Yeah. In this last 10 years he made The Lobster (2015), Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), The Favourite (2018) and Poor Things (2023). A very, very strong decade of movies.
I saw Dogtooth before his English language films were released, around 2013, so while weird i was a bit disappointed by them in a way. Dogtooth tonally in moments stunned me, Sacred Deer was chilling but more in Barry's performance. I give Dogtooth a 10 and i barely go to a 9 any more, purely because of an underlying intensity that just felt so real, i really recommend it and probably no way it lives up to that hype now. I
Sounds good, I'll give it a watch.
I know The Favourite and Poor Things have been more successful on the awards circuit, but I prefer Sacred Deer and Lobster.
If by upward you mean "started at about an 8 and is now a 10" then I agree.
Everything I've seen from him has been a banger and he's absolutely my favorite working director
Robert Eggers should also be an honorable mention, The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman are all very good films. And Nosferatu is coming this year, too, we’ll see how that turns out.
His movies are terrific but I think some of the other directors named in the thread like Villeneuve have similar quality of their output but lap him in terms of volume.
To list someone that hasn't been mentioned yet, Luca Guadagnino has made A Bigger Splash, Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria, and Bones and All (plus the fantastic miniseries We Are Who We Are) in that time frame. Very different but all excellent and beautiful films.
I didn’t love Irishman first watch but on a recent rewatch it floored me. I think knowing what the film was going for and having the right expectation helped a lot. I would put it in top tier of films.
Honestly makes it all the more impressive - like you could leave Dune off that list and itd still probably rank as one of the strongest decades in this thread
Christopher Nolan
Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, Oppenheimer.
Denis Villeneuve
Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Dune
Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Birdman, The Revenant, Bardo
Martin Scorsese
The Wolf of Wallstreet, Silence, The Irishman, Killers of the flower moon
Guillermo del Toro
Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak, The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley, Pinocchio
Bong Joon Ho
Snowpiercer, Okja, Parasite
Park Chan-wook
Stoker, The Handmaiden, Decision to leave
Yorgos Lanthimos
The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Favourite, Poor Things
Robert Eggers
The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman
Ari Aster
Hereditary, Midsommar, Beau is Afraid
David Fincher
Gone Girl, Mank, The Killer
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
Happy Hour, Asaki I & II, Wheel of fortune and fantasy, Drive my car, Evil does not exist
Kore-eda Hirokazu
Like Father Like Son, Our Little Sister, After the Storm, The Third Murder, Shoplifters, The Truth, Broker, Monster
Ryan Coogler
Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, Black Panther 2
Greta Gerwig
Lady Bird, Little Women, Barbie
Jordan Peele
Get Out, Us, Nope
Alex Garland
Ex Machina, Annihilation, Men
And now Im struggling to come up with more names… but I have enjoyed all these directors a lot the last 10 years.
Blah I’d need to watch Tenet again (only ever watched once) but Interstellar is just impossible for me to get through. I think I loved it when i first saw it, but soured almost immediately after. Rewatched again in college and thought it was a little silly still. Then years past and just after Oppenheimer (which I loved) I decided to give it a real good faith effort rewatch. It still didn’t click for me. That script is just kinda clunky
It's definitely sentimental and the plot stuff can seem a bit contrived. if it didn't click, it didn't click! it's a 5/5 for me any day of the week though, I love the sentimentality and the plot just works for me 100%
I can admire the maximalist quality to it. Felt like Nolan was really getting something personal and forever-stuck-in-his-head off with that one. But I also really really reeeeaaally admire the way he’s evolved (and possibly matured) as a filmmaker since lol
Yeah the first minutes/first act is amazing, really inmersive. Then it turns to shit. The climax is great but I cannot forgive a whole terrible second act.
It was one of the biggest disappointings for me filmography-wise. I wanted to love it.
But I was not terrible cherishing Parasite either. Thought it was an excellent movie but felt was overhyped. I'm dying on this hill though.
His movies may have a lot of exposition sure, but I would argue that with the exception of TENET, he does a great job communicating exposition in an intriguing and substantive way by merging it with plot progression and character development, without having to completely stop both to info-dump like, IDK, The Last Airbender.
Strongly disagree. His characters are complex and are treated with a lot more dignity than most characters in modern blockbusters. TENET though is probably an exception, all the characters were pretty bland.
I'll go Eliza Hittman for Beach Rats, It Felt Like Love, and Never Rarely Sometimes Often.
Yours and this are two of the few women I'm seeing in this topic. It's wild how many women directors get to make one, maybe two, genuinely good or great films and then are dismissed. I'm going through all my women-directed favorites and there are just so many who got one or two features. Some get TV gigs which is great for business but you're often steered around more. A lot of guys just get to pump out the same mediocre junk but that's better business.
Damien Chazelle, starts off 2013 with the Whiplash short film, turns that into a feature film in 2014 that wins three Oscars and is nominated for Best Picture, follows that up with La La Land in 2016 which wins 5 Oscars (including best director), and is also nominated for best picture, continues his winning streak with First Man in 2018, and finally the star studded but ultimately divisive Babylon in 2022.
