The other day a friend of mine posted a link from his blog on my facebook page. The topic of this particular blog was ranking films by four select directors.
Many years ago I loved coming up with lists: favorite directors, actors, editors, best films of the 70’s, favorite films of all time, favorite genres, etc. I haven’t done that much anymore. While I still have a general list of my favorite directors, if you told me to turn it into a top five, and if I were to give this plenty of thought, I would be working at it for days. To be honest, lists are so arbitrary when you think about it (or I suppose if you don’t think about it).
What’s the criteria for selecting certain films over other films? Many years ago I thought I nailed a system for choosing the twenty-five best films of all time. It’s still indescribable, the method used for saying one film is better than the other, but it worked for me. As years passed and I’ve been exposed to more films an directors, the idea of a list became silly and extremely difficult to come up with. But for the sake of giving into the argument and actually telling someone what my favorite films are, I will give you list. Without providing a reason or any debate, these are how I rank the films of Stanley Kubrick, Terrence Malick, Andrei Tarkovsky and Steven Soderbergh.
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Stanley Kubrick
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. The Shining
3. Paths of Glory
4. Eyes Wide Shut
5. The Killing
6. Clockwork Orange
7. Dr. Strangelove
8. Barry Lyndon
9. Full Metal Jacket
10. Lolita
11. Spartacus
*Have not seen Killer’s Kiss
Terrence Malick
1. The Thin Red Line
2. The Tree of Life
3. Days of Heaven
4. Badlands
5. The New World
Andrei Tarkovsky
1. The Mirror
2. Solaris
3. Sacrifice
4. Ivan’s Childhood
5. Andrei Rublev
*Have not seen Stalker, Nostalgia and Steamroller & the Violin
Steven Sodergergh
1. Traffic
2. The Limey
3. Out of Sight
4. Solaris
5. Che Part II
6. Che Part I
7. Sex, Lies and Videotape
8. Ocean’s 11
9. Schizopolis
10. Kafka
11. The Good German
12. Bubble
13. Ocean’s Thirteen
14. Ocean’s 12
15. Erin Brockovich
16. Full Frontal
17. The Informant!
*Have not seen Underneath, King of the Hill, Gray’s Anatomy or The Girlfriend Experience
Perhaps one day I will give very detailed explanations for my choices, or maybe I’ll leave it as is. Either way, this will be the official list for now. I'll be back next week with a list of four more directors.
