Breaking into Hollywood is tough sledding, particularly if you want to get behind the camera. As a big fan of Kevin Smith movies, I wondered one day what the best movies were that were made by young directors. Smith was 24 when he made ‘Clerks’ for less than thirty thousand dollars. Robert Rodriguez was 24 when he made ‘El Mariachi’ for about $7,000 – he raised the money by submitting himself to a medical laboratory for experimental drug treatments. There are plenty of older directors out there who, for the most part, got their start by directing episodic television. With the vast amounts of money it takes to make a movie these days, the major studios want to decrease the risk of a movie bombing by giving the directing duties over to a seasoned pro. Giving a young, unproven director the reigns to a movie is risky business. So when it does happen, usually there is real and burgeoning talent. Younger directors today have other avenues to get their start, music videos, commercials and the internet.
One of my main criteria for paying money to watch a movie is who is directing it. Instead of being intrigued with the storyline or getting excited by the trailer, I have certain directors that I will watch, no matter what the movie is about. A few of my favorites appear below. There are some of these movies I confess I haven’t seen, so I relied mainly on IMDB and the AMC film site to make the list. Here are 15 great movies made by directors age 30 and under. They aren’t necessarily ranked, however it’s pretty much implied that Orson Welles should be considered the best of the lot. There might be some spoilers, but I’ll do my best.
Director and Age: John Singleton (23)
Other Notable Movies: Poetic Justice, Shaft, Rosewood
An explosive story of four friends growing up in south central Los Angeles. Some pin their hopes on going to college, others are mired in the daily drama of gangs, violence and drugs. Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Tre, a boy dropped off by his well-to-do mother at his father’s house in hopes of having a good role model and helping him become a man. Ice Cube plays Doughboy, one of Tre’s gangster friends. Morris Chestnut plays Doughboy’s brother, who’s headed off to college on a football scholarship. Singleton was nominated for best director for this story of growing up in a violent world.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Boyz ‘N the Hood
Director and Age: Louis Malle (24)
Other Notable Movies: Au revoir les enfants, Elevator to the Gallows
Known for tackling touchy subjects later in his career, Malle got his start with the help of Jacques Cousteau aboard the Calypso. The Silent World was one of the first movies to use underwater cinematography in color. It opened up an amazing world of undersea adventures. The movie, a documentary, won the Palm d’Or at the 1956 Cannes Film festival and the Academy Award for best documentary. Amazingly, Cousteau got into some hot water later when it was discovered he had killed a school of sharks who were attracted to a dead whale carcass and using dynamite on a coral reef during the making of this movie.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: The Jacques Cousteau Odyssey – The Complete Series
Director and Age: Paul Thomas Anderson – (29)
Other Notable Movies: Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Cigarettes and Coffee
Anderson was well on his way to making it big in Hollywood even before Magnolia came out as he made Boogie Nights two years before that film. One characteristic of his movies are ensemble casts, and Magnolia is one of the best examples of this. The characters and story are intertwined as people pay for the choices they have made in life. Themes of regret, abuse, loneliness and failed relationships as well as redemption are all explored here. Personally I’ve never really cared for the film, but Tom Cruise gives a blistering performance as sort of a misogynistic evangelist on techniques for bagging women, perhaps his best performance ever.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Magnolia
Director and Age: George Lucas (29)
Other Notable Movies: the Star Wars series
Lucas’s coming of age period movie was a story that revolved around a typical night in 1962 California. Lucas describes it as the end of an era as some kids went to college and some kids went to Vietnam. As he felt by the time the story ends, America underwent a drastic change. It was Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss) and Steve Bolander’s (Ron Howard), last night in town as they were set to go to college back east. John Milner (Paul Le Mat) was the town tough guy and Terry \”The Toad\” Fields (Charles Martin Smith) was the high school nerd. Lucas pitched his script to several Hollywood studios and was denied before Universal picked it up. Lucas ended up writing the script himself with his large 45 record collection of 50’s and 60’s music playing as he wrote, and had a song in mind for every scene. A young Harrison Ford makes an appearance as a drag challenger to Milner.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: American Graffiti (Collector’s Edition)
Director and Age: Orson Welles (27)
Other Notable Movies: Citizen Kane, Lady From Shanghai, A Touch of Evil