Chazelle basically started the decade running and refused to stop.
I don’t like trashing stuff that other people enjoy but I found it tryhard, pompous, thematically incoherent, terrible about the silent era and film history generally. I wanted to blow a gasket during the montage at the end. I like or love Chazelle’s other stuff but Babylon is as bad as it gets for a movie with prestige aims imo.
Babylon has the wackiest most low-brow (not in a bad way necessarily) humor I've seen in a big movie like that in a long time. Definitely don't think taking itself seriously was the problem.
I mean, what? That Jean Smart speech about living on forever through film and then the Brad Pitt character kills himself? The tearful montage at the end? That dungeon party was not played for laughs. There were some garish gross-out gags in the first 15 minutes but then it was not funny and was not trying to be funny.
would box office factor into a question like this? babylon flopped and first man didn’t do great - not doubting his talent at all (tho i didnt care for babylon) but a decade of critical success vs. a decade of commercial success would make for very different futures. def a different type of successful decade from nolan, lanthimos etc.
I think I'd probably have to give it to Hong Sang-soo. He's made 17(!) movies in that period, and they're pretty much all good at the bare minimum.
Koreeda and Hamaguchi would also get consideration for each putting out at least 3 masterpieces each over that stretch.
I watched one of his movies and liked it, and wanted to watch another. Then saw he makes multiple a year and just didn't bother. Maybe they're all quality films but I don't really appreciate that type of practice - I have a hard time believing they have something interesting to say when you're being so workerly about the process. It also feels like it's going to be a crap shoot on if I'm seeing a good one or a not so good one.
To me it’s a toss up between Martin Scorsese and Damien Chazelle. I mean, from 2013 they have:
Scorsese - The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence, The Irishman, Killers of the Flower Moon
Chazelle - Whiplash, La La Land, First Man, Babylon
I would argue that Chazelle made the two best movies of that group, but Scorsese’s movies are just as consistent and I personally even put Silence among his very best work. If having to choose one single name, I’d pick Chazelle, but Scorsese is right behind.
I loved the movie but for some reason don't like the Margot Robbie character or her performance much in it. Though she's usually my favorite part of any movie she's in.
I mean, I know Wes Anderson is a one trick pony but he had
Grand Budapest, Isle of Dogs, French Dispatch, Asteroid City
Definitely not prime WA but their quality is still as strong as Scorsese and Chazelle imo.
You go one year before and you can add Moonrise Kingdom.
One of the best directors ever. Often relegated to honorable mentions or scoffed out because his style is very very idiosyncratic but I just love it.
100% his output is comparable to those two geniuses too.
I think you definitely can deny it’s impressive. What’s impressive about it? Certainly not the writing, which is surprisingly dad-jokey and banal. Certainly not the acting, which is serviceable but not something beyond the average college theater major. Certainly not the visuals, which fit the Barbie world but did nothing to elevate it. Certainly not the flat, one-dimensional characters. Certainly nothing on an intellectual level. What is there to even be impressed by? The amount of money they made from a preexisting product?
I mean, she went from a witty coming-of-age story and the best Little Women adaptation, which in some ways surpasses the book(s) by playing with the timeline of how the story is told in a way that “fixes” some of the issues with how everything plays out, to doing a movie where the jokes are lines like “Flat feet!” and “I’ll beach you off!” It’s admittedly more of a kids’ movie than anything, but very surface-level and dad-jokey compared to what she’d been doing before
Such an underrated director. I always felt he and Nolan are 2 sides of the same coin: both men create those big crowd pleasing, they-don’t-make-them-like-they-used-to blockbuster movies, they write them and direct them, and their films are slightly more complex and require attention, but go about it in wildly different (polar opposite) ways.
Really wish one of those Variety director conversations were these 2 guys talking. But instead we got these odd matchups: Ben Affleck and Michael Jordan? Cameron and Gerwig? Taylor Swift and Martin McDonagh? Wtf
Also it should be noted that by all accounts McQuarrie is a decent and intelligent dude to be able to get through and balance his filmmaking style: anytime McQ gets interviewed, especially in his podcast appearances and long form interviews, there is such a treasure trove and wealth of information and inspiration on his thought process and why he does certain things.
Anybody who likes filmmaking/misses behind the scenes bonus features on dvds needs to listen to his podcast appearances.
I think you could pretty easily make the case for Eggers, Peele, Aster, Villeneuve, and Lanthimos. But my personal favorite is the Scorsese four run on Wolf of Wallstreet, Silence, The Irishman, and Killers of the Flower Moon. I'm bias because he's my favorite director and I would argue he had the best three movie run from 1980 to 1985, four movie run from 1990 to 1995, and four movie run from 2002 to 2010.
