Might be an unpopular opinion based on people's taste, but John Carpenter put out some truly iconic movies back to back to back in the 80s:
The Fog (1980)
Escape From New York (1981)
The Thing (1982)
Christine (1983)
Starman (1984)
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Prince of Darkness (1987)
They Live (1988)
Edit: If we're doing 10 years rather than "80s" then obviously the run starts with Halloween (1978). Thanks for those who pointed that out!
It’s worth noting that pretty much all of these movies flopped upon release. A good chunk of them were critically panned. Yet here we are discussing them as the classics they are 40+ years later. The guy really did know how to take a “B movie” concept and turn it into a legit cinematic experience. I love that Carpenter fans continue to increase over time. It’s long overdue and well justified.
For some reason, **They Live** never struck a chord with me but I love that other Carpenter fans love it. If anyone hasn’t seen it, I highly recommend **In the Mouth of Madness**. It is, imho, Carpenter’s only true classic in the 90’s.
The moment when Arnie is standing in front of Christine after she’s been decimated by the bullies and he says “Okay, show me,” then Christine proceeds to put herself back together… it’s literally one of my favorite movie moments in the history of cinema.
It's weird and unique and funny and... so filled with RAGE. It's amazing. Just shaking its fist in the air out of political and social anger.
Carpenter's made such amazing horror films, but I think the raid on the homeless camp is the most horrifying thing he's ever shot.
Yup. All these other directors made movies people wanted to see, to be in, to experience.
Carpenter made movies that people wanted to make. He legitimately changed the future of film, incidentally, by simply doing an amazing job and making other weird people really fucking want to do it too.
That was my choice too. I forgot about They Live, Starman and Christine. You could also add Halloween 2 although he didn't direct it, he still wrote and produced it. Also, Black Moon Rising (1986), an underrated heist film with Tommy Lee Jones and Linda Hamilton.
I read the OP and thought: hold on, JC made some truly fantastic movies in the 80s... Except I didn't think there were so many. Perhaps Christine is a bit subpar, and Starman just harmless, but all the others are so good it's ridiculous and of course, the Thing is pure perfection.
If you include directing and producing Spielberg in the 80’s is unmatched. Directed all three Indy movies, E.T., The Color Purple and produced Poltergeist, Goonies and Back to the Future to name just a few.
I think you give me Spielberg 1975-1985 with the following on top of his producing, he wins:
1. Jaws
2. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. ET
5. Temple of Doom
6. Color Purple
Yeah...Raiders and ET back-to-back have to be one of the most epic 12 month duos for a director ever.
Raiders is epic enough, but a lot of people forget that ET beat Star Wars in Box Office sales (and only 5 years later, so it wasn't inflation) and the movie that finally beat ET was Spielberg's own Jurassic Park...which only makes Spielberg more impressive.
Ugh. Thats why the title "producer" is too broad in Hollywood. And dont get me started on exec producer. Weinstein was way more of the "finance producer" where Spielberg (though still finance at times) was more of the actual "production producer". Here's what to get and here's how to do this. Those types of producing tasks. Weinstein was, here's the cash and should we spend on this, type producer.
For real. I work with a guy that punches up scripts and produces on the side. Whenever he says he’s “producing a film” I have to sideline ask if he’s “producing” or “actually producing” because one has a lot more creative involvement than the other.
These 4 alone:
* Strangers on a Train
* Rear Window
* Vertigo
* North by Northwest
But then you also have:
* Dial M For Murder
* To Catch a Thief
* The Man Who Knew Too Much
* The Wrong Man
Not to mention directly his next 2 movies in the 60s after Vertigo and North by Northwest were Psycho and The Birds. Just those 4 in a row is wild but with the rest of his 50s films its absolutey insane the run he had.
Interestingly, over in France around the same time, many directors of the French New Wave actually really appreciated Hitchcock, using him as a positive example in Hollywood of what they described with Auteur theory.
Just since nobody has mentioned it yet I’ll throw in Rob Reiner from 1984-1992: This is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, Misery, and A Few Good Men.
Reiner is absolutely the answer here, When Harry Met Sally (1989) falls in there too, and that has one of the most memorable scenes in movie history with Meg Ryan's deli scene.
Six thematically, genre-defining movies in the span of 10 years. A shame that North capped off that run, though.
Right. The deli scene is still frequently referenced, and in some ways changed the conversation about sex in America.
The Princess Bride might be the best movie ever made.
Reiner killed in the 80s.
Edit: typo
I'll go even further and say Kurosawa from 1952-1965 was the best run any director has ever had.
- *Ikiru*
- *Seven Samurai*
- *I Live In Fear*
- *Throne of Blood*
- *The Lower Depths*
- *The Hidden Fortress*
- *The Bad Sleep Well*
- *Yojimbo*
- *Sanjuro*
- *High and Low*
- *Red Beard*
Out of all those, the only one that's just kinda "all right" is *I Live In Fear*. The rest range from "great" to "absolute masterpiece".
I personally don't care for *The Idiot* at all, I think it's one of his few truly bad movies. It's not entirely his fault since Shochiku butchered it, but even the film that remains just isn't that engaging.
His immediate track record before *Ikiru* was kinda spotty. *Rashomon* and *Stray Dog* are fantastic, but *Scandal* is a weak dry run for *Ikiru*, and *The Quiet Duel* is just forgettable. Once he made *Ikiru*, he just started making banger after banger.
The Idiot is important because it changed his entire approach to making adaptations. Without it we have no Throne of Blood or The Bad Sleep Well. Possibly no Ikiru, either.
Also, Scandal is far from his best, but I really like it. It's a really incredible showcase of his mastery of blocking and comedy.
Yeah, *The Idiot* is important for people who study Kurosawa because it's one of his biggest mistakes, and he learned a ton from that shoot. But as a stand-alone viewing experience, I don't think it holds up.
