Schilkeman

Westerns were an idealized version of the old west. Leone was simply making, in his interpretation, an idealized version of the western. 

I agree, and while I can't in good conscience say Lucas is a better director than Spielberg, I find his films more interesting.
 
Spielberg is so good, it's easy to put him no. 1, but he's also so good it's easy not to, if that makes any sense. He's like Stephen King, or the Beatles. His influence is so pervasive, it's easy to overlook the craft behind the fun. That last BFI list was amusing.

THX 1138 and AMERICAN GRAFFITI are masterpieces.

I’m not real sure what this thread is about, but top 5 directors? Sure, why not.
 
1. George Lucas
2. Steven Spielberg 
3. David Lean
4. Coen Brothers
5. Francis Ford Coppola 

I’m not real sure what this thread is about, but top 5 directors? Sure, why not.
 
1. George Lucas
2. Steven Spielberg 
3. David Lean
4. Coen Brothers
5. Francis Ford Coppola 

Yeah, King's Duma Key had a very similar impact on me. It's one of my favorite books.

Would be boring to people, I think, but it has to do with when I read it, the manner in which I read it, King's language and the way it influenced my own writing etc. etc.

I was 17. I took my HS girlfriend to see it. We missed the prologue and I had no idea what was going on, but it inspired me to read the Hobbit. The rest is, well, the rest. My son's middle name is Olorin thanks to a movie I didn't understand, and during which, I may or may not have been making-out with someone. Fun times. Big thanks to my friend Chris who brought over his extended edition DVDs for us all to watch, and then never came back to get them. I owe you one.

My list, but with added thoughts
 
Schindler's List - Simply the most emotional experience I've ever had watching a film.
 
Jaws - As close to a perfect film as maybe exists.
 
Close Encounters of the Third Kind - My personal favorite, for it's hopeful and atmospheric tone, and its use of music as a universal language.
 
Saving Private Ryan - Every time the mom falls down on the porch, I lose it. Kaminsky's best work after Schindler's List
 
Jurassic Park - I was 9 when this came out. It was my generation's Star Wars. He made it to top Jaws, and for want of a little more dimensionality in the characters, he may have succeeded. I like the score more, either way. After Star Wars (collective), I've probably seen this more than any other film
 
Raiders of the Lost Ark - My three creative heroes at the top of their game.
 
E.T. - I don't watch this movie. I've always struggled with stories where people leave, or have to say goodbye. Maybe because I lost a parent so young. It's too much for me, even now. I recognize it as a great film, however, and JW greatest score.
 
Lincoln - Maybe the best script he's ever shot. A lesser director would not have known how to shut up and let the actors act.
 
Munich - His most difficult and diffuse film. More great work from Kamisnky. The score is serviceable.
 
The Last Crusade - If not for the father/son material, and the inspired casting of the somewhat underrated Connery, this would be a fairly boring movie. Those two things are so strong, though, they make it work.
 
Minority Report - An underrated score to an underrated film. One of his strongest, visually.
 
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - I've listed the reasons why I like this movie here.
 
Tintin - Just a fun movie.
 
Temple of Doom - Parts haven't aged great, but not enough that I would write it off. The best score and cinematography in the series. I love Indy and Short-Rounds' interactions.
 
The Terminal - A delightful little film. I think underrated because it came out at a time when people still expected Spielberg to shoot for the fences. This film's a solid on-base bunt.
 
War Horse - People wanted a WWI SPR. That's not what this is. Great music and camera work, and solid story about a dude and a horse.
 
The BFG - I think this film will draw some critical reevaluation in about 10 years. It will never be a masterpiece, but it will be appreciated. The best JW score, and by default the best score, of the past 20 years.
 
War of the Worlds - The weakest of his "9/11" trilogy, but some great effects and tension-filled scenes make it fun, for lack of a better word, to watch. The craft is there.
 
Catch Me if you Can - Kind of a nothing burger to me, honestly. Hanks's knock-knock joke is the thing I remember most.
 
West Side Story - A very good remake of a film that did not need to be remade.
 
Amistad - Saw this only once in high school, which I think Spielberg made it with that very intention. I remember liking the John Quincy Adams scenes.
 
A.I. - The ending just feels too contrived for me to buy what it's trying to sell. A tonally inconsistent, but not in a good way, film. The script is weak.
 
The Lost World - A sequel that fights for two hours for its need to exist, and, frankly, fails.
 
Hook - I'll let Spielberg's own assessment speak for me, because I agree with all of it.
 
 "There are parts of Hook I love. I'm really proud of my work right up through Peter being hauled off in the parachute out the window, heading for Neverland. I'm a little less proud of the Neverland sequences because I'm uncomfortable with that highly stylized world that today, of course, I would probably have done with live-action character work inside a completely digital set. But we didn't have the technology to do it then, and my imagination only went as far as building physical sets and trying to paint trees blue and red."
 
"I felt like a fish out of water making Hook... I didn't have confidence in the script. I had confidence in the first act and I had confidence in the epilogue. I didn't have confidence in the body of it." He added, "I didn't quite know what I was doing and I tried to paint over my insecurity with production value," admitting "the more insecure I felt about it, the bigger and more colorful the sets became."

To curate is to select and organize. There is nothing in the definition of the word about making anything shorter. The process of curation can whittle unwanted items to form a smaller collection. 
 

The human pitch approximator? Nah

Yes, God forbid we all learn to be more sensitive to societal representation . There's plenty of stuff I love about Temple of Doom, but there's also plenty about it that is very much from 1984, and should probably stay there. 

Picnic with Death is um...well, it's amazing really.

Look at me. I’m the star now.

It has some of his best meat and potatoes underscore, or sneaking around music, that picture.

Yes, there are composers, that I like primarily for their great themes, like Elmer Bernstein, John Powell or Joe Hisaishi. And there are others, that I like for their way of musical textures, motivic development, variety, poliphony, counterpointing, harmonization, rhythm etc. like Danny Elfman, Don Davis, Dario Marianelli, Franz Waxman.
There are few, who seem to have it all. John Williams is for me one of them. Hans Zimmer wins for me on none of these fields. But as I said, that's just me. But the Lone Ranger theme in that video is really nice. Thank you for the hint.

I didn't see Tár (primarily) as a relatable tragic character. She's too close to real life examples of conductors who were horrible tyrants, even if (perhaps even because of that) they produced great artistic results. Someone like Alsop probably had to contend with people like that throughout her career to become successful, maybe even had to oppose them, or maybe even oppose using their method herself (surely male conductors at least can get a career advantage out of at least some of that stuff, as long as they're artistically convincing enough and have enough people on their side). Tár is a character remarkably similar to Alsop in some aspects who probably behaves very much in a way that many people she encountered in reality do and in which she herself probably very deliberately doesn't.
 
That doesn't necessarily make the film "wrong". But she has a point - at the very least a subjective, but valid one.
 
How the film portrays this behaviour seems mostly very accurate. It's quite uncomfortably successful in that regard.

absolutely love this

It has some of his best meat and potatoes underscore, or sneaking around music, that picture.

It has some of his best meat and potatoes underscore, or sneaking around music, that picture.

All his scripts that we already know are in the past now.

My experience with every Hans Zimmer score I tried. Including Gladiator, POTC, Interstellar, WWII, Inception and Dune.

You had me at "cookies." I'm the guy who shows up at funerals for the little crustless sandwiches afterwards. 

Given out for free with every purchase. It's a staff production. There will be cookies and punch in the staff breakroom after the performance. One cookie per person, please.
 
The language is sordid; please don't bring children.

Ye...no...
 
I'd say no because the score wasn't made for the game, which came out the following year.