My 5 Favorite Movie Directors

It doesn't take long after meeting me to find out that I have a slight...problem. I watch way too many movies. I mean waaay too many. I'm fairly upset that this hefty semester has interfered with my movie watching time, but I guess I have to get on with this graduating business! Anyway, thanks to the Great and Powerful Netflix that my mom has generously subscribed to for the last four years, I have been introduced to so many movies, actors, and directors that my head could probably explode at any moment.

For now, I'd like to share my personal five favorite directors. Now, I understand that some of these might sound a little familiar, but they're great, nonetheless. However, I must warn you that James Cameron will not be appearing on this list, but I'll save my Avatar rant for later. :)

5. Wes Anderson

Ahhh, Wes Anderson, King of Quirky. Anderson crafts each movie that he directs with spectacular, surreal visual presentation. I will admit that I have not seen his first movie, Bottle Rocket, however, I have seen the others, The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Heard of any of those? If you haven't, you need to take a trip to Blockbuster. All of Anderson's movies usually center around some kind of dysfunctional relationship, whether it is between members of a family, a love/hate relationship with a school, or a big ass shark. Although these stories center around dysfunction, there is never a shortage of laughs, as Anderson focuses on some of the quirkiest characters you'll ever come across (see Jason Schwartzman's Max Fischer). Anderson likes to reuse a select group of actors for his films, including Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, Jason Schwartzman, and the Wilson brothers. And if you're looking for an amazing animated movie, check out Fantastic Mr. Fox (which should have won the Oscar for Best Animated Movie, in my opinion). You will not be disappointed.





4. Stanley Kubrick

One of my friends is OBSESSED with Stanley Kubrick, convinced that there is no comparison in the film world. I respectfully disagree, but I will admit that Kubrick's work is damn good. With films such as Full Metal Jacket, The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and my personal favorite, Dr. Strangelove, under the belt, Kubrick proved that he was one of the most versatile directors in filming history. When watching a Kubrick film, don't be surprised to see controversial elements pervading the plot line. Kubrick was also a perfectionist; quality meant everything to this director.

3. Cha Cha Cha (Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Guillermo del Toro)

Okay, I know I'm cheating. This combines three directors into one, but I'm making the rules here. But let's just review some films: 
A Little Princess, Y tu Mama Tambien, Children of Men (Cuaron). I remember falling in love with A Little Princess at the age of 6, and about a year ago, I bought the movie on DVD. Guess what? I love it as much as I did fifteen years ago. And Y tu? One of the best coming-of-age films that I've ever seen. Oh, and for HP fans out there, Cuaron directed Prisoner of Azkaban. 
Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel (Gonzalez Inarritu). These three films are known as the "Death Trilogy," as characters who are strangers to each other are connected in some way by death, a car crash for the first two and a gun for the third. All three are amazing; the characters for the films are given great multi-dimensional depth, and I am always left with a sense of awe after watching them.
Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth (del Toro). Although I will admit that I've never seen Hellboy, I was impressed to the gills with Pan's Labyrinth. The fact that it did not win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film absolutely astounds me. I am a firm believer that Mexico has a top spot in quality filmmaking, and these three gentlemen absolutely take the cake for me. 


2. Quentin Tarantino

Say what you will about Tarantino using the same bag of tricks. That bag of tricks WORKS. I recently had a discussion with someone who said that they don't care for the quality of dialogue in movies, but to me, dialogue is one of the most important aspects of a film. And let me tell you, you cannot get better dialogue than Tarantino. With films such as Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino always delivers bloody violence with wonderful flair and entertainment. Tarantino also has a pool of actors that he enjoys casting, such as Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Harvey Keitel. 


Take a look at this classic scene from Pulp Fiction. Samuel L. Jackson plays perhaps my favorite character of any movie ever: Jules Winnfield. Be advised: this does contain violence.












1. The Coen Brothers

All Hail the Coen Brothers! My favorite duo of director/producer ever, these brothers are responsible for gems such as Fargo, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men, and their latest A Serious Man. The world is their oyster; the brothers experiment with all different types of genres of filmmaking, from black comedies to film noir. You'll never know what you'll get with the Coens. You could be following George Clooney's Ulysses Everett Magill on a hilarious homage to The Odyssey in O Brother, Where Art Thou? Or, you could be on the edge of your seat, waiting for No Country for Old Men's psychopathic killer Anton Chigurh to pop onto the screen. The Coen Brothers have a fantastic sense of timing and surprise, just watch Burn After Reading. A certain scene (you'll know it when you see it) was so surprising that I actually screamed in the movie theater. So please, for the love of all things holy, check out these siblings. They're quite amazing.