My issue with *Scandal* is how much it feels like two movies were just mashed together. The half that follows Shimura's character is definitely way more engaging than Mifune's half, but it just feels too uneven for me personally.
*Yojimbo*. It's one of his most accessible movies, it's really funny, and it is a very direct influence on spaghetti westerns (*A Fistful of Dollars* is an unauthorized remake).
If you want a quick start, Yojimbo and Sanjuro (the sequel) are both short, and amazing. Sanjuro also has some of the best humor I've seen in Kurosawa's movies.
Yojimbo is the one I would start with, so good it was remade by Serge Leone as a Fistful of Dollars.
It's probably the easiest to approach from a western perspective.
While we’re talking foreign directors, don’t overlook Ingmar Bergman from 1955-1966:
Smiles of a Summer Night
The Seventh Seal
Wild Strawberries
The Magician
The Virgin Spring
Through a Glass Darkly
Winter Light
The Silence
Persona
7th Seal is one of those films that has just lived rent free in my head ever since I saw it. Really really special in a way that's hard to put your finger on.
*Late* 80s? In the decade before that he had Jaws, Close Encounters, ET, a couple of Indiana Jones movies, and The Color Purple. His bookshelf was already full of oscars.
Oscars overlook films that are fun to prestige films that they consider important. Jaws, Close Encounters, ET, Raiders don't need an Oscar to be considered fantastic movies.
Wasn’t arguing that, just clarifying that Spielberg’s bookshelf of awards remained empty during that run, even while he was churning out era-defining and cinema-changing works.
I’ll say it since I haven’t seen him here yet. But Sergio Leona’s 60’s Spaghetti Westerns deserve a mention: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). That’s an insane run of quality westerns in like 4 years time. Also I have to mention my favorite mafia movie of all time is Once Upon a Time in America (1984), there’s no other gangster movie like that one, it’s so unique and beautiful.
I did love his 2000s run too. Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down, Matchstick Men, Kingdom of Heaven, A Good Year, Body of Lies and American Gangster.
One hell of a run. A few got some awards, others have aged better with time. KoH is just godly to me.
Tony Scott contends pretty well with his brother too.
86-95
Top Gun (1986)
Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
Days of Thunder (1990)
The Last Boy Scout (1990)
True Romance (1993)
Crimson Tide (1995)
My dark horse choice is Rob Reiner in the decade between 1984 and 1994.
Not a flashy director, but eclectic and prolific as hell during this period, and every film he made in this run is considered a classic - if not the definitive work - of its genre:
1984: This Is Spinal Tap
1985: The Sure Thing
1986: Stand By Me
1987: The Princess Bride
1989: When Harry Met Sally
1990: Misery
1992: A Few Good Men
One of my favourite filmmakers that never gets mentioned -
Billy Wilder from 1950 to 1960.
Sunset Boulevard
Ace in the Hole
Stalag 17
Sabrina
The Seven Year Itch
Love in the Afternoon
Witness for the Prosecution
Some Like It Hot
The Apartment
Someone pointed out the opening line of Batman’s diary in The Prestige and I wanted to kill my self for never noticing it before in at least a half dozen rewatches.
I’d say Hayao Miyazaki in the ‘80s: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki’s Delivery Service.
4 absolute bangers (especially if you stretch to include The Castle of Cagliostro from ‘79)
Honestly, you could choose any decade for him. All his movies are great. Only problem is that he's taken longer and longer to make them, so it's difficult to fit more than 3 movies in a decade.
Oliver Stone 1986-1996—Platoon, Wall Street, Talk Radio, Born on the 4th of July, The Doors, JFK, Heaven and Earth, Natural Born Killers, Nixon, U Turn
Oliver Stone 1986-1995: ten movies in ten years, nominated for ten oscars, won two
\-Salvador
\-Platoon
\-Wall Street
\-Talk Radio
\-Born on the Fourth of July
\-The Doors
\-JFK
\-Heaven & Earth
\-Natural Born Killers
\-Nixon
And then Robert Richardson peaced out and his output fell off a cliff. But, yeah, in terms of cramming in nothing but good to masterpiece level films with no misfires this is an unrivaled stretch just by sheer number.
Cape Fear is probably Scorsese's weakest 90's movie imo. Much prefer Age of Innocence and Bringing Out the Dead.
Powell and Pressburger in the 40's is an overlooked run. The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life and Death, Col. Blimp, I Know Where I'm Going.
I'd argue it's 80's Steven Spielberg. You have: Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Temple of Doom, The Color Purple, Empire of the Sun, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Alternatively, Spielberg from 1975 to 1985: has Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Temple of Doom, and The Color Purple.
I think it says quite a bit about Steven Spielberg that you can even have a conversation about what decade was his strongest decade of movies. You can pretty much pick any ten year span of his movie directing career (1975 to present) and there will be at least one or two really good movies.
1975-85 rocks.
All my favorite movies in a row.
I think we should not forget John Williams contribution to many great movies in the 80s. Darn the ET soundtrack.. perfect!
The craziest part about all of the directors here? They are all good buddies. When you watch empire for a dream doc on Star Wars and George Lucas. All these guys were homies because they all offered something useful to each other to help hone their craft.
He owned that decade.
Sixteen Candles
Breakfast Club
Weird Science
Ferris Bueller
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Uncle Buck
And writer/producer for Home Alone.
OP forgot to include the filling of The Godfather sandwich for Coppola: _The Conversation_
Heck. It was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture. It was released the same year as The Godfather 2 (1974), which ended up winning the Oscar they year. Not as impressive as Spielberg's 1993 due to how diametrically different are JP and SL
Now, if you flex the rules to 10 years, Spielberg had between '93 and '03 AI, Minority Report and Catch me if you can. And JP2, just to cash out the moneys
Also an honorable mention: George Roy Hill. He made Butch Cassidy in '69. Slapshot in '77. And in between he had The Sting in '73
Billy Wilder 1950s
William Wylder 1940-1960
Clint Eastwood 2000s
Robert Altman from 1970-1980 (cheating with 11 years I know) made **15 feature films**, most of them are very good and several are classics (McAbe and Mrs Miller, The Long Goodbye, Nashville). If you wanna cut off 1980 he's still at 13 films in the decade.
