Honorable Mentions
#10 - Tom Hooper - Les Miserables
#9 - Gareth Evans - The Raid: Redemption
#8 - Joe Wright - Anna Karenina
#7 - Ang Lee - Life of Pi
#6 - Robert Zemeckis - Flight
And the Top Five...
#5 - Tom Twyker, Larry Wachowski, and Lana Wachowski - Cloud Atlas
They don't make movies like this anymore. Epic in length and scope, the trio of directors made Cloud Atlas a unique experience and that alone is a major reason they make the list.
#4 - Juan Antonio Bayona - The Impossible
Bayona only has one prior feature film directorial effort (for a horror movie, no less) so the fact that he was able to combine fantastic realistic special effects with a heartbreaking and heartwarming story is a credit to this new-to-the-scene auteur.
#3 - Sam Mendes - Skyfall
The action scenes here are fantastic -- the opening fifteen minutes are taut, exciting, and breathtaking as an example -- but Mendes also brings his dramatic chops to the table, injecting this Bond film with more character-driven moments than I ever could have expected.
#2 - Ben Affleck - Argo
Really, the #1 and #2 spots here are a toss-up and I've flip-flopped more than once when setting this award up. Affleck makes his mark with Argo proving that he's a director to be respected. What fascinated me with Argo is that Affleck manages to build tension to an edge-of-your-seat level, keeping us invested with the multitude of characters.
#1 - Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
Quite honestly, I could repeat my Argo comments here -- Spielberg manages to build tension to an edge-of-your-seat level, keeping us invested with the multitude of characters, but Spielberg ekes out the win because he manages to do this with a story that is much more well-known and therein a bit more difficult to keep us invested. I am not a biopic guy, yet Spielberg makes this a movie I'd want to watch again.
P.T Anderson would have made mine, Gareth Evans would have been in my top 5. The Raid is so fucking well made it's ridiculous. It somehow manages to keep up action for its entire length but it all feel fresh.
ReplyDeleteActually it would look like this:
1. Argo
2. The Impossible
3. Skyfall
4. The Master
5. The Raid
We're quite close then. The Master faded almost immediately after I watched it with the exception of the performances of the two lead actors. That said, I can understand why someone would appreciate it...I'm just not sure it was for me.
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