Favourite Film Director?

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Being a future film director myself (hopefully), film and film realted subjects are of great interest to me. I think you can tell alot about a person from their favourite film director and film. So I was just curious to see where the filmic interests of SP lay.

So, if I could ask:
1 - Favorite director and why?
2- Favourite film of theirs and why?

The 2 questions most probably will be related, I just asked them separately because I think it would be nice to see full bodied reasons for your answers

 

Favourite director(s) - Peter Jackson, Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg, Frank Capra (why - because they have directed loads of movies that I have liked)

Favourite films:
1. Star Wars (Episode IV) - why? because I never get tired of watching it.
2. The Karate Kid - good old fashioned underdog satisfaction
3. The Empire Strikes Back - more of the Force plus the big revelation (at the time)
4. It's a Wonderful Life (the classic heart-warmer)
5. The Return of the Jedi (you can't beat more of the Force

 

I don't have many favorite directors, mostly because I can't really distiguish between their "works". All the same to me. One guy stands out - Danny Boyle.

"Vacuuming completly naked in paradise", "The beach" (I don't care what the critics say, it was a great movie) and "Trainspotting" are all absolutely amazing to me.

 

Well, my choices would be fairly surface-related, not really being that knowledgeable on everything involved in directing a film buthere they are in no particular order:
1) Ang Lee - for Hulk and Crouching Tiger...
2) Sam Raimi - For Spider Man 1 & 2, Evil Dead trilogy etc.
3) Bryan Singer - For X-Men 1 & 2, Apt Pupil and The Usual Suspects
4) Akira Kurosawa - only seen 3 or 4 of his films but they are so visually stunning.
and
5) Alex Proyas - For The Crow and Dark City and for being Australian

There are plenty more Aussie directors whose work I really enjoy but my mind's gone blank again.

 

I don't know his name, but the director of "The Snatch" and "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels". My two most favourite movies of all time, nothing beats trying to hold hold off shotgun totting gangsters with an air rifle

 

That's Guy Ritchie - Mr Madonna

And they were very good films. Lots of manic fun.

 

I knew his last name was Rich or something... Well there you go.

[Edit: Woo! New gem!]

 

1) Jim Jarmusch - Dead Man
One of the best movies ever and most likely my all-time-favourite. Story? Hilarious, poetic, frightening, sad... Soundtrack? Classic! Camera? Involving. Robert Mitchum, Iggy Pop? Cool! Johnny Depp? Johnny Depp!
2) Terry Gilliam - Brazil/Twelve Monkeys/Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Again, something surrealistic and absorbing. Brillant selection of poignant pictures.
3) David Lynch - Wild at Heart/Twin Peaks/Lost Highway
Weird, Stirring, Touching, Frightening - and leaves you breathless and empty, yet satisfied.
4) Joel & Ethan Coen - Fargo/Barton Fink/The Big Lebowski
Fantastic sense of humor - esp. in case of Lebowski. Jeff Bridges rules in that movie!
5) Quentin Tarantino - Pulp Fiction/Jackie Brown
...obvious...

Bonus: Francois Truffaut - Jules et Jim/Fahrenheit 451
On account of me being quite the intellectual guy.

 

The only directors that have really stood out in my mind are Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg. Taratino because of his jumbled style, and Spielberg because he still has the heart of a kid and movie fan, and it shows in his work.

 

@ Darkthrone

Veeery nice choices there. Jim Jarmusch, without a doubt one of my favorite directors. Dead Man, a class act indeed.

 

Really, tsk tsk people. No one has mentioned one of the most outstanding directors of our time. Tim Burton. All his movies are instantly recognisable as his, and they are amazing. Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas... All outstanding.

Tarantino and Guy Richie, their movies both seem to have the twisted storyline that manages to fit together in a seamless plot. Extra points to Guy Ritchie for his British humour.

 

Darkthrone: Yay! A fellow Tarantino fan, some people seriously can't get that guy.

My favorites....
Tim Burton-Nightmare Before Christmas/Edward Scissorhands/Batman--I grew up with those (happy now Baezlebub?)
Quentin Tarantino-Pulp Fiction/Kill Bill/Jackie Brown
Alfonso Cuaron-Harry PotteroA/Y tu mamá también/ A Little Princess

 

Tarantino rocks!

That said, and having finally seen 28 Days Later yesterday morning, I'm becoming quite a Danny Boyle fan. Especially when you consider Trainspotting into the equation. I still refuse to watch The Beach though, it's gonna take me a lot to convince me to watch another Leo DiCaprio film. The only one I would willingly sit through time and again is Baz Luhrmann's take on Romeo & Juliet.

Actually, he's another major favourite of mine is our Baz. "William Shakespear's Romeo & Juliet", "Strictly Ballroom" and "Moulin Rouge!"...'nuff said.

 

Oh dear, Strictly Ballroom is one of my all-time 5 worst films ever.

 

1)Ingmar Bergman : Seventh Seal, Automn Sonata, Scenes from a marriage (and many more...).
While I'm not as full of myself as to believe I understand everything in his stories, I still find them rich and compelling. The directing is also beautiful.

2) Quentin Tarantino : Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction...
Very rich characters, absorbing and very well paced action, superb dialogues.

3) David Lynch : Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive...
Complex and elaborate stories, mastery over lighting (light and shadows, color uses) and sound (silences and dialogues). Very good use of music.

4) Terry Gilliam : 12 Monkeys, Brazil, Monty Python (TV series and movies)...
Intresting animation sequences (in Monty Python). Very intriguing esthetic.

5) Francis Ford Coppola : Apocalypse Now, The Godfather Trilogy...
Complete mastery of character psychology. Beautiful images.

6) Denys Arcand : Jésus de Montréal, Le déclin de l'empire américain, Le confort et l'indifférence...
A very good mix of poetic and intellectual content.

A few more directors that I really like : Luchino Visconti, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Frederico Fellini, Denis Villeneuve, Neil Jordan, Akira Kurosawa, Emir Kusturica, and let's not forget Stanley Kubrick!

 

Quinten tarantino - Brilliance doesn't describe Pulp Fiction 'I'm going medievel on his ass after being well you now in the ass'

Spielberg and Lucas - Indiana Jones rocks, wonder if nr 4 will ever see the theater.