What director(s) do you think have the best filmography?
I was checking out the new season of Fargo, which made me want to rewatch the 1996 movie and I got to thinking, the Coen Brothers have a fantastic filmography. They have way more hits than misses and they make some of the most interesting movies out there. No Country for Old Men is probably one of my favorites of all time. So who's filmography do you celebrate the most?
The only dark spot on Terry Gilliam's record is Brothers Grimm. The rest isn't for everyone but it's all quality.
He offers: Brazil Time Bandits 12 Monkeys Barron Munchausen Fisher King Fear and Loathing And Monty Python stuff.
I'm going to have to go back and watch more of Gilliam. I've only seen Monty Python, The Fisher King, and 12 Monkeys. Somehow I missed Fear and Loathing when I was younger and never got around to it. And I've heard great things about Brazil and his recent works.
Wes Anderson and Christopher Nolan. Their movies always are subject to debate, but every single one was stuck in my mind after seeing them.
With you on both. Although, I gotta be in the mood for Wes Anderson sometimes. I love his movies, but if I'm not in the mood, I find I don't enjoy them as much, even on rewatch.
Nolan is always amazing to me. Audio issues aside, I enjoyed Tenet more than most, as well.
Seriously, I loved Tenet! I had to watch it multiple times to finally understand how they moved through time relatively to the opposite side, what happened how, and it was fun and really well thought out. I loved this take on time travel!
Yes, you can understand the movie after watching it once. But there are so many little details that you won't get if you don't watch it multiple times, I had fun puzzling it together!
It's in my top three of the Nolan movies! And the music was great, I did not mind that it was too loud!
Denis Villeneuve hands down. The guy has never made a bad mainstream film yet. Some would argue Enemy is his worst, and even then it’s not really a bad film.
Oh yes! Villeneuve is my favorite director working currently. I'd probably agree that Enemy is his worst, but it's still a great film. Dude just doesn't miss.
Enemy was fantastic!
Darren Aronofsky.
David Fincher is pretty rock solid. The Social Network is his best movie; all of his murder thrillers are equally good. Alien3 is his worst and hardly counts because it was a clean up job, and still isn’t a bad movie.
Fincher is one of my favs of all time. I just love how purposeful he is. Every camera angle and dolly move is for a specific reason. Nothing is a mistake in his films.
There's really nothing like a Fincher dolly shot.
Since someone already mentioned Villeneuve, I'll say Wes Anderson.
He has a very distinct style but that's a lot of great, beautiful movies.
First person that sprang to mind for me. I find them to be real visual eye candy.
I'll have to go with Edgar Wright for the Corneto trilogy and Scott Pilgrim. Those movies are so dense and well thought out.
Hard agree on the Coen brothers, their filmography is absolutely stellar. Other than them I think Hayao Miyazaki deserves a mention here. Dude basically never missed in his entire carreer as a director.
Oh yeah, I love Miyazaki. I got to visit the Ghibli museum a few years ago and it was amazing.
I own a BUNCH of movies, but there are only a few creators where I feel obligated to a) own ALL their movies and b) group them together as a block.
Coen Brothers
Kevin Smith
Quentin Tarantino
Wes Anderson
The Marx Brothers
Baz Luhrmann
Peter Greenaway. Let the joy commence.
Stanley Kubrick
Federico Fellini
Yasujiro Ozu
Alain Resnais
Martin Scorcese
Marcel Carmé
Fritz Lang
Akira Kurosawa
Anything shot by Roger Deakins.
OP is specifically asking about dirs but yeah some DOPs might have filmographies to rival them.
Robert Richardson is another contender. Casino, Kill Bill, Platoon...
OP is specifically asking about dirs but yeah some DOPs might have filmographies to rival them.
Lol, I didn't want to say it. But for sure, especially the ones like Deakins that form basically a partnership with certain directors and do almost all their movies.
David Cronenberg, especially his stuff in the 90s and 80s. He has made so many movies that just got stuck in my brain. Everything's weird, but memorable-weird. eXistenZ was my favorite movie for years.
George A Romero is definitely worth checking out. He's earned the moniker "Father of the Zombie Film," and for good reason.
If you're into classic movies, I'd suggest starting with Night of the Living Dead (1968). That one really turned heads when it came out. If classic movies aren't really your thing, Land of the Dead (2005) is a very fun romp.
Day of the Dead (1985) is probably my all-time favourite movie. I appreciate that his movies are not only fun zombie movies, but they also have a message behind them. Day of the Dead is full of existential dread, and touches at the meaning or absurdity of life, and how that means different things to different people.
In each of his zombie movies, although the undead do pose a mortal and existential threat, Romero holds up a mirror to humanity and says that its our innate inability to cooperate which dooms us. It's a powerful message, and one that seems to have held up for the past sixty years if you follow the news.
Tarantino
Not as voluminous as other directors, but Guillermo del Toro is fantastic at realizing movies with dark fantasy elements, giving them equal measures of humor and earnestness to keep audiences invested in the story.
Honestly, George Lucas has made way more good movies than bad ones. And even the bad ones were either massively influential or interesting in some way.
For example, it's not a controversial statement to say Attack of the Clones is a shitty movie, but it was also the first Hollywood movie to be shot entirely digitally, using a camera that he worked closely with Sony to produce. Now basically every movie is shot digitally.
Maybe this is where we need a distinction between "important" and "best"? idk
Yeah, 4 out of the 6 features he's directed have been Star Wars films and at least half of those I'd consider bad. I'm not saying he isn't influential or important when you look at the history of film, but if I'm looking at a the best director filmographies, GL's isn't even in the top 10 for me. Just on variety alone, it's pretty weak.
The Wachowskis
Park Chan-wook and Kubrick