Books, Books, Books

You know, I'm really liking the format of this Top 5 thing that I've been doing for the last couple of posts, so it's going to continue in this manner. Let's see..I've touched on movies, music, and websites, so I think it's time to travel to the genre of literature. As an English major, I spend the majority of my life reading, and I'm pretty sure that without some sort of book, I would probably go into DT's. Now sometimes these books that I am required to read are not the most enjoyable things I've ever had to do (read: Dostoevsky); sometimes I've felt like ramming my head into something either sharp or rock hard getting through the numerous pages of a book. And why does it seem like unenjoyable books have to ramble on for 1200 pages? Okay, maybe I exaggerate, but you know what I mean.

To digress on the subject of excruciating literature, I am going to present my 5 favorite books of all time. Now, I am not part of the literary canon, but dammit, I know what I like, and I cannot recommend these highly enough.

5. The Awakening - Kate Chopin

I remember reading this in high school and absolutely LOATHING it. Sure, it was supposed to be a prime example of feminist literature, but I frankly had no interest whatsoever in the Victorian setting with these seemingly one-dimensional characters. Oh, how wrong I was. I reread the book about four years later in college in one of my favorite professor's classes, and I was ashamed of myself for ever having hated the book. For those who are unfamiliar, The Awakening is the story of Edna Pontellier, a twenty-eight year old mother of two who vacations with her husband for the summer at a community located near the Gulf of Mexico. Sounds like a typical housewife story, right? Wrong. Edna, like most women of the Victorian Era, has an unspoken duty to be the picture of a perfect wife and mother, neglecting her own needs and wants. Too bad this doesn't set well with her, so she decides to clean house a bit (no pun intended). She meets a man by the name of Robert Lebrun, and gasp, she falls in love with a man who is not her husband. She also has another affair and actually moves out of her house. You're probably thinking that this woman is a completely floozy, but let me assure you, she is not. It is the oppression of her own will that forces her to take "drastic" measures, for Edna is a true pioneer, fighting for her own happiness rather than being subjected to the "mother women." The ending of the book astounds me; probably one of my favorite endings of any book. Check it out! It's really a short read, and it's worth your time.

4. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle

 I've probably read this book about 7 or 8 times in my life, and I own the entire Wrinkle in Time series. I'm usually not a science fiction fan at all, but something about this really pulled me in. The protagonist is a girl named Meg Murry, whose parents are scientific geniuses working on a tesseract theory, which allows time travel by folding space and time.  A social outcast, Meg has never had anything extraordinary happen to her; she is overshadowed by her athletic, yet average twin brothers, Sandy and Dennys. Her youngest brother, Charles Wallace, is a prodigy, yet considered unintelligent because he does not talk. In the course of the tesseract experiment, Meg's father goes missing, and with the help of three otherworldly ladies named Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs.Who, and Mrs. Which and a slew of other fantastic creatures, Meg, Charles Wallace, and friend Calvin O'Keefe travel the depths of time and space to recover Mr. Murry in an adventure that will stay with the reader even after the book is over.


3. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver

I'd always heard a lot of acclaim for this book, but it was just one of those books that I planned to read "some day." Two summers ago, I figured that I'd give it a go, and it absolutely floored me. The book tells the story of four sisters: Rachel, the eldest and most spoiled of the sisters; Leah, the independent, headstrong twin to Adah, who is obsessed with making her father happy; Adah, a hemiplegic, who soars at science and math; and young Ruth May, who is the most playful of the bunch. Forced to live in the Congo as missionaries by their overruling father, this book offers sections from each girl's point of view about the events that transpire. We see political turmoil, religious persecution, patriarchal dominance, and utter tragedy as the missionary life plays out for the girls. This book provides some of the richest character development that I've ever seen in my life and describes ravaged Africa with such brilliance that I felt as if I was living through the scenes of the book.

2. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Let me just inform you now that Gabriel Garcia Marquez is my favorite writer of ALL TIME. If you haven't read his work, you need to get your head out of a hole and go pick this book up today. I'm serious. It's that good. Garcia Marquez has a very unique style of writing, in which he almost always surrounds his stories with magical realism. If you're not aware of what magical realism is, let me explain. Imagine you're reading a story about a normal day in the life of a character. The character is brushing his teeth, taking the garbage out, while his faithful winged dog follows him outside. Magical realism incorporates the fantastic into a story not to highlight the fantasy, but to present it as truth, as if nothing is strange about the winged dog. In One Hundred Years of Solitude, Garcia Marquex focuses on seven generations of a family in a mystical village called Macondo. Throughout the book, the reader will see Macondo frequented by gypsies, war, and love spells. The novel is one that comes full circle, and you'll have to read to find out how it ends.

1. Harry Potter (1-7) - J.K. Rowling

I apologize if you were looking for something a bit more literary at the top of this list, but I cannot lie. I might love Harry Potter as much as I love my family.  I know it seems a bit cliche to have Harry Potter at the top of the list, but let me tell you, folks: it is as good as it's rumored to be. We all know the story behind these famed books, whether by reading or watching the movies. The books pulled me in so much that (and I'm not kidding when I say this), I CRIED my eyes out when it ended. I'm not talking a couple of tears; I was bawling. I mean, the book has magic, Quidditch, and Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. What more could you ask for out of a series?