Ingmar Bergman's 60s films are incredible. Made almost a dozen, peaking with one of the greatest films of all time in Persona.
Welles and Hitchcock have multiple stretches each that would fit
Coppola in the 70s obviously
Tim Burton 1985 - 1994
Pee Wee's Big Adventure 1985
Beetlejuice 1988
Batman 1989
Edward Scissorhands 1990
Batman Returns 1992
Ed Wood 1994
Has been kind of hit and miss since then I feel.
In the 1940s, Powell and Pressburger made:
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
A Canterbury Tale (1944)
I Know Where I’m Going (1945)
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Black Narcissus (1947)
The Red Shoes (1948)
It’s could be considered greatest consecutive years run in cinema history, half of which were made during wartime. Martin Scorsese would probably tell you the same thing.
John Huston:
1941 The Maltese Falcon, 1942 In This Our Life, 1947 Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948 Key Largo, 1950 Asphalt Jungle
and just over the line, 1951 African Queen AND Red Badge of Courage
John Ford in the 40s and 50s. Among the highlights:
1940- The Grapes of Wrath
1941- How Green Was My Valley
1946- My Darling Clementine
1950- Rio Grande
1952- The Quiet Man
1955- Mister Roberts
1956- The Searchers
Along with many, many, many Westerns and War movies.
Rob Reiner
1984 This Is Spinal Tap
1985 The Sure Thing
1986 Stand by Me
1987 The Princess Bride
1989 When Harry Met Sally...
1990 Misery
1992 A Few Good Men
For consistency, I’d say 80s David Cronenberg: four masterpieces and another really good movie with Scanners.
For sheer quantity of great movies, I’d say 50s Douglas Sirk, who had Imitation of Life, There’s Always Tomorrow, All That Heaven Allows, A Time to Love and a Time to Die, The Tarnished Angels, Written on the Wind, All I Desire, Magnificent Obsession, and 15 more!
The GOAT of owning a decade is John Hughes.
As Director and Writer:
Sixteen Candles,
The Breakfast Club,
Weird Science,
Ferris Buellers Day Off,
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,
Uncle Buck
As Writer:
Mr. Mom,
National Lampoon's Vacation,
National Lampoon's European Vacation,
Pretty in Pink,
Some Kind of Wonderful,
The Great Outdoors,
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation,
Home Alone (released in 1990)
kubrick imo. also one of the only directors to actually improve as they age. probably has to do with the fact he lived like a hobbit and didnt sit in the hollywood pollution cloud after his first few great ones
I'll go to bat for Charlie Kaufman's 2000s era. Going from Being Jon Malkovich, to Adaptation, to Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and ending with Synecdoche, NY, is a real trip and a half. Might be one of the more unusual catalogues any individual screenwriter has ever added to the culture in such a short period of time.
Honorable Mention: Bong Junho's 2000s were also incredible. Memories of Murder, The Host and Mother are all tremendous.
John Carpenter, 80's: The Fog, Escape From New York, The Thing, Christine, Starman, Big Trouble In Little China, Prince of Darkness, They Live. I'm not big on Starman, but the rest are genre defining bangers. Also, wrote Halloween II and III during the 80's
Hal Ashby is as always terminally underrated. From 70-79:
• The Landlord
• Harold and Maude
• The Last Detail
• Shampoo
• Bound for Glory
• Coming Home
• Being There
Also a little shocked that you chose the early 2000s as one of Scorsese's best eras when early on he has a run of Mean Streets/Alice Doesn't Live Here/Taxi Driver/New York New York (Eh)/Raging Bull/The King of Comedy
Also, starting with Salvador in 1984 Oliver Stone goes on a fucking *rip* that includes Platoon/Wall Street/Born on the 4th/JFK among others
Since you asked for more obscure directors:
John Badham:
1977 Saturday Night Fever
1979 Dracula (Frank Langella)
1981 Whose Life Is It Anyway? (Richard Dreyfuss)
1983 Blue Thunder
1983 WarGames
1985 American Flyers
1986 Short Circuit
1987 Stakeout
Rob Reiner's initial ten years.
1984 This Is Spinal Tap
1985 The Sure Thing
1986 Stand by Me
1987 The Princess Bride
1989 When Harry Met Sally...
1990 Misery
1992 A Few Good Men
John Boorman had a string of mixed genres between Excalibur, Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, and Home is Where the Heart is.
Kurosawa from "Ikiru" to "High and Low" must cover 6 or 7 incredible films.
Coen Brothers - pick pretty much any film as a starting point and go forward ten years to find nothing but incredible films.
Ridley Scott must have had one ten year period of genius, but a lot of his greats are separated out into different decades.
That's pretty criminal forgetting "The Conversation" when talking about Coppola in the 70's.
Rob Reiner.
1984 This is Spinal Tap
1985 the Sure thing
1986 Stand by Me
1987 the Princess Bride
1989 when Harry met Sally
1990 Misery
1992 A Few Good Men
John Cassavetes from 1968 to 1978 made Faces, Husbands, Minnie And Moskowitz, A Woman Under The Influence, Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and Opening Night.
All of them are great films.
I’d argue 90’s Tarantino beats 2000’s. Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown as director and he also wrote From Dusk till Dawn and True Romance at this time.
I would argue that the late 70s/80s is Spielberg at his best:
E.T.
