Thursday, July 20, 2006

Best & Worst - Updated!

Okay, think about your favorite directors, or at least some well-known established directors, and give me your favorite movies from them, and then your least favorites. C'mon, it'll be fun.

Here's some of mine............

Marty:
My Fave: Mean Streets & Goodfellas
Least Fave: The Aviator
Flawed but underrated - Bringing Out The Dead

Spike Lee
My Fave: 25th Hour, Crooklyn, Clockers
Least Fave: She Hate Me, Mo Better Blues
Underrated - Jungle Fever, Overrated - Do the Right Thing

Stevie Spielberg
Fave: Jaws, Close Encounters, Private Ryan, Empire Of The Sun, Raiders
Least Fave - AI, 1941
Overrated - The color Purple
Underrated - Munich

Steven Soderbergh
Fave - Out Of Sight, King of the Hill. The Limey, Traffic
Least - Solaris

Coens:
Fave: Miller's X-ing, Barton Fink, Raising Arizona, O Brother, Fargo
Least Fave - Intolerable Cruelty (had some moments though)
Underrated: Hudsucker, The Ladykillers
Overrated: Blood Simple

Sam Raimi:
Fave - A Simple Plan, Evil Dead
Least Fave: Darkman

Brian DePalma
Fave: The Untouchables, Casualties Of War, Carlito's Way
Least Fave: Dressed To Kill, Mission To Mars, Raising Cain
Underrated: Blow Out

Cronenberg
Fave: The Fly
Least Fave: Naked Lunch
Overrated: History Of Violence

Peter Weir:
Fave: Gallipoli, Fearless, Dead Poets, Truman Show, The Last Wave, Witness, The Mosquito Coast
Least Fave: Green Card (it does have moments though), The Year Of Living Dangerously.

Woody Allen:
Fave - Manhattan, Annie Hall, Sleeper
Least Fave - Match Point, Celebrity, Everyone Says I Love You

Ron Howard:
Fave - Gung Ho, Willow, Apollo 13, Night Shift, Cocoon, Parenthood
Least - The Missing
Overrated - A Beautiful Mind

John Hughes
Fave - Planes Trains, 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, She's Having A Baby
Least Fave: Curly Sue
Underrated: Christmas Vacation

John Carpenter
Fave - The Thing, Escape From NY, Halloween
Least Fave - Escape From LA, Vampires
Underrated - They Live

Clint Eastwood
Fave - Unforgiven
Least - Anything with a monkey, Garden/Good/Evil
Underrated - A Perfect World, Mystic River

Georgie Lucas
Fave - Star Wars, American Graffitti
Least Fave - Eps 1, 2, 3

Francis Ford Coppola
Fave - Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, The Conversation, Godfather 1 & 2
Least Fave - Jack, The Rainmaker, Rumble Fish, Godfather 3

YOUR TURN!!!!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Scorsese:
Favorite: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Kundun, The Last Waltz
Least Favorite: Gangs of New York
More People Should See: American Boy

Woody:
Favorite: Interiors, Manhattan, Decon. Harry
Least Favorite: Small Time Crooks

Nichols:
Fav: Carnal Knowledge, Catch-22
Least: Wolf

Pakula:
Favorite: Klute, All the President's Men
Least: Devils Own

Billy Wilder:
Favorite: The Apartment
Least: N/A

Soderbergh:
Favorite: Solaris, Kafka
Least: Erin Brockovich

Altman:
Fav: McCabe & Mrs. Miller, California Split
Least: Dr. T
Underrated: The Company

that's enough for now, I think.

Screenwriting Guy said...

Dude, how can you leave out Picnic at Hanging Rock from Weir's list? That movie is INSANE.

Same goes for Uncle Buck on the Hughes list.

Nice idea for a list, btw.

Here's my contribution:

Cameron Crowe:

Favorites: Fast Times, Say Anything, Jerry Maguire (yes, I am secure with my manhood)
Least: Elizabethtown, Vanilla Sky
Overrated: Almost Famous
Underrated: Singles

Scott the Reader said...

A few corrections, for the sake of historical accuracy --

John Hughes didn't direct Pretty In Pink. And Cameron Crowe didn't direct Fast Times.

Still pondering my list...

Scott the Reader said...

Tim Burton:
Favorite: Ed Wood, Beetlejuice
Least Favorite: Mars Attacks, Planet of the Apes
Overrated: Batman

Barry Levinson:

Favorite: Diner, Tin Men, Good Morning Vietnam, Wag the Dog

Least Favorite: Sphere, Envy, Toys, Jimmy Hollywood

Underrated: Liberty Heights


Steven Soderbergh:

Favorite: King of the Hill, Erin Brockovich, Traffic

Least Favorite: Solaris

Underrated: The Underneath


Steven Spielberg:

Favorite: Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark

Least Favorite: AI, The Terminal, Hook

Underrated: Catch Me If You Can, War of the Worlds.

Scribe LA said...

Scott... what about Soderbergh's "Out of Sight"? I think that's his best effort. Fo sho.
Scribe

Screenwriting Guy said...

Nice catch on Fast Times, Scott. Ooops.

How bout another one:

Wes Anderson

Favorites: Rushmore, Bottle Rocket, Royal Tennenbaums
Least: The Life Aquatic

Patrick J. Rodio said...

