MetaFilter posts tagged with directors

Name 5 female directors. Go!

crossoverman — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 20:04:38 -0800

I’ve Spent 12 Years Surrounded by Hollywood Peen. Where Are the Women Directors?

"My hatred for Japanese cinema includes absolutely all of it."

HumanComplex — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:14:29 -0800

"Japanese cinema’s preeminent taboo buster, Nagisa Oshima directed, between 1959 and 1999, more than twenty groundbreaking features. For Oshima, film was a form of activism, a way of shaking up the status quo. Uninterested in the traditional Japanese cinema of such popular filmmakers as Kurosawa, Ozu, and Naruse, Oshima focused not on classical themes of good and evil or domesticity but on outcasts, gangsters, murderers, rapists, sexual deviants, and the politically marginalized." The great Japanese director Nagisa Oshima passed away at the age of 80 last week. Appreciations from the Guardian, Slate, Fandor, Telegraph, NY Times, AV Club, and a few in-depth articles over at Senses of Cinema and Film Comment.

"Something so intensely nerdy that it we can’t help but dedicate some serious time to it."

zarq — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 10:40:37 -0800

Every Thursday, Film School Rejects posts things "learned from the commentary tracks of an iconic movie": Commentary Commentary Index Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Alien Aliens Armageddon Bad Boys Batman: The Movie Beverly Hills Cop Big Trouble in Little China Blair Witch Project Boogie Nights Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 Boondock Saints, The Bourne Identity, The Cabin in the Woods, The Cannibal! The Musical Casino Royale Cloverfield Conan the Barbarian Dark City David Cronenberg's The Fly Dawn of the Dead Die Hard Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story Edward Scissorhands Elf Escape from New York Exorcist, The French Connection, The First Blood Frankenstein (1931) Ghostbusters Halloween Hard Candy Host, The Iron Giant, The John Carpenter's The Thing Kingdom, The Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Knocked Up Last Starfighter, The Limey, The Memento Monster Squad, The Monty Python and the Holy Grail National Lampoon's Vacation Night of the Living Dead ParaNorman Phantasm Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Princess Bride, The Prometheus Proposition, The Requiem for a Dream Road to Perdition Rocky Horror Picture Show Royal Tenenbaums, The Se7en Shaun of the Dead Spider-Man Step Up Terminator 2: Judgement Day Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Thief Total Recall True Romance WALL*E Similar: Their Cinematic Listology entries. For fun: Drinking Games

The Greatest Films of All Time, 2012

alexoscar — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 11:06:06 -0800

Sight & Sound's prestigious Greatest Films of All Time poll is conducted only once per decade. The latest edition polled 846 film critics (up from 144 in the 2002 edition) and 358 directors. The results were revealed earlier today and, for the first time since 1962, Citizen Kane has not topped either the critics' or the directors' poll. It has been unseated as the Greatest Film of All Time by Vertigo and Tokyo Story. The magazine has also revealed the Critics' Top 50. Citizen Kane topped both the directors' and critics' polls in 2002. The last poll not topped by Kane was the first one, which polled 63 critics in 1952 and was topped by Bicycle Thieves. In anticipation of the new poll, Sight & Sound posted some of the ballots submitted to their 1962 poll, including ones sent in my Eric Rohmer and Andrew Sarris. The results of the 1972, 1982, and 1992 polls are all online as well. There is also a browseable list of all films voted for in the 2002 poll, as well as the individual critics' and directors' ballots.

Actors and Directors Name Their Top 5 Movies

dgaicun — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 06:23:00 -0800

Rotten Tomatoes asks some of the biggest names in Hollywood: Name Your Five Favorite Films. Browse at the link or click on people of possible interest below the fold. In Memoriam: Ernest Borgnine Comedians: Patton Oswalt tastes aren’t as geeky as you’d think. David Cross has serious tastes as well. Cheech & Chong Remember them? Russell Brand needs a shave. Dane Cook Craig Ferguson Directors: J.J. Abrams Wes Anderson Judd Apatow Danny Boyle Jerry Bruckheimer Why don’t you try to make movies like the ones you like? Tim Burton really likes B movies James Cameron likes the movies directors are supposed to like Sofia Coppola Roger Corman I expected your favorites to look more like Tim Burton’s Warner Herzog Peter Jackson His rise from B-movie gross-out king to Lord of the Rings super-director is one of the great mysteries of our time. Bill Plympton is a national treasure. Mind Game and Baby Doll FTW. Joel Schumacher Why don’t you try to make movies like the ones you like? Morgan Spurlock knows the awesome secret that is A Face in the Crowd (1957). Kevin Smith Whit Stillman Horror Mavens: John Carpenter Wes Craven George Romero Eli Roth Guillermo del Toro Musicians: Elton John Ice Cube Is Citizen Kane really a favorite, Mr. Cube? Fred Durst In this category on a technicality. Ludacris Moby Queen Latifah Rob Zombie Here not be surprises. Frogs: Kermit has a… thing for Ned Beatty. Actors: Nicholas Cage Michael Caine If you say “My Cocaine” you say his name in his own accent. Aaron Eckhart James Franco likes some Neo-Realism Morgan Freeman Jeff Goldblum Woody Harrelson John Malkovich Edward Norton I’ve been meaning to watch that Ruggles movie, sir. Gary Oldman really likes Francis Ford Coppola. Ron Perlman Joan Rivers has unusual tastes. Mickey Rourke Jason Statham likes some manly stuff. Tilda Swinton Danny Trejo Betty White Famous For Various Other Talents: Sasha Grey ~~is not boring~~ ~~has good taste~~ Dammit... nigh impossible to avoid double entendres. Stan Lee Chuck Palahniuk Session 9 a top 5? Really? You couldn’t just say Fight Club? Why So Famous?: Paris Hilton Billy Ray Cyrus I should link to a malware site just to punish your curiosity. Megan Fox likes those kid’s movies. Uwe Boll WHY DON’T YOU TRY TO MAKE M…. Ugh, I quit. Bye.

