Posted By: MistaMista Tom Hagen
Their Masterpiece - 11/02/05 06:59 AM
I was wondering, for each of your personal favorite filmmakers, who have a fairly large and succesful body of work under their belt, what do you consider to be their defining film, in essence, their masterpiece? The one film that completely embodies them and exemplifies their style, direction, and perhaps even writing. Here are my choices, with some comments.
Martin Scorsese
Goodfellas (1990)
Yes, I do have to go with Goodfellas over Raging Bull here. I feel as though, with Raging Bull being as good as it is, Scorsese really hadn't fully matured yet into the filmmaker he was a decade later when he made Goodfellas.
It may just come to down to personal preference, but I definetly feel as though Goodfellas tops Raging Bull here.
The Coen Brothers
Fargo (1996)
Again, some of their earlier work, their films just hadnt matured enough, technically and artistically speaking, for me to consider them as their masterpiece, and I personally have been rather dissappointed with their latest work. Everything after The Man Who Wasn't There along with a few before it just havent really done it for me.
Fargo truly seems to embody their quirky sense of humor, along with their penchant for violence, plus it has most of the greatest Coen characters ever created, and all of the actors are perfect in their parts, from Buscemi to Macy to Mcdormand. I may tend to personally lean towards The Man Who Wasn't There a bit more at times, but Fargo is just a classic.
Michael Mann
Heat (1995)
Not really much to say here, I think its pretty obvious. Heat just oozes in style and grand-ness, with the two greatest actors of all time both turning in stellar performances. I have not seen Last of the Mohicans, but the general consensus seems to agree with me on this one, plus I dont see how Mann's whole LA cops/robbers thing could show through in Mohicans.
Quentin Tarantino
Kill Bill (2003)
Dont hate me for knocking out Pulp Fiction here, but I really just have to give this one to Kill Bill for its camera work, its music, etc etc, a lot of things. Nearly every scene in this movie really has its own visual style to it, with a lot of different color schemes, and the music adds to it.
Uma is perfect, and it really seems here like Quentin is just trying out every idea he ever had for filmmaking, and working with a great story to go along with it.
Steven Soderbergh
Traffic (2000)
Soderbergh is definetly at the top of his game here. When he actually delves into some serious matierial, as opposed to Ocean's 11 (which I also really like), he comes up with some really good stuff.
Steven really experiments a lot here, utilizing different camera filters, filming most of the movie in free hand, and also using a lot of nice editing tricks, and its obviously pretty tough to keep up a story with so many prominent characters.
The story itself is also amazing, tracking the drug trade across entire nations, through different points of view in the same situation. The music is also worth a mention, as the strange echo-y ambience tracks really add that extra element. A fantastic film.
Paul Thomas Anderson
Magnolia (1999)
This one really kind of bothered me, as I like Boogie Nights a hell of a lot more then Magnolia (although this is another one I need to a give a rewatch), but even though Boogie Nights is a better film in my opinion, it just doesnt go deep enough into the emotional issues like Magnolia does. This is an example where I really just respect Magnolia more, even though I like it less. if that makes sense.
Sorry about the typos and run-ons by the way, I wrote this quickly.
Also, just to let you know, Im only considering directors where Ive seen most of their work. I need to see more Kubrick's and Hitchcock's and Spike Lee's, etc, as Im just kind of getting into them.
Martin Scorsese
Goodfellas (1990)
Yes, I do have to go with Goodfellas over Raging Bull here. I feel as though, with Raging Bull being as good as it is, Scorsese really hadn't fully matured yet into the filmmaker he was a decade later when he made Goodfellas.
It may just come to down to personal preference, but I definetly feel as though Goodfellas tops Raging Bull here.
The Coen Brothers
Fargo (1996)
Again, some of their earlier work, their films just hadnt matured enough, technically and artistically speaking, for me to consider them as their masterpiece, and I personally have been rather dissappointed with their latest work. Everything after The Man Who Wasn't There along with a few before it just havent really done it for me.
Fargo truly seems to embody their quirky sense of humor, along with their penchant for violence, plus it has most of the greatest Coen characters ever created, and all of the actors are perfect in their parts, from Buscemi to Macy to Mcdormand. I may tend to personally lean towards The Man Who Wasn't There a bit more at times, but Fargo is just a classic.
Michael Mann
Heat (1995)
Not really much to say here, I think its pretty obvious. Heat just oozes in style and grand-ness, with the two greatest actors of all time both turning in stellar performances. I have not seen Last of the Mohicans, but the general consensus seems to agree with me on this one, plus I dont see how Mann's whole LA cops/robbers thing could show through in Mohicans.
Quentin Tarantino
Kill Bill (2003)
Dont hate me for knocking out Pulp Fiction here, but I really just have to give this one to Kill Bill for its camera work, its music, etc etc, a lot of things. Nearly every scene in this movie really has its own visual style to it, with a lot of different color schemes, and the music adds to it.
Uma is perfect, and it really seems here like Quentin is just trying out every idea he ever had for filmmaking, and working with a great story to go along with it.
Steven Soderbergh
Traffic (2000)
Soderbergh is definetly at the top of his game here. When he actually delves into some serious matierial, as opposed to Ocean's 11 (which I also really like), he comes up with some really good stuff.
Steven really experiments a lot here, utilizing different camera filters, filming most of the movie in free hand, and also using a lot of nice editing tricks, and its obviously pretty tough to keep up a story with so many prominent characters.
The story itself is also amazing, tracking the drug trade across entire nations, through different points of view in the same situation. The music is also worth a mention, as the strange echo-y ambience tracks really add that extra element. A fantastic film.
Paul Thomas Anderson
Magnolia (1999)
This one really kind of bothered me, as I like Boogie Nights a hell of a lot more then Magnolia (although this is another one I need to a give a rewatch), but even though Boogie Nights is a better film in my opinion, it just doesnt go deep enough into the emotional issues like Magnolia does. This is an example where I really just respect Magnolia more, even though I like it less. if that makes sense.
Sorry about the typos and run-ons by the way, I wrote this quickly.
Also, just to let you know, Im only considering directors where Ive seen most of their work. I need to see more Kubrick's and Hitchcock's and Spike Lee's, etc, as Im just kind of getting into them.
Well, the same thing should be said about Pulp Fiction.