Orson Welles never really seemed to get along with RKO Studios. RKO was bitter because it seemed like his movies never made any money. Welles was always battling them on everything about how a movie is made. Ambersons is no different. After making Citizen Kane, you would think he’d have a little more clout with the suits about getting things done. But the studio re-edited this film when Welles was out of town and gave it a more sentimental ending. Welles didn’t appear in this movie, but his touch is all over it with brilliant lighting, innovative camera work, and smart editing. (sans the Studio interference) In spite of all the problems, it was still a great film and nominated for four Academy Awards.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: The Magnificent Ambersons
Director and Age: Francois Truffant (27)
Other Notable Movies: The Wild Child, Shoot the Piano Player, Fahrenheit 451
One of the best movies and examples of the French New Wave, The 400 Blows is a story of the injustices done to juvenile offenders in France during that time. After a life of abuse and petty crime, a boy is sent to a work camp by the sea. The film ends with him escaping to see the ocean, essentially freeing him from his troubled past. Truffant won best director honors at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for best original screenplay at the Academy Awards. You can also see Truffant acting in Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: The 400 Blows – Criterion Collection
Director and Age: George Romero (28)
Other Notable Movies: Dawn of the Dead, Land of the Dead
I don’t think anyone’s going to step up and say this is necessarily a ‘great’ movie on par with the other directors on this list. However, this movie practically started a new genre. There were stories of the undead before this, but this one spawned a thousand imitators. And it is one of the movies registered with the National Film Registry for preservation. An interesting experiment would be to watch this movie and then watch ‘Shaun of the Dead,’ to see how many parallels there are in dialog and references.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Night of the Living Dead
Director and Age: Quentin Tarantino (29)
Other Notable Movies: Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Grindhouse
Love him or hate him, you’ve got to hand it to Quentin Tarantino. There really isn’t anyway a great movie like Pulp Fiction would have been made had he not shown his passion for film like he did in Reservoir Dogs. Violent and slick, snappy dialog and a good story with a great cast makes for a great movie. Reservoir Dogs also marked the start of the new wave of independent movies. Tarantino has also gotten in some hot water by being accused of ripping off the Asian movie “City on Fire.” But you can look that up and decide for yourself whether this is a ripoff or another one of Tarantino’s oft used ‘homages.’
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Reservoir Dogs (15th Anniversary)
Director and Age: Kenneth Branagh (29)
Other Notable Movies: Hamlet, Dead Again, Frankenstein
No one brings the Bard to the big screen quite like Branagh. There are some fantastic Shakespeare adaptations by Lawrence Olivier and Orson Welles, but this Henry V breathed new life into Shakespeare on screen. A simple comparison of Olivier’s Agincourt speech and Branagh’s brings out these differences in film making and eras. There is a richness of the characters and modern feel as well as a faithfulness to the story in his versions. Branagh’s Henry V also has a fantastic cast featuring Derek Jacoby as Chorus, Brian Blessed as Exeter, Ian Holm as Fluellen, Judy Dench, Christian Bale, Paul Scofield and Christopher Ravenscroft. Branagh was nominated for both best actor and best director at the Academy Awards.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Henry V
Director and Age: Charlie Chaplin (26)
Other Notable Movies: The Gold Rush, Modern Times, City Lights
One of Hollywood’s first superstars, Chaplin had already made several movies before the Tramp, but this is probably the best example of his early work. Chaplin had played a down on his luck character before, but this marked the beginning of the character, The Tramp.’ And it was a little less slapstick than his earlier work.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: The Little Tramp: The Charlie Chaplin Collection
Director and Age: Buster Keaton (29)
Other Notable Movies: The General, Our Hospitality, The Navigator
As a movie projectionist and janitor is wooing a girl whose got another man after her, Keaton is accused of stealing the girl’s father’s watch. He falls asleep and dreams of being a detective and solving the problem ala Sherlock Holmes style. Just like Chaplin, Keaton had already made several movies before this one. Being seasoned as he is, Keaton shows us some brilliant special camera effects. The entire movie is 45 minutes long and chock full of comedic brilliance. Keaton fractured his neck during the production of this movie which he didn’t discover until years later when migraines drove him to the doctor.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Our Hospitality/Sherlock, Jr.