Sorry about the Pretty In Pink flub, I just assumed.

SG - your'e right about Picnic/Rock, great movie.

And I TOTALLY agree with King of the Hill & Out Of Sight as some of Soderbergh's best, The Limey, too.

I enjoyed Liberty Heights as well from Levinson, and Diner is superb.

But I gotta say, I loved Mars Attacks. Loved it!

L.R. Williams said...

Martin Scorsese
Fave: Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull & The Aviator
Least Fave: Gangs of New York
Underrated: Casino & The Age of Innocence

Spike Lee
Fave: Clockers, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, Mo' Better Blues & 25th Hour
Least Fave: Bamboozled, He Got Game, Girl 6
Underrated: Jungle Fever & She's Gotta Have It
Overrated: School Daze

Steven Spielberg
Fave: Jaws, Close Encounters, Saving Private Ryan, Raiders, The Color Purple, Schindler's List, Minority Report
Laest Fave: The Terminal, A.I.
Underrated: 1941, Always, Amistad, Catch Me If You Can, War of the Worlds
Overrated: Jurassic Park, Hook

Steven Soderbergh
Fave: Out of Sight, Traffic, Ocean's Eleven
Least Fave: Ocean's Twelve, Solaris
Underrated: The Limey, Sex Lies & Videotape

The Coens
Fave: Barton Fink, Raising Arizona, O Brother, Fargo, Miller's Crossing, The Ladykillers
Least Fave: Blood Simple
Underrated: Hudsucker, Intolerable Cruelty
Overrated: The Big Lebowski

Sam Raimi
Fave: A Simple Plan, Army of Darkness, Evil Dead, Spider Man (1 & 2)
Least Fave: For Love of the Game
Underrated: The Gift, The Quick & the Dead
Overrated: Darkman

Brian DePalma
Fave: The Untouchables, Carlito's Way, Mission: Impossible, Body Double, Casualties of War, Scarface
Least Fave: Femme Fatale, Mission To Mars, Dressed To Kill
Underrated: Carrie, Blow Out
Overrated: Raising Cain, Snake Eyes

David Cronenberg
Fave: The Fly, Dead Ringers
Least Fave: Naked Lunch
Underrated: M. Butterfly, The Dead Zone, Videodrome
Overrated: Crash

Peter Weir
Fave: Master & Commander, Truman Show, Fearless, Dead Poets' Society, Mosquito Coast, Witness, Gallipoli
Least Fave: The Year of Living Dangerously
Overrated: Green Card

I'll stop for now...

Anonymous said...

Here's some of my fav directors:

Coen Bros:
Fav: O Brother, Fargo
Least Fav: Miller's Crossing (cannot get thru 15 min of this movie.)
Underrated: Hudsucker Proxy
Overrated: Blood Simple

Ridley Scott:
Fav: Alien, Blade Runner
Least Fav: Black Hawk Down (soooooo disappointed!)
Underrated: Matchstick Men, Someone to Watch Over Me
Overrated: Black Hawk Down! ( was tempted to put Gladiator but I think it’s good entertainment & can watch it over & over again)

Alexander Payne:
Fav: Election
Least Fav: About Schmidt
Underrated: Citizen Ruth
Overrated: Sideways

Oliver Stone:
Fav: JFK
Least Fav: The Doors, Alexander (i don't count Seizure & The Hand ;-) )
Underrated: JFK (people still don't give this movie enough love. A fucking masterpiece & so influential)
Overrated: Platoon (the VO is esp. embarrassing, still a great movie tho)

Milos Forman
Fav: Amadeus
Least Fav: Man on the Moon
Underrated: Hair
Overrated: One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest ( saw this again about a yr ago & was shockingly underwhelmed)

Woody Allen:
Fav: Hannah, Husbands & Wives, Crimes & M’s
Least Fav: Melinda & Melinda (so painful I had to FF thru it) Haven’t seen some of his other recent ones for obvious reasons.
Underrated: Sleeper, Purple Rose of Cairo
Overrated: Match Point (Story & char’s really weren’t that interesting.)

Billy Wilder
Fav: Some Like it Hot, Sunset Blvd
Least Fav: Sabrina
Underrated: One, Two, Three
Overrated: Sabrina, Stalag 17

Patrick J. Rodio said...

For Ridley Scott I'd put black Hawk in my faves, I really liked that movie, although they did need to make it clearer who's who in it. Also Alien, Gladiator & Matchstick Men as faves.

As for Oliver Stone - I think U-Turn is underrated. JFK, Platoon & Born on the 4th are my faves from him, while Natural Born Killers would be my overrated choice from him, while Alexander is simply atrocious.

Anonymous said...

Patrick,

I forgot all about the horrid HANNIBAL. God, that movie was so embarrassingly bad, esp. for a filmmaker of Scott's stature. It's one of those, "What were they THINKING?" movies.

So Hannibal is my least fav Ridley movie, Black Hawk my 2nd least fav.

Grumpy O. Selznick said...

How bout
Michael Mann
Favorite - Manhunter, Last of the Mohicans
Least Favorite - The Keep
Underrated - Thief

Or Michael Bay

HAHAHAHAH