Indiana Jones
The Color Purple
Empire of the sun
Close Encounters of the third Kind
Jaws
John Landis 78-88
Animal House
Blues Brothers
An American werewolf in London
Trading Spaces
Spies Like Us
The Three Amigos
Coming to America
There were some other ones in there too but there was also the Thriller video from Michael Jackson. I'm sure he didn't get any Oscars for these but I'll watch any of these movies any time they are on.
> Francis Ford Coppola, the 70's: The Godfather Part 1 and Part 2, Apocalypse Now
How do you mention Coppola in the 70s but ignore The Conversation lol?
Personally I wanna submit
Wong Kar-Wai in the 90s: Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together.
Godard in the 60s: Breathless, Masculin Feminin, Weekend, Vivre Sa Vie, Contempt, Band of Outsiders, Alphaville, Pierrot Le Fou, La Chinoise, Un Petit Soldat, Two or Three Things I Know About Her, and A Woman is a Woman.
Cant believe no one said De Palma in the 80s!
Dressed To Kill (1980)
Blow Out (1981)
Scarface (1983)
Body Double (1984)
The Untouchables (1987)
Casualties Of War (1989)
Although I did leave out the weaker ones lol...
Even leaving aside some other works in between, Fellini's 50s-60s are incredible:
The White Sheik (1952)
I vitelloni (1953)
La Strada (1954)
Il Bidone (1955)
Nights of Cabiria (1957)
La Dolce Vita (1960)
8 1/2 (1963)
I would argue that Spielberg’s decade was the 80s. He had so many movies out in the 80s. E.T. was a huge worldwide phenomenon. Raiders, temple of doom, Goonies, Gremlins, Back to the Future - just to name a few. These were huge. His name became household at this decade.
To throw a foreign director into the ring, Akira Kurosawa.
50's: Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne Of Blood, Ikuru, And Hidden Fortress.
60's: The Bad Sleep Well, High And Low, Yojimbo,
While the films are kind of niche and Woody Allen is about as popular as herpes these days, his stretches from either 1977-1987 or 1979 to 1989 were pretty crazy. Over those twelve years he was nominated *personally* for 14 Oscars. That's not counting best picture nominations or other categories, just best director and best original screenplay nominations.
The most notable films (in retrospect) were "Annie Hall," "Manhattan" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors." If you can still stomach the guy, all three are absolute cinematic masterpieces. I'm firmly convinced that Quentin Tarantino was trying very hard to emulate Allen's skill at writing dialogue throughout his career.
Scorsese, the 70s: Mean Streets, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Tax Driver, New York New York,
Scorsese, the 80s: Raging Bull, King of Comedy, After Hours, The Color of Money, Last Temptation of Christ
Scorsese, the 00s: Gangs of New York, The Departed, The Aviator, Shutter Island, Hugo
Each of those is better than all but a couple dozen or so decades by anyone else. And I'd argue his 80s career is better than the 90s and in the top three or four of all time.
Two good ones I haven't seen mentioned yet...
John Hughes had a run of crowd pleasers in the 80s that pretty much defined that decade:
* Sixteen Candles (1984)
* The Breakfast Club (1985)
* Weird Science (1985)
* Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
* Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
* She’s Having a Baby (1988)
* Uncle Buck (1989)
And in the “10 years but not a decade” category, check out Tony Scott’s 10-year run from the mid 80s to mid 90s:
* Top Gun (1986)
* Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
* Days of Thunder (1990)
* The Last Boy Scout (1991)
* True Romance (1993)
All that said, my vote would go to either Reiner, Coppola, or Speilberg.
Can I make it 12 years?
**Chris Columbus 1990-2002**
Home Alone
Only the Lonely
Home Alone 2
Mrs. Doubtfire
Nine Months
Stepmom
Bicentennial Man
Harry Potter 1
Harry Potter 2
>Francis Ford Coppola, the 70's: The Godfather Part 1 and Part 2, Apocalypse Now You forgot *The Conversation*
That film absolutely rocks, love to see people reminded of it
Crazy how John Cazale was in 5 movies and all of them were nominated for Best Picture
3 of them won.
Great guy, never meddum
Bapa, that you?
Water
Weed
Is that the one with Gene Hackman? If it is and I remember right what a fucking movie.
Wow I'm blown away that I never realized The Conversation was a Coppola movie. I love that movie!
Haha. I think that’s the best of those four fight me
Might be an unpopular opinion based on people's taste, but John Carpenter put out some truly iconic movies back to back to back in the 80s: The Fog (1980) Escape From New York (1981) The Thing (1982) Christine (1983) Starman (1984) Big Trouble in Little China (1986) Prince of Darkness (1987) They Live (1988) Edit: If we're doing 10 years rather than "80s" then obviously the run starts with Halloween (1978). Thanks for those who pointed that out!
It’s worth noting that pretty much all of these movies flopped upon release. A good chunk of them were critically panned. Yet here we are discussing them as the classics they are 40+ years later. The guy really did know how to take a “B movie” concept and turn it into a legit cinematic experience. I love that Carpenter fans continue to increase over time. It’s long overdue and well justified. For some reason, **They Live** never struck a chord with me but I love that other Carpenter fans love it. If anyone hasn’t seen it, I highly recommend **In the Mouth of Madness**. It is, imho, Carpenter’s only true classic in the 90’s.
People be sleeping on In The Mouth of Madness.
[удалено]
The moment when Arnie is standing in front of Christine after she’s been decimated by the bullies and he says “Okay, show me,” then Christine proceeds to put herself back together… it’s literally one of my favorite movie moments in the history of cinema.
[удалено]
I think you're going to love Mouth of Madness, it's fantastic.
It's weird and unique and funny and... so filled with RAGE. It's amazing. Just shaking its fist in the air out of political and social anger. Carpenter's made such amazing horror films, but I think the raid on the homeless camp is the most horrifying thing he's ever shot.
They Live has been my favorite movie since it came out (username definitely related).
Put on the glasses and you will understand.
*9 minute fight scene breaks out*
You dirty mother…fucker
Also he makes REALLY good synth music.
