Best Director?

Tough list. I like Hitchcock, Kubrick, Lee. I went with Cameron for his track record.

Because I love Peter Jackson's old movies Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, Dead Alive & The Frighteners & the rest was pretty good I'm voting for Jackson.

The 'Brick.

IMO, Peter Jackson...

doesnt belong on the list with those others. Of the ones that do belong, I voted Kubrick.

What, no Scorsese or Tarantino?

I put Hitchcock btw

Cameron

Recently re-watched Aliens - directors cut.

Made before switching your brain off became a prerequisite for watching an action film, virtually everything about it is brilliant

How can you discredit Peter Jackson and not Steven Spielberg or James Cameron under the same token? Considering Jackson made one of the most iconic and consistent trilogies that come to mind when thinking of trilogies.

Hitchcock. His movies are still very enjoyable. They don't even feel much old. I guess I've seen his films more than any other director's. This poll shouldn've had Scorsese and Clint Eastwood too.

Top 3 on the list, in my opinion, are Hitchcock, Kubrick and Coppola.

Spielburg has done more well-acclaimed "serious" films such as Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan and Lincoln alongside the blockbuster stuff he's mainly known for (a genre he pretty much started).

@makkyd: Still.. I think its up for debate on whether or not Jackson deserves to be here.

Although I love Lord of the Rings and therefore Jackson, he only really made one really good trilogy, which makes him lacking in quantity of comparison to the others.

He does often suffer from "pfft it's only fantasy" view by critics a lot, though, similar to the early days of Game of Thrones.

hes not the best director but i like zack snyders way of directing and cinematography

Out of that list, I'd say Cameron.

This is list is lacking Scorsese and Tarantino.

Spielberg hands down. He made Jaws...everything else he did is frosting.

I don't see how Jackson doesn't belong, any one of the LotR films is a contender for the best ever made. Every frame is a masterpiece, and that's barely even an embellishment, you can pause almost any scene in LotR and it could be put rendered and put up on your wall alongside the works of Howe and Nasmith.

It's a subjective matter, and if you think he's the best director... I'm not going to tell you you're wrong. But...

I think the LotR movies are overrated. I mean, I can see why fans of the books probably enjoy them more than someone like me who didnt read the books... but a movie needs to stand on its own. Also, the Hobbit was not good at all, and I didnt even bother to watch the rest based on that one.

To me those movies were mostly just exercises in visual effects and plot, characters getting from point A to point B, with little emotion or any feeling of emotional investment on my part. The battle scenes come across as little more than well-rendered video game cut scenes. Dont get me wrong, some are really cool, but the whole "flying camera over thousands of CG things fighting other CG things" style of battle cinematography is boring as hell. In contrast, look at the battle scene in Braveheart, or the recent Game of Thrones episode called Battle of the Bastards. The GoT scene is one of the best fantasy/medieval battle scenes ever made and it works both as a pure action scene as well as an emotional high point in the story.

In contrast, Spielberg has made so many great movies in so many genres that I dont even want to list the top ones, cause that list alone would be too long. And Cameron while not at the level of Spielberg, has his own list of great movies like Terminator I and II and Aliens.

The other thing is that if we're making a list of the top 7 directors... Jackson isnt even close to that level. This list is missing people like Tarantino, John Ford, Woody Allen, Orson Wells, Igmar Bergman, Kurosawa, Nolan, Ridley Scott, Howard Hawks, Oliver Stone, and many others that are much better than Jackson in terms of storytelling, character development, versatility, innovation, etc.

This list puts jackson at #38, which I think might be about right.

http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-most-oscar-worthy-directors-of-all-time

Anyway, like I said it's a matter of opinion. I'm not trying to "discredit" him, I'm just saying that there's many directors that I consider better.

When it comes to cinematography for action and sci-fi movies, Snyder definitely has a great eye for it.

@willpayton:

It's a subjective matter, and if you think he's the best director... I'm not going to tell you you're wrong. But...

I don't think he's the best director.

Just FYI.

Welp, none of the listed actually. I respect every single one of these directors and how they have contributed to the movie business but none of them can be called a favorite of mine.

The best in my opinion is Martin Scorcese. A big chunk of my favorite movies have been directed by him and almost every single thing he has ever made can and should be called a masterpiece.

Spielberg. He's my favorite of all time.

Steven Spielberg

Kubrick.

Hitchcock, Spieldberg, Coppola and Cameron are definitely up there as well.

No Kurosawa?

Also, and I'm sure I'll get some flack for this but.. c'mon, Lucas did create one of the (in my opinion THE) greatest movie fictional universes ever. Doesn't he deserve a little love?

John Carpenter for me.

Hitchcock

Spielberg > Cameron > Coppola > Kubrick > the rest

Kubrick

Spielberg defeated kubrick.......... god save humanity

@aryansingh: @wolverinebatmanftw: Spielberg has more versatility, higher rewatchability, and a better varied filmography overall. Kubrick never reached the heights of Schindler's List.

And SSR > FMJ, plus Indiana Jones > 2001.

@falconstomp: comparing a dumb fun film like Indiana Jones to something as visionary and revolutionary as 2001 is basically killing your credibility

Clockwork Orange is one of the best films of all time

While Schindler's lists a higher high then Clockwork Orange/Shining e.t.c

Kubrick never had a bad or average major film while Speilberg had many .

@aryansingh: Clockwork is not one of the best films ever, and i like Indiana Jones more than 2001.

Great characters, great storyline >>> all style and no substance.

I prefer Spielberg, you prefer Kubrick but the fact you don't think it's debatable is wrong.

@falconstomp: visionary visuals and original plot >>>>>>>>> Indiana frickin Jones

Yes Clockwork orange is, schindler list is not top 5 ever but you consider it to be an ATG film

Lmao.

@falconstomp:

Let's agree to disagree

@wolverinebatmanftw: fair enough

Best of all time? None of them.

Best among these? Kubrick.

I think it’s between Kubrick and Jackson.

I would say Kubrick more so than everyone has a kind of mind penetrating and instilling aspect to his movies.

None of them are bad really, but I prefer Jackson, Spielberg, Cameron then everyone else.

There is Steven Spielberg, and then there is everyone else.

Kubrick.

Spielberg > Kubrick > the rest

From that list Kubrick, but in general for me its always been Sergio Leone.

To go more into the Kubrick vs Peter Jackson comparison.

First off I’m not entirely sure what directing even is. I think it’s basically how good you are at telling other people how to do their jobs. I’m not certain about what does or doesn’t fall under the umbrella of “directing”

I think Jackson taps into more humanity. He does a good job directing the actors, the cinematography, and sound to compliment the storytelling. I also like how really “out there” some of his stylistic choices are. (Ex: when Galadriel says “one who has seen the eye” and it does a really intense scene transition.) And he’s able to give LotR movies a very epic feeling.

Stanley Kubrick has more of a hypnosis type thing going. The stuff he makes is instilled into you. And unlike Jackson it leans way more towards cerebral than intimate. Something does feel very special about Kubrick though, he’s probably the most sophisticated director. He’s good at integrating comedic elements.

A scene from a Kubrick movie: https://youtu.be/-YaPDrf3F6Q

The delivery of “leave the hotel” is great. The imagery is strong. Good edit. And despite the scary elements the scene is also kind of funny.

On a different note:

I have said I think Spielberg is very overrated. I do actually think he’s talented. I just don’t think he makes very good movies but that’s more due to the stories he has to work with. He’s good at adapting stories.