Is Steven Spielberg the best director EVER?

ahh, another pathetic top 100 list. I can think of quite a few i'd put ahead of woody allen and ridley scott, at least: john ford, francois truffaut, sergei eisenstein, roberto rossellini, ozu, billy wilder, and the list could go on and on.

that spielberg is at the top of the list is just reaffirms that these types of popularity contests are next to useless. (i mean, peter jackson?? seriously, i wouldn't permit the issue to go to press with that guy in the top ten.)

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Whether or not you like Spielberg -- or think that his win might have been due to the buzz surrounding WOTW -- if you interviewed film school students, I bet the majority would say that Spielberg (more than anyone else) inspired them to become directors. He has depth and breadth of work; he's been innovative; and he is popular (just cuz you're popular doesn't mean you're bad).

As for the bottom half of the Top 10, I have to agree with Cel, above: poor choices.

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Did Paris Hilton write that list? Jesus, who the f**k cares? Top 100 anal retentive producers. Top 100 cattle prods. Top 100 blow jobs. Why do we measure excellence this way? It's for Junior High School students, not adults.

But, "bicker engines"... that was great.

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I thought I wasn't going to have to go on another movie-related rant for quite some time. Unfortunately, Empire magazine has forced me to do so with their poorly informed top 20 list of top all-time directors. Granted, this is based on a readers' poll... 'poorly informed' and 'Empire reader' go hand-in-hand. Not that all the directors listed are bad directors; many are among the best active directors. However, many of them should not be on an all-time list.

Here's their list (with my commentary):
20) Sam Peckinpah (Wow, maybe Empire readers have seen movies before 1975. Imagine that!)
19) Billy Wilder (Good selection.)
18) John Ford (Should be higher on the list.)
17) Sergio Leone (Decent choice, but not in my top 20.)
16) Oliver Stone (Ditto.)
15) Francis Ford Coppola (Only had 2 good movies not named Godfather: Apocalypse Now and The Conversation).
14) James Cameron (I just choked on my own vomit.)
13) The Coen Brothers (Decent, but again, not in my top 20.)
12) Sir David Lean (Would be lower on my list.)
11) Clint Eastwood (Ditto.)
10) Woody Allen (Ditto.)
9) Orson Welles (My #2)
8) Quentin Tarantino (Popularity contest.)
7) Peter Jackson (Again, popularity contest.)
6) Akira Kurosawa (My #3)
5) Sir Ridley Scott (Is this a joke?)
4) Stanley Kubrick (Good choice.)
3) Martin Scorsese (Good choice. Would be lower on my list.)
2) Alfred Hitchcock (My #1)
1) Steven Spielberg (Most popular or well-known director, perhaps. Greatest? Not a chance in hell.)

My List:
HM (alphabetical):
Robert Bresson, Luis Bunuel, Frank Capra, John Cassavetes, Charles Chaplin, Vittorio De Sica, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Sergei Eisenstein, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, John Ford, Howard Hawks, Werner Herzog, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Buster Keaton, Krzysztof Kieslowski, David Lean, Mike Leigh, Kenji Mizoguchi, F.W. Murnau, Sam Peckinpah, Satyajit Ray, Alain Resnais, Roberto Rossellini, Martin Scorsese, B? Tarr, Fran?s Truffaut, Wong Kar-Wai, Wim Wenders, Billy Wilder
10) Andrei Tarkovsky
9) Yasujiro Ozu
8) Federico Fellini
7) Ingmar Bergman - Woody Allen idolizes him
6) Jean Renoir
5) Jean-Luc Godard - Tarantino, the Coen brothers, and Oliver Stone would be nowhere without him
4) Stanley Kubrick
3) Akira Kurosawa - Spielberg and Peter Jackson can't approach his mastery of epic cinema
2) Orson Welles
1) Alfred Hitchcock - Arguably, along with Welles, the most influential director of all time

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Within each generation comes a new star, someone who takes up where someone left off, challenges and rises above, setting a new high bar par exellence for the next generation to achieve. It happens, in enterainment, sports, science, literature etc. To deny successful director's thier brilliance because of thier inventive, intensity and contribution to film, just because of your personal opinon only shows your lack of openess and scarism to cover your view of possibility. There are certainly great directors, directors that have unique abilities and perceptions, directors that played significant contributions to film and some who are not yet great, but consistintly do very good quality work and challenge themselves and those around them to do thier best and more. Speilberg is one, Ron Howard is one, these are just two of this generation, Most of the choices you have above I agree with, I don't see how you can deny spielberg his due recognition as one of the most prominate directors in the last 50 yrs. Is he #1? That's debatable I quess, He is #1 at this generation, and that's still quite an accomplishment.

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If you're tossing Ron Howard into the mix, I'm throwing in James Cameron. Wait for BATTLE ANGEL. That'll have people remembering how talented a director this guy is. If you've ever read one of his screenplays, you know what I'm talking about.

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This is my top five list

Alfred Hitchcock
Orson Welles
Satyajit Ray
Akira Kurosawa
Stanley Kubrick

Anyway I still can't believe why they wrote this piece of crappp !!!

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