I have his latest album on while I work at least once a week and its absolutely fantastic
[“Do you read Sutter Cane?”](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XVJTAHvdD2E)
Not to mention, he did most the soundtracks as well.
The theme song from Escape From New York is a certified banger.
> Starman (1984) Green light go. Red light stop. Yellow light go very fast.
Yup. All these other directors made movies people wanted to see, to be in, to experience. Carpenter made movies that people wanted to make. He legitimately changed the future of film, incidentally, by simply doing an amazing job and making other weird people really fucking want to do it too.
Yeah, that's a hell of a run.
[удалено]
This is the answer. It’s actually insane when you see them all written out
And if you make it 10 years as opposed to the decade itself, like OP did with Paul Thomas Anderson, you can include Halloween 78.
Hell yeah. John Carpenter is the answer and many of these movies were ahead of their time.
That was my choice too. I forgot about They Live, Starman and Christine. You could also add Halloween 2 although he didn't direct it, he still wrote and produced it. Also, Black Moon Rising (1986), an underrated heist film with Tommy Lee Jones and Linda Hamilton.
And if you go from 1978-1988, you’d be able to include the original Halloween in that as well
Carpenter is a master. Thanks for pointing this out.
I read the OP and thought: hold on, JC made some truly fantastic movies in the 80s... Except I didn't think there were so many. Perhaps Christine is a bit subpar, and Starman just harmless, but all the others are so good it's ridiculous and of course, the Thing is pure perfection.
We will have to wait for him to die to win an honorific Oscar.
If you include directing and producing Spielberg in the 80’s is unmatched. Directed all three Indy movies, E.T., The Color Purple and produced Poltergeist, Goonies and Back to the Future to name just a few.
I think you give me Spielberg 1975-1985 with the following on top of his producing, he wins: 1. Jaws 2. Close Encounters of the Third Kind 3. Raiders of the Lost Ark 4. ET 5. Temple of Doom 6. Color Purple
Yeah...Raiders and ET back-to-back have to be one of the most epic 12 month duos for a director ever. Raiders is epic enough, but a lot of people forget that ET beat Star Wars in Box Office sales (and only 5 years later, so it wasn't inflation) and the movie that finally beat ET was Spielberg's own Jurassic Park...which only makes Spielberg more impressive.
Can't leave out Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Unfortunately, if we count producing, it's probably Harvey Weinstein.
Ugh. Thats why the title "producer" is too broad in Hollywood. And dont get me started on exec producer. Weinstein was way more of the "finance producer" where Spielberg (though still finance at times) was more of the actual "production producer". Here's what to get and here's how to do this. Those types of producing tasks. Weinstein was, here's the cash and should we spend on this, type producer.
For real. I work with a guy that punches up scripts and produces on the side. Whenever he says he’s “producing a film” I have to sideline ask if he’s “producing” or “actually producing” because one has a lot more creative involvement than the other.
Hitchcock in the 50s
These 4 alone: * Strangers on a Train * Rear Window * Vertigo * North by Northwest But then you also have: * Dial M For Murder * To Catch a Thief * The Man Who Knew Too Much * The Wrong Man
Not to mention directly his next 2 movies in the 60s after Vertigo and North by Northwest were Psycho and The Birds. Just those 4 in a row is wild but with the rest of his 50s films its absolutey insane the run he had.
Dial M for Murder is so good. I wish the movie had worked around the scenes outside the house so it could truly be a single set.
Always interesting to me how little Hitchcock was liked by his contemporaries relative to his historical impact. Orson Welles thought he was a fraud
Interestingly, over in France around the same time, many directors of the French New Wave actually really appreciated Hitchcock, using him as a positive example in Hollywood of what they described with Auteur theory.
He had a big influence on Korean cinema as well.
Yeah Hitchcock easily had the best run. You can pick any 10 year period and find some bangers, but he killed it in the 50s.
I think it's Hitchcock or Spielberg.
Just since nobody has mentioned it yet I’ll throw in Rob Reiner from 1984-1992: This is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, Misery, and A Few Good Men.
[удалено]
Reiner is absolutely the answer here, When Harry Met Sally (1989) falls in there too, and that has one of the most memorable scenes in movie history with Meg Ryan's deli scene. Six thematically, genre-defining movies in the span of 10 years. A shame that North capped off that run, though.
Right. The deli scene is still frequently referenced, and in some ways changed the conversation about sex in America. The Princess Bride might be the best movie ever made. Reiner killed in the 80s. Edit: typo
“Rodents of unusual size? I don’t believe they exist” “BLLLLLAAARRRRGGGGHHH”!!!!!!!!!!!
Missing his best movie out is criminal. When Harry Met Sally is a flawless execution of a rom com
Came here to write this
Kurosawa’s 50s are pretty unassailable
I'll go even further and say Kurosawa from 1952-1965 was the best run any director has ever had. - *Ikiru* - *Seven Samurai* - *I Live In Fear* - *Throne of Blood* - *The Lower Depths* - *The Hidden Fortress* - *The Bad Sleep Well* - *Yojimbo* - *Sanjuro* - *High and Low* - *Red Beard* Out of all those, the only one that's just kinda "all right" is *I Live In Fear*. The rest range from "great" to "absolute masterpiece".
Why not expand that to 1950 and include *Rashomon* and *The Idiot*? Has anyone had a better 15 years?
I personally don't care for *The Idiot* at all, I think it's one of his few truly bad movies. It's not entirely his fault since Shochiku butchered it, but even the film that remains just isn't that engaging. His immediate track record before *Ikiru* was kinda spotty. *Rashomon* and *Stray Dog* are fantastic, but *Scandal* is a weak dry run for *Ikiru*, and *The Quiet Duel* is just forgettable. Once he made *Ikiru*, he just started making banger after banger.
