andre tarkovsky

I saw the first half of Solaris and I really liked it, but I was really tired so I sort of fell asleep.

I love Miranda July


Wrong...but that's cool, you'll be happily surprised.

I chose Woody Allen because he does still kick ass and he's my favorite filmmaker of all.

Really? It just looks like a rehash with them working somewhere else. I thought Clerks was good because it is easy to relate to 20 year olds that need to get off the pot or shit. I can't relate to 30 year old guys that are acting the same way that they did as when they were 20 and still working a shitty job.

And it is in color! Part of the charm of Clerks was that it was in black and white.

hell motherfucking yes.

m night shyamalan? sofia coppola?

are you shitting me?

I don't think Shyamalan is that great, Unbreakable was good, but The Village was really disappointing. Signs was OK, and so was the 6th sense, I kept him because a lot of people like him.

I put Sofia Coppola up there because a lot of people really love the two movies she has made. I like Lost in Translation, but her new movie looks really stupid.

the virgin suicides is one of the worst excuses for film making ever. i was beyond disappointed with that movie. haven't seen lost in translation all the way thru, but it doesn't look that good.

you forgot cronenberg..

Lost in Translation is pretty much a shoegazer film. It is very pretty, but also sort of sleepy and vague. So a lot of people hate it.

weird, i love "shoegazer" music.

gus van sant would make the list sooner than cronenberg would...sorry

miranda july was a video & performance artist before doing me & you etc-- so i don't know if she has more "features" in her. still i have a sort of mind crush on her weird persona. her movie had brilliant writing but i don't know if as a whole it is a "masterpiece". most people don't "get" what goes into a movie, all the many aspects that must converge. am i wasting my time here attempting explanations?

as for "the best", im not sure the poll covers all the options.

i like guy maddin a lot. and wes anderson. and jim jarmusch. and sofia did a beautiful job with lost in translation. sideway was NOT boring, had great writing, but the cinematography was pure shit. but don't forget other countries. francois ozon for example. and there are a couple of chinese dudes whose name i cannot spell. actually chinese movies are kicking everything else out of the water these days; at least in terms of cinematography we're talking spectacular gems... the thing with kubrickl, he is dead, so i dont get if by "of our time" it is meant the past couple of years or the past 5 decades.

but i have not finished my coffee yet and i am rambling. need to focus. blah blah. i have work to do. oh, and shaylaman is shit, not just because of the obvious alliteration. it's because he is shit and so are the people who love him. so this poll is on crack. goodbye for now.

Wes Anderson. Hands down.

dont hands down before you sample more. as a declared art fag, you should run to your video store & check out as much ozon as you can get. preferrably "criminal lovers", his shorts, & other good stuff.

ah, the poll also misses almodovar. the poll is on crack.

Ozon? Never heard of it.

I don't know if I could ever find anything more enjoyable than Bottle Rocket.

figures. do yourself a favor. get "criminal lovers" by francois ozon. and he has a dvd of his short films too. what the fuck are you doing worshipping hetero movies. in love with the mexican maid? hah.

Forget the poll, it is too hard to separate who is of our time and of the time before us. Oh well.


I find bottle rocket to be the least enjoyable of all his movies. Maybe I'm emo and I like the other ones better because of the tearjerker moments or something.

You must be. I haven't seen the Life Aquatic yet, though. It may be good. I wrote off Television and Movies a year ago.

I liked Zissou, but it wasn't that great. I liked the search and destroy bit when Bill Murray started blasting all of the pirates.

There is a handful of great scenes and stuff throughout the film but overall i felt it was kind of dry.

Wasn't that great? The boat party scene at the beginning, the helicopter scene, and the submarine scene all kicked. Although it was definitely much riskier than his other movies, and not as many people liked it.

ah, haydenasche, i just realized, arent you like a precocious minor or something? if so, i might get arrested for corrupting you by recommending violent homoerotic fables. legal disclaimer: youre going to have to watch it with your dad or something. hah hah. anyway, blah blah, my apostrophes arent working.

tennenbaums was better than zissou, but zissou still kicked ass. they both surpass bottle rocket. rushmore on the other hand, brilliant. the real contest to me is between rushmore & tennenbaums. i think the 2nd is more ambitious. rushmore got it right at every step because it was a much simpler script.

Rushmore is my favorite. I won't go so far as to say it is the best, because there were elements of both Aquatic and Tennenbaums that are better than Rushmore- they both have better soundtracks and much more powerful scenes. But Rushmore just works really well, it tells a really great story. Billy Murray and Jason Schwartzmen had the most chemistry of any 2 characters in a Wes Anderson movie, so that helped a lot.

Rushmore was great, but the Royal Tennenbaums is just soooo funny. I love the humor. Not to mention the music is placed pretty perfectly. I love it! "I have high blood pressure!"

