The 50 Greatest Working Directors

Entertainment Weekly recently released a list of their top 50 working directors that is as funny as it is sad, featuring the likes of Nancy Meyers and J.J. Abrams: http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20311937_20345805,00.html?xid=rss-feed-todayslatest-50+top+working+directors+%28pt.+1%29

After thoroughly mocking their choices, I got to thinking and figured the best form of criticism is to do better yourself, so I compiled a list of my own top 50 working directors.

In order to qualify, a director has to have made at least three films I consider great and either have made a film in the last 5 years or be currently working on one.

My list:

50.) Stephen Frears
49.) Jan Troell
48.) Peter Weir
47.) Guy Maddin
46.) Albert and David Maysles
45.) Paul Schrader
44.) David Fincher
43.) Agnes Varda
42.) Jacques Rivette
41.) David Mamet
40.) Wes Anderson
39.) Zhang Yimou
38.) Bernardo Bertolucci
37.) Lars Von Trier
36.) Hayao Miyazaki
35.) Richard Linklater
34.) Clint Eastwood
33.) Milos Forman
32.) Ken Loach
31.) John Sayles
30.) Michael Moore
29.) Patrice Leconte
28.) Alain Resnais
27.) Mike Nichols
26.) David Lynch
25.) Steven Spielberg
24.) Woody Allen
23.) David Gordon Green
22.) Ramin Bahrani
21.) Quentin Tarantino
20.) Michael Apted
19.) Gus Van Sant
18.) Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
17.) Roman Polanski
16.) Oliver Stone
15.) Mike Leigh
14.) Steven Soderbergh
13.) Joel and Ethan Coen
12.) Wim Wenders
11.) Manoel de Oliveira
10.) Errol Morris
9.) P.T. Anderson
8.) Spike Lee
7.) Sidney Lumet
6.) Francis Ford Coppola
5.) Werner Herzog
4.) Terrence Malick
3.) Jean-Luc Godard
2.) Frederick Wiseman
1.) Martin Scorsese

Just outside: Ang Lee, Pedro Almodovar, Michael Mann, Nagisa Oshima, Cameron Crowe, David Cronenberg, Kenneth Branagh, Peter Greenaway, Barbara Kopple, Jonathan Demme

On the rise (could be here in 5-10 years, have made incredible films but not 3 qualifiers yet): Arnaud Desplechin, Todd Field, Tom Tykwer, Lynne Ramsay, Lukas Moodysson, Craig Brewer, Jason Reitman, Park Chan-Wook, Fernando Meirelles, Alejandro Gonzalez Inaritu, Alexsandr Sokurov, Spike Jonze, Wong Kar-Wai, Michel Gondry, Todd Haynes, Edward Yang, Sam Mendes, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Christopher Nolan, Rian Johnson, Sofia Coppola, Paul Greengrass, Alfonso Cuaron, Kelly Reichardt, Jeff Nichols, Lance Hammer, Stephen Gaghan, Marc Forster, Andrew Dominick, Tarsem, Darren Aronofsky

Curiously absent (have made great films but for one reason or another didn't place): Claude Chabrol, Brian De Palma, Neil Jordan, Jan Svankmajer, Andrzej Wajda, D.A. Pennebaker, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Neil LaBute, Todd Solondz, Mira Nair, Terry Gilliam, Atom Egoyan, Richard Attenborough, Robert Zemeckis, Robert Benton, Mel Brooks, Peter Bogdanovich, Ridley Scott, John Dahl, Lawrence Kasdan, Barry Levinson, Paul Mazursky, Nicolas Roeg, Barbet Schroeder, Istvan Szabo, Jim Sheridan, Frank Darabont, James Ivory, Alex Cox, Steve James, Godfrey Reggio, William Friedkin, Hector Babenco, Peter Yates

I haven't seen enough of: Bela Tarr, Abbas Kiarostami, Aki Kaurismaki, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Zhang Ke Jia, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Johnnie To, Theo Angelopoulos, Chris Marker, Emir Kusturica, Claire Denis, Faith Akin, Patrice Chéreau, Hong Sangsoo, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Tsai Ming-liang

I haven't liked enough of: George Lucas, Michael Haneke, Takeshi Kitano, Curtis Hanson, Takashi Miike, Jim Jarmusch, Tim Burton, James Cameron, Danny Boyle, Guillermo Del Toro, Peter Jackson, Catherine Breillat, John Carpenter, Mel Gibson, Matthieu Kassovitz, Mike Figgis, John Woo, John Singleton, Ron Howard, Jane Campion, Luc Besson, Alex Proyas, Sam Raimi, Rob Reiner, Robert Rodriguez, George Romero, M. Night Shyamalan, Bryan Singer, Edward Zwick, Terry Zwigoff

Will never in a million years make my fucking list: Nancy Meyers, J.J. Abrams

Mood: Chillin'

sbunn10 at 10:08 PM Mar 09

am I missing Aronofsky's name or does he not qualify?

