It was a lot harder than I thought to make a top ten, when I looked at that list, I immediately saw two directors who I thought did not belong in the top ten. Woody Allen is either a Love or Hate director, and I was never a fan, his films never made me take a step back in awe once, aside from MAYBE Stardust Memories for a little while. Peter Jackson is kind of in the George Lucas canon, a respected director of a huge trilogy (Star Wars should have STAYED a trilogy) where if you take the trilogy away, what else did he direct? Lucas had THX 1138, that's pretty much it, Peter Jackson had The Frighteners, that's pretty much it. If you're going for great trilogy directors, what about Coppola??? Take away the Godfather trilogy, you have a little movie called APOCALYPSE NOW. What about Sam Raimi, take away the Evil Dead trilogy, you have a good list, The Quick and the Dead, The Gift, and A Simple Plan. George Romero could also fit as good, if not better than Jackson.
As far as Welles goes, Citizen Kane has pretty much overshadowed everything he's done, I loved The Lady From Shanghai, and Touch of Evil was a good movie, but I wouldn't put Welles in my top ten or twenty, I think Kane has been as overhyped as any movie in film history.
And as far as Scorsese goes, I've taken a long look at his filmography, and aside from Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, the only great (not classic) movie I see is Goodfellas. Cape Fear was ok, Bringing Out the Dead was ok, but what else is there? The Aviator is nearing OVERHYPE-ville (am I the only one who still sees DiCaprio as a boy in his father's clothes trying to act???), Gangs of New York was carried solely on the shoulders of Daniel Day-Lewis, nobody else did a worthwhile job. Last Temptation of Christ, see my Woody Allen analogy. Color of Money? Casino? Nah. Scorsese was hyped for an Oscar for so long, that now, I think people just want him to win regardless of what he makes, he's a legend, who's left his legendary days behind him.
When I made my top ten, I ended up at around 20 for a while, and when I got to 15, I really couldn't cut anymore. So, this list could really be interchangable with a few "on the fence" directors.
Some who didn't make the cut that I thought deserved mention were:
John Singleton, Alex Proyas, Speilberg, Edward Zwick, Wes Craven, Takeshi Kitano, Rob Reiner, Ridley Scott, Ron Howard, Hitchcock, Terry Gilliam, John Carpenter, Kevin Smith, and David Fincher
I cut about five who I almost left in just because:
Ralph Bakshi (American Pop, Wizards, Coonskin, Heavy Traffic)
Tony Scott (Man on Fire, Crimson Tide, TRUE ROMANCE, The Fan)
Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky)
Coppola (All 3 Godfathers, Apocalypse Now)
David Lynch (Lost Highway, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Dr.)
My top ten is now warped into a personal top ten (in NO order), instead of what I think the top ten should be, which I guess is the point, it's all just opinions anyway (WARNING- LONG AS HELL):
Paul Thomas Anderson-I love his style of direction, it kind of seems like any of his characters, supporting or leading, are three-dimensional, everybody has a story to tell. Magnolia is good, but Punch Drunk Love and ESPECIALLY Boogie Nights are his crown jewels
Stanley Kubrick-One of three from that list in my top ten, Kubrick was so off the wall, ahead of his time, he was more Burton then (with a sadistic twist, more horror than comedic) than Burton could ever hope to be. The Shining was easily one of the scariest character-developments caught on film, Full Metal Jacket is one of my three favorite war movies, 2001, Dr. Strangelove are amazing, but Clockwork Orange is my favorite. ULTRAVIOLENCE!
Michael Mann-One of the last remaining directors with a genuine affection for Los Angeles, making Los Angeles more of an entity than city in Heat and Collateral, Mann is constantly overlooked by plenty of aficianados. The Insider is one of two Russell Crowe roles I actually enjoy, Manhunter was a great alternate-Hannibal film, but my favorite by far was another great Daniel Day-Lewis role, Last of the Mohicans, another of my favorite "war" movies in a sense.
Sergio Leone-I was actually surprised that he wasn't mentioned on that list. He is the undisputed king of the Western, the reason Clint Eastwood's career even continued to direct movies like Unforgiven, and also made a good movie outside the Western genre, Once Upon a Time in America. QT and I think Robert Rodriguez called The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly the best directed movie of all time, and it's damn hard to disagree. Once Upon a Time in the West is my favorite movie of his, I'm a sucker for Bronson. Harmonica rules
Takashi Miike-I wonder how many people know who he is. Miike is ULTRAVIOLENCE. His movies are Burton-esqe, but only if you tore through Edward's "Scissorhands" with a rusty hacksaw and slit Beetlejuice right down the middle with a 4 foot long razor blade while snorting a literal MOUNTAIN of cocaine. Miike makes Terry Gilliam tame, as with movies like Ichi the Killer, Visitor Q, and Dead or Alive. Just when you think he's one-dimensional, he throws Audition at you (yet the ending delves back into ULTRAVIOLENCE, I love that word), and as my favorite of his movies, The Bird People in China, shows, Miike can make a beautiful, serene, mystical film with little violence. Easily the best Japanese director today.