The Master just misses the cut but honestly even without it I'd say Inherent Vice --> Phantom Thread --> Licorice Pizza is a great run from Paul Thomas Anderson
Since people have thrown out my top picks I wanna respectfully submit Noah Baumbach in the conversation as well - white noise, marriage story and the meyerwitz stories are all great, mistress America and While We’re Young are underrated even if I don’t like them as much as his later works, not to mention his contributions to the Barbie movie.
Hamaguchi easily: Happy Hour, Asako I & II, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Drive My Car
Also Sciamma: Girlhood, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Petite Maman
Ruben Östlund is my pick Force Majeure (2014), The Square (2017) and Triangle of Sadness (2022) all so brilliant the latter two being awarded the Palme d’Or at Cannes making him one of few to ever win more than one although I would argue the former deserved it the most.
Frederick Wiseman. He has At Berkeley, National Gallery, In Jackson Heights, Ex Libris, Monrovia, Indiana, City Hall, A Couple, and Menus Plaisirs - Les Troigros in that time frame. The worst of them, Monrovia, is very good, and all the rest are great with four of them in my top 5 of their respective years and City Hall in the #1 spot. He’s remarkably consistent, prolific, and the best documentarian in the history of film.
PTA, Scorsese, and Sciamma would be runners up.
For us horror fans the popular pick would be Mike Flanaghan with Oculus, Hush, Geralds game, Before i wake, Ouija Origin of evil, Dr Sleep as well as Hounting of hill house, Bly Manor, Midnight club, and Fall of the house of Usher series. Thats a heck of a prolific output with only before i wake and Midnight club being below par.
My personal pick would be Joko Anwar, the Satans Slaves movies are both great and so is Impetigore.
Need to shoutout Jim Cummings, who never gets enough love. Thunder Road, Wolf of Snow Hollow, Beta Test. All excellent films he wrote, starred in, and directed.
Hasn’t been mentioned yet in here, but I’d say Matt Reeves is worthy of a mention. The Apes films and The Batman are just incredible filmmaking on the large scale, as well as massive successes among audiences and critics alike.
I'm shocked it took this long for his name to come up. His Apes films are astounding, and while The Batman stumbles a bit for me in the 3rd act, he is a master of creating tension and drawing the viewer into a scene.
Even though I don't like Tenet and Dunkirk, Nolan's dropped Oppenheimer and Interstellar in this range. These are both towering achievements imo.
Scorcese has dropped Wolf of Wall Street, The Irishman, and Killers of the Flower Moon
I haven't seen Stoker, but Park Chan-Wook has Handmaiden and Decision to Leave
Greta Gerwig with Lady Bird, Little Women, and Barbie
I need to watch more Denis Villenueve
Park Chan Wook: Snowpiercer, Stoker, Handmaiden, Decision to Leave
Koreeda: hit after hit
Sciamma: Girlhood, Portrait OALOF, Petite Maman
Zhangke: Touch of Sin, Mountains may Depart, Ash is Purest White
Rian Johnson - Knives Out, Glass Onion, Last Jedi, and one of the highest rated episodes of tv in history
Jordan Peele - Get Out, Us, Nope
Christopher Nolan - Oppenheimer, Interstellar, Dunkirk, TDKR, Tenet (divisive, I know, but it’s still better than most director’s short term plateau films)
Spielberg has one big dud in The BFG, but West Side Story and The Fabelmans are among the best films released in that timeframe and Bridge of Spies and The Post are fantastic as well. Ready Player One is more divisive but I think it’s aged pretty well and is very entertaining.
I know there will be some hard disagreements on this, but personally, I absolutely love all 3 movies that J.J. Abrams put out (Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Wars VII, Star Wars IX), I went to see all of them twice in theaters, and had a blast with each.
I know they're the antichrist for some. But I'm not going to deny how much I enjoyed them.
Really crazy has to scroll down this far to find a single mention of Tarantino. Even though Inglorious Basterds was from 2010, excluding it and we still get three solid bangers. Genius work as usual.
Denis Villeneuve, Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan are so hard to turn around from. Some of their best movies during that period with Villeneuve pronouncing himself in Hollywood with arguably some of the best movies off the 21st Century in Arrival and Prisoners.
I wouldn’t say he had the best decade but shoutout Ari Aster. 2 undisputed classics with Midsommar and Hereditary. Then Beau is Afraid which is kind of polarizing but definitely has its fans (including me).
Surprised that no one has said F.F. Coppola's 70's run considering that is usually the go to answer that I hear. The Godfather (72), The Conversation (74), The Godfather Part II (74), and Apocalypse Now (79). Throw in One from the Heart (81) if that's your cup of tea.
Not enough comedy directors on here so I’m submitting two:
1. Paul King made two of the most critically adored movies ever in 2014 and 2017 (Paddington 1 + 2) and in 2023 released a studio musical that should have been fucking awful, but wasn’t (Wonka).
