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Inception **^^**

sirkickyass said:
Then again, I hated Children of Men (oooooooohhh we have desaturated color it's sooooo distopian)
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Now we must fight to the death. I consider Children of Men to be the single best film of the 2000's.
 
To expand on the "tiers" idea for directors who made a real debut in the 1990s I'm semi-comfortable with this as a rough and obviously non-comprehensive rough draft:

Tier 1: Tarantino (1a) and PTA (1b)

Tier 2: David Fincher, Brad Bird, Wes Anderson, Sam Mendes, and John Lassiter.

Tier 3: Ang Lee (this is a slap in the face, he's only in tier 3 because I have a strong preference for his early Mandarin-language work and think he's gotten worse with time, based on his early work alone he would be in Tier 2), Cuaron, Guillermo Del Toro, Christopher Nolan, Frank Darabont (penalized for only adapting Stephen King works in practice), Noah Baumbach, Alexander Payne, and Darren Aranofsky.

Everyone else (Baz Luhrmann, Robert Rodriguez, M. Night Shymalan, Kevin Smith, Mel Gibson, Mike Judge, Paul Haggis etc etc)
 
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How did I forget about Anderson? Kicky, I think you ought to bump Baumbach down to "Everyone else" tier.
 
Stickler said:
Now we must fight to the death. I consider Children of Men to be the single best film of the 2000's.
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Was it that part where the woman who was the Key to Civilization was literally named "Kee?" Was it that kind of subtlety that did it for you?

Or was it all those times that Clive Owen slowly jogged in straight lines across open fields where people were fighting and was never in danger?

I'll be honest, I was just bored the whole time and the movie provoked about a dozen eye rolls.
 
Stickler said:
How did I forget about Anderson? Kicky, I think you ought to bump Baumbach down to "Everyone else" tier.
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I guess that all depends on how you feel about The Squid and the Whale. He stays in Tier Three for me just for employing Billy Baldwin. :)

In looking at the list I'm not opposed to rejiggering a few entries. I can see arguments for Nolan in Tier 2, Shymalan in Tier 3 (depending on who you talk to), moving either Lassiter or Brad Bird into Tier 3, moving Darabont either direction (I see Tier 3 as a compromise spot with passionate arguments for both promotion and demotion), and a few others.

In any event I stand by my original statement. I see absolutely no argument for Nolan in Tier 1 and there is definitely a fanboy crowd that behaves like he's an unquestioned king. I honestly think he's going to make a Kenneth Branaugh style four hour movie by 2020 the way things are going.
 
sirkickyass said:
Was it that part where the woman who was the Key to Civilization was literally named "Kee?" Was it that kind of subtlety that did it for you?
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I don't recall saying anything about its subtlety or lack thereof, but come on, was There Will Be Blood subtle? I mean, what are you comparing it to? Just because a movie might not be especially subtle doesn't mean it's not thoughtful and intelligent. And, by the way, it was actually pretty subtle in a lot of ways.

Or was it all those times that Clive Owen slowly jogged in straight lines across open fields where people were fighting and was never in danger?
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It wasn't those times, no... because that's not what happened. I don't think I saw the same things you saw. Because I never saw anything like that.

I'll be honest, I was just bored the whole time and the movie provoked about a dozen eye rolls.
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Not for me. I found it totally thrilling, and was fascinated, throughout, by the particular dystopia presented in the movie. I found the extended, single-shot action sequences (the attack on the car, the run through the warzone) to be, frankly, more exciting than anything I've seen in an actual action movie in a long time.

I guess that all depends on how you feel about The Squid and the Whale.
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It sucks and it's gross and it's unkind.

I see absolutely no argument for Nolan in Tier 1 and there is definitely a fanboy crowd that behaves like he's an unquestioned king.
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Oh, sure. On that we can agree.
 
Gus Van Sant? Or does he not fall under your time frame? I don't feel like looking up Permanent Midnight which I think he did. He has some stinkers (Paranoid Park) but Elephant is one of the best, most hypnotically disturbing movies I've ever seen, and Good Will Hunting and Milk are a couple contenders.

Also, Soderbergh? Again, SL&V was in the 80's I think but he's got to be on the cusp of this list, no?
 
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Every person you mentioned in your posts was excluded due to the artificial timeframe KEK. Some of them (Eastwood, Scorsese, Woody Allen) made directorial debuts decades before 1990.
 
Sirkickyass said:
To expand on the "tiers" idea for directors who made a real debut in the 1990s I'm semi-comfortable with this as a rough and obviously non-comprehensive rough draft:

Tier 1: Tarantino (1a) and PTA (1b)

Tier 2: David Fincher, Brad Bird, Wes Anderson, Sam Mendes, and John Lassiter.

Tier 3: Ang Lee (this is a slap in the face, he's only in tier 3 because I have a strong preference for his early Mandarin-language work and think he's gotten worse with time, based on his early work alone he would be in Tier 2), Cuaron, Guillermo Del Toro, Christopher Nolan, Frank Darabont (penalized for only adapting Stephen King works in practice), Noah Baumbach, Alexander Payne, and Darren Aranofsky.

Everyone else (Baz Luhrmann, Robert Rodriguez, M. Night Shymalan, Kevin Smith, Mel Gibson, Mike Judge, Paul Haggis etc etc)
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Notable omission: Zhang Yimou definitely needs to be in Tier 2 or Tier 3.
 
Hey you'll all be happy to know that a negative review has been posted... Once and for all decrying the myth that Christopher Nolan is a good director.
 
A friend of mine saw this and said he's still blown away by it. Said it's a great show that will really make you think long and hard.
 
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