Contemporary US directors

[wba]

I've copied a post I made in August 2017 on the old SCFZ forum.

I've altered and updated it a bit, but plan to do this more accurately in the upcoming months.

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After an interesting discussion with Joks Deux I was thinking a bit more about the state of contemporary US-American filmmaking (which I think has been more or less dreadful over the last 20 years), and I tried to dig a bit deeper and see what I could come up with. And I got generally curious about those directors working in the USA today, who began to regularly direct during the last 30 years (as compared to older directors from the 60s or 70s or early 80s), and would really like to know what you specifically think about this "younger" generations of US filmmakers (some of them having started just a few years ago, some during the late 80s, some of them are in their 30s, some already in their 70s), what your preferences are and anything you might have to say about this topic. It's about directors of all kind, from all fields of filmmaking, be it experimental, in Hollywood, or short films with your friends and family.

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One thing:
This thread is about directors and the art of directing, so I'd appreciate it, if the focus of this thread stayed on that. For example I adore Bill Plympton, but I wouldn't call his directing outstanding (though it can be, at times), so I didn't quite include him in the highest category (though he's still one of my favorite filmmakers). Thus try not to go exclusively by the films themselves, their appearance as a whole and your enjoyment of them, but try to see it more from the isolated aspect of (your enjoyment of) the directing.

And we're talking about US filmmakers who worked in the US throughout their careers, so no Ang Lee, Roland Emmerich, or any Brits, Canadians or Australians.
But someone like Mel Gibson or M. Night Shyamalan would count, cause they did all their films in the USA.

I hope you get what I mean. It's about a specific economy, a specific market, about having to adjust to how films are made in a specific context.
Filmmaking and film funding in Germany is completely different. And in China as well. And so on.

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directors I seem to dislike

Chad Stahelski (2)
Damien Chazelle (1)
Jon Turteltaub (2)
Kelly Reichardt (3)
Michael Patrick King (2)
Robert Rodriguez (6)
Tom Ford (1)



indifferent - potential hack

Brett Ratner (4)
D. J. Caruso (3)
Jeremy Saulnier (2)
Roger Kumble (2)
Ruben Fleischer (3)
Sofia Coppola (2)
Todd Philips (3)



don't quite know what to think of them

Adam McKay (2)
Andrew Niccol (3)
Ben Stiller (3)
Bobby Farrelly (5)
Brad Bird (3)
Brian Taylor (2)
Bryan Singer (4)
Christopher Landon (2)
Clay Kaytis (2)
Darren Aronofsky (4)
Gary Ross (3)
J. J. Abrams (2)
John Lee Hancock (2)
Jonathan Mostow (3)
Jon Watts (1)
Lana Wachowski (4)
Lee Unkrich (4)
Lilly Wachowski (4)
Mark Neveldine (2)
McG (3)
Mel Gibson (3)
Noah Baumbach (1)
Paul Feig (2)
Paul Haggis (3)
Peter Berg (2)
Peyton Reed (2)
Quentin Tarantino (10)
Rob Zombie (3)
Tate Taylor (1)
Ti West (2)
Tom McCarthy (2)



directors I (tend to) enjoy

Alexander Payne (2)
Antoine Fuqua (4)
Barry Sonnenfeld (6)
Doug Liman (5)
Gore Verbinski (6)
James Mangold (4)
Joe Johnston (6)
Matt Reeves (3)
Michael Moore (4)
Peter Farrelly (7)



directors who interest me but I'm ignorant of

Adam Wingard
Alex Ross Perry
Benjamin Safdie
Charlie Kaufman
Chris Sivertson
Craig Brewer
Dan Sallitt
Evan Glodell
Hal Hartley
Jeff Nichols
John Hyams
John Cameron Mitchell
Joshua Safdie
Melika Bass
Michael Almereyda
Michael Keaton
Nick Gomez
Noah Buschel
Oren Moverman
Ramin Bahrani
Rian Johnson
Robinson Devor
Ryan Gosling
Scott Frank
Shane Carruth



unsure - only seen one (great) film

Alex Israel
Ben Affleck
Billy Bob Thornton
Brian Helgeland
Christian Gudegast
Dan Trachtenberg
David Lowery
David Von Ancken
Denzel Washington
Geremy Jasper
Greg Mottola
Harmony Korine
Howard McCain
Joe Carnahan
John Curran
John Gianvito
Johnny Martin
Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Kenneth Lonergan
Kevin Spacey
Lodge Kerrigan
Lucky McKee
Marcus Nispel
Phil Joanou
Richard Kelly
Robert Smigel
Sean Baker
Steve Buscemi
Terry Zwigoff
Todd Field
Victor Levin
Victor Salva
Whit Stillman