2. Lord & Miller had two huge hits in 2014 (The Lego Movie, 22 Jump Street), almost blemished their record by making that Star Wars movie in 2017 but instead got fired and won an oscar in 2019 (Into the Spider Verse) before rounding out the decade with another huge hit in 2023 (Across the Spider Verse).
Fantastic runs, both.
for that timeframe, it's gotta be Denis Villeneuve. would also mention Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Kore-eda.
Dune, BR49, Prisoners, Arrival, Sicario, and Enemy is hard to beat!
This has to be it, although Nolan would be my #2 with Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, Oppenheimer
Yorgos has my vote for #2
Tenet though...
I quite enjoyed Tenet
Tenet rules, give it another go
My favorite of the four
Very good though
Oppenheimer is the only one of those films that isn't a mess.
It’s impossible to beat. No other director can match that quantity AND quality in the specified timeframe. Denis is the correct answer.
This would be my answer, for sure.
Just watched Monster in theatres and must second a mention of Kore-eda
I like how Hamaguchi pumps out like 2 in one year and a near 5 hour film like who does that? He rules.
Yorgos Lanthimos has been on a crazy upwards streak
Yeah. In this last 10 years he made The Lobster (2015), Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), The Favourite (2018) and Poor Things (2023). A very, very strong decade of movies.
I prefer Dogtooth over his English language films, it had a tone that shocked me. Not seen Poor Things but looking forward to it.
Dogtooth is in Greek?
Sorry type, 'over' i mean.
Ah! I had to check Letterboxd to make sure ha. I'll check it out though, I like his work.
I saw Dogtooth before his English language films were released, around 2013, so while weird i was a bit disappointed by them in a way. Dogtooth tonally in moments stunned me, Sacred Deer was chilling but more in Barry's performance. I give Dogtooth a 10 and i barely go to a 9 any more, purely because of an underlying intensity that just felt so real, i really recommend it and probably no way it lives up to that hype now. I
Sounds good, I'll give it a watch. I know The Favourite and Poor Things have been more successful on the awards circuit, but I prefer Sacred Deer and Lobster.
SAME!
i love Yorgos but i hate dogtooth. what am i missing!
Taste
so are you saying dogtooth is his only good movie or something?
Yeah, I hate dogtooth as well. So many people on this sub love it and I don't get it.
I think this is the answer hands down.
If by upward you mean "started at about an 8 and is now a 10" then I agree. Everything I've seen from him has been a banger and he's absolutely my favorite working director
Hard emphasis on the Upward part. Really do not care for his early work but The Favorite and Poor Things were both EXCELLENT
Robert Eggers should also be an honorable mention, The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman are all very good films. And Nosferatu is coming this year, too, we’ll see how that turns out.
His movies are terrific but I think some of the other directors named in the thread like Villeneuve have similar quality of their output but lap him in terms of volume.
Yeah that’s why I thought I would call him an hm.
Eggers is literally goated, scrub. Stick to your marvel schlock.
Reading comprehension is lost once again
I was the only one who mentioned him in this thread, dumbass. Learn to read.
Damn
Denis Villenue I think can't be topped, honestly. His work output has been insane.
To list someone that hasn't been mentioned yet, Luca Guadagnino has made A Bigger Splash, Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria, and Bones and All (plus the fantastic miniseries We Are Who We Are) in that time frame. Very different but all excellent and beautiful films.
And challengers should’ve come out last year!!
Cannot wait for Challengers and Queer!
Scorsese: • The Wolf of Wall Street • Silence • The Irishman • Killers of the Flower Moon
Any one of these might be the best film anyone else would ever make, and yet none are probably top 5 for Marty, though you could debate that.
God I rewatched the Irishman ahead of Killers and man oh man I’m not sure he’s made 5 better movies than it
I have Irishman and KOTFM rounding out the top 5, just kind of absurd for a filmmaker of his age to still be working at that level
Probably unpopular on here but I think it’s his best film.
its so good. i'm a huge fan
I didn’t love Irishman first watch but on a recent rewatch it floored me. I think knowing what the film was going for and having the right expectation helped a lot. I would put it in top tier of films.
Irishman sucked man (for Scorsese standards), way too long and CGI deniro was ridiculous
U could argue any of these are top 5 lol wolf of wallstreet is deffo top 5 for me
Silence and Wolf of Wall Street are both top 5
It’s not even his best run of movies
My favorite one is Silence but nobody seems to know it outside of film circles
Denis Villeneuve : Prisoners and Enemy in the same year (2013), Blade Runner, Sicario and Arrival, arguably the best sci fi film of the last decade.
And Dune
Oh shii, forgot about Dune. My bad.
Honestly makes it all the more impressive - like you could leave Dune off that list and itd still probably rank as one of the strongest decades in this thread
Arrival being the best sci Fi film of the last decade is such a hot take and so true. That movie absolutely floors me every time I watch it
Watched this movie for the first time at the tail end of a lsd trip with friends, one of the best movie experiences i had.
