Sunday, July 18, 2010

The 10 most interesting movie directors working today

It’s fun to watch the work of a movie director at the top of his or her game.
Such is the case with Christopher Nolan, whose latest movie “Inception” opened this weekend. “Inception,” which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, has scored 84% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
For my money, Nolan hasn’t made a bad movie yet. He has an unbroken string of seven worthwhile films. I’ve been a big fan since “Memento” (2000) and “Insomnia” (2002).
Here’s a list of 10 movie directors whose work I admire and who have a great batting average lately for films worth watching.
For this list, I’m going to skip most of the best known directors, whose work is universally regarded as top notch. They include Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Joel and Ethan Coen, Michael Mann, Quentin Tarantino, Peter Jackson and James Cameron.
Instead I’m going to choose a few of the hottest new directors as well as a few genre (action, horror, comedy, etc.) directors who don’t get enough credit for consistently high-quality work.

1.
Christopher Nolan
Following (1998)
Memento (2000)
Insomnia (2002)
Batman Begins (2005)
The Prestige (2006)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Inception (2010)

2.
David Fincher
Seven (1995)
The Game (1997)
Fight Club (1999)
Panic Room (2002)
Zodiak (2007)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
The Social Network (2010)

3.
Jason Reitman
Thank You for Smoking (2005)
Juno (2007)
Up in the Air (2009)

4.
Danny Boyle
Trainspotting (1996)
28 Days Later (2002)
Millions (2004)
Sunshine (2007)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

5.
Michael Winterbottom
Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)
The Claim (2000)
24 Hour Party People (2002)
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005)
The Road to Guantanamo (2006)
A Mighty Heart (2007)
The Killer Inside Me (2010)

6.
Guillermo del Toro
Cronos (1993)
Mimic (1997)
The Devil’s Backbone (2001)
Blade II (2002)
Hellboy (2004)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

7.
David Twohy
The Arrival (1996)
Pitch Black (2000)
Below (2002)
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
A Perfect Getaway (2009)

8.
Neil Marshall
Dog Soldiers (2002)
The Descent (2006)
Doomsday (2008)
Centurion (2010)

9.
Steven Soderbergh
Out of Sight (1998)
The Limey (1999)
Traffic (2000)
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Ocean’s Twelve (2004)
Bubble (2005)
The Good German (2006)
Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)
Che (2008)
The Girlfriend Experience (2009)
The Informant! (2009)

10.
Mike Judge
Office Space (1999)
Idiocracy (2006)
Extract (2009)

No comments: