Another film thread :rolleyes:
I cant help myself

If you've seen more than 2 films from any director, list them in order of how much you liked them.

Scorsese
1. Goodfellas
2. Casino
3. Raging Bull
4. Cape Fear
5. Taxi Driver
6. The Aviator
7. Bringing Out the Dead
8. Mean Streets
9. Gangs of New York

Coens
1. The Man Who Wasn't There
2. Miller's Crossing
3. Fargo
4. Blood Simple
5. The Big Lebowski
6. Raising Arizona
7. Barton Fink
8. The Hudsucker Proxy
9. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
10. Intolerable Cruelty

Mann
1. Heat
2. Thief
3. Collateral
4. The Insider

Tarantino
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Reservoir Dogs
3. Kill Bill
4. Kill Bill Vol. 2
5. Jackie Brown

Anderson
1. Boogie Nights
2. Hard Eight
3. Magnolia
4. Punch-Drunk Love

Soderbergh
1. Traffic
2. Ocean's 11
3. Solaris
4. The Limey
5. Sex, Lies, and Videotape
6. Erin Brockavich
7. Ocean's 12

Levinson
1. Bugsy
2. Bandits
3. Rain Man
4. Wag the Dog

Kubrick
1. 2001: A Spacy Odyssey
2. Dr. Strangelove
3. The Shining

Coppola
1. The Godfather Pt II
2. The Godfather
3. The Godfather Pt III
4. Apocolypse Now

Mendes
1. American Beauty
2. Jarhead
3. Road to Perdition

By favorites

Scorsese
Taxi Driver
Mean Streets
Raging Bull
Goodfellas
Casino
The Last Waltz
Cape Fear
The Aviator
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Gangs of New York
New York, New York
Boxcar Bertha
Bringing Out the Dead

Michael Mann
Collateral
Heat
Thief
The Insider
Ali

Quentin Tarantino
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Jackie Brown
Kill Bill V1
Kill Bill V2

Francis Ford Coppola
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
Apocalypse Now
The Conversation
The Godfather Part III
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Jack

Christopher Nolan
Memento
Following
Batman Begins
Insomnia

Sam Mendes
Road to Perdition
American Beauty
Jarhead

Is it just me who prefers 2 part of Kill Bill?

A lotta work here, but good exercise, I guess.

Obviously, there are many more directors that I've seen two films by than those I've listed here.

I've limited the list to those directors who I can honestly say have done at least four films which I've really enjoyed, and limited the list to those films only, even though I may have seen others (like Hitchcock, for example).

Listed in order of the number of films by the director, and in order of my preference (* indicates an all-time favorite):

Woody Allen (12)
Broadway Danny Rose *
Annie Hall *
Crimes & Misdemeanors *
Radio Days *
Hannah & Her Sisters
Anything Else
Hollywood Ending
Bananas
Sleeper
Manhattan
Stardust Memories
Take The Money And Run

Alfred Hitchcock (9)
Dial M For Murder *
Strangers On A Train *
Suspicion *
Sabateur
North By Northwest
Spellbound
The Paradine Case
I Confess
The Lady Vanishes

Martin Scorsese (8)
Raging Bull *
Casino *
Goodfellas *
Mean Streets *
King Of Comedy
After Hours
Cape Fear
Taxi Driver

Coen Brothers (7)
Fargo *
Miller's Crossing *
The Man Who Wasn't There *
Intolerable Cruelty
Blood Simple
The Ladykillers
The Big Lebowski

Stanley Kubrick (7)
Paths Of Glory *
Dr. Strangelove *
The Killing
Lolita
Full Metal Jacket
The Shining
Spartacus

Sidney Lumet (6)
Dog Day Afternoon *
Prince Of The City *
Fail Safe *
Twelve Angry Men *
Serpico
Night Falls On Manhattan

Billy Wilder (5)
Witness For The Prosecution *
Double Indemnity *
Sunset Boulevard *
The Apartment
The Lost Weekend

Barry Levinson (5)
Tin Men *
Diner
Rain Man
Sleepers
Liberty Heights

Francis Ford Coppola (4)
The Godfather *
The Godfather: Part II *
The Godfather: Part III *
The Conversation

George Cukor (4)
The Women *
Philadelphia Story *
Gaslight
Born Yesterday

Otto Preminger (4)
Anatomy Of A Murder *
Laura
Advise and Consent
The Moon Is Blue

David Mamet (4)
House Of Games *
The Spanish Prisoner
Heist
Homicide

And thank heavens for IMDb

I bought House of Games the other week, Plaw. Haven't seen it yet.

My list will follow...