Robert Rodriguez-The blueprint for getting the most for your money, this man is the ultimate workaholic director. He made El Mariachi for only $7000 ($7000 is the hairpin budget, the table salt budget for most movies made by Hollywood today), and it still holds up today. Granted, it's "remake", Desperado blows it away in every way, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico is his Leone tribute, and would make him proud, my favorite Johnny Depp role to date. Sin City maybe surpasses Blade and the first Crow movie as the greatest comic book movie of all time, yet my favorite movie of his is From Dusk 'Till Dawn, the most inventive play on the zombie/horror film of the last 20 years (Shawn of the Dead notwithstanding). A great Rodriguez/Tarantino combination.
Spike Lee-I personally don't like him, I don't agree with his political views, I think at times he can be unnecessarily racist just for the sake of it, and She Hate Me was one of the worst movies I have ever seen, but Spike's track record is so good that I almost had to have him here by default. He Got Game was a very underrated Denzel movie, Malcolm X may be the best Denzel movie, Mo Better Blues is my FAVORITE Denzel movie, Do the Right Thing was a socially-conscious film that I could actually get into, and Summer of Sam was a perfect depiction of how crazy that summer in '77 really was. My favorite movie was a tribute to a city I don't even like, which is a testament to how amazing this movie is. 25th Hour may be Ed Norton's best or second best role, and by the end I genuinely wanted his "daydream" to be what was really happening, very emotional.
Wes Anderson-This man may have the most character crammed into every movie he makes. Even from Bottle Rocket to Rushmore, to The Royal Tenanbaums, every character seems more interesting than most leading characters form other movies. The style of dress, the patches and pins on their lapels, the paintings on the walls, the taxi cabs, the soundtrack choices, every inch of the movie is saturated with Wes's genuine love for his own universe. The Life Aquatic is my favorite of his, and the set he built for The Belafonte alone is a testament to his eye for detail. There's a reason why his films belong in the Criterion Collection. Best use of Owen Wilson, bar none.
Akira Kurosawa-His sheer volume of amazing films, and his constant work with my all-time favorite actor, Toshiro Mifune, makes Kurosawa's place on this list one of the two picks I didn't even have to think about. I just put him on the list. His movies have influenced countless amazing Western films. The Seven Samurai influenced The Magnificent Seven, The Hidden Fortress directly influenced Star Wars, Kurosawa was loved more by us than by his own country. My favorite movie of his by far was Yojimbo, Mifune's best role, and a direct influence for A Fistful of Dollars and Last Man Standing. The way the final battle with Unosuke was shot was filled with so much tension, Yojimbo was a much darker movie than it's pseudo-sequel, Sanjuro, darker in a great way.
Quentin Tarantino-The other of my no-brainer choices for this list. Yes, I am a QT fanboy. I won't say he can do no wrong, but I haven't seen him do wrong yet. His weakest movie (Reservoir Dogs) is still better than most movies to come along since he burst on the scene. Pulp Fiction is singlehandedly responsible for the way dialogue is written in movies over the last 11 years, Jackie Brown is a loving tribute to a lovely woman, Pam Grier, and the movies she made (JB also includes the best Sam Jackson character since, well, Pulp Fiction, great goatee, too). Kill Bill Vol. 1 was the best kung fu movie I saw since The Last Dragon and Fists of the White Lotus, yet it still included the characteristics of QT (Tarantino is the DJ Quik of the film industry, his style is SO signature, that you know when any scene anywhere is directed by him). My favorite movie is ANOTHER connection to Leone, the Western-influenced Kill Bill Vol. 2 is one of the only movies I can remember that I was INTENSELY glued to every second of film, from the black & white beginning, to Michael Madsen's "Bronson" poster on the inside of his trailer, to Uma's coffin scene, to the final "Superman" speech. The film was such a 180 from the first one, that is almost makes sense why Tarantino cut the two. One movie I didn't want to end, and it is the movie I've seen more times in theatres than any other movie I've ever seen.
