82 replies to this topic

[Dubey]

Christopher Nolan has quietly become one of the most prominent, succesful directors in hollywood. He has the ability to make films that are complete mind f*cks, and still make perfect sense to the average viewer.I was looking at his filmography today, and realized how astoundingly good it is. I think at least 3 of his films would land in my top 50 movies of all time. possibly 2 in the top 20.This is how I would rank his body of work. I haven't seen his first movie (following).1. Memento2. Inception3. The Prestige4. Insomnia5. batman Begins6. The Dark KnightAs much as I love the two Batman movies, I almost wish he would have tackled something else instead. His other movies are all so original and mindblowing, I'd rather there were 2 other original works on this list rather than the two Batman movies.

[BigDMcGee]

but his batmen are particularly excellent examples of that genre. And don't complain too much about it, there'd be no inception without the success of the batmen movies. I think he's a great director, able to make art in big budget projects. Momento is probably in my top 10 movies of the last 10 years, just a brilliant movie.

[Dubey]

Don't get me wrong, I think Both Batman Movies are fantastic films. I'd just rather he did something else, for the same reason I wouldn't want Martin Scorsese to direct Spiderman 4, or Quentin Tarantino to direct Harry Potter 7 (although that would be funny)

[JoeyJoJo]

From a thread about Entertainment Weekly's really bad Best Active Director list:

brvheart, on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009, 5:33 AM, said:

25 Jon Favreau 24 Pedro Almodovar 23 Paul Greengrass 22 Paul Thomas Anderson 21 Ang Lee 20 Ron Howard 19 Clint Eastwood 18 Danny Boyle 17 Darren Aronofsky 16 Zack Snyder 15 Sam Raimi 14 Judd Apatow 13 Tim Burton 12 David Fincher 11 Guillermo Del Toro 10 Joel and Ethan Coen 9 James Cameron 8 Michael Mann 7 Quentin Taratino 6 Ridley Scott 5 Steven Soderbergh 4 Christopher Nolan 3 Martin Scorsese 2 Peter Jackson 1 Steven Spielberg

Just using this list to work off of, Nolan would probably be somewhere in the back end of the top ten for me. (Tarantino, Scorsese, Coens, Spielberg, Eastwood, PTA, Burton...)I haven't seen Insomnia and I didn't think The Prestige was that good, but the others were thoroughly entertaining to me.

[SuitedAces21]

1. Memento1. Inception3. The Prestige4. Insomina5. Batman Begins6. The Dark KnightI dont think there is anyone better working right now.Edited: Don't know why I had the dark knight up there, I agree with Joey.

[BigDMcGee]

JoeyJoJo, on Monday, August 16th, 2010, 5:42 PM, said:

From a thread about Entertainment Weekly's really bad Best Active Director list:Just using this list to work off of, Nolan would probably be somewhere in the back end of the top ten for me. (Tarantino, Scorsese, Coens, Spielberg, Eastwood, PTA, Burton...)I haven't seen Insomnia and I didn't think The Prestige was that good, but the others were thoroughly entertaining to me.

eastwood? Really? Besides Unforgiven, what has he directed that's in inception/memento's ballpark of quality? Of dark night's , for that matter.Note, this question is for JJJ, not you, brvheart.

[BigDMcGee]

Dubey, on Monday, August 16th, 2010, 5:35 PM, said:

Don't get me wrong, I think Both Batman Movies are fantastic films. I'd just rather he did something else, for the same reason I wouldn't want Martin Scorsese to direct Spiderman 4, or Quentin Tarantino to direct Harry Potter 7 (although that would be funny)

I am 100 percent certain I would want to see Tarantino direct a harry potter movie, or Marty do spiderman, tbh.

[BigDMcGee]

my point is, i don't really care what genre a great director makes a movie in. You can make blockbusters and super hero movies great. I just care about the greatness part.