Scorsese
Mean Streets
Raging Bull
Taxi Driver
The King of Comedy
Casino
Goodfellas
The Color of Money

Kubrick
A Clockwork Orange
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Shining
Dr. Strangelove
Full Metal Jacket

Coppola
The Godfather part 2
The Godfather
The Conversation
Apocalypse Now

Hitchcock
Vertigo
Rear Window
North by Northwest

Martin Scorsese
goodfellas
mean streets
the aviator
raging bull
gangs of new york
taxi driver

Brian De Palma
scarface
the untouchables
charlito's way

Francis Ford Coppola
the godfather 1
the godfather 2
Apocalyse now
the godfather 3
the outsiders
dracula
rumble fish

Kevin Smith
clerks
chasing amy
dogma
mallrats
jay and silent bob strike back

Quintin Tarantino
pulp fiction
reservoir dogs
kill bill vol. 1 & 2
jackie brown

Camron Crowe
vanilla sky
almost famous
jerry maguire
elizabethtown

Clint Eastwood
unforgiven
mystic river
different worlds
million dollar baby

Volume two is better, but I from memory I liked the first more entertainment-wise. I gotta revisit them soon.

A few others. (again, by favorites, not best)

Sergio Leone
For a Few Dollars More
A Fistful of Dollars
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in the West


Alfred Hitchcock
Rear Window
Rope
Strangers on a Train
Psycho
North by Northwest
The Birds
Vertigo
The Wrong Man
Foreign Correspondent
Notorious
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Spellbound
The Trouble With Harry
Stage Fright

Stanely Kubrick (will be updated with my Saturday viewing of 2001.
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
A Clockwork Orange
The Shining
Paths of Glory
Spartacus

Clint Eastwood
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Sudden Impact
High Plains Drifter
Pale Rider
Mystic River
Unforgiven
Million Dollar Baby
Blood Work
Space Cowboys

Billy Wilder
Sunset Blvd.
Double Indemnity
The Lost Weekend
The Seven Year Itch
Sabrina

Tim Burton
Batman Returns
Ed Wood
Batman
Edward Scissorhands
Sleepy Hollow
Beetlejuice
Big Fish
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Mars Attacks!
Frankenweenie
Planet of the Apes

Steven Spielberg
Saving Private Ryan
Jurassic Park
Schindler's List
Jaws
War of the Worlds
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Catch Me If You Can
The Terminal
Hook
The Lost World

Don Vito, Ive heard you voice this opinion many times, it always baffles me.

Could you explain why you like Mean Streets so much and Goodfellas so little?

Top three of each of my favourite directors:

David Lynch
Eraserhead (1976)
Lost Highway (1997)
Blue Velvet (1986)

Jean-Luc Godard
Week-End / Weekend (1967)
À bout de souffle / Breathless (1959)
Le mépris / Contempt (1963)

Werner Herzog
Aguirre, der zorn Gottes / Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972)
Die Große Ekstase des Bildschnitzers Steiner / The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974)
The White Diamond (2004)

Martin Scorsese
Taxi Driver (1976)
Mean Streets (1973)
GoodFellas (1990)

Joel Coen
Fargo (1996)
Miller's Crossing (1990)
Barton Fink (1991)

Woody Allen
Manhattan (1979)
Annie Hall (1977)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

Krzysztof Kieslowski
Krótki Film O Zabijaniu / A Short Film About Killing (1988)
Krótki Film O Milosci / A Short Film About Love (1988)
Trois coleurs: bleu / Three Colours: Blue (1993)

Ingmar Bergman
Fanny och Alexander / Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Det Sjunde Inseglet / The Seventh Seal (1956)
Persona (1966)

Akira Kurosawa
Ran (1985)
Kagemusha (1983)
Rashomon (1950)

Mean Streets is neo-realistic, which I love, and it has better acting. Plus it's a more personal film for Scorsese, and less polished than Goodfellas, which I also love.

Don't get me wrong, Goodfellas is a great film, which I rate 4 stars, but Mean Streets just does it for me. I cannot explain in words the affect that film has had on me.

Did you forget Coppola?

Or did you leave him out on purpose?

I also consider Mean Streets better then Goodfellas. In fact, it's been a long while since I had that film as one of his four best. Below are his six best to me. Though IMO I think Goodfellas' polished feel is part of it's greatness, while Mean Streets is a film that should be gritty, DVC.

Taxi Driver
Raging Bull
Mean Streets
The Last Waltz
Goodfellas
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

You should really check out The King of Comedy, Vercetti. I find it to be one of the greatest and most disturbing character studies ever made. So disturbing that Scorsese has come to hate it, and regrets making it.

Don Vito, Ive heard you voice this opinion many times, it always baffles me.

Could you explain why you like Mean Streets so much and Goodfellas so little? [/b][/quote]Same reason why people like films and don't like films and like other films better than others.