writer/director/actor

kliuless — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 06:09:37 -0800

Louis C.K. on eating pressure and providing an alternative to The Man - "I ask him to think about what he really needs; when he tells me, I give him a little more. It buys me goodwill with this person; I feel good about what I'm paying them. I like to give people a little more than they want, and I like to ask people for a little less than they're willing to give."

It's all so goddamn interesting. It really is. I love knowing why I was able to sell out in one town, and why I wasn't in another town. I love knowing what goes into everything—the economics, the technical aspect, and how to create the ideas in the show. It's great. If you can have access to all of that, why the fuck would you not want to know? I just love learning. I think learning is how you live.

Why 'Louie' Is So Excellent—And Why It's Getting Better Faster Than Other Shows (Slate) Older, Mellower, but Still Woody: "I do carry an iPhone because I want to have a phone. But more important, on the iPhone my assistant put a few hundred jazz records, and when I travel and practice the clarinet I used to take all this equipment with me. Now, I just have earphones and I can practice the clarinet effortlessly with this thing. I have never sent an email in my life. I never received an email. I have two buttons I can touch—the weather and the Huffington Post." Interview with Patrick Wang of "In the Family" [1,2,3]

"It's amazing how many voices you will encounter trying to convince you to make a bad movie," says Wang. "They say take that wonderful and unique thing you have and turn it into garbage because the people love garbage and what's safer than garbage and we all live in garbage anyway." So amidst these pressures, you must defend original work, he says: "You need someone to say, 'Enough already.' I got tired of waiting for someone, so I said, 'Enough already.' "

(NYT/Ebert)

An overgrown boy scout: truthful, inquisitive, courageous and caring.

crossoverman — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:23:40 -0800

The 50 best David Lynch characters. And David Lynch films - from worst to best. And David Lynch's best music moments. Craziest David Lynch moments.

It’s kind of like making children

Artw — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:10:52 -0800

David Cronenberg talks to the LA Review of Books about making movies

When Bad Films Happen to Good Directors

Horace Rumpole — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:18:56 -0800

Simply the Worst. Film blog Reverse Shot is looking this month at the worst (by various criteria) films of some major directors, including the Coen Brothers' The Ladykillers, Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Woody Allen's Anything Else, and more.

Hollywood Career-o-Matic

Trurl — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 06:43:02 -0800

A visitor to the Rotten Tomatoes site can check out the data for individual Hollywood careers—that's how Tabarrok came up with the Shyamalan graph—but there's no easy way for users to measure industrywide trends or to compare different actors and directors side-by-side. To that end, Rotten Tomatoes kindly let Slate analyze the scores in its enormous database and create an interactive tool so our readers might do the same.

I'm a great believer in the force of will.

Potomac Avenue — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:30:35 -0800

RIP: Joe Sarno, one of the progenitors of sexploitation in the 1960s. The director of such fine films as All The Sins of Sodom, Scarf of Mist--Thigh of Satin, the Swap and How They Made It, Inga, and Butterflies. He was one of the early supporters of new wave porn stars like Annie Sprinkle, and his wife, Peggy Steffans, was an actress in many of his film.

All The World's An MP3

grumblebee — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:52:10 -0800

The American Theatre Wing hosts MP3 interviews with actors, directors, playwrights and other artists. e.g. Stephen Sondheim and Anna Deavere Smith and F. Murray Abraham and Eric Bogosian and John Patrick Shanley and Edward Albee and Venessa Redgrave and Alan Ayckbourn and...

FIRST!

crossoverman — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:32:58 -0800

Will female directors break through the glass ceiling? Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) has just won the Director's Guild of America Award for Best Director - a first for any female director. It's a good indicator for Oscar. But can she win against a strong field? Only three female directors have ever been nominated for the Oscar for Best Director: Lina Wertmüller (Seven Beauties), Jane Campion (The Piano), Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation).

