*List subject to change
-The Cinematist
NOTE: [d] indicates documentary, [sf] indicates short film
The Coen Brothers
Years Active: 1984 - Present
I cannot think of any directors who are more versatile and as gifted as the Coen Brothers. They combine elements of dark humor, believable circumstances, and the best character development I have ever seen on film. On top of all of this, they never cease to amaze and entertain me with their films.
Filmography:
Blood Simple
Raising Arizona
Miller's Crossing
Barton Fink
The Hudsucker Proxy
Fargo
The Big Lebowski
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Man Who Wasn't There
Intolerable Cruelty
The Ladykillers
Paris, je t'aime (Paris, I Love You): "Tuileries" Film Segment [sf]
No Country for Old Men
Chacun son cinéma (To Each His Own Cinema): "World Cinema" Film Segment [sf]
Burn After Reading
A Serious Man
True Grit
Akira Kurosawa
Years Active: 1936 - 1993
The main reason Kurosawa is on this list is because he had such a significant impact on the film industry during his active years and even has a long-lasting impact on current directors. He revolutionized numerous filming techniques and created several stories that some directors even on this list - Leone, Tarantino - have even adapted.
Filmography:
Sanshiro Sugata (Judo Saga)
The Most Beautiful
Sanshiro Sugata Part II (Judo Saga 2)
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
No Regrets for Our Youth
One Wonderful Sunday
Drunken Angel
The Quiet Duel
Stray Dog
Scandal
Rashomon
The Idiot
Ikiru (To Live)
Seven Samurai
I Live in Fear (Record of a Living Being)
Throne of Blood (Spider Web Castle)
The Lower Depths
The Hidden Fortress
The Bad Sleep Well
Yojimbo (The Bodyguard)
Sanjuro
High and Low (Heaven and Hell)
Red Beard
Dodesukaden
Dersu Uzala (Dersu Uzala: The Hunter)
Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior)
Ran
Gendai no No (Modern Noh) [d]
Dreams (Akira Kurosawa's Dreams)
Madadayo (Not Yet)
Kurosawa was an assistant director in a number of works with Kajiro Yamamoto and Eisuke Takizawa that are worth looking into, as well as one with Hiromitsu Karasawa, Mikio Naruse, So Fushimizu, and Shigeo Yagura.
Stanley Kubrick
Years Active: 1951 - 1999
Stanley Kubrick's attention to detail and his serious interest in perfecting every second of his films is apparent by examining the quality of all of his films. He is a master of sci-fi, a master of drama, and a master of direction. He is the predecessor to the Coen Brothers in the category of versatility, however, his movies pack an even greater psychological punch when you watch them. I would not recommend attempting to marathon his filmography because you may find yourself depressed or checked into the psych ward. Don't say I didn't warn you!
Filmography:
[d,sf] Day of the Fight
[d,sf] Flying Padre
[d,sf] The Seafarers
Fear and Desire
Killer's Kiss
The Killing
Paths of Glory
Spartacus
Lolita
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clockwork Orange
Barry Lyndon
The Shining
Full Metal Jacket
Eyes Wide Shut
Woody Allen
Years Active: 1950 - Present
Woody Allen is the king of situational comedies. His movies, those that include him as the main actor and his later movies that don't, all provide for hilarious demonstrations of circumstances in the dating world, with relationships in general and about the annoyances of daily life. Just imagine Seinfeld, but in movie form and more intelligent. Hey! What do you know? Larry David even stars in, Whatever Works! Oh, and if you haven't seen Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm, that should be on the top of your list of TV Shows.
Filmography:
What's Up, Tiger Lily?
Take the Money and Run
Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story
Bananas
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
Sleeper
Love and Death
Annie Hall
Interiors
Manhattan
Stardust Memories
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
Zelig
Broadway Danny Rose
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Hannah and Her Sisters
Radio Days
September
Another Woman
New York Stories
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Alice
Shadows and Fog
Husbands and Wives
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Bullets Over Broadway
Don't Drink the Water
Mighty Aphrodite
Everyone Says I Love You
Deconstructing Harry
Celebrity
Sweet and Lowdown
Small Time Crooks
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
Sounds from a Town I Love
Hollywood Ending
Anything Else
Melinda and Melinda
Match Point
Scoop
Cassandra's Dream
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Whatever Works
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Midnight in Paris (May 2011)
Martin Scorsese
Years Active: 1963 - Present
I love gangster movies. I love biopics. I love stellar acting. I love high intensity dramas. I love Martin Scorsese. (you will too if you like any of those things I mentioned).
