^ Putting IB at number 2 is obviously insanity
but the rest isn't far off my opinion. Maybe H8 a bit lower, DP a little higher. Kill Bill is a difficult one to rank because I love part 1 loads but not so much part 2 but then again I like the two cut together more than both parts separately :s .
After watching and
reviewing 'A Better Tomorrow 3', that's all 25 from my
'5 Directors, 5 Films (Part II)' list complete. Thoughts on the Directors:
Kathryn Bigelow - I was hoping to discover some gems that matched her recent political thrillers but her early career is a mixed bag. Across her filmography, you can see she really likes to use extreme violence to shock the audience. IIRC, 'K-19' is her only non-R-rated movie and even that has a harrowing scene showing hideous radiation burns.
Tsui Hark - I loved his 'Once Upon a Time in China' films (the first two primarily) and I want to see more 80s/90s Jet Li movies now. He sure knows how to compose a widescreen image and handles romantic scenes very well.
Spike Lee - 'Do the Right Thing' is the best of his early films by miles, as everyone says. The rest are flawed and bad, or flawed but good. They haven't changed my opinion that he is a terrible actor and inconsistent filmmaker. Lee also has a questionable tendency to write parts for himself that just happen to involve him fondling (or worse) the most beautiful actress in his cast.
Ken Russell - 'Women in Love' and 'Altered States' are ones I'm going to rewatch for sure. I think the other three have an excess of Russell's energy and camp visuals, to the detriment of the story.
John Woo - I wanted to find something as good as 'The Killer', or 'Hard Boiled' and I almost did. 'Heroes Shed No Tears' isn't the classic Hong Kong cops vs gangsters film but it's a brilliantly crazy Rambo style offering that I'm itching to watch again already. I also praying for 'Just Heroes' to get a blu-ray, or even a new DVD release.
Time for Part 3!
This time I'm going for mostly films from the 1001-movies book (which I'm also watching through) and mostly ones from the 70s and 80s. An American, a Canadian, a German, a Frenchman and a Brit. This completes those Directors in the book:
- Robert Altman (All 5 of his films from the 1001 book)
- David Cronenberg (2 from the 1001 book and I've missed some of his other famous films. Completes his filmography between 1979 and 1991)
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder (All 4 of his films from the 1001 book, plus my as yet unwatched Berlin Alexanderplatz blu-ray boxset)
- Louis Malle (All 3 from the 1001 book and a good excuse to crack open my Malle blu-ray boxset)
- Nicolas Roeg (All 4 from the 1001 book and completes all his feature films up to 1980)
Oddly there are a few films that I've somehow seen bits, or half of long ago but never the whole thing: Videodrome, Naked Lunch, Performance, The Man Who Fell to Earth and I've watched part 1 of Berlin Alexanderplatz. It'll be nice to complete the viewing at last
.