Michelangelo Antonioni's "Zabriskie Point"

Joe Beese — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:37:08 -0800

Pauline Kael called it "a huge, jerry-built, crumbling ruin of a movie". Roger Ebert called it "such a silly and stupid movie... our immediate reaction is pity". Few directors of Michelangelo Antonioni's stature have followed a film as acclaimed as Blowup (1966) with one as reviled as Zabriskie Point (1970). While what merit the film has is found chiefly, if not solely, in Antonioni's characteristically striking visuals - particularly its concluding explosion sequence set to Pink Floyd's "Come in Number 51, Your Time is Up" (previously) - the movie has been YouTubed in its entirety here. (related)

Only he didn't actually SAY "bleep..."

cereselle — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:34:38 -0800

Charlie's Angels. Simon & Simon. 21 Jump Street. Baywatch. The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. And of course, The X-Files. His filmography spans nearly 40 years, and his habit of using profanity onset was immortalized in the classic episode Jose Chung's From Outer Space (sorry, no video), but in the end, he really loved those guys, and they loved him. He was lured out of semi-retirement and back to Canada to executive-produce and direct Supernatural for the WB (later CW). Kim Manners died of lung cancer in LA on January 25, 2009.

RIP TRL, Viva YouTube!

Horace Rumpole — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:03:21 -0800

Six new directors who are making music video cool again:
Cat Solen (see also)
Rik Cordero (see also)
Matthew Cullen (see also) (previously)
Vincent Moon (see also)
Vincent Morisset (see also)
Keith Schofield (see also)

Trying to rape the viewer into independence

chuckdarwin — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:56:04 -0800

17 Notorious Living, Working Cinematic Provocateurs. The Onion A/V Club strikes again.

An Orgy Of Savage Lusts!

fearfulsymmetry — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 04:01:37 -0800

Trailers From Hell. Cult directors (and other industry types) introduce and comment on trailers for cult films. For instance, Allison Anders on Peeping Tom, Rick Baker on The Man Of A Thousand Faces, Joe Dante on Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman, Jack Hill on White Heat, Dan Ireland on The Haunting, Mary Lambert on The Masque Of The Red Death and Edgar Wright on Carnage. (Flash menu and intro unfortunately)

Bargain Bin Bliss

muckster — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 13:27:02 -0800

TM without the ™. When he's not directing one of the best movies of the year or sitting on intersections with cows, David Lynch is a vocal advocate of Transcendental Meditation. In his new book Catching the Big Fish, he talks about the Box and the Key, meeting Fellini, the Suffocating Rubber Clown Suit, why he doesn't do DVD commentaries--and TM, which he calls "the experience that does everything." If you're intrigued by TM but sketched out by the organization and the $2,500 fee, perhaps you'd like to know that there is a cheap, downloadable alternative.

Robert Altman Dies

mattbucher — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 09:00:26 -0800

Robert Altman, RIP. The Director of Nashville, Mash, and A Prarie Home Companion has passed on.

Symposium on Director Liability

monju_bosatsu — Wed, 31 May 2006 10:51:47 -0800

Forum: The Pros and Cons of Director Liability. [more inside]

Two or Three Things About David Cronenberg

Joe Hutch — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 10:12:26 -0800

Three new ways of thinking about David Cronenberg (director of Videodrome, Dead Ringers, etc.). A documentary filmmaker, an avant-garde filmmaker, or maybe just a guy who looks at couples and probably wonders what they look like having sex. Kind of par for the course.

"Filmmakers like Gilliam keep coming to the Canadian talent trough for child actors because our kids, by all accounts, tend to be easy to direct, manage, and mould.

amberglow — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 20:42:56 -0800

Sarah Polley, the little girl in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, finds out that another little Canadian girl is about to star in another Terry Gilliam film, and writes--and warns--about her experiences. Gilliam responds.

Choosing Your Own Adventures is FUN!

Rev. Syung Myung Me — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 15:49:52 -0800

Toshio Matsumoto's (J) first film (E), Ginrin (or "Silver Ring"), once believed lost has been found! Ginrin was an English Language, "relatively avant garde" PR film that had perhaps the first use of Musique Concrete in a Japanese film -- in this case, the first score by Toru Takemitsu. The film was discovered to be lost (as a result of the firm it was made for going under) in the 1980s when it was desired for a retrospective on the 1950's Japanese Avant-Garde at the Pompidou Center. [More Inside]

Eileen, We're Not In Ohio Anymore

yankeefog — Mon, 02 May 2005 10:46:36 -0800

Wonderful Town... Director Ryan McFaul (whose music video for Gay Boyfriend was previously seen in this MeFi thread ) is back with a dizzying MGM-meets-digital-compositing advert for a Broadway production of Wonderful Town. (Slightly less dazzling, but still worth seeing, is his ad for a San Francisco production of White Christmas.) Somebody give this man a feature film!