talented filmmakers whose directing I tend to enjoy

David Fincher (8)
David Mamet (3)
David O. Russell (3)
Ed Harris (2)
Kevin Costner (3)
Richard Linklater (5)
Ron Shelton (4)
Sean Penn (5)
Shane Black (3)
Todd Haynes (4)
Zack Snyder (3)



potentially great artists - need to explore more

Bradley Rust Gray (1)
Christopher McQuarrie (2)
Dan Gilroy (1)
David Jacobson (1)
David Robert Mitchell (1)
J.C. Chandor (2)
Julian Schnabel (2)
Kimberly Peirce (2)
Mark Pellington (2)
Michael Bay (4)
Ronald Bronstein (1)
Spike Jonze (2)
Tommy Lee Jones (2)



pretty great

Eli Roth (6)
Gregg Araki (2)
John McTiernan (7)
Wes Anderson (5)



exceptional

Bill Plympton (12)
James Gray (6)
M. Night Shyamalan (7)
Paul Thomas Anderson (8)
Vincent Gallo (2)

[wba]

Maybe we could copy and paste the whole thread from the old board to this one?

Bure?

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_aut ... -t446.html

[St. Gloede]

I'm not sure I understand why Jarmusch doesn't count? He made a film this year, and is clearly active.

[wba]

I wanted to start with filmmakers who began their career during the last 30 years (as this posting is from 2017, this would roughly mean 1987), and exclude anyone older.

I've stressed (and underlined) this part in the initial opening post now.

[kanafani]

Started jotting down names of directors who've made something I've liked in the past, but very quickly became bored with the tedious exercise, so the list is probably very incomplete.

John Gianvito
Dan Sallitt
Patrick Wang
Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
Kelly Reichardt
Richard Linklater
Matthew Porterfield
S. Craig Zahler
Todd Solondz
Kelly Fremon Craig
Jeff Nichols
Andrew Bujalski
Sean Baker
Joel Potrykus
Khalik Allah
Alex Ross Perry
David Mackenzie
Stephen Cone
Kentucker Audley
Michael Almereyda
John Magary
David Robert Mitchell
Paul Harrill
Tommy Lee Jones
Michaël R. Roskam
James Gray
Joseph Infantolino
Debra Granik
David O. Russell
Chad Hartigan
Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel
Joanna Arnow
Azazel Jacobs
Ti West
Amy Heckerling
Kenneth Lonergan
Travis Wilkerson
David Fincher
Richard Dutcher
Jem Cohen
Hal Hartley
M. Night Shyamalan
Bill Morrison
Ramin Bahrani
Wes Anderson
Bill Duke
Whit Stillman

[roujin]

I made a list that's sort of about this very thing. I explain the criteria in depth in the actual list.

https://letterboxd.com/roujin/list/amer ... directors/

[Silga]

exceptional

Michael Moore
Paul Thomas Anderson
Quentin Tarantino
Bennett Miller
Steven Soderbergh

great filmmakers

Harmony Korine
Wes Anderson
Damien Chazelle
Richard Linklater
Sofia Coppola
Whit Stillman
George Clooney

talented filmmakers whose directing I tend to enjoy

Zack Snyder
Gore Verbinski
J.J. Abrams
Adam McKay
David Mamet
Chad Stahelski
Greg Mottola
J.C. Chandor
James Gray
Phil Joanou
Brad Bird
Pete Docter
Lee Unkrich
John Dahl
Darren Aronofsky
John McTiernan
Kelly Reichardt
Dan Gilroy
Tony Gilroy
Spike Jonze
Rich Moore
James Wan
Mark Romanek
Antoine Fuqua
Judd Apatow
John Wells
Gregory Hoblit
Carl Franklin
Farrelly brothers
Robert Rodriguez

potentially good - need to explore more

Stephen Gaghan
Jordan Peele
Tom McCarthy
Ben Affleck
Rick Famuyiwa
Alexander Payne
Steve James
Sean Baker
David Gordon Green
Ramin Bahrani
Ron Shelton
Bill Duke
S. Craig Zahler
Alex Gibney
Mike Cahill
Joe Swanberg
Duplass brothers
Ari Aster
Lawrence Kasdan
Michael Almereyda
Todd Solondz
Dan Trachtenberg
Scott Cooper
Noah Baumbach
Robert Eggers
Phil Alden Robinson
Mark Pellington
Tommy Lee Jones