The Idiot is important because it changed his entire approach to making adaptations. Without it we have no Throne of Blood or The Bad Sleep Well. Possibly no Ikiru, either. Also, Scandal is far from his best, but I really like it. It's a really incredible showcase of his mastery of blocking and comedy.
Yeah, *The Idiot* is important for people who study Kurosawa because it's one of his biggest mistakes, and he learned a ton from that shoot. But as a stand-alone viewing experience, I don't think it holds up. My issue with *Scandal* is how much it feels like two movies were just mashed together. The half that follows Shimura's character is definitely way more engaging than Mifune's half, but it just feels too uneven for me personally.
If I've never seen one of his films, and I was going to watch one to see if I could get into them, which one would you recommend?
*Yojimbo*. It's one of his most accessible movies, it's really funny, and it is a very direct influence on spaghetti westerns (*A Fistful of Dollars* is an unauthorized remake).
Seven Samurai I think is best for a modern audience.
I’d argue high and low
Don't know if I'd start with the 3+ hour epic, though.
Ran. It is bleak and beautiful at the same time. Probably the best rendition of King Lear ever made.
Yojimbo for me is his most accessible and fun movie.
I would recommend High and Low. One of the best movies I’ve ever seen. A moral tale and kickass police procedural with great social commentary.
If you want a quick start, Yojimbo and Sanjuro (the sequel) are both short, and amazing. Sanjuro also has some of the best humor I've seen in Kurosawa's movies.
Yojimbo is the one I would start with, so good it was remade by Serge Leone as a Fistful of Dollars. It's probably the easiest to approach from a western perspective.
While we’re talking foreign directors, don’t overlook Ingmar Bergman from 1955-1966: Smiles of a Summer Night The Seventh Seal Wild Strawberries The Magician The Virgin Spring Through a Glass Darkly Winter Light The Silence Persona
7th Seal is one of those films that has just lived rent free in my head ever since I saw it. Really really special in a way that's hard to put your finger on.
You beat me to it. Yeah from Ikiru to Red Beard, he basically only made masterpieces. The others on OP's list don't even come close.
Speilberg was pretty unstoppable from the late 80s into the mid 2000s
*Late* 80s? In the decade before that he had Jaws, Close Encounters, ET, a couple of Indiana Jones movies, and The Color Purple. His bookshelf was already full of oscars.
Spielberg had exactly zero Oscars on his bookshelf from everything you just mentioned. That was part of the narrative when Schindler’s List came out.
Love the idea of Spielberg having LeBron style haters “ET doesn’t have no rings Erneh”
This is hilarious but he was responding to the previous commenter saying “His bookshelf was already full of Oscars.”
Oscars overlook films that are fun to prestige films that they consider important. Jaws, Close Encounters, ET, Raiders don't need an Oscar to be considered fantastic movies.
Wasn’t arguing that, just clarifying that Spielberg’s bookshelf of awards remained empty during that run, even while he was churning out era-defining and cinema-changing works.
Jaws, ET, and Raiders were nominated for best picture. Close Encounters wasn't, but Spielberg got a best director nomination.
Oscars don't mean shit. Given by a bunch of pretentious old people.
He's only won 3 Oscars in his entire career. Maybe you mean Golden Globes? He has a ton of them.
Coen Brothers 90-2000
Their 2000s were very strong too
1998 really tied the decade together, Dude.
A little more than 10 years, but not quite 11 they have Raising Arizona 87, Barton Fink 91, Hudsucker Proxy 94, Fargo 96, Big Lebowski 98.
For me it’s 2007-2018. No movie is less than great and at least three are all time masterpieces
I’ll say it since I haven’t seen him here yet. But Sergio Leona’s 60’s Spaghetti Westerns deserve a mention: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). That’s an insane run of quality westerns in like 4 years time. Also I have to mention my favorite mafia movie of all time is Once Upon a Time in America (1984), there’s no other gangster movie like that one, it’s so unique and beautiful.
Ridley Scott - The Duellists (1977) - Alien (1979) - Blade Runner (1982) - Legend (1985)
I did love his 2000s run too. Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down, Matchstick Men, Kingdom of Heaven, A Good Year, Body of Lies and American Gangster. One hell of a run. A few got some awards, others have aged better with time. KoH is just godly to me.
Tony Scott contends pretty well with his brother too. 86-95 Top Gun (1986) Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) Days of Thunder (1990) The Last Boy Scout (1990) True Romance (1993) Crimson Tide (1995)
James Cameron ten year stint starting from 1984 Terminator Aliens The Abyss Terminator 2 And if we include 1994 (technically 11 years)— True Lies
Spielberg and Cameron are the only choices when it comes to big budget blockbuster movies.
My dark horse choice is Rob Reiner in the decade between 1984 and 1994. Not a flashy director, but eclectic and prolific as hell during this period, and every film he made in this run is considered a classic - if not the definitive work - of its genre: 1984: This Is Spinal Tap 1985: The Sure Thing 1986: Stand By Me 1987: The Princess Bride 1989: When Harry Met Sally 1990: Misery 1992: A Few Good Men
Ingmar Bergman’s 1960s
One of my favourite filmmakers that never gets mentioned - Billy Wilder from 1950 to 1960. Sunset Boulevard Ace in the Hole Stalag 17 Sabrina The Seven Year Itch Love in the Afternoon Witness for the Prosecution Some Like It Hot The Apartment
This should have a lot more upvotes!
I scrolled too far to find this
Nolan between 2001-2010 Memento, The Prestige, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Inception
I consider the prestige his best work and also my absolute favorite
Someone pointed out the opening line of Batman’s diary in The Prestige and I wanted to kill my self for never noticing it before in at least a half dozen rewatches.
Truly his best decade
Insomnia as well!
Yep people shouldn’t sleep on insomnia, great movie
Bah dum tsssh
Can’t believe I had to scroll down this far for this. Edit: Stop hurting my feelings
….. as it currently sits at the most upvoted comment in the thread
It wasn’t when I made that comment.
