Favourite directors Earlier I was thinking about what constitutes a 'favourite' director. There are plenty of director's who have made a few films I like, but not that many who have made more than one or two that I 'love'. So I challenged myself to come up with a list of directors who have made three films that I consider to be fantastic. The things I do when I can't sleep. Anyway, here's the list (I'll probably think of more).

• Steven Spielberg: For Jaws, E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• John Carpenter: For The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China and They Live. The last one has really grown on me over the years. Pretty much anything he did pre-1988 earns his place here.
• Martin Scorsese: For Goodfellas, Cape Fear and Casino. There are others of course, but these three stick in the mind.
• Paul Verhoeven: For RoboCop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers. I stand by this.
• Quentin Tarantino: For Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown (and to a lesser extent, Kill Bill, had it been one film).
• Park Chan-wook: For Sympathy for Mr., Vengeance, Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

Had to exclude Lucas, because of the films he's done I only really love the first Star Wars. Copola is the same. Godfather I and II are amazing, III not so much and Apocalypse Now wasn't my thing. Dracula might have been in there if not for Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder. As I said, probably more. I'll add them when I think of them.

1.Takashi Miike for films like ichi the killer, audition and gozu and all his other films. Plus his masters of horror episode 'imprint' and his 3 extremes episode 'box'
2. Park chan wook for his revenge trilogy, his episode in 3 extremes ' cut' and jsa.
3. Tarantino for all his films
4. Scorsese for the obvious reasons.
5. peter jackson for braindead , bad taste and meet the feebles- these films are so funny.

They are as follows;

Stanley Kubrick - No explanation necessary I guess, however to say that if you’ve never seen one of his film’s drop what your doing and see one. Notably “Clockwork Orange”, “2001” and “Barry Lyndon”.

Werner Herzog – His film’s particularly when teamed with Klaus Kinski are true works of art, “Aguirre: The Wrath of God”, is the most chilling documentation of the Conquistadors in South America. The documentary “Lessons of Darkness” is the most beautiful and powerful documentary I have ever seen.

Ridley Scott – Though not in the same league as the former two artistically, his films are always a stand out. “Gladiator” and “Blade Runner” are a cut above the rest of his films.

Steven Spielberg – He is a master of the box office, giving the public what they want, engaging stories, beautifully shot. “Close Encounters”, “Jaws”, “Saving Private Ryan”, “Shindler’s List” personal favorites.

Of the up and coming directors Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky and Wes Anderson are three that I will watch with interest.

mine are...
Terry Gilliam...Every Film he has done
David Fincher...every thing and he did make the best Alien film
Richard Kelly...Donnie Darko, my favourite film, can't wait for Southland Tales
Robert Rodriguez...I like all his films even shark boy for being gutsy...I'm a huge fan of
From Dusk Till Dawn,Sin City,Roadracers and El Mariachi Trilogy
Tony Scott...not a great director but I love Domino and True Romance and his BMW short...
Beat The Devil

The name that instantly comes to mind is of course ...
Spielberg- Saving Private Ryan, Schindler List, Raiders, Jaws, Munich.. I feel if spielberg has his name on it it worth a least a watch!!
Others I like are
Scorsese- Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Gangs of New York(What a performance by Day-Lewis)
Coppola-Simple for the Godfather Trilogy(Yes including part 3)
Fincher-Seven, Fight Club,
Chris Nolan- Insomia and Memento
Sidney Lumet- Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico

-Michael Mann
-Steven Spielberg
-Luc Besson
-Ridley Scott (for "Gladiator" and "Black Hawk DOwn"
and my favourite:
TIM BURTON

Sergio Leone - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Once Upon a Time in America.

Pretty much all of the above for me

One more addition though...

Takeshi Kitano - Brother and Hana-bi are beautiful films that could so easily have been screwed up by a Hollywood editing freak and Zatoichi is a joy to watch from start to finish.

Martin Scorsese - his earlier work. Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Mean Streets.

Wong Kar Wai - in the mood for love, Chungking express, Ashes of time.

Chris Nolan - Insomia, Memento, Batman Begins

Michael Mann - Heat, Collateral, Manhunter.

John Woo - Bullet in the head, the killer, Hard Boiled.

My fave directors not mentioned. Fave flicks all CAPS...

-Wes Anderson: Bottle Rocket, RUSHMORE, Tennenbaums, Life Aquatic.
-Chan-wook Park: JSA, Mr Vengeance, OLDBOY, Three Extremes, Lady Vengeance.
-David O. Russell: Spanking the Monkey, Flirting w/Disaster, THREE KINGS, Huckabees.
-Brad Anderson: Happy Accidents, SESSION 9, The Machinist.
-M. Night Shyamalan: 6th Sense, UNBREAKABLE, Signs, Village.
-Steven Soderbergh: Sex Lies Videotape, Out of Sight, THE LIMEY, Traffic.
-Fernando Meirelles: CITY OF GOD, Constant Gardener.

Fave directors already listed…
Steven Spielberg
David Fincher
Chris Nolan
Kim Ji-woon
Quinten Tarantino
Kevin Smith
Robert Rodriguez

Speilbergo is numero uno for me, even though his last few movies haven't really excited me to the same degree as his 70's through early 90's films did.

James Cameron is a close second.

Ridley Scott is up there, so is Scorsese even though I find most of his films stories are just re-inventions of movies he's already done. Bryan Singer, Quintin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are all on my "up and coming" list.

I put Lucas, Peter Jackson and M. Night Shamalon (can never spell names right) all on my "got lucky once" list.

Jonny "Me You" wrote: I put Lucas, Peter Jackson and M. Night Shamalon (can never spell names right) all on my "got lucky once" list.

Don't agree with Jackson. The Frighteners and Braindead are both great films. That Shymalan (sp?) bloke only made one good film, and by 'good' I mean 'incredibly predictable'.

I'll say
Argento
Scorsese
Speilberg
Miike
Peter Jackson
Chan-Wook
Ridley Scott
Wes Anderson
PT Anderson...
..see, I suck at narrowing things down.

No, it's predictable when you guess the 'twist' in the first 10-15 minutes of the film. I'd heard nothing about it before seeing it.

I like Lasse Halstrom