Sam Mendes

 

Sam Mendes

Host : Freddy

1917

Road To Perdition

American Beauty

Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa

Host: Tanner

Tanner's Take: Akira Kurosawa had been in my mind since the beginning but I never knew what the reaction would be from Freddy or Chris, so I stayed clear. His movies tend to be very long, and being Japanese the films would be very different from what we had previously seen. But I had to choose him due to the fact that he is one of the most important and influential directors of all time. Seven Samurai is a fantastic film that I had seen before so that was an easy choice to add in there. It's a very entertaining movie that moves along at a steady pace and is filled with adventure, humor and action. That was the only Kurosawa film I had seen, so the other two were a difficult choice for me. Seeing as how Seven Samurai was a 3 1/2 hour long film, I knew I had to pick two that would bring that night to a close at a good time. Rashomon and Ikiru were two films of his I had wanted to see most and their runtimes worked in perfectly. I feel like I had never quite seen a film like Rashomon before. It touched on a lot of issues that would have been taboo back then and seeing a lot of the Japanese culture working in that time period was very interesting. Ikiru was a film that a lot of us as Americans could relate to due to it's subject matter. And although I feel the ending tended to drag on a bit, it was a fantastic film none-the-less. I'm glad I had the chance to show Freddy and Chris these films because I feel the chances of them watching them on their own was rare. Kurosawa is a very important director, and anyone who has a respect for film needs to indulge themselves in his movies.

Rashomon

Ikiru

Seven Samurai

The Films Of Akira Kurosawa

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Host: Chris

Chris' Take: I knew I had to get him before someone else snatched him up. Easily one of the greatest and most influential directors of all time. And yet I was completely ignorant of his work save The Birds and Psycho...and of course his tv series growing up. Got a good education that Saturday. Rear Window reminds me of Blue Velvet a bit...creepy, seedy reality underneath the appearances we like to keep up. Vertigo is mind fuck of a movie and reminded me a bit of Rosemary's Baby. North by Northwest was the weakest for me but was still a solid film with class A actors and acting.

Rear Window

Vertigo

North By Northwest

Alfred Hitchcock: The Difference Between Mystery & Suspense

Paul Thomas Anderson

Paul Thomas Anderson

Host: Freddy

Freddy's Take: An easy choice for me. His films are generally long, but he really has a knack for hashing out characters and I don't mind investing the time. I believe he has a lot in common with the Coens as he has a gift for creating sympathetic characters out of the most unsavory types of people. Who else could humanize the participants in the porn industry like he did in Boogie Nights? Magnolia was my favorite film of Anderson's until I saw There Will Be Blood. The performance he got from Paul Dano was perfect as the foil for the great Daniel Day-Lewis. Once again, I went with a director who creates art that begs to be viewed multiple times. I still believe that what he got out of Tom Cruise in his role as Frank Mackey in Magnolia was fantastic. Cruise's best role in my opinion. I have yet to see The Master, but am anxiously awaiting what I'm sure is going to be another piece of enjoyable film from well.....the master!

Boogie Nights

Magnolia

There Will Be Blood

Continuous Vision: The Long Takes Of P.T. Anderson

David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg

Host: Chris

Chris' Take: Probably a wild card pick for me. There were none of his movies, save Spider which turned out to be his weakest we viewed, that got me to pick him as my director. I was just looking over a list of the greatest directors and he kept popping up. The more I read and realized he had done A History of Violence and Eastern Promises convinced me that he would be a solid pick. My only regret is not plugging in one of the before mentioned films in the place of Spider. I already knew I liked Naked Lunch for its sheer weirdness and Videodrome is a cult classic for a reason.

 Spider

 Naked Lunch

Videodrome

David Cronenberg On Working With Actors

Cameron Crowe

Cameron Crowe

Host: Freddy

Freddy's Take: Cameron Crowe is a personal favorite. It wasn't very hard for me to select him early in our "Director Day" schedule. He is a gifted writer and his screenplay for "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" is based on his experiences (he also wrote a book) from going back to school and posing as a high school student. Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky are among my favorite movies of all-time, and Say Anything is a simply a classic film with a classic portrayal of Lloyd Dobbler by John Cusak. His use of music in film takes a back seat to no other director as he can burn a scene into your mind forever by adding just the right tune under an important moment (think Lloyd Dobbler holding the boom box as Peter Gabriel sings "In Your Eyes"). The "rewatchability" is very high for each of those films and in my opinion he is one of Hollywood's most underrated directors. Crowe gets the most out of his actors and that shines through in the performances he has coaxed out of Cusak, Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding, Kurt Russell, Kate Hudson, and Billy Crudup over the years. Pretty sure that Chris and Tanner really enjoyed this day as much as I did.   

Say Anything

Vanilla Sky

Almost Famous

Cameron Crowe On Film 89-05