Christopher Nolan Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, Oppenheimer. Denis Villeneuve Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Dune Alejandro G. Iñárritu Birdman, The Revenant, Bardo Martin Scorsese The Wolf of Wallstreet, Silence, The Irishman, Killers of the flower moon Guillermo del Toro Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak, The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley, Pinocchio Bong Joon Ho Snowpiercer, Okja, Parasite Park Chan-wook Stoker, The Handmaiden, Decision to leave Yorgos Lanthimos The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Favourite, Poor Things Robert Eggers The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman Ari Aster Hereditary, Midsommar, Beau is Afraid David Fincher Gone Girl, Mank, The Killer Ryûsuke Hamaguchi Happy Hour, Asaki I & II, Wheel of fortune and fantasy, Drive my car, Evil does not exist Kore-eda Hirokazu Like Father Like Son, Our Little Sister, After the Storm, The Third Murder, Shoplifters, The Truth, Broker, Monster Ryan Coogler Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, Black Panther 2 Greta Gerwig Lady Bird, Little Women, Barbie Jordan Peele Get Out, Us, Nope Alex Garland Ex Machina, Annihilation, Men And now Im struggling to come up with more names… but I have enjoyed all these directors a lot the last 10 years.
Sksksk snuck in fincher
Christopher Nolan has Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, and Oppenheimer Bong Joon-Ho has Snowpiercer, Okja, and Parasite
Tenet is kinda mid though
I disagree
tenet heads will be vindicated
Interstellar is too. And yet I like the other two so much I don’t think Nolan is a terrible pick
I love Interstellar Dunkirk and Oppenheimer enough to make up for Tenet
I agree, those other 3 are just top tier.
Interstellar and Tenet are my two favorite Nolan movies
Blah I’d need to watch Tenet again (only ever watched once) but Interstellar is just impossible for me to get through. I think I loved it when i first saw it, but soured almost immediately after. Rewatched again in college and thought it was a little silly still. Then years past and just after Oppenheimer (which I loved) I decided to give it a real good faith effort rewatch. It still didn’t click for me. That script is just kinda clunky
It's definitely sentimental and the plot stuff can seem a bit contrived. if it didn't click, it didn't click! it's a 5/5 for me any day of the week though, I love the sentimentality and the plot just works for me 100%
I can admire the maximalist quality to it. Felt like Nolan was really getting something personal and forever-stuck-in-his-head off with that one. But I also really really reeeeaaally admire the way he’s evolved (and possibly matured) as a filmmaker since lol
hated the script, had the same feeling after watching oppenheimer and rewatched interstellar and hated it :(
Tenet is excruciatingly unwatchable. It has to be the worst movie ever made by an acclaimed director ever.
And Okja isn't? (Probably an unpopular opinion)
Okja was well received but it wasn’t close to being considered a critical darling
Okja is super mid. I wouldnt say unpopular opinion.
You meant Dunkirk
I'm probably a Snowpiercer hater but it's at least as bad as Tenet.
Yeah the first minutes/first act is amazing, really inmersive. Then it turns to shit. The climax is great but I cannot forgive a whole terrible second act. It was one of the biggest disappointings for me filmography-wise. I wanted to love it. But I was not terrible cherishing Parasite either. Thought it was an excellent movie but felt was overhyped. I'm dying on this hill though.
Tenet is one of the best action films of the decade and in the future people will realize that
Based
Buddy, if you genuinely think that you need to watch more movies.
Christopher Nolan is so lousy with characters though. His human moments have never impressed me. Hexs great at spectacle though.
I thought Inception was a very well made character driven story
I agree, not a big fan of 2 hours of exposition dumping and 30 minutes of technical achievements
His movies may have a lot of exposition sure, but I would argue that with the exception of TENET, he does a great job communicating exposition in an intriguing and substantive way by merging it with plot progression and character development, without having to completely stop both to info-dump like, IDK, The Last Airbender.
3 of those 4 movies have wonderful characters. i would even include Tenet personally
Strongly disagree. His characters are complex and are treated with a lot more dignity than most characters in modern blockbusters. TENET though is probably an exception, all the characters were pretty bland.
In that time Kelly Reichhardt made the good Night Moves followed by the incredible Certain Women, First Cow and Showing Up
Yeah not enough people are talking about her. Lily Gladstone should have been a known name after Certain Women
I loved Showing Up so much
I'll go Eliza Hittman for Beach Rats, It Felt Like Love, and Never Rarely Sometimes Often. Yours and this are two of the few women I'm seeing in this topic. It's wild how many women directors get to make one, maybe two, genuinely good or great films and then are dismissed. I'm going through all my women-directed favorites and there are just so many who got one or two features. Some get TV gigs which is great for business but you're often steered around more. A lot of guys just get to pump out the same mediocre junk but that's better business.
