SCFZ

Polling the films of director Roger Donaldson

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Donaldson films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of his films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of his films than you can list the maximum of five.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Tuesday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline up to three days, if someone requests an extension

- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: greennui, bure, roscoe, kanafani, greg x

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward

if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again

The Recruit

seen three

Seen 11:

Thirteen Days
The Recruit
The Bank Job
White Sands
No Way Out

cocktail
the bounty
species

*seen six (and idkw, other than donaldson is the director version of one of those actors you see in every single solitary movie you watch, and yet you have no idea who they are)

this may genuinely be the first time i have not seen a single film by one of the directors we are polling

nrh wrote: ↑Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:42 pmnot seen a single film

have i mentioned a little kino called cocktail before...?

I thought I had seen zero but then I noticed The Getaway which I saw dozens of times in the early 2000's due to it being shown on cable at pretty much any given moment. In fact, this guy's entire filmography does have a very huge 'on cable at any given moment' vibe.

My memory of The Getaway is too hazy for me to vote for it, mostly remember Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger doing it.

Silga wrote: ↑Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:28 pm Seen 11:

silga, you can pick our next director if you want to!

Smash Palace
The Bank Job
The November Man
Species
and since thoxans got me thinkin' about it
Cocktail

Don't have time for any notes on Donaldson, other than to say he's an interesting director who's worked a lot on films that don't especially suit his strengths by the usual genre standards, which isn't always a bad thing, but neither is it always good. Filipe Furtado's takes on his films that I read were more or less on target, accepting that they're brief and vague about specifics. Donaldson's strength is in the lucidity of his direction of both scene and cast, but the scripts he works with often make that a somewhat dubious ability when the stories are daft or lean towards a more reactionary perspective.

flip wrote: ↑Tue Jan 05, 2021 8:06 pm

Silga wrote: ↑Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:28 pm Seen 11:

silga, you can pick our next director if you want to!

David Mamet

I have 8, but will watch at least two more this week.

If Mamet doesn't work, I'll think about other options.

seen 11 mamet-as-writer's, but just 4 mamet-as-director's

Seen 3:

Thirteen Days

-

Only seen 3 by Mamet as a director.

So average director from those mentioned :)ok:
Seen 10-all average entertaining films at a similar level:
1-Sleeping Dogs (1977)
2-Species (1995)
3- Thirteen Days (2000)
4-No Way Out (1987)
5-White Sands (1992)
Seems i have seen nearly all his films, but it doesn`t change much...It also says-He is good enough director to watch at the evening tv....

THE BOUNTY
NO WAY OUT

Seen enough to rate more. I remember being okay with THE BOUNTY, which might move into that spot because why not.

Edit -- yeah, I moved THE BOUNTY into that spot.

Silga, i meant RogerDonaldson average-not Mamet:)
And i have...10 of David Mamet directed films.
Great script writer, not bad director of his own scripts:) Like |John Sayles.

seen 4

the bounty
the getaway


only seen 1 by mamet

i've seen all the mamet (well, 18, haven't seen a couple of rarities), so he works, we'll poll him next!

seen zippo 0__0

fascinating director, and I'm interested in watching more by him.

01. White Sands (1992)
02. No Way Out (1987)
03. Dante's Peak (1997)
04. Cadillac Man (1990)

Donaldson seen: 8

Running out of options eh? Whose next? Ron Shelton?

Joks Trois wrote: ↑Wed Jan 06, 2021 5:04 pmRon Shelton

i'm sad about shelton. bull durham, tin cup, and especially white men can't jump are all solid (dare i say auteurist?), but then the dude just lost it

Joks Trois wrote: ↑Wed Jan 06, 2021 5:04 pm Running out of options eh? Whose next? Ron Shelton?

David Mamet is next

thoxans wrote: ↑Wed Jan 06, 2021 5:13 pm

Joks Trois wrote: ↑Wed Jan 06, 2021 5:04 pmRon Shelton

i'm sad about shelton. bull durham, tin cup, and especially white men can't jump are all solid (dare i say auteurist?), but then the dude just lost it

Cobb is his best film to me

Joks Trois wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 2:29 amCobb

still need to see that one! heard good things. not to mention, tlj is always a treat

"i don't know who this person is" - holymanm

oh no wait i've seen 4. i'll vote for

no way out

although ridiculous, i watched it many times on cable

thoxans wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 1:07 pm

Joks Trois wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 2:29 amCobb

still need to see that one! heard good things. not to mention, tlj is always a treat

Then you need to see it. Arguably his best performance.

Joks Trois wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 2:08 pm

thoxans wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 1:07 pm

Joks Trois wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 2:29 amCobb

still need to see that one! heard good things. not to mention, tlj is always a treat

Then you need to see it. Arguably his best performance.

planning to watch this soon!! And I love Shelton. Great director!

seen 5

1. The Bank Job
2. The Bounty

rischka wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 1:16 pm "i don't know who this person is" - holymanm

oh no wait i've seen 4

never forget, the two aren't mutually exclusive

i've tallied the results so far, a bit of a strange poll because nine films got 5 or more points, but zero films got 10 or more points. so it feels like the top nine are all nearly tied.

the problem is, the top two films in fact are tied. i prefer to break ties by getting new ballots, so if anyone hasn't voted yet but could, please do! i'll leave the poll open another day in hopes of getting more participation. failing that, we'll need a tiebreaker runoff