[Dubey]

BigDMcGee, on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, 1:29 AM, said:

my point is, i don't really care what genre a great director makes a movie in. You can make blockbusters and super hero movies great. I just care about the greatness part.

Fair point. A tarantino harry Potter movie would be pretty amazing, lol.As for Eastwood, I think he has been one of the most consistent directors over the last ten years. Million Dollar baby, Mystic River, and to a lesser extent Gran Torino are all great movies. His other films this decade have all been good movies, if not entirely noteworthy.

[JoeyJoJo]

BigDMcGee, on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, 1:24 AM, said:

eastwood? Really? Besides Unforgiven, what has he directed that's in inception/memento's ballpark of quality? Of dark night's , for that matter.

Well, for starters, that wasn't supposed to be a numerical list. I just meant Nolan is somewhere in that 5-10 range, so I thought I would name some other people who are in my top ten. I know Scorsese, Tarantino, Coens, and Spielberg are top four, so maybe Nolan is 5, but...Unforgiven is Inception/Memento quality, so I don't know why I can't include it. I also really liked Letters from Iwo Jima and Changeling and I don't hold Memento as high up as you do. I remember thinking it was awesome the first time I saw it, but it hasn't quite held up as much on repeat viewings, whereas I think Unforgiven gets better each time I watch it.I also don't think The Dark Knight holds up that well either; it's really just the Joker that makes it so great. When I watch it now, I'm pretty much fast forwarding to all the Joker scenes.

[SuitedAces21]

JoeyJoJo, on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, 10:14 AM, said:

I also don't think The Dark Knight holds up that well either; it's really just the Joker that makes it so great. When I watch it now, I'm pretty much fast forwarding to all the Joker scenes.

Maggie Glyenhaal nearly ruins that movie. She is beyond awful. At least Katie Holmes is hot.

[BigDMcGee]

JoeyJoJo, on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, 10:14 AM, said:

Well, for starters, that wasn't supposed to be a numerical list. I just meant Nolan is somewhere in that 5-10 range, so I thought I would name some other people who are in my top ten. I know Scorsese, Tarantino, Coens, and Spielberg are top four, so maybe Nolan is 5, but...Unforgiven is Inception/Memento quality, so I don't know why I can't include it. I also really liked Letters from Iwo Jima and Changeling and I don't hold Memento as high up as you do. I remember thinking it was awesome the first time I saw it, but it hasn't quite held up as much on repeat viewings, whereas I think Unforgiven gets better each time I watch it.I also don't think The Dark Knight holds up that well either; it's really just the Joker that makes it so great. When I watch it now, I'm pretty much fast forwarding to all the Joker scenes.

I said other than Unforgiven. I think unforgiven is excellent, but I think it's the only movie he's made that is excellent. I think everything that Nolan has made has been excellent so far. of course, I've only watched Nolan's movie's once, so I can't really comment on the rewatchablity. My basic point is that eastwood wouldn't be anywhere near my top ten best directors list. Perhaps I am particularly down on him after watching that abortion Gran Torino, that's only merits were the unintentional comedy of the acting, and the hilarious racial slurs.

[JoeyJoJo]

BigDMcGee, on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, 10:59 AM, said:

I said other than Unforgiven. I think unforgiven is excellent, but I think it's the only movie he's made that is excellent. I think everything that Nolan has made has been excellent so far. of course, I've only watched Nolan's movie's once, so I can't really comment on the rewatchablity.

But I think it's the best movie from the Nolan/Eastwood catalogue and if you exclude it then you also need to exclude Memento before doing any comparisons (of course, I think Inception > Memento).Nolan should get credit for revitalizing the Batman series, but it's the goddamn Batman, so not too much credit. Haven't seen Insomnia and didn't care for The Prestige.Personally, I thought Letters and Changeling were excellent, although to be fair, I haven't rewatched either. It's probably best to rank them by tiers instead of trying to choose between 5 and 6 or whatever.Tier 1 is QT, Marty, Coens, Spielberg.I could probably be talked into a lot of directors for Tier 2, but I certainly think Eastwood and Nolan are in that group.

