Cronenberg. David Cronenberg emerged from the creative burst the horror genre produced in the 1970s to become one of the greatest auteurs on the planet in the modern era. Cronenberg’s great strength is the quality of his films 1-6 and the consistency of his oeuvre (and I mean hell I love Spider and that’s his #8 film). His 6th film matches up very well with Lynch, Malick, and clearly PT, Wes Anderson and Tarantino (though they are much younger). Best film:  Dead Ringers It is icy, perverse, and utterly brilliant. Jeremy Irons gives one of the best performances of the

Powell…Or Powell and Pressburger. The team of “The Archers” as they are known and proclaim (complete with their own mission statement long before Lars von Trier and the Dogme 95). I usually only consider Powell, not only because he has a very accomplished solo work (Peeping Tom) but because it is pretty well known that he did the bulk of the directing (sort of like another British duo Merchant/Ivory). From Wikipedia: “Powell did most of the directing while Pressburger did most of the work of the producer and also assisted with the editing, especially the way the music was

Altman. It’s an incredible filmography. Altman has 16 archiveable films, 6 top 500 films, and 9 top 100 films of their respective decade. His 1970’s decade was incredible—a whopping 9 films in the archives and 6 in the top 100 of the 1970’s (a considerable decade in film). He might not be Scorsese behind the camera but he’s a stylish director in his own right. I think the problem is my drop-off after Nashville is pretty substantial. Atlman only has one film in my top 200 and at this level (and higher) that’s pretty rare.   Best film:  Nashville is just a

Lean. Lean is quite a juxtaposition from the other European directors that flourished in this era (Lean’s best film was 1962 and second and third best just before and just after) like Godard, Antonioni, Truffaut and some others that are thought of during this time (and location) of artistic boom in world cinema. Lean was not near as chic or trendy (looked at as rather old-fashioned-- who did adaptations) but he was every bit their equal when it came to being a stylist.  He clearly has a perfectionist compositional eye. Lean is epic cinema (some call him the descendent

Rossellini. Rossellini is one half of the Truffaut/Godard of Italian Neorealism movement with De Sica and I’m not sure there’s a Bicycle Thieves without Rossellini. Rossellini is the Godfather and unofficial founder of Italian neo-realism (though realism has always been a part of cinema with expressionism).  Visconti has some claim to that as well with Ossessione but if I had to put one person’s face on that movement it would be Rossellini with the war trilogy: Rome, Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero. These three films are amongst the greatest of the entire 1940’s. Best film: - Rome, Open City.  It

Bunuel. To some it may feel like Bunuel should be closer to the top 10 but he’s got some really well reviewed films that don’t qualify for me (docs and experimental films) and several films that I just cannot find anywhere still. I’m always on the lookout, especially with all the ondemand and streaming options these days but as I said at the beginning I’m not going to just make assumptions about films I haven’t seen yet for my top 100 director list- which is why I plan to revisit it every 5 years or so.  Bunuel had success

The Coen Brothers. If one were to look at the top 500 films of all-time (7 films) and top 100 films of the decade count (11) it would look like the Coen Brothers should be a top 10-15 director(s). They might be in time.  With no top 100 all-time films (that hurts) their filmography ranks them 20th actually but remember that’s not counting anything from 2009 to now so we’re talking about some major works (A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis) still to come on my next update. Still, the Coens’ are the third highest rated director(s) who made

Hawks. The last five years have not been kind to Howard Hawks on my rankings here. He was not just a supervisor as a director. He’s no byproduct and benefactor of an efficient studio system. He worked within it much like John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock though his visual style is nowhere near as ostensible or exceptional and for me that’s critical. The depth of his filmography is probably better than Godard’s or Welles’. I did this thing where I scored each director on my spreadsheet and awarded points for masterpieces, must-see’s and top 10’s. I essentially score their

Spielberg.  I have Spielberg’s filmography point totals higher than his #28 ranking here which would suggest, correctly I believe, that his oeuvre is stronger than he is as a director. I love Spielberg’s films. I have always cherished them and always will. I would guess “movie” fans will think #28 is far too poor a ranking and “cinema” elitist will think he’s given far too much credit on my list… phenomenal shot from Schindler's List Best film:  Jaws. To a true cinema lover I truly think now (after watching it maybe 6-8 times) that the first half of the

Allen. I’m a great admirer of the work of Woody Allen. I hesitate saying “fan” because I feel like that implies some sort of personal affinity or preference and I don’t think that’s an accurate description of my appreciation of his films. It’s certainly tough comparing Woody with his large oeuvre (edges out Hitchcock with 1 for an astounding 33 archiveable films) which admittedly, has many lightweight artistic entries (Take the Money and Run, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Mighty Aphrodite), with those like Leone, Malick, Dreyer, Griffith, Eisenstein, Tarantino etc with fewer films but undoubtedly a higher quality per-film ratio.

Josef von Sternberg. Von Sternberg’s strength is his top three films and his overall landmark and meticulous aesthetic approach and innovation. It’s hard to ignore someone so synonymous with mise-en-scene, obviously an important aspect of cinema (one of the key four elements along with camera movement, editing and form). I feel like von Sternberg is a great litmus test for film students as his narratives can be trying but his films are remarkably strong on style and characterization. I feel like my appreciation for Blue Bngel has grown over the years as my own film knowledge and appreciation has bloomed. Best

Murnau. It is hard not to imagine where Murnau would be on this list if he hasn’t died in a car accident at age 42. Top 10? He was a master of cinematography (both the Oscar version (mostly meaning photography) of the word and the true Bordwell definition). He’s the yin to Eisenstein’s yang as far as editing and camera movement go. He has two top 100 films (nobody behind him on my director list has more). Many debate whether Sunrise is the best silent film of all-time (I have it second to Passion of Joan of Arc) and,