Servo at 10:46 PM Mar 09

I'm glad you mentioned Rian Johnson. He's a really cool director and a solid guy as well.

Monotreme at 07:36 AM Mar 10

I already replied to this on the forums, but this is one HELL of an effort. While I would have some directors who didn't make your top 50 on my own, and some that are on yours would rank a little lower - overall, this is pretty much the most extensive list of good or otherwise interesting directors working today. Great job!

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The Best One Scene Performances of 2009

The Best One Scene Performances of 2009

Ned Beatty and Beatrice Straight in Network. Viola Davis in Doubt. Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross. John Carrol Lynch in Zodiac. Walken in Pulp Fiction.

Those fantastic performance that elevate a movie, are so often the most memorable part, but are difficult to classify. More than an extended cameo, but too small to really consider "Supporting" players for traditional awards. Because of that difficulty, they too often go unrewarded for the considerable effort of getting so much out of so little screentime. Here's a chance to show your appreciation.

Here are the actors who needed only a few minutes to blow me away this year:

Denis Menochet -Inglourious Basterds
Say what you will about Christoph Waltz, and he was phenomenal, this is the performance that left the biggest impact for me. In an audacious, heavily stylized film full of big scenery-chewing characters played even bigger, Menochet's subdued evocation of a simple dairy farmer gave us the most honest (and heart-wrenching) portrait of a real human being and the impossible choices war thrusts on them.

Michael Kenneth Williams -The Road
In the dreary, unimaginably bleak world of this road movie, a father and son duo have a series of encounters with one scene wonders along their journey. Each leaves an impression, but no one personifies the desperation and shame the apocalypse has forced on its survivors like Williams. At first appearance a villain, he is transformed into a quivering, pathetic figure. Stripped of both clothing and dignity, his appeal to compassion is the greatest moral challenge the protagonist faces and forces the audience to consider how far they would go to survive. Unforgettable.

J.K. Simmons -Up in The Air

George Wyner -A Serious Man

Maggie Gyllenhaal -Away We Go

Glenn Kenny -The Girlfriend Experience
Film critic Kenny plays the slimiest, most repulsive character of 2009. A stereotype of the worst internet loser given a modicum of power he delights in exploiting. He's the Harry Knowles of the online sex trade. By turns threatening, entitled, abrasive, and disgusting, his "seduction" of Sasha Grey shows us how even the steeliest, most professional of call girls can still be made to feel like a worthless whore. His "review" is at once the saddest and funniest moment of this overlooked mini-gem.

Suhail Aldabbach -The Hurt Locker

Stephen Graham -Public Enemies

August Diehl -Inglourious Basterds

Mo'Nique -Precious
Sort of cheating with the last pick, as she's in a dozen scenes. While the rest of the critical community was completely won over by this unexpected turn from a "comedienne" best known for work like Phat Girlz, I never believed her. Her campy, exaggerated rendering of the most cliché welfare queen imaginable felt like it belonged more in a John Waters grossout pic than a serious drama about the unremitting misfortune and pain of a poverty-stricken, illiterate, and unloved teen.... that is until her final scene. In a sudden, shocking turnaround she reveals depths of her character the previous 90 minutes never suggested. In one raw, incredible monologue she offers an explanation for her cruelty, transforming her wicked stepmother caricature into a tortured, twisted bundle of hatred whose mistreatment of her daughter is the result of her own unimaginable and unresolved wounds. No less despicable, but now understandable and human. She's not my choice for the Oscar she is all but guaranteed, but if only for this one remarkable scene, it's hard to argue she didn't earn it.

Mood: Angry

Filmline at 06:26 AM Jan 14

I couldn't agree with you more on Denis Menochet.!

screamer581 at 10:32 AM Jan 14

Great choices.

So I assume you are the only other person that liked "Away We Go"? I thought I was alone. I thought Maggie was a little over the top, but very funny.

BakeTheMooCow at 06:11 PM Jan 14

Whoa.. great list idea and excellent choices.