19 response about Bookmarks for October 30th »

1. 

   I don’t agree with the conventional wisdom that Wes Anderson is in decline. From the way people talk you would think that Life Aquatic was some terrible disaster. It was a fun movie with pirates.

   I think it’s a case of people being unreasonably finicky. In fact, on the scale of Anderson’s I think he edges out PT.

   Comment by Rusty James — October 30, 2009
2. 

   The Darjeeling Limited is probably my favorite of Wes’s movies.

   Comment by Jonathan B. — October 30, 2009
3. 

   Lots of Darjeeling love here too. I’ll take it over Slumdog Millionaire in a heartbeat.

   Comment by Kurt — October 30, 2009
4. 

   …And The Life Aquatic is awesome. It helps (and this goes out to the haters) if you watch it more than once. It is a great ‘grow on you’ movie.

   It should be remembered as Wes Anderson’s “8 1/2″ which is essentially what it is, and it was shot at Cinecitta to boot.

   Comment by Kurt — October 30, 2009
5. 

   

   Comment by Andrew James — October 30, 2009
6. 

   

   Comment by Andrew James — October 30, 2009
7. 

   God bless Dignan!

   Comment by Kurt — October 30, 2009
8. 

   I love everything Wes Anderson has done – I go with conventional wisdom on thinking Tenenbaums is the best, but there’s not a dud among them. (So does all this fall into the description’s statement of “we don’t like to admit it”?) And there were a bunch of people out for the Grauman’s premiere of Fantastic Mr. Fox last night (I was seeing something else). Hope that translates into success for the film rather than just people hoping to catch sight of George Clooney in person.

   Rusty, I definitely like W. better than P.T., in general, though I do love Magnolia. Of course, both beat out P.W.S. On the other hand, P.W.S. has Milla Jovovich, so he’s doing something right, I guess.

   Comment by Jandy Stone — October 31, 2009
9. 

   I give PT the edge just a bit for me personally. Boogie Nights is in my top 5 of all time and Magnolia is right up there too. Throw in the amazingness of Punch Drunk Love and the trifecta is complete. I’m not a huge fan of There Will Be Blood, but otherwise PT is tops in my book.

   Comment by Andrew James — October 31, 2009
10. 

    @ I go with conventional wisdom on thinking Tenenbaums is the best,

    Is that the conventional wisdom? I feel like everyone has their own favorite.
    Mine is Bottle Rocket.

    I’ve been having my own personal PTA backlash since There Is Blood Everywhere. A film I think less of everytime I watch. I am actually baffled by its popularity. I don’t even think it’s particulary well shot, a lot of times I’m bored visually. Blown out skies is a major peeve of mine. Robert Elswit’s work on Michael Clayton that same year is way better.
    It’s caused me to rethink his whole filmography. I’ve always had a lot of problems with Magnolia (what is that film about) and Punch Drunk Love (kind of trite isn’t it) that I just kind of turned a blind eye towards. He has a brilliant sense of the cinematic but he’s not much of a storyteller.

    Comment by Rusty James — October 31, 2009
11. 

    My own list of who I would say are the best filmmakers working today.

    1. Werner (of course)
    2. Quentin (the haters are just embarrasing themselves at this point)
    3. Michel Gondry (The most underrated on the list)
    4. Lars Von Trier (I’m still not sure what I think about AntiChrist)
    5. Coens (Still haven’t seen The Serious Fellow which will either confirm them as great or as over the hill)

    Other candidates: Speilberg who is at the top of his game in some ways but too often manages to flop the ending. So his films are inconsistent.
    Lynch would be on the list but he hasn’t done much lately and I don’t think he has anything in the pipes.
    Christopher Nolan hits a sweet spot for me. His last two have been awesome and his new one in the pipes looks like it could be a classic.
    Wong Kar Wai, I keep trying to like this guy more.
    Duplass’s and Andrew Bujalski invented their own thriving sub genre.

    Comment by Rusty James — October 31, 2009
12. 

    I couldn’t even begin to put together a list of the best filmmakers working today.

    Comment by Jonathan B. — October 31, 2009
13. 

    Not sure who the “best” film makers wroking today are (though the Coens are certainly in there), but my personal favorite top 5 would probably be:

    1) Soderbergh
    2) Coens
    3) Almodovar
    4) Michael Mann
    5) Tarantino
    – – Wong Kar-Wai

    Comment by Andrew James — October 31, 2009
14. 

    M Night Shyamalan!

    Comment by Henrik — November 1, 2009
15. 

    I think I would need to have Johnny To and Miike somewhere either on my top 5 or in the running. Haneke and Herzog would be have to be on my top 5 working directors.

    Comment by leeny — November 2, 2009
16. 

    Miike is amazingly prolific I just dont know his filmography that well. What I’ve seen I don’t love. I dvr’d one of his movies recently. I don’t even remember what it was called, it was fantasy thing with a convoluted title. I watched like 15 minutes and then I think I deleted it.
    Beat Takashi could be in my list. Violent Cop is one of my favorites.

    Haneke… gh… my favorite that I’ve seen is Funny Games. If he could do that every time then I for one would totally be willing to turn a blind eye to his condescending moralizing. I actually even appreciate that the film gives you something to chew on even while I’m appalled by the presumptuous elitism.

    Is Code Unknown the one that’s vignette’s about love or something? And the gay black guy turns to the audience and starts explaining what the movies about. I hate shit like that.

    Comment by Rusty James — November 2, 2009
17. 

    No, CODE UNKNOWN is more of a ’cause and effect’ sort of narrative. It’s unusual, but not unusually condescending, if you know what I mean. It’s meta-ness is not so in your face: http://www.rowthree.com/2008/11/03/finite-focus-pull-back-code-unknown/

    Comment by kurt — November 2, 2009
18. 

    Miike’s quality settings are so far apart (from his polished professional stuff like Audition, Bird People of China and apparently Yatterman, to his really rough around the edges OVA stuff like MPD Pyscho) that it is hard to qualify him as ‘best’ but certainly worthwhile qualifying him as ‘important.’

    Comment by kurt — November 2, 2009
19. 

    My fault I was thinking more along directors that I am instantly interested in what they are doing not Best working directors. Miike always seem to be doing something bent…sometimes it works othertimes not so much (gods puzzle).

    I love both Funny Games, and Seventh Continent. I think they make a great set. Both have families that are destroyed… One family powerless, one in complete control but horrible outcomes.

    Comment by leeny — November 2, 2009

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