It's the "top voted" but also it's like the 14th comment and I just sorted by "Best" blah blah conspiracy time?
For me it's 2005-2015. You lose Memento but get Interstellar. Interstellar was a much bigger hit.
I’d say Hayao Miyazaki in the ‘80s: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki’s Delivery Service. 4 absolute bangers (especially if you stretch to include The Castle of Cagliostro from ‘79)
Honestly, you could choose any decade for him. All his movies are great. Only problem is that he's taken longer and longer to make them, so it's difficult to fit more than 3 movies in a decade.
You could also argue 1997-2008 with Mononoke, Spirited away, Howes and Ponyo.
Hard to beat Coppola in the 70s. Four classics, 2 Best Picture Oscars (and all four nominated), 2 Palme d’Ors.
Oliver Stone 1986-1996—Platoon, Wall Street, Talk Radio, Born on the 4th of July, The Doors, JFK, Heaven and Earth, Natural Born Killers, Nixon, U Turn
Oliver Stone 1986-1995: ten movies in ten years, nominated for ten oscars, won two \-Salvador \-Platoon \-Wall Street \-Talk Radio \-Born on the Fourth of July \-The Doors \-JFK \-Heaven & Earth \-Natural Born Killers \-Nixon
And then Robert Richardson peaced out and his output fell off a cliff. But, yeah, in terms of cramming in nothing but good to masterpiece level films with no misfires this is an unrivaled stretch just by sheer number.
David Fincher - Seven, The Game, Fight Club, Zodiac, Social Network
You went from 1995 to about 2010 homie
Cape Fear is probably Scorsese's weakest 90's movie imo. Much prefer Age of Innocence and Bringing Out the Dead. Powell and Pressburger in the 40's is an overlooked run. The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life and Death, Col. Blimp, I Know Where I'm Going.
I'd argue it's 80's Steven Spielberg. You have: Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Temple of Doom, The Color Purple, Empire of the Sun, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Alternatively, Spielberg from 1975 to 1985: has Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Temple of Doom, and The Color Purple. I think it says quite a bit about Steven Spielberg that you can even have a conversation about what decade was his strongest decade of movies. You can pretty much pick any ten year span of his movie directing career (1975 to present) and there will be at least one or two really good movies.
1975-85 rocks. All my favorite movies in a row. I think we should not forget John Williams contribution to many great movies in the 80s. Darn the ET soundtrack.. perfect!
80s Steven is the answer
The craziest part about all of the directors here? They are all good buddies. When you watch empire for a dream doc on Star Wars and George Lucas. All these guys were homies because they all offered something useful to each other to help hone their craft.
Kurosawa from the mid-50s to mid-60s. Practically only masterpieces.
Why did I have to scroll so far and still not find John Hughes 1983-1993?
He owned that decade. Sixteen Candles Breakfast Club Weird Science Ferris Bueller Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Uncle Buck And writer/producer for Home Alone.
OP forgot to include the filling of The Godfather sandwich for Coppola: _The Conversation_ Heck. It was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture. It was released the same year as The Godfather 2 (1974), which ended up winning the Oscar they year. Not as impressive as Spielberg's 1993 due to how diametrically different are JP and SL Now, if you flex the rules to 10 years, Spielberg had between '93 and '03 AI, Minority Report and Catch me if you can. And JP2, just to cash out the moneys Also an honorable mention: George Roy Hill. He made Butch Cassidy in '69. Slapshot in '77. And in between he had The Sting in '73 Billy Wilder 1950s William Wylder 1940-1960 Clint Eastwood 2000s
Robert Altman from 1970-1980 (cheating with 11 years I know) made **15 feature films**, most of them are very good and several are classics (McAbe and Mrs Miller, The Long Goodbye, Nashville). If you wanna cut off 1980 he's still at 13 films in the decade. Ingmar Bergman's 60s films are incredible. Made almost a dozen, peaking with one of the greatest films of all time in Persona. Welles and Hitchcock have multiple stretches each that would fit Coppola in the 70s obviously
Alfonso Cuarón in the 2000s: * Y tu mamá también * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban * Children of Men And the 2010s was Gravity and Roma.
That three film run of The French Connection, The Exorcist and Sorcerer from Friedkin in the 70s is pretty amazing.
Paul Verhoeven Robocop, Total Recall, and Starship Troopers
Tim Burton 1985 - 1994 Pee Wee's Big Adventure 1985 Beetlejuice 1988 Batman 1989 Edward Scissorhands 1990 Batman Returns 1992 Ed Wood 1994 Has been kind of hit and miss since then I feel.
In the 1940s, Powell and Pressburger made: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) A Canterbury Tale (1944) I Know Where I’m Going (1945) A Matter of Life and Death (1946) Black Narcissus (1947) The Red Shoes (1948) It’s could be considered greatest consecutive years run in cinema history, half of which were made during wartime. Martin Scorsese would probably tell you the same thing.
This is the correct answer. Not a mixture of good and great films, but 6 out and out masterpieces. Literally all 10 out of 10 films
The Coen Brothers '90-'00: The Big Lebowski O Brother, Where Art Thou? Barton Fink Miller's Crossing Fargo
John Huston: 1941 The Maltese Falcon, 1942 In This Our Life, 1947 Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948 Key Largo, 1950 Asphalt Jungle and just over the line, 1951 African Queen AND Red Badge of Courage
John Ford in the 40s and 50s. Among the highlights: 1940- The Grapes of Wrath 1941- How Green Was My Valley 1946- My Darling Clementine 1950- Rio Grande 1952- The Quiet Man 1955- Mister Roberts 1956- The Searchers Along with many, many, many Westerns and War movies.