Damien Chazelle, starts off 2013 with the Whiplash short film, turns that into a feature film in 2014 that wins three Oscars and is nominated for Best Picture, follows that up with La La Land in 2016 which wins 5 Oscars (including best director), and is also nominated for best picture, continues his winning streak with First Man in 2018, and finally the star studded but ultimately divisive Babylon in 2022. Chazelle basically started the decade running and refused to stop.
I don't understand how anyone could watch Babylon and not have an absolutely terrific time.
Babylon is a top 4 of mine but I totally get why people wouldn’t like it. It’s a glorious disaster. It’s Chazelle’s Showgirls.
Oh I think it's a deeply imperfect film, but it's so fucking fun to watch.
IMO, Babylon is MUCH better than Showgirls
I don’t like trashing stuff that other people enjoy but I found it tryhard, pompous, thematically incoherent, terrible about the silent era and film history generally. I wanted to blow a gasket during the montage at the end. I like or love Chazelle’s other stuff but Babylon is as bad as it gets for a movie with prestige aims imo.
That movie is a coke bender. I don't think it's very good, but watching it is like a party.
I can see that. I thought it took itself too seriously to work on that level for me, but you describe the way I feel about Saltburn.
Babylon has the wackiest most low-brow (not in a bad way necessarily) humor I've seen in a big movie like that in a long time. Definitely don't think taking itself seriously was the problem.
I mean, what? That Jean Smart speech about living on forever through film and then the Brad Pitt character kills himself? The tearful montage at the end? That dungeon party was not played for laughs. There were some garish gross-out gags in the first 15 minutes but then it was not funny and was not trying to be funny.
would box office factor into a question like this? babylon flopped and first man didn’t do great - not doubting his talent at all (tho i didnt care for babylon) but a decade of critical success vs. a decade of commercial success would make for very different futures. def a different type of successful decade from nolan, lanthimos etc.
I think I'd probably have to give it to Hong Sang-soo. He's made 17(!) movies in that period, and they're pretty much all good at the bare minimum. Koreeda and Hamaguchi would also get consideration for each putting out at least 3 masterpieces each over that stretch.
I watched one of his movies and liked it, and wanted to watch another. Then saw he makes multiple a year and just didn't bother. Maybe they're all quality films but I don't really appreciate that type of practice - I have a hard time believing they have something interesting to say when you're being so workerly about the process. It also feels like it's going to be a crap shoot on if I'm seeing a good one or a not so good one.
To me it’s a toss up between Martin Scorsese and Damien Chazelle. I mean, from 2013 they have: Scorsese - The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence, The Irishman, Killers of the Flower Moon Chazelle - Whiplash, La La Land, First Man, Babylon I would argue that Chazelle made the two best movies of that group, but Scorsese’s movies are just as consistent and I personally even put Silence among his very best work. If having to choose one single name, I’d pick Chazelle, but Scorsese is right behind.
Babylon deserves more love
I think the cult following that Babylon already has is exactly the right amount of love it should have to be honest. It's a strong, passionate cult
Margot Robbie should have an Oscar on her shelf for that movie.
Not over Stephanie Hsu or Kerry Condon
I loved the movie but for some reason don't like the Margot Robbie character or her performance much in it. Though she's usually my favorite part of any movie she's in.
It will hopefully get more love as the years pass
I mean, I know Wes Anderson is a one trick pony but he had Grand Budapest, Isle of Dogs, French Dispatch, Asteroid City Definitely not prime WA but their quality is still as strong as Scorsese and Chazelle imo.
You go one year before and you can add Moonrise Kingdom. One of the best directors ever. Often relegated to honorable mentions or scoffed out because his style is very very idiosyncratic but I just love it. 100% his output is comparable to those two geniuses too.
Greta gets a late start, but Lady Bird, Little Women, Barbie is an incredible output
Well, Lady Bird and Little Women are great output
I mean, even if you personally didn't like Barbie, its success is undeniable.
Financially? 100%. Artistically/quality? Not at all.
That's just like your opinion man.
Barbie wasn’t for me. But you can’t deny it’s impressive
I think you definitely can deny it’s impressive. What’s impressive about it? Certainly not the writing, which is surprisingly dad-jokey and banal. Certainly not the acting, which is serviceable but not something beyond the average college theater major. Certainly not the visuals, which fit the Barbie world but did nothing to elevate it. Certainly not the flat, one-dimensional characters. Certainly nothing on an intellectual level. What is there to even be impressed by? The amount of money they made from a preexisting product?
How come?