Director and Age: Stephen Speilberg (29)
Other Notable Movies: The Color Purple, Schindler’s List, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET, Saving Private Ryan, Indiana Jones series
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat.” With Jaws, the summer blockbuster was born. Speilberg had learned his chops working in television including a couple episodes of Night Gallery. Jaws came out of a novel by Peter Benchley. Because of mechanical failures of the mock-up shark, Speilberg was forced to change the movie in such a way as to build tension and fear by not actually seeing the monster, in this case a killer shark. The ploy worked brilliantly, and the film set all kinds of box office records, becoming the first movie to surpass $100 million in ticket sales. Jaws was nominated for best picture but lost to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Jaws (30th Anniversary Edition)
Director and Age: Jean-Luc Godard (30)
Other Notable Movies: Band of Outsiders, Contempt
Godard once said, “All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.” Breathless certainly is the embodiment of that quote. Another one of the pivotal movies of the French New Wave, Roger Ebert simply says, ‘modern movies begin here.’ He goes on to say that numerous characters from many films that followed are derivatives of characters in this movie – especially from Warren Beatty in ‘Bonnie and Clyde.’ Michel, the main character is a thug who patterns himself after Humphrey Bogart. He is hiding in his girlfriend’s home after he shot a policeman. Godard’s editing and jump cuts were one of the main features that makes this film stand out. Interestingly this movie was co-written by Godard’s friend at the time, Francois Truffant.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Breathless – Criterion Collection
Director and Age: Sergei Eisenstein (27)
Other Notable Movies: Strike, Ten Days that Shook the World
At the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels, Battleship Potemkin was hailed as the greatest film of all time. It is quite possibly also the greatest piece of propaganda as well, rivaling the Nazi ‘Triumph of the Will’ by Leni Reifenstahl. It’s a story of a group of mutinous Russian sailors who battle their oppressive Tsarist officers. The Odessa Steps scene in which Tsarist soldiers massacre a group of civilians is one of the most powerful sequences in movie history. So much so, that some believe it actually happened. One particular shot of a baby in a carriage falling down the steps was influential in a similar scene in ‘The Untouchables,’ where Ness is waiting for the accountant at the train station. Eisenstien at the time was experimenting with film editing, and cut this movie to ensure the greatest emotional response from the audience. Roger Ebert has a great review of the power of this movie here.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: The Battleship Potemkin (Enhanced Edition) 1925
Director and Age: Orson Welles (26)
Probably the most shocking thing about Citizen Kane is that it didn’t win the best picture Academy Award. In fact it was nominated for several things but only won for best original screenplay. Film critics and several polls rank it the best movie ever made. Subjective, to be sure, but it certainly was one of the most innovative as well. Deep focus, where everything in a scene is in sharp focus, low angle cinematography, time compression, makeup and soundtrack were all aspects of Welles technical genius. And Welles himself at age 26 played a very convincing middle aged man. The film is loosely based on William Randloph Hearst who was so enraged with the picture he offered RKO $800,000 to destroy the prints and the negative. An interesting note is that both Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons were flops at the box office, which pretty much spelled the end of RKO studio. They went on to make a series of low budget but very good horror movies (The Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie, etc) produced by Val Lewton.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) Guy Ritchie – 30
Clerks (1994) Kevin Smith – 24
Memento (2000) Christopher Nolan 30
Evil Dead (1981) Evil Dead 2 – (1987) Sam Raimi – 22, 28
Blood Simple – (1984) Ethan Coen 27 (Joel was 30)
Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989) – Stephen Soderbergh – 26
She’s Gotta Have It (1986) – Spike Lee – 29
The Sixth Sense (1999) M. Night Shyamalan– 29
Usual Suspects (1994) – Brian Singer – 29
Mean Streets (1975) – Martin Scorcese – 31
Shaun of the Dead (2004) – Edgar Wright – 30
El Mariachi (1992) – Robert Rodriguez – 24
Contributor: bucslim
Quentin Tarantino rocks!
