Ben Wheatley

Ben Wheatley

Host: Chris 

High Rise

Kill List

A Field In England

Franklin Schaffner

Franklin Schaffner

Host: Freddy

Freddy's Take: I chose Schaffner because I wanted to watch Planet Of The Apes with my friends. OK, that's only partly true. I had seen Papillon and Patton before and really liked both. Papillon features a great performance from Steve McQueen and I remember watching it on commercial television as a kid and liked it then. Schaffner is one of those directors that doesn't get enough credit. He had a great run of hits in the late 60's and 70's. Planet Of The Apes was my first "favorite" movie. And just look at the stars of these three movies, some really big Hollywood punch with Charlton Heston, George C. Scott, Dustin Hoffman, Karl Malden, and Steve McQueen. 

Planet Of The Apes

Papillon

Patton

Some great scenes from the work of Franklin Schaffner

Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

Host: Tanner

Tanner's Take: Polanski was a left field choice for me. The only film I had seen of his was The Pianist. I assumed Freddy and Chris weren't well versed with him either. I had always known his name was renowned in the industry, and in choosing him I would open us all up to his filmography. So, I thought "Fuck it. If the movies suck, then at least we know." It was quite the opposite. Chinatown was probably my favorite. I'm a sucker for classic noir films and Chinatown had a lot of fresh elements of the genre within the film. Jack Nicholson gave an awesome hotheaded performance (as usual) and the ending was really unexpected. Rosemary's Baby was a fantastic film as well: A very close second. Can't say that I have seen a lot of movies like it. Not exactly "horror" but definitely a great thriller with now my all time favorite dream sequence. Freddy's attention to detail during the film really helped to bring a lot of the political undertones to surface. The Ghost Writer was definitely the weakest. I picked it only because I wanted to see one of his most recent films to see how his direction has stood the test of time. Looking back I wish I had chosen one of his more earlier films like Cul-De-Sac or Knife in the Water. But it was still a decent watch. Slower than the other two and more for the politically inclined. All in all I thought he was a great choice. I have since watched several other of his films, and enjoyed them all. That night definitely opened up Polanski's film library into my own, as I'm sure it did for all of us. 

Rosemary's Baby

Chinatown

The Ghost Writer

Rosemary's Baby Video Spot