Top 10 Directors of the Last 25 Years (Emil's Picks)

Who makes the short list of the best of the best in modern filmmaking?

BY EMIL TIEDEMANN

I guess I'm left with only one option now, and that's to put Colin, my delusional friend, in his place. Yes, it is true that I challenged him to come up with a list of who he thinks are the rightful Top 10 movie directors of the last quarter-century (see his choices here)--and to do it within the span of about six hours--but what I didn't tell him to do was get it all wrong!

Spielberg at the top of the list is a given. Anyone who can bring dinosaurs back to life so realisticly and mimic the brutalism of The Holocaust on film, in the same year mind you, deserves to take the crown, so I won't hassle him for that. But that's where I start to have some issues. To put Michael Mann as the runner-up is unforgiveable, considering there's no place for him on such a list...at least not with his current rèsumè (which includes a movie adaptation of Miami Vice!).

Then there's Colin's inclusions of Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke), Sofia Coppola (Lick the Star) and Christopher Nolan (Insomnia), all fine directors, but all of whom should've been part of his omissions list rather than Top 10 contenders. I think Colin had mistaken Coppola for her father (Francis Ford Coppola) or even her husband (Spike Jonze), or perhaps he thought he had a quota that had required him to submit at least one lady on his fumbled list.

Before I trash my good friend's selections any further, I must confess that I have not seen every movie of the last 25 years (gasp)! I know, sounds crazy, but Roger Ebert I am not. With that said though, I've seen a decent chunk of the so-called "great" ones, and I've read about and/or researched many of the others, and I have non-bias friends and acquaintances who have sat through some that I've never even heard of, opinions in tow.

Of course, being a compilation of cinema of the past 25 years, I've had to leave out most of the all-time most influential directors, including Alfred Hitchcock (pictured above), Stanley Kubrick, D.W. Griffith, Orson Welles, George Lucas (pictured left), John Ford, Ingmar Bergman, Billy Wilder and Francis Ford Coppola. Some of who haven't worked on a film in decades, and other who have but barely enough to compete with modern filmmakers. Then again, my list also includes some names who have contributed some iconic titles before the year 1984 (25 years ago), but have continued putting out classics beyond the mid-'80s.

Now remember, any of these directors' work before '84 will not be taken into consideration, and neither will the films in which they only wrote and/or produced (Spielberg has a prolific list of movies he's served as producer, but left the director's chair for another). Acting credits are also not acknowledged, given the ever-growing tally of Thespians who have tried their hand behind the camera, including Mel Gibson (The Passion of the Christ), Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves), Robert Redford (Quiz Show), Warren Beatty (Dick Tracy), Kenneth Branagh (Henry V), Tim Robbins (Dead Man Walking), Sean Penn (Into the Wild), George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck) and Sarah Polley (Away from Her).

So, sitting at my cluttered desk in my cluttered apartment, I considered all that I had to consider and thunk up my own list of the best of the best...of the last 25 years! I'm looking forward to your complaints!

1. Steven Spielberg (1946-)
Post-1984 Highlight: Schindler's List (1993)
Upcoming Feature: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
Misstep: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Declared "the most influential person of his generation" (Life), "the most powerful & influential figure in the motion picture industry" (Premiere) and "one of the 100 most important people of the century" (Time), Mr. Spielberg, 62, has left a legacy unlike any other in the world of filmmaking. Even without the uneligible classics like Jaws (1975) and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), the Ohio-born billionaire ($3.1 billion to be exact) has a rèsumè that would make anyone blush with envy. In 1993 alone Spielberg helmed one of the biggest box office ventures of all-time (Jurassic Park) and won the Best Director Oscar for his take on The Holocaust (Schindler's List), before co-founding the DreamWorks studio a year later. He accepted his second directing Academy Award for 1998's Saving Private Ryan, though we can't overlook his other efforts since 1984, including the Indiana Jones films (1984, 1989, 2008), The Color Purple (1985), Empire of the Sun (1987), Hook (1991), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Catch Me If You Can (2002), War of the Worlds (2005) and Munich (2005). Also an accomplished and copious executive producer (Transformers, Men In Black, Twister), Spielberg has been nominated for well-over 100 major film awards, and his features--as director--have earned more than $8.5 billion worldwide! If the #1 spot on this list was a throne, it would be perfectly moulded to fit Spielberg's billionaire ass!