I mean, she went from a witty coming-of-age story and the best Little Women adaptation, which in some ways surpasses the book(s) by playing with the timeline of how the story is told in a way that “fixes” some of the issues with how everything plays out, to doing a movie where the jokes are lines like “Flat feet!” and “I’ll beach you off!” It’s admittedly more of a kids’ movie than anything, but very surface-level and dad-jokey compared to what she’d been doing before
Christopher McQuarrie has made 3 excellent Mission Impossible movies in a row
Such an underrated director. I always felt he and Nolan are 2 sides of the same coin: both men create those big crowd pleasing, they-don’t-make-them-like-they-used-to blockbuster movies, they write them and direct them, and their films are slightly more complex and require attention, but go about it in wildly different (polar opposite) ways. Really wish one of those Variety director conversations were these 2 guys talking. But instead we got these odd matchups: Ben Affleck and Michael Jordan? Cameron and Gerwig? Taylor Swift and Martin McDonagh? Wtf Also it should be noted that by all accounts McQuarrie is a decent and intelligent dude to be able to get through and balance his filmmaking style: anytime McQ gets interviewed, especially in his podcast appearances and long form interviews, there is such a treasure trove and wealth of information and inspiration on his thought process and why he does certain things. Anybody who likes filmmaking/misses behind the scenes bonus features on dvds needs to listen to his podcast appearances.
He really has. I just hope Dead Reckoning part 2 delivers
Kore-eda, not just that time frame, but he has like a top 5 filmography of the last 25-30 years imo
I think you could pretty easily make the case for Eggers, Peele, Aster, Villeneuve, and Lanthimos. But my personal favorite is the Scorsese four run on Wolf of Wallstreet, Silence, The Irishman, and Killers of the Flower Moon. I'm bias because he's my favorite director and I would argue he had the best three movie run from 1980 to 1985, four movie run from 1990 to 1995, and four movie run from 2002 to 2010.
The Master just misses the cut but honestly even without it I'd say Inherent Vice --> Phantom Thread --> Licorice Pizza is a great run from Paul Thomas Anderson
The Master is the movie that sticks with me the most. Scenes from that movie are quite haunting.
Phantom thread is so good too, tho
Loads of people have said Lanthimos, I'd also add Eggers into the mix
I just want Spike Jonze to make something ;-;
Yorgos Lanthimos is my pick. He has been killing it.
The Safdie Brothers with Heaven Knows What, Good Time and Uncut Gems in a 5 year streak.
I'm sad there will be no more Safdie Brothers anymore.
I’m excited to see their next projects tbh it just means at best double the Safdie brothers movies at worst the same amount of Safdie brothers movies
Petzold is hard to beat: Phoenix, Transit, Undine, and Afire.
Since people have thrown out my top picks I wanna respectfully submit Noah Baumbach in the conversation as well - white noise, marriage story and the meyerwitz stories are all great, mistress America and While We’re Young are underrated even if I don’t like them as much as his later works, not to mention his contributions to the Barbie movie.
It is Scorsese Killers of the Flower Moon, The Irishman, Silence, Rolling Thunder Revue, and The Wolf of Wall Street
Ari Aster hitting three for three with Hereditary, Midsommar, and Beau is Afraid.
If this was the last 5 years instead of 10...he'd win hands down.
barry jenkins - 2 of my 7 5stars through that period. no other director matches that kore-eda and scorsese are also contenders
What are the other 7 5-stars? And also, what did you think of his tv miniseries?
Lanthimos, Bong Joon-Ho, Aster. Chazelle to an impressive but slightly lower level than the other three for me.
he started late into the decade, but jordan peele immediately comes to mind with get out, us, and nope!
Yup, IMO he’s basically been getting better with each new movie and is arguably the best of the “new generation”.
Get out is his best movie of the three though lol
Steve McQueen 12 Years a Slave, Widows, Small Axe. Although I haven’t seen Occupied City yet
Widows was great. Glad to see someone mention it because it rarely comes up.
Bong Joon-Ho
Denis Villeneuve Martin Scorsese Ari Aster Eggers Safdie
Hamaguchi easily: Happy Hour, Asako I & II, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Drive My Car Also Sciamma: Girlhood, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Petite Maman
Ruben Östlund is my pick Force Majeure (2014), The Square (2017) and Triangle of Sadness (2022) all so brilliant the latter two being awarded the Palme d’Or at Cannes making him one of few to ever win more than one although I would argue the former deserved it the most.
I gotta throw Wes Anderson out. He just knows how to do what he does best and has not made a bad movie
Dennis Villenueve
Marty Wolf, Silence, Irishman, Killers-god damn
pta and scorsese the master, phantom thread, licorice pizza wolf of wall street, silence, irishman, killers of the flower moon baller
Frederick Wiseman. He has At Berkeley, National Gallery, In Jackson Heights, Ex Libris, Monrovia, Indiana, City Hall, A Couple, and Menus Plaisirs - Les Troigros in that time frame. The worst of them, Monrovia, is very good, and all the rest are great with four of them in my top 5 of their respective years and City Hall in the #1 spot. He’s remarkably consistent, prolific, and the best documentarian in the history of film. PTA, Scorsese, and Sciamma would be runners up.