[Dubey]

JoeyJoJo, on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, 11:17 AM, said:

But I think it's the best movie from the Nolan/Eastwood catalogue and if you exclude it then you also need to exclude Memento before doing any comparisons (of course, I think Inception > Memento).Nolan should get credit for revitalizing the Batman series, but it's the goddamn Batman, so not too much credit. Haven't seen Insomnia and didn't care for The Prestige.Personally, I thought Letters and Changeling were excellent, although to be fair, I haven't rewatched either. It's probably best to rank them by tiers instead of trying to choose between 5 and 6 or whatever.Tier 1 is QT, Marty, Coens, Spielberg.I could probably be talked into a lot of directors for Tier 2, but I certainly think Eastwood and Nolan are in that group.

I agree with your tier 1. I don't get all geeked out for a new Speilberg movie like I do for the other 3, but I don't think you can really take him out. I think Nolan is on the verge of joining tier 1. In tier 2, right now, I'd have Nolan, Eastwood, and maybe Judd Appatow and even James Cameron. I think the line between tier 2 and tier 3 is a lot more foggy, and there are probably a otn of people you could put into tier 2.

[BigDMcGee]

JoeyJoJo, on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, 1:17 PM, said:

But I think it's the best movie from the Nolan/Eastwood catalogue and if you exclude it then you also need to exclude Memento before doing any comparisons (of course, I think Inception > Memento).Nolan should get credit for revitalizing the Batman series, but it's the goddamn Batman, so not too much credit. Haven't seen Insomnia and didn't care for The Prestige.Personally, I thought Letters and Changeling were excellent, although to be fair, I haven't rewatched either. It's probably best to rank them by tiers instead of trying to choose between 5 and 6 or whatever.Tier 1 is QT, Marty, Coens, Spielberg.I could probably be talked into a lot of directors for Tier 2, but I certainly think Eastwood and Nolan are in that group.

I assume we're talking about living directors, and my list would have to be a pretty long one before eastwood got there. I'm not excluding Unforgiven, i'm just saying it's his only great movie. I have not watched changling and letters to be fair, but Grand torino and gone baby gone were abortions, mystic river gets a lot of credit because of the subject matter and actor's involved, but it's not good, midnight in the garden of good and evil was forgettable. Perhaps I should watch changling and letters, and maybe I'd notch him up, but Unforgiven is absolutely the only movie I've seen of his that I've loved.

[BigDMcGee]

also PTA is a clear tier one. And just remember, folks, Coppola is still alive.

[JoeyJoJo]

BigDMcGee, on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, 11:31 AM, said:

gone baby gone were abortions

"Million Dollar Baby" I assume.I thought Gone Baby Gone (which was Ben Affleck) was pretty great and I'm looking forward to his new movie The Town or something like that coming out this fall.Oh, and I was just going off the stupid EW active directors list because I didn't feel like looking up any other lists to go off of.

[BigDMcGee]

Living director's I'd put ahead of Eastwood....PTA, QT, Coens, Marty, spielberg, coppolla, sodorburgh woody allen, david lynch, wes anderson, Probably herzog on principal though I've only seen grizzly man, cronenberg, burton, jarmusch, Gilliam, Nolan, Danny boyle, mel gibson, del toro, spike lee, linklater, Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Gus Van Sant, Terrence Mallik, sofia coppola, sam rami, peter jackson.

[BigDMcGee]

JoeyJoJo, on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, 1:33 PM, said:

"Million Dollar Baby" I assume.

lol yes, million dollar baby. Gone baby gone i haven't seen.

[BigDMcGee]

JoeyJoJo, on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, 1:33 PM, said:

Oh, and I was just going off the stupid EW active directors list because I didn't feel like looking up any other lists to go off of.

you mean like this list?http://www.pastemaga...-directors.html