2. Martin Scorsese (1942-)
Post-1984 Highlight: The Departed (2006)
Upcoming Feature: Shutter Island (2009)
Misstep: Michael Jackson's "Bad" video (1987)
Like Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, 66, had a stellar body of work pre-1984, including landmarks like Taxi Driver (1976), The Last Waltz (1978) and Raging Bull (1980), but has managed to accumulate an impressive collection of projects post-1984. Founder of the World Cinema Foundation and an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, the New Yorker became synonymous with machismo and violent concepts in his films, as well as his professional relationships with top-notch actors Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. He was nominated as Best Director at the Academy Awards five times (including 1988's The Last Temptation of Christ, 1990's GoodFellas, 2002's Gangs of New York, and 2004's The Aviator), before he was finally able to walk onstage to collect the Oscar for 2006's The Departed, which was presented to him by Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and Spielberg. Scorsese, who has also worked on various documentaries (No Direction Home, Shine a Light) and short films (New York Stories), has addressed many of the themes of Italian America through his lens, which has also become part of the identity of his craft. Also a part-time actor (Quiz Show), Scorsese's other films have included After Hours (1985), The Color of Money (1986), Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995) and 1999's Bringing Out the Dead.

3. Woody Allen (1935-)
Post-1985 Highlight: Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Current Feature: Whatever Works (2009)
Misstep: Celebrity (1998)
The former Allen Stewart Konigsberg is not just a director, but moonlights as a producer, screenwriter, actor, playwright, comedian, musician, and offbeat pervert, but we're here to concentrate just on his directing talents. 32 years ago Allen won a Best Director Oscar Award for Annie Hall. 31 years ago he earned another nod for helming Interiors. And ever since, Allen, 73, has been on a streak of applauded dramas and comedies that has him amongst the world's most respected filmmakers of his time. Known for touching base with subjects of sexuality, philosophy and his own Jewish background, Allen tends to tread off the beaten path with his screwball comedies and sometimes provocative dramatic features, which have earned him four more Best Director Oscar nods since '84 (1984's Broadway Danny Rose, 1986's Hannah and Her Sisters, 1989's Crimes and Misdemeanors, and 1994's Bullets Over Broadway). The profuse legend, who hails from Brooklyn, has been making movies since the mid-'60s, with countless "recent" highlights that include Radio Days (1987), Alice (1990), Shadows and Fog (1991), Husbands and Wives (1992), Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Deconstructing Harry (1997), Small Time Crooks (2000) and last year's Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Too bad he's such a pervert in his spare time.

4. Oliver Stone (1946-)
Post-1984 Highlight: Platoon (1986)
Upcoming Feature: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
Misstep: Alexander (2004)
Accused of glorifying violence and promoting conspiracy theories through his visionary films, Oliver Stone's prominent and controversial career has included three Oscar wins and a screenwriting credit for the iconic Scarface feature (1983). In 1986 he was named Best Director at the Academy Awards for helming one of the best war films of all-time, Platoon. He followed that up with a look into corporate America in Wall Street (1987), and then examined the talk radio industry in...uh...Talk Radio (1988). He garnered a second Best Director Oscar for his star-studded Vietnam epic Born on the Fourth of July (1989). In 1991 he delved into the real-life accounts of The Doors (The Doors) and JFK (JFK), the latter of which earned Stone another nomination as Best Director at the Academy Awards. Then came the bizarre Natural Born Killers (1994), the biopic Nixon (1995), the distinctive U Turn (1997) and one of the best football movies to date, Any Given Sunday (1999), which reunited him with Al Pacino (Scarface). Stone fell short with his Alexander epic in '04, before tackling the 9/11 attacks in World Trade Center (2006), and the story behind George W. Bush in W. (2008). He's currently underway on another film set during the Vietnam War, titled Pinkville.

