Best Director: Kubrick, Nolan, Tarantino, Cameron?

[Joeyzagz]

subjective question... it all comes down to personal preference...

i like kubrick the most strictly because his vision is the most cinematic among the choices here IMO...

when quentin did pulp fiction and its non linear narrative, i thought he was the best, most original among the newer generation of filmmakers, but then nolan comes along and makes memento with it's narrative going exactly backwards... so that, with better consistency in terms of quality output i'll take nolan...

james cameron is very mainstream... and has not been very original post T2...

as a writer and director, i will take the better cameron over him anytime... cameron crowe that is...

Kubrick owned every single Genre:

sci fi: 2001
Historical: Spartacus
Horror/thriller: The Shining
War film: Full Metal Jacket
Black Comedy: Dr Stangelove
MindFck: Clockwork Orange

I even enjoyed his worst movie: Eyes wide shut which is better than 90% of most films out there.

[talip bin osman]

Kubrick owned every single Genre:

sci fi: 2001
Historical: Spartacus
Horror/thriller: The Shining
War film: Full Metal Jacket
Black Comedy: Dr Stangelove
MindFck: Clockwork Orange

I even enjoyed his worst movie: Eyes wide shut which is better than 90% of most films out there.

dont forget lolita...

anyway, two guys i consider up there in the higher strata of filmmaking are alfred h i t c h c o c k and akira kurosawa...

[Check]

Where's Fincher?

[rorymac]

The top boys:

Scorsese, Kubrick, Nolan, Michael Mann, Hitch****, Lynch, Fincher, Fellini, Coen Brothers, Ford, Peckinpah, Coppola, Bunuel.

Others I like that haven't done enough to be in that echelon:

Refn, Martin Campbell, Jackson, Steve McQueen

[Rapid Counter]

Can't believe Speilberg hasn't been mentioned. What about Darren Aronofsky?

[rorymac]

Can't believe Speilberg hasn't been mentioned. What about Darren Aronofsky?

Whoops knew I'd forgotten a couple

[talip bin osman]

ang lee... how high (or low) you think of him?

i think the pixar guys like brad bird, andrew stanton pete docter among them should be in any discussions among "the best" filmmakers IMO...

[Rapid Counter]

Whoops knew I'd forgotten a couple

Lol you had a pretty solid list. Lynch is a bit too out there for me apart from The Elephant Man which is one of my all time favourites

[Danny Gunz]

I liek Tarantino alot, but I liked his movies before he was rich and made the Pulp Fiction-esque movies. Now he is popular, rich and he can work on his own projects which are mainly spaghetti westerns, which are good just not as good imo

[Pocket Dogs!]

Aside from Pulp Fiction, the only problem I find with Tarantino's films is that they're never original. Yes, they are written incredibly well and have such witty dialogue but storywise Tarantino's films are usually just a mishmash of other films.

Cameron may be the most mainstream of the all the directors on here but the guy seriously knows his damn story structure and he damn well knows how to end a movie. Look at Titanic and Avatar. Both scripts are cliched as hell but you really care about the characters and that's why they do so damn well at the box office. Cameron doesn't want the viewer to care about the characters he wants you to fall in love with them.