unsure - only seen one (great) film

Godfrey Reggio
Denzel Washington
Billy Bob Thornton
Charles Ferguson
John Slattery
Antonio Campos
Nicholas Jarecki
Jeff Nichols
Billy Crystal
Terry Zwigoff
Nicole Holofcener
Andrew Dominik
Matt Ross
Sean Penn
Craig Gillespie
Steve Buscemi
Hype Williams
Julian Schnabel

directors who made both great and terrible films

David Fincher
Angela Robinson
Jason Reitman
Barry Sonnenfeld
Gus Van Sant
M. Night Shyamalan
Shane Black
F. Gary Gray
Matt Reeves
Andrew Niccol
Doug Liman

directors I dislike

David O. Russell
Richard Kelly
Rob Marshall

[St. Gloede]

I wanted to start with filmmakers who began their career during the last 30 years (as this posting is from 2017, this would roughly mean 1987), and exclude anyone older.

I've stressed (and underlined) this part in the initial opening post now.

Good claerification. The issue was this sentence:

"To talk about a director, she must have started directing sometime during the 80s (at the earliest) and still be active (for example Jim Jarmusch doesn't count)"

(Which still seems confusing on its own )

[St. Gloede]

I was compiling a list, but then I realized it was ludicrously run-off-the-mill, and not adding much value. I would argue that both of the two Andersons are already looking at all-time-great status. After that, those who have impressed me consistently are no surprises, though Coppola and Aronofsky may still be higher in my books than in many others. I am also quite excited about Lowery after Ghost Story (and the more conventional but still great Old Man and the Gun) but he seems to be doing a strange set-up of one for the studio and for him.

[pabs]

Nobody thinks the Coen brothers have any talent?

[---]

studly peeps, like all-time greats
Richard Linklater
Charlie Kaufman
Wes Anderson

elite bastards
Alex Ross Perry
Larry Clark
Noah Baumbach
Whit Stillman
Gregg Araki
Bill Brown

good bastards
Shane Carruth
Harmony Korine
Greg Mottola
Kelly Reichardt
Terry Zwigoff
Todd Solondz
Safdie Bros
Spike Lee
David Fincher
Paul Thomas Anderson
Spike Jonze
Andrew Bujalski
Bennett Miller

only seen one, but it was some level of dope
Todd Haynes
James Gray
Tommy Lee Jones
Jordan Peele

most erratic fuck of all-time
David Gordon Green

[St. Gloede]

Nobody thinks the Coen brothers have any talent?

They got started in '84, otherwise, I'm sure they would have been on most lists.

[pabs]

Oh, forgot about that criterion. Cheers!

[---]

What criterion? OP says sometime in the 80s at the earliest

[wba]

I wanted to start with filmmakers who began their career during the last 30 years (as this posting is from 2017, this would roughly mean 1987), and exclude anyone older.

I've stressed (and underlined) this part in the initial opening post now.

Good claerification. The issue was this sentence:

"To talk about a director, she must have started directing sometime during the 80s (at the earliest) and still be active (for example Jim Jarmusch doesn't count)"

(Which still seems confusing on its own )

You are totally right, of course. After reading my initial intro once more, I've removed that sentence.

[wba]

Nobody thinks the Coen brothers have any talent?

I don't. But to be honest, they just don't fit the criteria (same as Sam Raimi, Jim Jarmusch, etc.)

[wba]

I've modified some of my categories, restructured them and also added three new ones:

filmmakers whom you (tend to) dislike
those you're mostly indifferent about
filmmakers you generally enjoy (though you might not consider them to be great or anything special)

[Silga]

filmmakers whom you (tend to) dislike

Great, I'll use this category as well. In comes David O. Russell.

[---]

Maybe we could copy and paste the whole thread from the old board to this one?

Bure?

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_aut ... -t446.html

don't think there's any simple way to transfer stuff from the old site to the new one unfortunately

[wba]

Maybe we could copy and paste the whole thread from the old board to this one?

Bure?

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_aut ... -t446.html

don't think there's any simple way to transfer stuff from the old site to the new one unfortunately

Well, it was worth a try.