5. Clint Eastwood (1930-)
Post-1984 Highlight: Unforgiven (1992)
Upcoming Feature: Invictus (2009)
Misstep: Absolute Power (1997)
In the same fashion as Woody Allen, 79-year-old Clint Eastwood has starred in most of the films he's also directed, a trend of his since the early-'70s. Five Golden Globes, four Oscars and five People's Choice Awards later, Eastwood remains one of Hollywood's most sought-after filmmakers. Eastwood first got into the business as a B-movie actor in the mid-'50s, which led to his career in television (Rawhide) and numerous spaghetti westerns (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly). By the mid-'80s Eastwood had gotten behind the camera almost a dozen times, and continued this course with applauded efforts like Pale Rider (1985), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), Bird (1988) and The Rookie (1990). Known for his enduring masculine roles and iconic one-liners, Eastwood finally gained respect as a director when he won Best Director at the Academy Awards for 1992's Unforgiven. It took another 12 years before Eastwood won the award again, this time for his "girl boxer" drama Million Dollar Baby, which--like Unforgiven--was named Best Picture. In addition to a couple more Best Director Oscar nods (2003's Mystic River and 2006's Letters from Iwo Jima), the former Carmel-by-the-Sea mayor (yes, mayor!) has also helmed The Bridges of Madison County (1995), True Crime (1999), Space Cowboys (2000), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Changeling (2008) and Gran Torino (2008).

6. Ron Howard (1954-)
Career Highlight: A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Current Feature: Angels & Demons (2009)
Misstep: The Da Vinci Code (2006)
First known for his extensive TV work (including as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show, and Richie on Happy Days), Ron Howard, 55, reinvented himself as a major motion picture director, rising to prominence with 1984's Splash, which also introduced us to Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah. The decade also included Howard contributions like Cocoon (1985), Willow (1988) and Parenthood (1989). The hits continued into the '90s via Backdraft (1991), Far and Away (1992) and Apollo 13 (1995), the latter of which reunited him with Hanks. Howard took a turn at directing many of Hollywood's top leading men, such as Michael Keaton (1994's The Paper), Mel Gibson (1996's Ransom), Matthew McConaughey (1999's Edtv) and Jim Carrey (2000's How the Grinch Stole Christmas). Finally, in 2001, Howard got the respect of his peers, taking home the Academy Award as Best Director for A Beautiful Mind (starring Russell Crowe), which was also named Best Picture. After The Missing (2003) and Cinderella Man (2005), Howard recieved mixed reviews for his blockbuster epic The Da Vinci Code (2006), starring Hanks. Two years later he was up for Best Director again for Frost/Nixon (2008), before working with Hanks for a fourth time in Angels & Demons (2009). He also co-founded major player Imagine Entertainment in 1986, with partner Brian Grazer.

7. Ridley Scott (1937-)
Post-1984 Highlight: Thelma & Louise (1991)
Upcoming Feature: Robin Hood (2010)
Misstep: 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)
Stylistic, visionary and persistant director Ridley Scott, 71, is an Emmy-winning, Golden Globe-winning, BAFTA-winning English-born filmmaker who first gained national attention as the man behind the sci-fi classic Alien (1979), which he followed up with another cult hit, Blade Runner (1982). But it's what he's done since that we're here to celebrate, including Legend (1985), Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) and Black Rain (1989). In 1991 Scott--the older brother of fellow director Tony Scott (Top Gun, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3)--won praise for his exemplary road film Thelma & Louise, which was nominated for six Oscars (including Best Director). Reviews were mixed for his next three ventures (1992's 1492: Conquest of Paradise, 1996's White Squall, 1997's G.I. Jane), but he redeemed himself with another Best Director nod, this time for Gladiator (2000), which was hailed Best Picture. During 2001 Scott had box office hits in Hannibal and Black Hawk Down, the latter of which had him up for the Best Director Oscar for the third time in his career. Scott's subsequent features have included Matchstick Men (2003), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), American Gangster (2007) and the upcoming Robin Hood (2010).