F.F. Coppola

1. The Godfather Part II
2. The Godfather
3. The Godfather Part III
4. Apocalypse Now
5. The Rainmaker

Brian De Palma

1. Scarface
2. Carlito's Way
3. Mission Impossible
4. The Untouchables
5. Snake Eyes

Barry Levinson

1. Bugsy
2. Rain Man
3. Sleepers
4. Sphere
5. The Natural

Stephen Gaghan

1. Syriana
2. Traffic (Writer)

Martin Scorcese

1. Goodfellas
2. Casino
3. Gangs Of New York
4. Raging Bull
5. Mean Streets

Steven Soderbergh

1. Traffic
2. Syriana (Executive Producer)
- Che has a lot of promise
- Niagra?

Oliver Stone

1. JFK
2. Scarface (Writer)
3. The People vs. Larry Flynt (Producer)
4. Nixon (Producer/Writer)
5. World Trade Centre should be good

Quentin Tarantino

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Reservoir Dogs
3. Jackie Brown
4. Kill Bill II
5. Kill Bill

I updated, with Hitchcock's worst film.

Still haven't seen Broadway Danny Rose or The Man Who Wasn't There, Capo?

Or have you? I've forgotten.

And to you Kubrick fans (or any movie fans, for that matter) that still haven't seen Paths of Glory.....

What are you waiting for?

Damn Plaw, I forgot about that film entirely.

Yeah, I left Coppola out on purpose; if I were to rank his three best, they'd look:

The Conversation (1974)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
The Godfather (1972)

And Plaw, I've seen both of those films, yes. Neither fit into the directors' top three.

As far as "Danny Rose" goes, it depends on whether or not we're talking "best" or "personal favorites."

It don't rate it as one of Woody's best; it just happens to be the one I enjoy the most.

The Coens "The Man", though, I think is a better film than Barton Fink.

I am ranking by favorites, like a few others have seemed to do.

PT Anderson
1.) Magnolia
2.) Boogie Nights
3.) Punch Drunk Love
4.) Hard Eight/Sydney

Martin Scorsese
1.) Taxi Driver
2.) Raging Bull
3.) Mean Streets
4.) Casino
5.) Goodfellas
6.) Gangs of New York
7.) The King of Comedy
8.) Cape Fear
9.) The Aviator
10.) New York, New York
11.) The Color of Money

Stanely Kubrick
1.) 2001: A Space Odyssey
2.) A Clockwork Orange
3.) Dr. Strangelove
4.) The Shining

David Fincher
1.) Fight Club
2.) Seven
3.) The Game
4.) Panic Room

Terry Gilliam
1.) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
2.) Brazil
3.) Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Michael Mann
1.) The Insider
2.) Collateral
3.) Heat
4.) Ali

Quentin Tarantino
1.) Pulp Fiction
2.) Reservoir Dogs
3.) Jackie Brown
4.) Kill Bill Vol. 2
5.) Kill Bill Vol. 1

Coen Brothers
1.) Fargo
2.) Miller's Crossing
3.) The Big Lebowski
4.) Raising Arizona
5.) O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Gus Van Sant
1.) Elephant
2.) Last Days
3.) Good Will Hunting

Brian De Palma
1.) Carlito's Way
2.) Scarface
3.) The Untouchables

Tim Burton
1.) Ed Wood
2.) Edward Scissorhands
3.) Big Fish
4.) Batman Returns
5.) Mars Attacks!
6.) Batman
7.) Sleepy Holly
8.) Beetle Juice
9.) Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
10.) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
11.) Planet of the Apes

I'll do more later, when I can think.

As opposed to what?

Not to beat a dead horse, but since both you and Plaw have implied a difference between favourites and best, a brief post:

There is no universal truth to be found in the criticism and discussion of art. The only valid truth is self-truth; to place your favourites on a separate scale to best indicates two things: you do not value your own opinion as much as an external system, and, in ordering things by "best" when also having a "favourites" list, you're having to compare every film to every other film, which is silly, because each film's intentions are different from every other film's, and therefore comparisons are unfair. Also, needless to say, I don't think anybody on Earth has seen enough films to say whichever one's best.

The best I've seen are my favourite films. Plaw, you connect (and art is all about connecting, I think, between viewer and author) to Broadway Danny Rose due to your personal, geographical and period upbringing. I'd be interested as to why you consider other films his best -- and, of course, which?

Martin Scorsese
Raging Bull
Taxi Driver
Goodfellas
Mean Streets
Casino
The King Of Comedy
Cape Fear
Gangs Of New York

F.F. Coppola
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part I
Apocalypse Now Redux
The Godfather Part III

Akira Kurosawa
The Seven Samurai
Rashomon

Sergio Leone
Once Upon A Time In The West
Once Upon A Time In America
The Good, the Bad And The Ugly
For A Few Dollars
For A Few Dollars More

Michael Mann
Heat
The Insider

Sidney Lumet
Dog Day Afternoon
Serpico
12 Angry Men

Brian DePalma
Carlito's Way
Scarface
The Untouchables

Steven Spielberg
Schindler's List
Saving Private Ryan
Catch Me If You Can

Oliver Stone
JFK
Any Given Sunday

Quentin Tarantino
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Kill Bill Vol.1

Actually, Capo, I connect the most personally with with Alen's Radio Days.

