If your last name starts with the letter A you're 87% more likely to be amazing director...

Woody Allen - My lord and savior.  The first celebrity that I would actually consider Godlike and therefore worthy of goat sacrifices and 72-hour fasting.  The best part about him is that his movies can never be remade.  Not necessarily because of the style, but because Woody Allen himself is so much a part of them.  Annie Hall, Husbands and Wives, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters would not nearly be as powerful were it not for his presence. I love him with all my heart and will be worshipping him this Sunday from 1 - 2:30pm.

TOP 3

1.  Annie Hall ('77)

2.  Manhattan ('79)

3.  Husbands and Wives ('92)

Robert Altman - I just finished A Wedding and am inspired beyond belief.  Talk about a style - the overlapping dialogue, the slow zooms, the voyeur camera and most importantly the CHARACTERS.  In A Wedding we get to know FORTY-EIGHT people in two hours.  There is nothing like a perfect balance of comedy and reality - usually movies are too serious or too slapstick, Altman is a genius.

TOP 3

1.  Short Cuts ('93)

2.  A Wedding ('78)

3.  California Split ('74)

Paul Thomas Anderson - Let’s review this guys biography.  Goes to Emerson for English, transfers to NYU for a day.  Decides film school is bullshit.  Makes an AMAZING feature length film when he’s only 25 years old - Hard Eight, makes one of the best movies of ALL TIME when he’s only 26 - Boogie Nights.  Follows it up with another breathtaking movie only two years later - Magnolia.  About eight years later, he makes what will be considered one of the top ten greatest films of the last quarter century - There Will Be Blood.  Directors die before even approaching his level of talent and depth.  Amen.  

TOP 3

1.  Boogie Nights ('97)

2.  Magnolia ('99)

3.  There Will Be Blood ('08)

Wes Anderson - I don’t like his movies, but considering a bunch of people do I figure I’ll add him.  I'll leave it to your imagination for what he is.

TOP 1 and only...

1.  Bottle Rocket ('96)

Michelangelo Antonioni - I forgot where I heard about the opening scene of The Adventure, but who cares.  It combines beauty and thrills, warmth and chills, coffee and spills.  Combined with his other two films of the trilogy and you got a worthy battle for Bergman’s trilogy, a winner against Van Sants and a knock out against Mr. Argento below.  Then there's Blow Up; finally a film incorporating French New Wave techniques without falling into obscurity and boredom. Thank  ye.  While The Adventure has an amazing opening scene, Blow Up takes the cake for one of the coolest closing scenes.  

TOP 3

1.  The Eclipse ('62)

2.  The NIght ('62)

3.  Blow Up ('66)

Dario Argento - I keep saying I’ll write a post on Suspiria; the horror film that changed my life, its too scary though.  It's part two of his “witch trilogy” and definitely his best.  While no one else has been able to live up to Hitchcock’s countless thrillers, only Argento has been able to develop an extremely unique take on Hitchy’s style - the Giallo.

TOP 3

1.  Suspiria ('77)

2.  Deep Red ('75)

3.  Inferno ('80)