I’m glad to see that Spike Lee only made the bonus. He doesn’t deserve to be on this list at all. Racist bastard.
Yo for Young!!!!!!!!!
I’m a huge Stanley Kubrick fan and I just want to point out that he directed the great film “Paths of Glory” at the age of 29, and you left that off the list!
You also left off David Gordon Green: “George Washington” (at age 25) and “All the Real Girls” (at age 28)
Nice!
No female directors on the list or in the “Notable” section. No Women have directed big films before they turned 31? There’s got to be at least one.
Yayy Reservoir Dogs is my favourite film
I will never achieve something like this by the time I’m 30 haha
Interesting list
xx
cool list..brilliant people..
Wow, brilliant.
You labeled this list as 15 great movies from directors under 30 however you included several directors who ARE 30 (Jean-Luc Godard (30), Edgar Wright – 30, Guy Ritchie – 30, Christopher Nolan 30) and therefore are not under 30
good list though
Gillian Armstrong was 29 when she directed, the Oscar nominated, My Brilliant Career.
Sofia Coppola was 28 when she directed The Virgin Suicides.
Good movies on this list and 4 of them I havent seen. But have to say for some reason I really didnt like Boyz N the Hood I would have rather seen Evil Dead in its place. Evil dead is one of the best Horror/Comedy movies ever. But other than that, good list bucslim.
I don’t think Pulp Fiction is that a good film. Well, maybe during those times (’90s) it was. But I love most of Mr. Tarantino’s work like “From Dusk Till Dawn” and “Kill Bill”!
Since you would cover only Hollywood movie and not from India (Bollywood & other regional languages), let me list some from India. Someone with more time and interest in Indian movie can expand this at a later date.
1. Awaara (Tramp) – Raj Kapoor (Age 27): Tramp meets his childhood love, a lawyer, in the act of stealing her purse. When he learns that his god father was responsible for his current situation, he kills him. The heroine defends him in court where the hero’s father is the judge. TIME magazine rated it No. 1 in the list of 10 Indian movies to treasure.
2. Shree 420 (Mr. 420) – Raj Kapoor (Age 30): Ok, in the true tradition of 420 (Section 420 of Indian penal code deals with punishment for theft. 420 is associated with petty criminals in India – thanks to the movie), Raj Kapoor was 31 when the movie was released. Hence, the movie being bumped down to No. 2 instead of Awaara, even though it is rated higher. The hero, a tramp, falls in love with a poor girl. He is however seduced to riches by dishonest businessman. Ultimately, the hero changes his ways and becomes a honest person. The movie has 2 of India’s best known songs – Mera Joota hai Japani (My shoes are made in Japan) and Pyaar Hua Ikraar hua (Love happened, I should confess). The screenshot of Raj Kapoor & Nargis walking under the umbrella in the rain is considered as one of the highlights in Bollywood History.
3. Sholay (Embers) – Rames Sippy (Age: 28): India’s highest grossing of the top & still considered a landmark, Sholay is the story of 2 petty criminals who are hired by a former police cheif to revenge the tyranny of local dacoit cheif. The movie, using western filming techniques like slow-motion in shoot-outs, is considered a Bollywood classic. It ran for more than 5 years in one of Bombay’s prestigious cinema hall. It took more than 15 years before any movie could overhaul the gross earnings of Sholay. The introduction sentence of the villain – “Kitne Aadmi the” (How many men were there?) is probably the most famous Bollywood Quote of all time.
4. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Lovers will take away the Bride) – Karan Johar (Age 23): Then India’s highest grossing movie, DDLJ, as it is called had superstar Shah Rukh Khan & Kajol in the lead. The story is about UK settled Indian pair falling in love and getting the approval of Indian culture believer bride’s father.
5. Maine Pyar Kiya (I loved) – Sooraj Barjayta (Age 24): Love story of a rich boy & a poor girl. Then India’s highest grossing movie.
6. Hum Aapke Hain Koun (What am I to you) – Sooraj Barjayta (Age 29): Story of 2 marraiges, a death and a love story in between. Then India’s highest grossing movie.
7. Hyderabad Blue – Nagesh Kukunoor (Age 31): English & Telugu movie. Can we relax the age limit by 1 year. US returned Nagesh shot this movie on how a US returned India finds it hard to accept the culture change in the 8 years. Brilliant movie and spawned a era of Indo US movies.
8. Dil Chatha Hai (The Heart Wants) – Farhan Akhtar (Age 27): Story of the lives of 3 friends post-college. Amazing movie that bought Bollywood to the 21st century.
9. Mouna Ragam (Silent Raga) – Mani Ratnam (Age 30): Tamil Movie. College girl falls in love with a gangster. He is killed and a few years later, she gets married to a corporate executive against her wishes. Will she accept her husband?
10. Shiva – Ram Gopal Varma (Age 27): Telugu Movie. College student turns against city don.
Amy Heckerling was only 28 when she directed the teen classic Fast Times At Ridgemont High.
My mistake on the list – DDLJ was directed by Aditya Chopra (then 24) and Karan Johar was asst director.
Karan Johar made his directorial debut with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998 – when he was 26), a movie that might just make the cut.
Wow, I knew Wells was young when he did CK, but 26? Imagine directing AND starring in the most highly regarded film of all time at the age of 26.
I actually saw Citizen Kane a few years ago, and going into it, the hype had me convinced that it would be disappointing. I was completely wrong and I completely loved it.
Honorable mentions id say geeza who made the Kidadulthood and Adulthood, they were Suppose decent films
Two Friday’s ago I travelled to a regional city in Korea to attend a party at the house of former colleagues. They showed on a big screen various silent movies. One was “Sherlock Jr”. Having never consciously seen any Buster Keaton movie before, it is intriguing that this reference has popped up so soon afterwards.
I’m sure there are films made by directors under 30 which stank and we never saw the film or the director again.
bucslim: Interesting list, well-researched. You said “I have certain directors that I will watch, no matter what the movie is about.” Have you ever been disappointed by a movie using that criterion?
Stephen Speilberg? His name is written like so: Steven Spielberg.
Like I don’t sit around enough as it is, now i’ve got to LV (that’s a verb too, right?) read, and watch These movies.
Then I have to find one to direct before I hit thirty.
It’s François Truffaut, not Truffant.
Great list though.
It’s Francios Truffaut, not truffant.
Tim Burton made Pee-wee’s Big Adventure when he was 27. It’s a great movie!
Excellent List, bucslim!
Thank you.
Very informative and entertaining list. Good job Bucslim.
neat list. I’m not really a movie buff though… interesting. I’m 29, and I haven’t accomplished that much yet. Inspiring.
Cool list, bucslim! Glad to see George Romero, Speilberg and Wells on there. Hate Quentin Tarantino and his movies. I havn’t been able to sit through one of them yet….and thanks, Mary for adding Tim Burton in the comments.
Alejandro Amenabar directed Tesis at 26, Abre los Ojos (Vainilla Sky is the remake of this movie) at 25 and The Others at 29. He also wrote the scripts and the score.
sophia coppola?
You admit you don’t care for Magnolia, yet include that film instead of Boogie Nights, which Anderson directed 2 years previously? That makes…no sense.
