Director's Challenge

[Avaitor]

On the board that No Personality and I go to (or went to, since he left and my interest is dwindling), he started up a game where he picks a few directors at random and has us rank their filmographys from what we've seen. It was one of my favorite parts of the site when he was still doing them, but the choices became less interesting or too challenging as they went along. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, though, since recommendations are always awesome and welcome, but it seems like interest was fading out after a few rounds.

I'd like to try that here, but I don't have too many sets planned up yet. Basically, I'll name a few directors that should be familiar to us at random (6 for now, may add more or cut off later on), and you can name your favorite movie by them, delve deeper and go over their personalities, or just talk about them for a little.

Here's my first set, and I'll add more later.

Stanley Kubrick
Francis Ford Coppola
Steven Spielberg
Joel & Ethan Coen
Robert Zemeckis
Martin Scorsese

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

1. Steven Spielberg- Sorry if it seems like I'm overrating him, but I just can't deny that I have come to love so many of his films, and feel that he can be forgiven for his bad ones since he has made some true classics, IMO.
2. Martin Scorsese- I can't deny that this guy has made some truly genius films, and to me he's pretty much at the top of the whole gangster movie genre.
3. Robert Zemeckis- He himself has made some great films, and just the fact that he made the Back to the Future movies alone is enough for me to rank him this high (although the fact that it was in cooperation with Steven Spielberg in the first place got me to further solidify my ranking of him at the top).
4. Francis Ford Coppola- I really respect his work, but to be honest I've never much cared for anything that he did outside of The Godfather films, and even those, while being great adaptations in their own right, weren't close to how great I felt the novel was, so I can't really rank him that high, personally.
5. Stanley Kubrick- I absolutely loved The Shining. Its my personal favorite horror film. But, unfortunately, I must confess that its currently the only film of his that I have ever seen. Someday I'll watch more of his movies, and I'm sure he'll rank much higher or me when I do.
6. Coen Brothers- Yeah, sorry, but I've personally never gotten the appeal of any of their films, and honestly I think that No Country for Old Men is pretty overrated, but that's just me.

[Dr. Insomniac]

1. Stanley Kubrick - Thank you for scaring the shit out of me as a little kid.
2. Joel & Ethan Coen - True Grit was pretty good, and so was The Big Lebowski, though mostly due to Jeff Bridges than anything else.
3. Martin Scorsese - Mostly since unlike the guys below, he's still retained much of his quality throughout the years.
4. Robert Zemeckis - I'd rate him higher if he didn't delude himself into thinking mo-cap was the way to go.
5. Steven Spielberg - While I definitely respect his talents and like quite a few of his films, there isn't much appeal to some of them beyond the blockbuster aspect (with the obvious exceptions of Munich and Schindler's List).
6. Francis Ford Coppola - Like his earlier work, but the guy hasn't done anything in years to match up to his former glory.

[Avaitor]

I didn't actually make this for you guys to rank the directors from favorite to least favorite, but I guess I was a little vague in my OP. If you want to continue doing so, go ahead. I'll even join ya.

Kubrick- He's done just about everything better than just about anyone else. Black comedy (Dr. Strangelove), horror (The Shining), sci-fi disasterpiece (2001, Clockwork Orange), war piece (Paths of Glory, Full Metal Jacket), historical epic (Spartacus), and film noir (The Killing), just to name some of the best. Kubrick was a true mastermind.
Scorsese- Tons of great stuff, and he's still decent today, even if DiCaprio is no De Niro.
Spielberg- I'm actually not a huge fan, but admire the man's work greatly. He's a damn fine filmmaker, but his work just hasn't spoken as well to me as Kubrick or Scorsese's has.
Zemeckis- I'm pretty thankful that Mars Needs Moms bombed so hard. Now Zemeckis has more reason to attempt to reachieve his former glory instead of making more godawful mo-cap.
Coppola- His 70's work was incredible and I still like The Outsiders and other stuff here or there, but yeah, he hasn't done much of merit in recent years
The Coens- I'll be honest; their movies weird me out more than anything. Like seriously, what the hell was up with Barton Fink?

