Best contemporary American director w/o an Oscar

[RobOfTheDead]

I saw this in another forum. These are the imdb results of a recent poll.

Alexander Payne 5982 (23.0%)
Tim Burton 4897 (18.8%)
Tim Burton 3013 (11.6%)
Richard Linklater 2374 (9.1%)
Terrence Malick 1573 (6.0%)
Ethan and Joe Cohen 1543 (5.9%)
Spike Jonze 1461 (5.6%)
Gus Van Sant 1155 (4.4%)
David Lynch 972 (3.7%)
Wes Anderson 805 (3.1%)
Paul Thomas Anderson 769 (3.0%)
Quentin Tarantino 664 (2.5%)
Spike Lee 296 (1.1%)
David Fincher 261 (1.0%)
Michael Mann 215 (0.8%)

My personal pick would be Paul Thomas Anderson because 3 of his 4 movies: Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch Drunk Love are in my top 10. I'd also pick David Lynch for his sheer creativity and especially for his films The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, and Mulholland Drive.

[RobOfTheDead]

Who do you think is the best contemporary American director without a Best Director Oscar?

[drew]

My favorite directors of the list are the Coen Brothers and Spike Lee (mostly just for "Do the Right Thing"), though I never thought that their DIRECTING was particularly groundbreaking. I suppose, in terms of pure DIRECTING, David Lynch, PTA, or Tim Burton (when his style was still original) state a good case.

[blinkfan]

Gus Van Sant!

I hate the man, even more so than Uwe Boll and Joel Shumacher. I cannot think of any good movies of his

Psycho remake: Horrid
Gerry: One of the worst films I have ever seen
Elephant: probably his only good film
Last Days: I hate this movie so much, I would rather watch Doom Generation over it, thats how much I hate it.

(Spoiler)
What bugs me the most about him is that in almost every film he writes, He absoloutley always has to push a gay sex scene in it, I am not a homophobe or anything, its just that it is totally unnecessary its what killed both Elephant and Last Days.

[drew]

(SPOILER RESPONDING TO THE ABOVE SPOILER)

I thought that the gay sex scene was important to "Elephant".

Also, he DID direct "Good Will Hunting" and the "Under the Bridge" video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

[DarthShady]

Personally I'm a huge Linklater fan. Dazed and Confused, Slacker, Fast Food Nation, School of Rock....There's not a movie of his I don't like, and D&C is one of my absolute favorites of all time. But that's just me personally.

[blinkfan]

drew said:

(SPOILER RESPONDING TO THE ABOVE SPOILER)

I thought that the gay sex scene was important to "Elephant".
.

That is true, I suppose where as in Last Days it is completley not

as for the under the bridge video, isn't it just Anthony Kiedus running shirtless for 4 minutes?

[drew]

blinkfan said:

as for the under the bridge video, isn't it just Anthony Kiedus running shirtless for 4 minutes?

I actually can't even picture the video. It's just a good song (though severely overplayed... but that's another post for another forum) from one of my favorite bands.

[aargmematey]

Quentin Tarantino or David Fincher. Probably more favored toward Tarantino. What what!

[Hilasophy]

David Fincher or Wes Anderson. Fight Club and the Royal Tenenbaums almost make my top ten...and are definitely on my shelf just in case I need to watch them.