Those We've Forgotten...

So it does look like this following week is going to be moderately simple in approach. I'll hand out my weekdaily clips of films coming out this week, and then pretty much try to find something to talk about or comment on in the meantime. Today, that happens to be a piece that Alex Carlson, founder of Film Misery, published today on his reworked list of the greatest working directors. Entertainment Weekly did a similar list, but they skewed far too much towards the popular. You could tell that Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorcese, and David Fincher would be closer to the top, so I found Carlson's list to be revealing in more than one way.

For one thing, he keeps heavyweights like Peter Jackson, Christopher Nolan, and Sam Mendes in 20-11 range, rather than pushing them to the front. For another, I had quite honestly forgotten that some of these directors had work coming out this year. For example, do you remember Alexander Payne? No reason you should, expect that he directed Sideway, About Schmidt, and Election, three of the most interesting films released around the turn of the millennium. He has another film coming out this year, The Descendants, starring George Clooney as a man trying to reconnect with his two daughters as he deals with a developing schizophrenia problem. In a world of ten nominees for Best Picture, tell me with a straight face that's not going to be nominated.

Speaking of ten nominations, for years David Cronenberg has been just outside of the five, with fascinatingly dark films like A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. How he hasn't gotten a nomination yet is far beyond my vision. He is re-teaming with Viggo Mortensen for the third time on A Dangerous Method, the story of famed psychologists Sigmund Freud (Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender). I expect another wonderfully textured and hopefully grisly feature from Cronenberg. The list goes on to feature obvious legends such as Danny Boyle, Woody Allen, Guillermo Del Toro, and Quentin Tarantino, but there were some directors I had honestly forgotten about. Check out the list here, and comment on your thoughts over at Carlson's site.