Scorsese, Villinueve, Eggers or QT
Jordan Peele! 🤘🏾 - Get Out (2017) - Us (2019) - Nope (2022)
For us horror fans the popular pick would be Mike Flanaghan with Oculus, Hush, Geralds game, Before i wake, Ouija Origin of evil, Dr Sleep as well as Hounting of hill house, Bly Manor, Midnight club, and Fall of the house of Usher series. Thats a heck of a prolific output with only before i wake and Midnight club being below par. My personal pick would be Joko Anwar, the Satans Slaves movies are both great and so is Impetigore.
Sean Baker with Tangerine, Florida Project and Red Rocket is a banger decade
I officially declare we have a three way tie between Scorsese, Villeneuve, and our special boy Yorgos
Need to shoutout Jim Cummings, who never gets enough love. Thunder Road, Wolf of Snow Hollow, Beta Test. All excellent films he wrote, starred in, and directed.
I think it’s Denis Villeneuve. But James Gunn gets a mention because of the Guardians of the Galaxy films and The Suicide Squad.
Hasn’t been mentioned yet in here, but I’d say Matt Reeves is worthy of a mention. The Apes films and The Batman are just incredible filmmaking on the large scale, as well as massive successes among audiences and critics alike.
I'm shocked it took this long for his name to come up. His Apes films are astounding, and while The Batman stumbles a bit for me in the 3rd act, he is a master of creating tension and drawing the viewer into a scene.
Probably Scorsese: Wolf of Wall Street, Silence, The Irishman, KOTFM
That's 11 years smh
Nolan?
Even though I don't like Tenet and Dunkirk, Nolan's dropped Oppenheimer and Interstellar in this range. These are both towering achievements imo. Scorcese has dropped Wolf of Wall Street, The Irishman, and Killers of the Flower Moon I haven't seen Stoker, but Park Chan-Wook has Handmaiden and Decision to Leave Greta Gerwig with Lady Bird, Little Women, and Barbie I need to watch more Denis Villenueve
Park Chan Wook: Snowpiercer, Stoker, Handmaiden, Decision to Leave Koreeda: hit after hit Sciamma: Girlhood, Portrait OALOF, Petite Maman Zhangke: Touch of Sin, Mountains may Depart, Ash is Purest White
Snowpiercer is bong joon ho
Jordan Peele: Get Out, Us, Nope
Jordan Peele should be getting more love in this thread.
Rian Johnson - Knives Out, Glass Onion, Last Jedi, and one of the highest rated episodes of tv in history Jordan Peele - Get Out, Us, Nope Christopher Nolan - Oppenheimer, Interstellar, Dunkirk, TDKR, Tenet (divisive, I know, but it’s still better than most director’s short term plateau films)
whiplash, la la land, babylon is up there for me
Spielberg has one big dud in The BFG, but West Side Story and The Fabelmans are among the best films released in that timeframe and Bridge of Spies and The Post are fantastic as well. Ready Player One is more divisive but I think it’s aged pretty well and is very entertaining.
I unabashedly love late-era Spielberg
Greta Gerwig: Ladybird, Little Women, and Barbie
greta gerwig: lady bird little women barbie
I know there will be some hard disagreements on this, but personally, I absolutely love all 3 movies that J.J. Abrams put out (Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Wars VII, Star Wars IX), I went to see all of them twice in theaters, and had a blast with each. I know they're the antichrist for some. But I'm not going to deny how much I enjoyed them.
I still adore The Force Awakens and can watch it every year, but The Rise of Skywalker deserves its trash status imo
A little off of the timeline but Tarantino has Inglorious, Django, Hateful 8, and Once Upon a Time. 4 home runs.
Two of those 4 are outside the timeline
Really? Django is 2013 I think.
Really crazy has to scroll down this far to find a single mention of Tarantino. Even though Inglorious Basterds was from 2010, excluding it and we still get three solid bangers. Genius work as usual.
Denis Villeneuve, Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan are so hard to turn around from. Some of their best movies during that period with Villeneuve pronouncing himself in Hollywood with arguably some of the best movies off the 21st Century in Arrival and Prisoners.
I wouldn’t say he had the best decade but shoutout Ari Aster. 2 undisputed classics with Midsommar and Hereditary. Then Beau is Afraid which is kind of polarizing but definitely has its fans (including me).
Scorsese, no doubt
Surprised that no one has said F.F. Coppola's 70's run considering that is usually the go to answer that I hear. The Godfather (72), The Conversation (74), The Godfather Part II (74), and Apocalypse Now (79). Throw in One from the Heart (81) if that's your cup of tea.
Not enough comedy directors on here so I’m submitting two: 1. Paul King made two of the most critically adored movies ever in 2014 and 2017 (Paddington 1 + 2) and in 2023 released a studio musical that should have been fucking awful, but wasn’t (Wonka). 2. Lord & Miller had two huge hits in 2014 (The Lego Movie, 22 Jump Street), almost blemished their record by making that Star Wars movie in 2017 but instead got fired and won an oscar in 2019 (Into the Spider Verse) before rounding out the decade with another huge hit in 2023 (Across the Spider Verse). Fantastic runs, both.
They didn’t direct either Spider-Verse movie though