Battle of the Directors

Now that I have finished watching what I need to watch, I am ready to vote:

1. My vote goes to Spielberg. As much as I love Alien, Spielberg wins this round, for three excellent and vastly different films. Duel, Jaws, and Close Encounter of The Third Kind. He revolutionize the cinema by shaping the summer blockbuster phenomena as we know it. He is no Michael Bay, he is now Brett Ratner. He makes classics, he deserves to be among the greatest.

2. My vote goes to George Lucas. I admire The Taxi Driver, and I can see why people love it so much. It is an excellent film features one of the best screen performances ever captured on cameraby DeNiro, he was insanely amazing here. I also like Mean Streets, but not as much as everyone else does, and if you asked me before reflecting and watching the films of both of them, I would have never guessed that I would pick Lucas over Scorsese. But thinking about it, Lucas appeared and peaked then. I did not care at all for THX 1138 a technically savvy yet pointless film in my opinion. But his follow up American Graffiti was an excellent film. Very funny, well paced, and a heartwarming story with excellent music. Then comes Star Wars, one of the most beloved films in history. How can you not pick him??

3. This one is by far the toughest, but I am gonna go with Lumet. Badlands and Days of Heavens are marvelous and spectacular films, they have a unique look, rhythm, and feel that only Malick can do. But Lumit made a handful of masterpieces of his own on the the 70's. Network I like but not love, and even that has some of the most resonating scenes in cinema history, for who can forget "I am mad as hell and I am not gonna take it anymore!!!". I admire him for taking a shot at Agatha Christie's Murder on The Orient Express with its marvelous all-star cast. But it goes for him because of Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon. It is really insane that this amazing director has never won an Oscar out of his 5 nominations. But you know what, neither did Kubrick nor Hitchcock.

4. No brainer, my vote is for Coppola. I love Woody Allen and his comedies. Sleeper was crap on all levels, but he managed to redeem himself with Annie Hall, which is one of the best comedies I have seen, and the parts of Manhattan I a have seen crack me up. But Coppola made 2 of the best films in the history of cinema then, Godfather and Godfather II. Coppola was THE man back then, and he deserve to be on the final ballot.