Raging Bull – 1980 Scorsese
From the onset of the film with the Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo from Mascagni with slow-motion photography and the fog behind the ring you know you’re witnessing a masterpiece From the onset of the film with
The 98th Best Director of All-Time: Ernst Lubitsch
Lubitsch. For this list it is best not to look at Lubitsch’s best film but the quality and consistency of authorship of his 6th, 7th, 8th best films. These are all excellent films that carried “the
Millennium Actress– 2001 Kon
It’s exceedingly worthy of praise and study and not simply for the mind-expanding mental gymnastics required to stay up with the various scenarios and narrative slivers Auteur-driven animation is pretty rare and Satoshi Kon has
Cruel Intentions – 1999 Kumble
Transcends (that word choice may be an overstatement) beyond guilty pleasure mainly because of Kumble’s writing—it’s such a deliciously wicked—Machiavellian-- adaptation of the 18th century book by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos and excellent (superior to
Thunder Road – 1958 Arthur Ripley
Made by DRM Productions (Dorothy and Robert Mitchum)—and it’s carried by Mitchum. Not only is his performance by far the best thing about it (some would say the only thing) which helps those who believe
The 97th Best Director of All-Time: Vincente Minnelli
Minnelli. Minnelli is very well respected by the consensus on TSPDT (he’s their #67 ranked auteur)- as he should be. Minnelli is another auteur in the long line of the “style over substance” guys who
The 96th Best Director of All-Time: Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols. I’m higher on Nichols than the majority of cinema buffs for two main reasons: A. I have The Graduate as an unquestionable top 100 film, and B. I also have Carnal Knowledge as a top
The 95th Best Director of All-Time: Pedro Almodovar
Almodovar. Almodovar has produced a masterpiece and a deep filmography (12 archiveable films and counting) that are all unmistakably Almodovarian’. That’s pretty rare in contemporary cinema where you can have 9th or 10th film from an auteur
The Hitch-Hiker – 1953 Lupino
The best film I’ve seen from Ida Lupino (who also co-wrote the screenplay) and an excellent film noir entry. Apparently at the first film noir by a filmmaker director and at the time the only
The Puppetmaster – 1993 Hsiao-Hsien Hou
Three-pronged film: an innovative biopic, a work from a clear auteur, and a political/historical film marking the end of the 19th century and a 50 year occupation of Japan in TaiwanTien-Lu Li plays himself in
The 94th Best Director of All-Time: Jonathan Demme
Demme. Demme’s strengths are really his dedication to his chosen aesthetics. He’s made a political thriller remake (Manchurian Candidate), a courtroom drama (Philadelphia), an odd romance (Something Wild) and a serial killer potboiler (Silence of
Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood – 2019 Tarantino
1.0 July 2019 Certainly like Inglourious and somewhat like Django- this is Tarantino’s correct to rewrite the collective tragic historical past. Like Pulp Fiction does with the structure of the film with Travolta (and does