Oh lord! Van Sant ahead of Cronenberg? I'm afriad I'll have to chip in with a "no fucking way maaaan" on that one I'm afraid.

Shinya Tsukamoto is probably my favourite director working at the moment although Vital dissapointed me a bit.

Also, mighty keen to see the new Seijun Suzuki, Racoon Princess I think it's called....

Lars Von Trier is another one who should have been mentioned by now. Dogville and Mandalay were both great. Recently saw Europa as well which was damn fine. There is a streak of crazy humour throughout his films which I think people miss for some reason.

And David Lynch of course....even if he may have gone genuinely mental. Not sure.

What about Michael Winterbottom, Ari Kaurismekii, Lukas Moodyson and Larry Clarke? Okay, the last one may be a strech, but still.... they are the ones I always look forward to seeing a movie by them

winterbottom did that girl w/ a pearl necklace, right? beautiful as fuck.

kaurismaki is a fucking genius of the highest caliber but i havent' seen anything of his in a very long time.

larry clarke can eat shit for all i care though, ha ha.

i don't know lukas moodyson. might check it out.

lars von trier however gets props from me. as thomas vinterberg for his amazing "festen".

and (still making movies) john waters, though i much prefer his 70's output-- desperate living just took over pink flamingos in my favorite-waters-movie-ever shrine.

then there is the guy who did "george washington"-- what was his name? did he make another one? that movie kicked ass.

many people are going to name harmony korine as some kind of transcendent wiseman; i believe him however to be a one-trick-pony, and his trick is this: the use of the documentary style in fiction. well the other trick is his subject matter. but he annoys me.

and that brings me to his professed enemy, vincent gallo. i loved buffalo 66. i'm trying to get the brown bunny. not just to appreciate chloe's bj skills, ha ha. but out of curiosity for the whole thing.

and then people also forgot to mention the master that is david o. russel. among his films:
spanking the monkey (hilarious)
flirting with disaster (awesome comedy)
three kings (cmon!!)
i heart huckabees (specfuckingtacularly funny & smart)

polls my ass...

van sant is great.. i would say he is hipper - the kim/thurston involvement is last days was good, but i thought the movie was poorly executed, especially when compared to elephant..

i never thought of comparing the two -- van sant vs. croneneberg..

i'd say cronenberg against anybody.. i find more substance and insight in cronenberg pictures than any other director.. it probably depends on what you expect from the cinematic experience.. some people just like to laugh at jerry lewis type antics, some like the silent stares of 90s french cinema - et cetera...

Wes Anderson's Films Heirarchy=Bottle Rocket>Tennebaums>Life Aquatic>
Rushmore. In my opinion, of course.

Van Sant Heirarchy (I haven't seen allof his work)=Elephant>My Own Private Idaho>Finding Forrester>Psycho>Good Will Hunting

Krystof Kieslowski.

In time, Darren Aronafsky and Samira Makhmalbaf will join them.

HA HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHA

"girl with a pearl necklace"


haa ahaaaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaaa

my unconscious has been betrayed. i've been thinking about "pearl necklaces" a lot lately (since that "tittyfucking" thread, in fact).

the movie though is "girl with a pearl earring" but winterbottom wasn't the director. it was some peter webbert person.

hilarious--nobody else caught this?

margaritas ante porcos :D

Man you crazy!

yeah i liked zissou a lot better than bottle rocket

I still haven't seen Zissou but I just got it out of the video shop today...I liked Royal Tennenbaums quite a lot even if it is a bit indulgent at times I think. It's a beautifully shot film...I like his style at least.

I'm too lazy to read this entire thread.

Has anyone mentioned James Cameron? Because, despite some shit on his resume, as far as 'popular' films go, the man is a fucking genius.

I think it takes a lot more talent to create a film that is universally appealing than an "artsy" flick, to be honest. It's easy to be obscure, because you don't have to answer to anyone. When you've got to appeal to basic human emotions, and you're beholden to the masses, there's a lot more effort and finesse required.

A lot of people said that is why Hitchcock was so good. But I think at this point the movie industry has turned into such a well oiled machine that a movie's success is often very heavily related to marketing. Not to say that Psycho's success wasn't related to marketing Alfred Hitchcock purposefully made it seem like the movie was about the girl that gets killed in the shower, and wanted everyone going into the movie to be convinced of that, making the shower scene so riveting, and making the movie "must see". But that was all Hitchcock and part of his personality, wanting to challenge the audience.

Wow, there is an article in this week's L.A. Weekly, where the writer of the article flames Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales", saying that the response by the audience was horrible. The movie is three hours long, and he says its one of worst cases of self-indulgent, pretentious films he's ever seen.

Vincent Gallo
Larry Clark
Harmony Korine

ron jeremy for starring in films that show how any man on the planet can get laid with aesthetically pleasing females even if they are paid

I love me some David Lynch!