8. Quentin Tarantino (1963-)
Career Highlight: Pulp Fiction (1994)
Upcoming Feature: Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Misstep: N/A
He writes, he produces and he acts, but 46-year-old Quentin Tarantino is most renowned as a director of captivatingly innovative pieces of cinematic art. The Knoxville, Tennessee native first struck gold when he directed, wrote and acted in Reservoir Dogs (1992), about a botched jewelry heist, with an ensemble cast that included Harvey Keitel and Michael Madsen. Known for casting forgotten or overlooked actors for his pictures, Tarantino revelled in the critical acclaim of the indie cult hit, which was beckoned "Greatest Independent Film of All-Time" by Empire magazine. But Tarantino raised the bar when he reignited John Travolta's fizzled career in the eclectic and electric Pulp Fiction (1994), which had him up as Best Director at the Oscars. The pop culture phenom was adored for its stylistic image and wide appeal, primed as a post-modern "neo-noir" instant classic. He contributed partially to 1995's Four Rooms before reunited with Fiction's Uma Thurman in the two Kill Bill films (2003 & 2004), which paid homage to Italian spaghetti westerns and Japanese samurai flicks. Tarantino, who won an Oscar for writing Fiction, was credited as a guest director for Sin City (2005), and then took on full-length projects Death Proof (2007) and this year's Inglourious Basterds.

9. James Cameron (1954-)
Career Highlight: Titanic (1997)
Upcoming Feature: Avatar (2009)
Misstep: N/A
The only Canadian on the list is not David Cronenberg or Norman Jewison, but rather Ontario native James Cameron, the man behind the most successful film of all-time, 1997's Titanic. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, as the notoriously demanding perfectionist first sat in the director's seat in 1984, helming Arnold Schwarzenegger and his own future wife Linda Hamilton in The Terminator. In between the sci-fi classic and his next feature, Cameron scripted Rambo: First Blood II (1985), but left others in charge. His next endeavor was Aliens (1986), the well-received sequel to Ridley Scott's Alien, becoming a major box office success story. This allowed the Canuck more artictic freedom, which came in handy for the cutting-edge sci-fi feature, The Abyss (1989), which had a lukewarm critical response. Cameron then formed Lightstorm Entertainment, which produced his subsequent film Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), an Oscar-winning record-breaker that led us to 1994's True Lies, both of which starred Schwarzenegger. Then, in 1997, Cameron took his record budget and surpassed all expectations for Titanic, the ultimate cinematic epic that grossed $1.8 billion worldwide and won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Director. Cameron focused on a couple of documentaries before finally returning to the big screen with the upcoming Avatar (2009).

10. Joel & Ethan Coen (1954-/ 1957-)
Career Highlight: No Country for Old Men (2007)
Upcoming Feature: Hail Caesar (2009)
Misstep: The Ladykillers (2004)
Minnesota-born brothers Joel & Ethan Coen have been working as a team--known simply as the Coen brothers--for 25 years now, writing, producing and directing more than a dozen feature films together. They kicked it off with 1984's Blood Simple (with Frances McDormand), but kicked it into high hear with the black comedy Raising Arizona (1987) (also with McDormand). Following Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991) and The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), the Coen's again recruited McDormand for their neo-noir thriller Fargo (1996), which won Oscars for the Coen's (Best Original Screenplay, and a Best Director nod) & McDormand (Best Actress), and catapulted the brothers into the spotlight. Sibling rivalry seemed an undaunting obstacle with Joel & Ethan, as the creative relatives continued carving a niche for themselves in the movie industry, including The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) and Intolerable Cruelty (2003). In '07 they gave Hollywood a run for their money when they captured three more Oscars (Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay) for No Country for Old Men. Last year they returned with George Clooney (O Brother, Intolerable) and McDormand in Burn After Reading (2008).

So there you have it, the 10 directors that made the greatest impact on film over the last 25 years, in my insignificant opinion. The hardest part about compiling this list wasn't deciding who would reign supreme (that was the easiest part, actually), but rather who I'd have to leave off the final draft.

There are plenty of candidates who could place just beyond the elite Top 10, from the visionary Tim Burton (Batman) (pictured left) and the daring Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) to the sentimental Sam Mendes (American Beauty) and the authentic Steven Soderbergh (Traffic). But there's just no room for them and other prime candidates, an impressive list that could easily include Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump), Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), Robert Altman (Short Cuts), David Lynch (Mulholland Drive), Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) and the overrated Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing).

As for my friend Colin, it seems that we're on par when it comes to Spielberg, Scorsese, Cameron and Scott, but we'll just have to agree to disagree on the rest of his mistakes (ha!). Who knows, maybe he'll come to his senses and we'll see eye to eye once and for all...until then, go ahead and tell me where I may have gone wrong. Cheers.