I think it's possible to make a distinction between "best" and "favorite" without getting too deeply into a whole analysis.

I am knowledgable enough film-watcher to appreciate great acting, directing, writing, cinematography, etc. when I see it (more or less).

Very often the qualities which make a film great are apparent in a film like The Godfather, and it is those qualities which contribute to my enjoyment of the film and make it one of my favorites.

But there are cases in which I simply enjoy onefilm made by a director over another simply because I find it more entertaining because of my personal taste.

Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder and Allen's Broadway Danny Rose are two such examples.

And there are any number of films which I derive a great deal of pleasure from watching which I do not regard as great.

It has nothing to do with valuing the judgement of an expert critic over my own.

I recognize the greatness in a film such has Schindler's List, but I derive very little pleasure from watching it because I find it overly long abd rather depressing.

And a stupid, light comedy like Mafia, which has virtually np cinematic value other than several good jokes, is one of my favorites.

And I'm fairly certain as well that the professional film critics would agree with me on all of this.

I can go to a restaurant and recognize a great and magnificently prepared dish, but if it's fish, I ain't gonna like it.

As opposed to what?

Not to beat a dead horse, but since both you and Plaw have implied a difference between favourites and best, a brief post:

There is no universal truth to be found in the criticism and discussion of art. The only valid truth is self-truth; to place your favourites on a separate scale to best indicates two things: you do not value your own opinion as much as an external system, and, in ordering things by "best" when also having a "favourites" list, you're having to compare every film to every other film, which is silly, because each film's intentions are different from every other film's, and therefore comparisons are unfair. Also, needless to say, I don't think anybody on Earth has seen enough films to say whichever one's best.

The best I've seen are my favourite films. Plaw, you connect (and art is all about connecting, I think, between viewer and author) to Broadway Danny Rose due to your personal, geographical and period upbringing. I'd be interested as to why you consider other films his best -- and, of course, which? [/b][/quote]Well, here is an example. I loved the film Anchorman. I thought it was very entertaining and funny. But was it necessarily GOOD? I didn't think so. I don't even think it's one of the 100,000 best movies ever. Quite far from that.

It's the fine line between art and entertainment. I agree you must like a film to consider it good. But you also need to take into consideration art, and message, and purpose... But this is just my personal opinion. I respect yours, as I am sure (Or, at least think/hope) that you respect mine as well.

Oh yes, definitely. If I didn't respect your values, I wouldn't have started a discussion.

LLC, your appreciation of Anchorman on even a surface level means it connected with you as it intended, which means it is a good film, on your terms (and those are the terms I value the most). To say you enjoyed it and didn't think it was good insults your own sense of humour, I think. I wouldn't know whether to watch it or not if you reviewed it by saying "Oh yeah, I laughed my arse off at it, but it's a shit film."

Plawrence, a professional critic holds little more "expertise" than me or you; the only difference, I think, is that they've probably seen more films.

I've not seen Mafia!. But, for the sake of debating by using it as an example, let us suppose that I have seen it. From what I've read, it seems a small-intentioned piece of entertainment. And when I say entertainment, I do not mean so in a degrading way. Cinematically (whatever that means is for another discussion altogether), it may (not be) up to scratch, but then, its intentions were never to win Oscars or to be regarded as the best film in the world. I think you'd agree on that.

Should we, then, hold a prejudice against it just because its intentions do not conform to universal terms of "greatness"? It fulfills its own intrinsic value very well, probably, as long as it connects with you and makes you laugh; for that's all it aspires to do.

Consider the following conversation as an example:

Film fan 1: "I saw Mafia! the other day. What a great film."

Film fan 2: "No way, Vertigo is a way better film. Check that out instead of that Mafia rubbish."

I feel far more comfortable viewing and rating films by their own intrinsic values. While I would agree that Vertigo holds more cinematic value than Mafia! (in the sense that it makes more use of the medium in terms of visuals, sound, and mise-en-scene), I am not shallow enough to only regard films that connect with me on a profound intellectual level only as the best, and that all others are simply called "guilty pleasures". That latter term, to me, also does not exist, for it is also self-patronising.

My brain's thirst for many different needs form a very open, omnivorous appreciation of art, which is why I consider Duck Soup as much a masterpiece as Gone with the Wind, or Team America World Police as much a masterpiece as Raging Bull.

Well put Capo. You just put to words the sometimes confusing thoughts that run through my head when I'm trying to compare a comedic film to a dramatic one.

Capo does that often. For someone who places such little value on words, he sure has a way with them. :p