The spaceman
In 1977, Lucas wowed the world with Star Wars. In 1999, he upset the world with Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Alone, THX 1138 (coldly futuristic) and American Graffiti (warmly nostalgic) would not be enough for this list, but arguably no director has made a work as talked about as George’s original space saga. Sure, he threatened cred with interminable fiddling and a trio of lesser prequels, but the standard was set 30 years ago. “Star Wars is fun, exciting, inspirational,” he says. “It’s what they want.”
Picture Perfect Star Wars. Light(speed) years ahead.
My favorite: Revenge of the Sith. It is my favorite Star Wars film and my favorite George Lucas film. I have yet to see THX 1138, and I am eager to do so.
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"I love the smell of Napalm in the morning."
McCain/Palin '08
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--Revolutionist
Registered:
Oct '07
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Date Posted:
10/16/07 5:09pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - 95. George Lucas
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THX is an amazing film.
Star Wars is surprisingly bad.
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General_Dodonna
Registered:
Feb '05
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Date Posted:
10/16/07 8:03pm
Subject:
RE: Total Film's 100 Greatest Directors Ever - 95. George Lucas
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To be clear, I don't believe Lucas belongs on a list of the 100 Greatest Directors Ever. If you're going for influence though, look no further than Lucas. Not only did AMERICAN GRAFFITI become a template for nearly all the coming-of-age high school pictures that would follow, but Lucas followed it up with STAR WARS, a film whose influence I need not mention for obvious reasons. I will be honest and admit that I have not seen THX 1138, although by all accounts it looks quite interesting, a marked departure from STAR WARS and its prequels.
AMERICAN GRAFFITI - As much as my inner child might complain, this film, and not STAR WARS is Lucas' masterpiece. It's an amazingly complex and heartfelt picture. Lucas captures so many subtle nuances (check out especially the exchange between Curt and his HS teacher at the dance) and rites of passage, that the film feels absolutely authentic (in a way that say, HAPPY DAYS and its offspring, never did). Lucas also effectively creates a lived-in space. His 1950s Modesto, created in 1973, feels utterly convincing. Easy-going, touching, at times tragic, but always light as a feather, watching AMERICAN GRAFFITI, you can't help but wonder if STAR WARS was the worst thing that ever happened to George Lucas and his directorial career. Few films of its genre surpass it, with perhaps the exception of Linklater's sublime DAZED AND CONFUSED. I love this film.
I dare not post too much about the STAR WARS films other than that the 1977 picture is still as simultaneously enchanting and bizarre as I imagine it must have been in 1977. SITH is easily the best of the prequel films but it still is quite problematic for me. And while my old buddy Tyranus the Hutt (where for art thou?) always praised ATTACK OF THE CLONES for its strident melodrama, I never quite bought it (and I so desperately wanted to!). Yes, it is melodramatic, at times wondrously so, but Lucas failed to coax convincing performances out of either of his romantic leads, and the dialogue is often so wooden that even Lucas' somewhat excellent visual treatment and Williams' lush score can't save it. Douglas Sirk this ain't.
Finally, there are aspects of PHANTOM MENACE that work extremely well, and for my money it's the most beautiful looking of all the prequel films, but the charm of the original picture is missing, and the humor and characterizations fail to impress on multiple viewings (and believe me, there have been many). The failures of this film though, as well as of ATTACK OF THE CLONES, are less an indictment of Lucas the filmmaker as they are of Lucas the screenwriter. Dreadful plotting and writing really sunk those two pictures. The third film also suffers from this, but Lucas' visual treatment of that film is so assured and the plot so fast-paced that there is very little room for error.
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"A film is difficult to explain because it is easy to understand." - Christian Metz
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