Best Director of the 21st Century?

The Oscar Nominated writer and director to whom this site is dedicated.
Posts: 78
Joined: January 2012
I hadn't considered it until I read this post on IMDB, and now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not sure there has been a better streak or a better director from 2000-2013:
He's the best director of his generation, in the same company as Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher, and Paul Thomas Anderson. No director has had a flawless streak of good films like this guy, and that includes Spielberg and Scorsese.

No matter how much the internet will crap on The Dark Knight Rises or Inception, Spielberg will have always made Always, Hook, 1941, The Terminal, War Horse, Tintin, and Crystal Skull. Scorsese will have always made Bringing out the Dead, Gangs of New York, and The Age of Innocence.

I don't think Nolan is the best director of all-time (that honor goes to Hitchcock and Kubrick), but I'd say Nolan is the greatest director currently alive. He simply is. Each of his films are an event now, and his quality far surpasses the likes of James Cameron for blockbuster material. Spielberg too. The way Nolan can take a huge, Hollywood blockbuster and go the opposite direction with it by making it feel like a small-scale, intimate, emotionally charged character study like Terrence Malick's work, it's simply unparalleled. Whenever there's a year where a Nolan film is being released, look out, because that film will be among the most talked about, critically acclaimed films of the year. It happened in 2000, it happened in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012. And it will happen again in 2014. He is the greatest director of the 21st Century.

If I go on the internet and read about how much of a backlash there is against Nolan's movies, that to me just shows the impact he has on pop culture. People get so up in arms about him, going to opposite ends of the extreme saying he's the worst director of all-time and the best director of all-time. He can't be both at the same time, and the polar opposite opinions just prove how relevant and unequaled he is. In a way, the haters make the case for his brilliance even stronger. If I go on IMDB and see so many threads and posts about how much Nolan sucks, I smile and think that the man must be doing something right.

He's by far this generation's Spielberg, and he has surpassed him, in my opinion.

Stanley Kubrick - Never won an Oscar
Alfred Hitchcock - Never won an Oscar
Christopher Nolan - Never won an Oscar

^ Sounds about right to me :)
Some of it seems a little cynical, but I'm inclined to think it's right. :modesty:

2000: Memento
2002: Insomnia
2005: Batman Begins
2006: The Prestige
2008: The Dark Knight
2010: Inception
2012: The Dark Knight Rises

I don't think anyone has ever had a flawless run like that, 21st Century or not.

Posts: 7448
Joined: February 2012
Last I checked, we still have about 87 years to go.
Crazy Eight wrote:
Allstar wrote: Thoughts on Michael Fassbender?
no ur a assbender

User avatar
Posts: 3668
Joined: June 2011
Location: Houston, TX
He's better than Spielberg in this century for sure...but better than Spielberg overall? Not yet.

Posts: 8437
Joined: August 2012
I wouldn't go this extreme by saying that he's the best of the best, because we still have a whole century ahead of us, but so far - he's one of the best directors we have.

why rank

User avatar
Posts: 2306
Joined: July 2009
Location: Norway
mchekhov 2: Chek Harder wrote:why rank
+1 :angel:
@sammyjankis88

Posts: 1
Joined: June 2013

User avatar
Posts: 749
Joined: May 2013
Christopher Nolan is one of the best filmmakers of all time .

Posts: 238
Joined: November 2013
It's just my opinion, but not only do I think Nolan is the best director of all time, I think he's the best by a surprisingly big distance. He's certainly the cleverest director of all time, even surpassing Kubrick.

I'll compare him to the other 'great' directors.

Kubrick was an emacullate visionary filmmaker, but quite odd. His films are not always accessible.
Scorcese is famed for his crime films, his fast edits but still he doesn't beat Nolan for me.
Spielberg, still regarded as one of the best after a long career. Certainly, he is near the top, but again Spielberg films are often cliches of his previous films; overly family-orientated, over-use of John Williams etc.

Finally, the main reason I think he is the best is because if you were to walk into a cinema, which is the associated director name that would get you most giddy, excited and happy about? A Christopher Nolan film.

User avatar
Posts: 8049
Joined: October 2011
Location: Chungking Mansions
Personally I think the best is this guy in the funny hat.
Image

But you know, we kinda have most of the century left so we'll see.

Post Reply