Filmography:
Vesuvius VI [sf]
What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? [sf]
It's Not Just You, Murray! [sf]
The Big Shave [sf]
Who's That Knocking at My Door
Street Scenes [d]
Boxcar Bertha
Mean Streets
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Italianamerican [d]
Taxi Driver
New York, New York
The Last Waltz [d]
American Boy: A Profile of Steven Price [d]
Raging Bull
The King of Comedy
After Hours
The Color of Money
The Last Temptation of Christ
New York Stories: "Life's Lessons" Film Segment [sf]
Goodfellas
Cape Fear
The Age of Innocence
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies [d]
Casino
Kundun
My Voyage to Italy [d]
Bringing Out the Dead
Gangs of New York
Feel Like Going Home [d]
The Aviator
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan [d]
The Departed
The Key to Reserva [sf]
Shine a Light [d]
Public Speaking [d]
Shutter Island
Living in the Material World (2011) [d]
Hugo Cabret (2011)
Sergio Leone
Years Active: 1959 - 1984
Discovering Sergio Leone during my Third Year in college was one of the highlights of that entire year. Not only did he tune me into Westerns - the Spaghetti kind to be exact - but he introduced me to Ennio Morricone, one of the most fantastic movie soundtrack composers of all time. The combination between the music, the close-ups, the panning landscapes, the lovable stories, and the tension captured through little character dialog not only won him a place on this list but more deservedly a dear place in my heart. Not to mention he made Clint Eastwood into the bad-ass that he is today. Read more about Leone on his wiki page. He's fascinating.
Filmography:
The Colossus of Rhodes
A Fistful of Dollars
For a Few Dollars More
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Once Upon a Time in the West
Duck, You Sucker! (A Fistful of Dynamite/ Once Upon a Time...the Revolution)
Once Upon a Time in America
Leone also served as a co-director for the film The Last Days of Pompeii and an uncredited co-director in My Name is Nobody and A Genius, Two Partner and a Dupe. It is also worth looking into his assistant directing filmography.
Quentin Tarantino
Years Active: 1988 - Present
In my opinion, Tarantino wins the prize in direction with the most memorable characters - Jules Winnfield, The Bride, Mr. Pink, Col. Hans Landa to name a few - but his movies are very hip, in tune with pop culture, and fun. The violence gets exaggerated at times, but even still, Tarantino is young and has learned and been influenced by the old greats, which has enabled him to produce fantastic films thus far to which I imagine him responding, "There's plenty more where that came from!"
Filmography:
My Best Friend's Birthday
Reservoir Dogs
Pulp Fiction
Four Rooms: "The Man from Hollywood" Film Segment
Jackie Brown
Kill Bill, Vol. 1
Kill Bill, Vol. 2
Sin City (special guest director)
Grindhouse: Death Proof
Inglourious Basterds
David Lean
Years Active: 1942 - 1984
When I think of David Lean I think EPIC. He not only was a master of directing, but he serves as the best representative of British film making, and is the director I go to first when I want to watch a high quality, thought provoking, beautifully shot, well acted film.
Filmography:
In Which We Serve
This Happy Breed
Blithe Spirit
Brief Encounter
Great Expectations
Oliver Twist
The Passionate Friends
Madeleine
The Sound Barrier
Hobson's Choice
Summertime
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Lawrence of Arabia
Doctor Zhivago
Ryan's Daughter
A Passage to India
Alfred Hitchcock
Years Active: 1921 - 1976
Hitchcock defined thrillers and was a champion during both the silent films days and the beginning stages of sound films. His has been regarded as one of the most influential directors of all time, one who has shaped modern cinema. I think he gained this acclaim mostly through his amazing ability to create such interesting scenarios with characters that we become attached to, only to see them all get slashed up..er...SPOILER ALERT...just kidding...but not really....
Filmography:
SILENT ERA:
No. 13*
Always Tell Your Wife*
The Please Garden
The Mountain Eagle*
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
The Ring
Downhill
The Farmer's Wife
Easy Virtue
Champagne
The Manxman
Blackmail (silent version)
SOUND ERA:
Blackmail
Juno and the Paycock
Murder!
Elstree Calling
The Skin Game
Mary
Rich and Strange
Number Seventeen
Waltzes from Vienna
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The 39 Steps
Secret Agent
Sabotage
Young and Innocent
The Lady Vanishes
Jamaica Inn
Rebecca
Foreign Correspondent
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Suspicion
Saboteur
Shadow of a Doubt
Lifeboat
Aventure Malgache
Bon Voyage
Spellbound
Notorious
The Paradine Case
Rope
Under Capricorn
Stage Fright
Strangers on a Train
Dial M for Murder
Rear Window
To Catch a Thief
The Trouble with Harry
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Wrong Man
Vertigo
North by Northwest
Psycho
The Birds
Marnie
Torn Curtain
Topaz
Frenzy
Family Plot
*The films were lost
Steven Spielberg
Years Active: 1963 - Present
Where would we be without Spielberg. He has provided so many blockbuster hits, so much cinematic entertainment, and even has brought one of the most horrific events in human history onto the silver screen in an artistic, respectful and informative way. Spielberg is excellent at providing the audience with movies the want to see in the styles and CGI nature that want to see it.
Filmography:
Firelight
Amblin'
Duel
The Sugarland Express
Jaws
Close Encounters of the Third King
1941
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Twilight Zone: The Movie
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
The Color Purple
Empire of the Sun
Always
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Hook
Jurassic Park
Schindler's List
Amistad
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Saving Private Ryan
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Catch Me If You Can
Minority Report
The Terminal
Munich
War of the Worlds
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
War Horse (2011)
Robopocalypse (2012)
Lincoln (2013)
Honorable Mentions:
Those directors that didn't make the cut but are still great. You should definitely check out some of their movies as well.
Francis Ford Coppola, Sir Ridley Scott, Christopher Nolan, Charlie Chaplin, Lee Unkrich/John Lasseter, Danny Boyle, Pedro Almodóvar
