Favorite Directors

YASUJIRO OZU

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:05:18 GMT

I don't know much about Yasujiro Ozu, but I recently bought two Criterion Collection editions of two later films of his, "Tokyo Story" and "Autumn Afternoon". I had thought I had seen them, but, as it turned out, I hadn't. Ozu was fascinated by Hollywood films and much of his early product seems to be heavily influenced by them. But, as the years went on and he grew as an artist, he began to write and direct these extraordinary films like "Tokyo Story"...

TYLER PERRY

feeds@yuku.com (JDylanP) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:09:03 GMT

I hasten to mention that Perry is NOT one of my favourite directors, but I couldn't think of a more appropriate place for this thread. Could someone please explain the deal with this guy? He seems to churn out movies with the speed that the Beatles released LPs. He appears to play a large amount of the characters himself, ala Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor. I saw one of his Madea pictures once - it wasn't funny, it wasn't inept enough to be entertaining on an Ed Wood level,...

TERRENCE MALICK

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:51:43 GMT

What say you?

"Badlands" - 1973

"Days Of Heaven" - 1978

"The Thin Red Line" - 1998

"The New World" - 2005/6

I've never been interested in the cinema of Terrence Malick, but I finally got around to the Criterion Collection's DVD presentation of "Days Of Heaven".

A critical triumph and a box-office failure, "Days of Heaven" is very notable for its magnificent color...

MARTIN RITT

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:18:17 GMT

Which is your favorite Martin Ritt flick?

1. "Edge of the City"
2. "No Down Payment"
3. "The Long Hot Summer"
4. "The Sound and the Fury"
5. "Paris Blues"
6. "Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man"
7. "Hud"
8. "The Outrage"
9. "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold"
10."Hombre"
11. "The Molly Maguires"
12....

ROBERT BRESSON

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:29:22 GMT

Robert Bresson has been a most uncompromising film director in France and he wasn't ever identified with the Old Guard or The New Wave. Throughout the years, he has made his own kind of film, which is generally quite severe and casts out plot and uses non-actors. Bresson hasn't made that many films in his lengthy career, because he insists on making them his own way. Of his films, of which I haven't seen everything, I do think highly of "The Diary of a Country...

JEAN-LUC GODARD

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:36:36 GMT

Jean-Luc Godard's career falls roughly into three phases - his first, as one of the darlings of the New Wave, his second, eschewing narrative film and embracing political opinion and his third, as bringing forth a hybrid of the two.

"Made In U.S.A.", his last film with Anna Karina, was made in 1966 and hasn't been shown in this country until recently.

It's a deconstruction of the crime thriller, but it's also out-of-control and both whimsical and...

STUART ROSENBERG

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:30:04 GMT

"Cool Hand Luke" - 1967

His first major feature-length film - out of Warner Bros. - and as brutal and bleak as an American film could be.

Sensational work from Paul Newman and the huge supporting cast.

ROMAN POLANSKI

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:43:43 GMT

"Repulsion" - 1965

Polanski's first English-language film was a very smartly conceived "horror film" - it has absolutely no depth, of course - he worked well with Catherine Deneuve, who was clearly not quite an actress yet - John Fraser was awfully good as the man who was head over heads for Deneuve - if this film had attempted to explain Carol and her rapd deterioration and had been successful in that attempt, we would've had a very fine psychological...

Kenneth Branagh

feeds@yuku.com (kevin g shinnick) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:13:16 GMT

I just watched DEAD AGAIN(1991) , and was wondering what people thought of his direction.

His earlier films, HENRY V, SWAN SONG,MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING,PETER'S FRIENDS and DEAD AGAIN all had an energy to them . Then ,with FRANKENSTEIN,
he began to have hiccups with his style. I still say that his versuion of the Shelley story is flawed but at times very powerful .

He recovered nicely with one of his best movies, MIDWINTERS TALE ,A film that captures the...

CAROL REED

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:14:52 GMT

Carol Reed made a lot of well-known, even famous movies in his lifetime, but he really fashioned a great film in "The Fallen Idol".

It's a film in which we see everything from a child's point of view - and Reed worked very closely with 8-year-old Bobby Henrey - and the end result is one of the screen's most persuasive studies of childhood experience.

The most intriguing thing about the film is that the little boy tries to keep secrets...

