Hollywood’s best directors
You’ll go see their movies just because they made them,
WOODY ALLEN
He’s directed 45 movies, all of which he also wrote and most of which he acted in. Allen began with a kind of droll slapstick featuring neurotic nebbishes (1973’s Sleeper) or piercingly funny examinations of romance (1977’s Annie Hall).
He moved on to more serious, Bergmanesque dramas that were less cherished — in Stardust Memories (1980) characters famously praised his “earlier, funny films” — and he has now abandoned his beloved Manhattan to become a European auteur.
At 77, he makes a film a year, mostly light romances with a rueful comic twist. He’s no longer hilarious, but he’s reliably amusing. He mines a unique slice of territory between melancholia and absurdity.
Where you’ll see him next: Blue Jasmine with Cate Blanchett and Peter Sarsgaard opens Aug. 2.
THE COEN BROTHERS
Joel and Ethan Coen write and direct offbeat, literate and ironic stories about characters that are sometimes eccentric (Dude in the inimitable 1998 comedy The Big Lebowski) and sometimes slightly exaggerated cultural stereotypes ( just about everyone in the great 1996 caper film Fargo).
They can be precious (The Man Who Wasn’t There, 2001), but their great sense of the absurd keeps their plots tumbling toward comic disaster.
Where you’ll see them next: Inside Llewyn Davis, with Oscar Isaac and Justin Timberlake opens Dec. 6.
QUENTIN TARANTINO
Ever since Reservoir Dogs (1992), he has become a brand name for a kind of post-modern violent cinema: self-aware and happily derivative of obscure movie history, frequently old martial arts movies.
Pulp Fiction (1994) established his style of non-linear pastiche — he tears genres apart and refashions them — and while his name has become associated with a kind of hip bloodshed and some moviegoers see him in the vanguard of a cinematic apocalypse where irony replaces emotions, he’s the voice of a modern world view.
Where you’ll see him next: Badlanders, with Franco Nero, release date to be announced.
STEVEN SPIELBERG
His career took off with Jaws (1970), which was the first summer blockbuster, and he hasn’t looked back. Spielberg is the go-to director for mainstream entertainment: The Raiders of the Lost Ark series, E.T., Jurassic Park.
He’s the most reliable craftsman in Hollywood, sensitive enough to make Schindler’s List (1993) and visually astute enough for the pyrotechnics of War of the Worlds (2005). Even at his stodgiest (2012’s Lincoln), he builds four-square, solid products.
Where you’ll see him next: American Sniper with Bradley Cooper, opens in 2015.
MARTIN SCORSESE
He established himself in Mean Streets (1973) as a sort of back-alley visionary, seeing the rot and glory in the big city (Taxi Driver, 1976), the boxing ring (Raging Bull, 1980), and the mob (Goodfellas, 1990; Casino, 1995). They all starred Robert De Niro, who became the face of violent and seductive corruption.
Leonardo DiCaprio has now replaced De Niro as Scorsese’s favourite leading man. The director has branched out into biography (The Aviator, 2004) and family films (Hugo, 2011), but he retains a keen eye for the turmoil of American life.
Where you’ll see him next: The Wolf of Wall Street with DiCaprio, opens Nov. 15.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Pedro Almodovar, Tim Burton, James Cameron, Clint Eastwood, David Fincher, Christopher Nolan.