I appreciate people’s comments on my list here. A couple of observations:
I knew I had a couple of misspellings about 10 minutes after I had submitted the list because I re-read the thing and I even asked Jamie to correct the Spielburg goof. Really kind of ironic that the person who makes fun of everyone else’s spelling problems gets his comeuppance. I acknowledge your corrections.
Secondly, I am one of the biggest Kubrick fans there is. I’m really pretty upset that I missed Paths of Glory, because it is one of my favorites. I’m just *****ed. That was a stupid omission. If you get a chance, find this movie and watch it. Kirk Douglas is outstanding in this movie about men going to the firing squad in WWI.
And on that topic, astraya, yes, I have been very disappointed. The biggest example is ‘Eyes Wide Shut,’ by Kubrick. I completely understand what he was trying to do, but it really was a failure.
Senior Shutter – good call on Coppola and Anderson. Kind of *****ist of me to leave them out. Particularly Sofia Coppola. I really liked Lost in Translation, but somehow I missed the Virgin Suicides.
# 15 Kalyan – I sincerely apologize for not including the movies you listed. I’m also sorry to say I’ve never heard of any of them. I know Bollywood is an exploding market and I should have thought of that when I was doing research for this list, but it looks like you have a list yourself. I’m sure Jamie would have considered it had you submitted it.
In terms of what you asked on #7 of your list, I really wanted to put Scorcese up on mine for Mean Streets, but he was 31. Kind of sucked.
#32 MarkH – I’m not sure what you’re getting at. I liked Boogie Nights better than Magnolia, but I think Magnolia is regarded as the better film, so that’s why I put that one up there instead. Jamie can attest to the fact that I’ve derided that film on a number of occasions, but I’m not stupid enough to say that Boogie Nights was better than Magnolia.
good one, buc. I have seven years to accomplish something cool now. Whay to put a time limit on it.
I’m stupid enough: Boogie Nights was a better movie than Magnolia.
p.s.
i think you forgot dazed and confused…
Cigarettes and Coffee is Jim Jarmusch, not PT Anderson.
chershey – IMDB says it’s PTA, Jaramusch did Coffee and Cigarettes. The Paul Thomas Anderson directed Cigarettes and Coffee starred Kirk Baltz, who was officer Marvin Nash, who got his ear cut off.
callie – you know I love you, but repeated shots below the beltline will cause a point deduction from your score. Didn’t we go over this in the locker room?
Nauplius – I won’t argue with you. Others might, but not me.
#39 – ear cut off in Reservoir Dogs that is.
Kalyan – I guess you spent an hour writing about Bollywood movies to a very Western crowd. Epic Fail. Bollywood and soccer could join forces and still American audiences wouldnt care.
Bucslim – great list dude!
I am 29 now and I could make a better movie than Tarantino – but I dont wanna.
Callie please!
Shout out and technical disqualification for David Lynch’s “Eraserhead”.
He started shooting when he was 26, but it wasn’t released until 1977 due to financial problems. I’ve heard that it cost around $30 to $40,000 to shoot, not sure.
Stanley Kubrick said it was one of his favorite films.
Magnolia is a great film – I also regard it as the best feel bad movie ever – remove all sharp objects from household before viewing, because if you felt ok when the movie began, you’ll be considering offing yourself by the end – but a great film.
I love this list! I’m glad boyz N the hood got a mention…growing up in the 90′s around gang violence I came to appreciate someone taking a serious look at it.
Also i love magnolia!
On a related subject, Kevin Smith has also written a few comic books and story arcs, including Spider-Man and Black Cat: the evil that men do. It’s a very good storyline that deals with mature subjects.
Btw, coolage list.
Kevin Smith and mature subjects in the same paragraph? NO WAYYY!
#41 – wally: I know that the list would be an epic failure and still spent an hour to deepen my understanding of Indian movies. I only knew 1 film (DDLJ) was made by a director who was less than 30, the remaining ones i learnt today.