Larry Fessenden

feeds@yuku.com (kevin g shinnick) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:24:25 GMT

Dark Sky Films Announces Production Partnership with Glass Eye Pix (9.26.08)

Dark Sky Films announced today that a partnership has been struck with the fiercely independent NYC-based production company, Glass Eye Pix. Headed by art-horror auteur Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter, Wendigo, Habit, NBC's Fear Itself), Glass Eye Pix has produced critically acclaimed films like Wendy and Lucy (Kelly reichardt), Liberty...

Agatha Christie Tapes

feeds@yuku.com (Ayjaye) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:42:16 GMT
Agatha Christie's grandson Matthew Pritchard has found some old tapes of his grandmother talking about her two greatest literary creations, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. You can hear a short clip at the following BBC site:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/tod...ewsid_7616000/7616162.stm

MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:17:39 GMT
Looking at the new DVD presentation of "Blow-Up", I was impressed all over again by the greatness of this film.

It's both a social commentary and a murder mystery - but in a way that could only have come from the mind of Antonioni (and, of course, Tonino Guerra, as his co-scripter on the film).

Also, the film is practically without dialogue and has very little music, too - in fact, if you wanted to call it a silent film, you would be very close to the mark....

JACK CLAYTON

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:53:33 GMT
1. "Room At The Top"
2. "The Innocents"
3. "The Pumpkin Eater"
4. "Our Mother's House"
5. "The Great Gatsby"
6. "Something Wicked This Way Comes"
7. "The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne"

What say you?

Watching "The Innocents" recently, I felt that I was watching the most ravishingly beautiful ghost story ever filmed - the images are just so potent and...

Edgar Ulmer

feeds@yuku.com (Mort Bakaprevski) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:38:12 GMT
Amazing!!! I've looked through this forum twice now... and haven't found a topic featuring this gentleman!!!

At any rate, I rented the Kino DVD on Ulmer the other day & watched it yesterday. It was an enjoyable 77 minutes replete with numerous interviews with other directors and people who had worked with him on various film projects. Unfortunately, I don't think it answere ANY of the questions that I had concerning Ulmer & his career in films:

1)...

ROBERT MULLIGAN

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:51:15 GMT
I tend to like the cinema of Robert Mulligan - and what could've been a more impressive debut than "Fear Strikes Out" with Anthony Perkins and Karl Malden? - I don't think that he wanted to be "hemmed in", so to speak - he was quite willing to take chances and expand - what two films could be more different than "Come September" and "The Spiral Road"? - and yet, despite a lot of negative criticism, both films are very well-made - and Mulligan...

MITCHELL LEISEN

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:40:46 GMT
"Midnight" (1939) is one of the greatest of screwball comedies. It has such an inventive script by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. And it has a lighter-than-air momentum from Mitchell Leisen himself. It also has an exceptional cast, especially in the would-be lovers, Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche. And Leisen and Rex O'Malley accomplished another indelible portrait of a homosexual. The film seems like a blessed event because it just doesn't contain a false step or...

STANLEY KRAMER

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:35:40 GMT

Stanley Kramer has been revered - and reviled - as the master - or purveryor - of MESSAGE CINEMA.

I recently watched "Ship of Fools" on DVD. I remember seeing it in 1965 and not liking it much.

But, as a sheer piece of entertainment, this "Grand Hotel on a ship in 1933" is gripping from start to finish.

However, I doubt that Kramer was trying for a sheer piece of entertainment.

As a film which is showing us the world that would...

STUART HEISLER

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:56:42 GMT
"STORM WARNING", with Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagen, Doris Day and Steve Cochran, may be Stuart Heisler's finest hour.

This film is so rough and tough - that you initially back away - you're afraid of razorburn.

But Heisler refuses to paint a pretty picture - and he will rub your face in it! And he seems to be having the time of his life, too.

But you're very often in the position of wanting to back away - which is fine, I'd say, given...

VINCENT SHERMAN

feeds@yuku.com (rayban) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:23:52 GMT

Vincent Sherman was responsible for a great deal of literate cinema - and, watching "The Hasty Heart" recently, I was reminded again of this fact.

The text seems all-important - in this case, John Patrick's Broadway hit about a dying Scotsman in World World II - the cast of actors is absolutely right for their roles - the principals, Ronald Reagan, Patricia Neal and Richard Todd could not be bettered - and the inner dynamic and the pacing are quite involving.
...