But if you want my favorites, mine would look like this

Kubrick- A Clockwork Orange
Coppola- The Godfather (tie with Part II, but the first in particular)
Spielberg- Either Jaws or Schindler's List. Probably the latter.
Coens- The Big Lebowski
Zemeckis- Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Scorsese- Goodfellas

[Angus]

no comparative rank among the directors

Stanley Kubrick
faves: The Shining (scary even to this day), Spartacus (classic but boring)
eh: 2001 (classic but kinda boring)
wtf: Eyes Wide Shut

Francis Ford Coppola
faves: Apocalypse Now (classic), somehow I've managed to not watch Godfather all the way through
bleh: sleepy hollow, black stallion

Steven Spielberg
faves: Indiana Jones trilogy, Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, Blues Brothers, Goonies, Minority Report, Twister
eh: Gremlins, Money Pit, Inner Space, The Land Before Time, Men in Black
bleh: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Empire of the Sun, Arachnophobia, Jurassic Park 2 and 3, Men in Black 2, The Terminal, Catch Me if You can
wtf: Joe vs. Volcano, Hook, Harry and the Hendersons, Vanilla Sky, Memoirs of a Geisha

Joel & Ethan Coen - haven't seen much from them
eh: No Country (good the first time through), O Brother Where Art Thou
bleh: Intolerable Cruelty
wtf: The Ladykillers

Robert Zemeckis
faves: Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Romancing the Stone
eh: Cast Away, Back to the Future part 2
bleh: Beowulf, The Polar Express (flying feathers should only be done once), Death Becomes Her (best parts were in the trailers), Back to the Future part 3 (I get it already he ain't a chicken)
wtf: Contact

Martin Scorsese - Pass
wow I can't believe I haven't seen any of these in its entirety

[Foggle]

1. Martin Scorsese - Fuck yeah, Casino, Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull! Only movie I've seen by him that I didn't like was The Departed.
2. Stanley Kubrick - Love Full Metal Jacket; one of my absolute favorite movies of all time. I like nearly all his films, except 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I find to be a serious contender for most boring movie of all time. And Eyes Wide Shut is horrific.
3. Steven Spielberg - Lots of great output, but a bit of bad output, as well. I love: original Indiana Jones trilogy, 1941, Schindler's List, Munich, Saving Private Ryan. I detest: War of the Worlds, the Jurassic Park sequels, Kingdom of the fucking Crystal Skull.
4. Francis Ford Coppola - Love The Godfather (Parts 1 and 2) and Apocalypse Now, but I haven't seen another one of his movies and actually enjoyed it.
5. Robert Zemeckis - Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit are classics, but - Cast Away aside - I haven't liked any of his output since the BttF trilogy ended. I have never been a fan of Forrest Gump. At all. And Beowulf can go fuck itself.
6. Joel & Ethan Coen - Not too familiar with these guys. Of the two films I've seen by them, I must say that I absolutely loved The Big Lebowski and thought No Country For Old Men was extremely mediocre.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The Departed was great, probably one of the only memorable gangster flicks from the past decade, though Goodfellas is still his best work by far, IMO. Taxi Driver is really overrated, though. Yeah, I've seen it plenty of times and I think people give that film way more credit than it deserves. Its really no masterpiece, but that's not to say that I dislike it, but really, I can't understand half of the praise that the movie gets.

Forrest Gump to me is better than most of the other movies that I have seen from most of those other directors, and its one my favorite movies ever. Beowulf was awful, though. I never even knew that he directed that movie. Oh well, one terrible movie doesn't really ruin my opinion of Robert Zemeckis, since everyone has them.

Francis Ford Coppola is overrated as hell, though, IMO. I could never really get into Apocalypse Now, and aside from the first 2 Godfather movies (and even 2 is a little overrated), I don't think I've liked anything else by him that I've seen. I haven't seen Dog Day Afternoon yet, though.

[Avaitor]

Dog Day Afternoon is Sydney Lumet. And it's really good, IMO.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Ah, or some reason I kept thinking Coppola did that one, but my knowledge on a lot of older flicks is pretty rusty so I'm not surprised that I made a mistake. Oh well, if its good, then that's just one more good movie that he's not responsible for.

Seriously, though, I don't think I've been able to get into any o his non-Godfather stuff, and even with the Godfather he was lucky to get Mario Puzo to help with the screenplay. I guarantee the first 2 films wouldn't have been nearly as good without his help and input into the adaptation.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Dog Day Afternoon is great. One of my favorites.

I don't really wanna rank these directors, but Zemeckis' obsession with lifeless CG is puzzling and doing damage to his output. I wish he would give it up.

[Avaitor]

I'm going to post up a new set now for you guys to do whatever you want with them, rank, pick favorites, discuss or what. And feel free to come back to the previous one.

James Cameron
Elia Kazan
Mel Brooks
Federico Fellini
Orson Welles
Roman Polansky