Not too sad to see people not knowing Bollywood movies. Thatz like the Japanese expecting me to know & recognize Japanese classic movies. I know of no one outside Akira Kurosawa and even seen only 2 of AK’s works.
Brilliant, wonderful list. I don’t have time to comment now, I’m leaving for several hours, but as soon as I return I’ll post a proper response.
Ugh. I feel so worthless. I was using age as an excuse for not doing anything magnificent with my life yet but I guess I can’t do that anymore.
Great List!
Bucslim – I didn’t expect that any movie from my list to be included. I just took your idea and applied to Indian movies. I should say that i was surprised with the result. I didn’t realize the no. of mega-hit Indian movies made by directors less than 30.
Thanks for your article. I learnt so much about my own movies.
Great job! I love movie lists.
A small correction for number 13: P.T. Anderson didn’t make the film “Cigarettes and Coffee”, Jim Jarmusch did.
Bucslim,
I know it’s hard to believe, but you can check it on wikipedia here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man/Black_Cat:_The_Evil_That_Men_Do
Bucslim; Excellent job! I was kind of happy to see the original Clerks in the honorable mentions. I still think it is one of the funniest movies ever. Not exactly high-brow, but clever none the less. Reservoir Dogs made me a Tarantino fan (just the movies; the man is whacked) even though I have been as yet unable to watch the ear removal scene.
Wally; Whaddya mean fail? India comes in 4th when rated by internet connections. That’s a huge market; I personally wouldn’t object to drawing some of that market here. (Can you imagine the numbers when rural India catches up to urban India?) I personally also found it fascinating. Good job Kalyan.
Kalyan,
Not to get off the track but A.K. must see’s are The Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, Dursu Uzala will always have a place in my heart, Ran is as close to an epic you’ll ever see coming out of Japan (based on King Lear), and a mention of the film Dreams, probably one of the prettiest (?!) of films.
I know there are other greater A.K.’s, but these are some of my favorites.
cheapswill -
Paul Thomas Anderson directed a film called Cigarettes and Coffee
Jim Jarmusch directed a film called Coffee and Cigarettes
I directed a film called Doughnuts and Chocolate Milk with a side of Bacon
Kalyan – Japanese movies suck too. The only shows I like start with the words “Worlds Wildest..” or end with the words “gone wild part 3″
bacon makes the world go round – i’m not joking
Mom424 – I am an unapologetic Tarantino nut. To me, his movies are so much fun and cool. I have rarely been disappointed with anything he’s done on the big screen. I didn’t much care for Jackie Brown when it came out, but as the years go by I like it more every time I watch it. In 35 years of going to the movies, I have never witnessed a reaction by the audience more intense than the cheering and whooping it up as I have at the end of Grindhouse. I saw that double feature three times in the theater and each time, at different venues, with different age groups, all three times the audience cheered wildly, clapped for a very long time and even were yelling their approval.
I fully realize what I’ve just written is the equivalent to fingernails on the blackboard for some people. There is a real hatred out there for Tarantino as some folks think he is a hack and has disguised outright stealing from other movies as an homage. None of this is lost on me. But in terms of Reservoir Dogs, that movie was an important part of independent movies making a dent in the sorry state of big budget studios. That is simply a fact. You may not like the guy or his movies, but what he does is worth watching at the very minimum.
bucslim~
i always knew we had a special connection… and our great admiration of Tarantino proves it!
from my first exposure to From Dusk to Dawn… (which was also my first exposure to George Clooney) to the last Tarantino movie i saw, Death Proof, i am always surprised and satisfied at the end. (kinda like my fantasies of our intimate moments together…)
anywho, great list, as usual. but you don’t need me to tell you that.
rtr
Just an FYI, comparing Branagh and Olivier, and possibly suggesting that Branagh did anything Shakespearean better…it’s going to cause outrage amongst anyone who knows the slightest thing about Shakespeare, or acting.
Branagh is like Olivier, if you take away the charm and talent.