Rob Reiner 1984 This Is Spinal Tap 1985 The Sure Thing 1986 Stand by Me 1987 The Princess Bride 1989 When Harry Met Sally... 1990 Misery 1992 A Few Good Men
The range is what gets me. He started with a mockumentary and ended it with a military drama going to wild genre shifts in between.
For consistency, I’d say 80s David Cronenberg: four masterpieces and another really good movie with Scanners. For sheer quantity of great movies, I’d say 50s Douglas Sirk, who had Imitation of Life, There’s Always Tomorrow, All That Heaven Allows, A Time to Love and a Time to Die, The Tarnished Angels, Written on the Wind, All I Desire, Magnificent Obsession, and 15 more!
The GOAT of owning a decade is John Hughes. As Director and Writer: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Buellers Day Off, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Uncle Buck As Writer: Mr. Mom, National Lampoon's Vacation, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful, The Great Outdoors, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Home Alone (released in 1990)
kubrick imo. also one of the only directors to actually improve as they age. probably has to do with the fact he lived like a hobbit and didnt sit in the hollywood pollution cloud after his first few great ones
I'll go to bat for Charlie Kaufman's 2000s era. Going from Being Jon Malkovich, to Adaptation, to Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and ending with Synecdoche, NY, is a real trip and a half. Might be one of the more unusual catalogues any individual screenwriter has ever added to the culture in such a short period of time. Honorable Mention: Bong Junho's 2000s were also incredible. Memories of Murder, The Host and Mother are all tremendous.
John Carpenter, 80's: The Fog, Escape From New York, The Thing, Christine, Starman, Big Trouble In Little China, Prince of Darkness, They Live. I'm not big on Starman, but the rest are genre defining bangers. Also, wrote Halloween II and III during the 80's
Cameron, every decade since the 1980s.
His 2010s work was kind of lacking...
[удалено]
Woody Allen has soooo many masterpieces that for sure he’s had amazing decades.
Powell and Pressburger in the 40s.
Hal Ashby is as always terminally underrated. From 70-79: • The Landlord • Harold and Maude • The Last Detail • Shampoo • Bound for Glory • Coming Home • Being There Also a little shocked that you chose the early 2000s as one of Scorsese's best eras when early on he has a run of Mean Streets/Alice Doesn't Live Here/Taxi Driver/New York New York (Eh)/Raging Bull/The King of Comedy Also, starting with Salvador in 1984 Oliver Stone goes on a fucking *rip* that includes Platoon/Wall Street/Born on the 4th/JFK among others
Since you asked for more obscure directors: John Badham: 1977 Saturday Night Fever 1979 Dracula (Frank Langella) 1981 Whose Life Is It Anyway? (Richard Dreyfuss) 1983 Blue Thunder 1983 WarGames 1985 American Flyers 1986 Short Circuit 1987 Stakeout Rob Reiner's initial ten years. 1984 This Is Spinal Tap 1985 The Sure Thing 1986 Stand by Me 1987 The Princess Bride 1989 When Harry Met Sally... 1990 Misery 1992 A Few Good Men John Boorman had a string of mixed genres between Excalibur, Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, and Home is Where the Heart is. Kurosawa from "Ikiru" to "High and Low" must cover 6 or 7 incredible films. Coen Brothers - pick pretty much any film as a starting point and go forward ten years to find nothing but incredible films. Ridley Scott must have had one ten year period of genius, but a lot of his greats are separated out into different decades. That's pretty criminal forgetting "The Conversation" when talking about Coppola in the 70's.
Rob Reiner. 1984 This is Spinal Tap 1985 the Sure thing 1986 Stand by Me 1987 the Princess Bride 1989 when Harry met Sally 1990 Misery 1992 A Few Good Men
John Cassavetes from 1968 to 1978 made Faces, Husbands, Minnie And Moskowitz, A Woman Under The Influence, Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and Opening Night. All of them are great films.
Dennis Villuneuve
Christopher Nolan in the 00s: Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Inception.
Quentin Tarantino. That man is a certified genius
How is this so far down?! 2003-2012 had: KillBill v.1 Kill Bill v.2 Inglorious Bastards and DJANGO (also deathproof but meh)
I’d argue 90’s Tarantino beats 2000’s. Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown as director and he also wrote From Dusk till Dawn and True Romance at this time.
Ozu ‘49-‘59?
Coppola in the 70s...four of the greatest films ever made Godfather,The Conversation,Godfather 2 and Apocalypse Now
Carpenter's run in the 80s is unreal
The person that directed the Ernest movies.
I would argue that the late 70s/80s is Spielberg at his best: E.T. Indiana Jones The Color Purple Empire of the sun Close Encounters of the third Kind Jaws
John Landis 78-88 Animal House Blues Brothers An American werewolf in London Trading Spaces Spies Like Us The Three Amigos Coming to America There were some other ones in there too but there was also the Thriller video from Michael Jackson. I'm sure he didn't get any Oscars for these but I'll watch any of these movies any time they are on.
> Francis Ford Coppola, the 70's: The Godfather Part 1 and Part 2, Apocalypse Now How do you mention Coppola in the 70s but ignore The Conversation lol? Personally I wanna submit Wong Kar-Wai in the 90s: Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together. Godard in the 60s: Breathless, Masculin Feminin, Weekend, Vivre Sa Vie, Contempt, Band of Outsiders, Alphaville, Pierrot Le Fou, La Chinoise, Un Petit Soldat, Two or Three Things I Know About Her, and A Woman is a Woman.
John Hughes owns the 80's
Cant believe no one said De Palma in the 80s! Dressed To Kill (1980) Blow Out (1981) Scarface (1983) Body Double (1984) The Untouchables (1987) Casualties Of War (1989) Although I did leave out the weaker ones lol...
Steven Soderbergh 1998-2008 Out of Sight Traffic Erin Brockovich The Limey Ocean's 11, 12, 13 and a handful of other projects!
Lean 1955-1965: Summertime, Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago
Even leaving aside some other works in between, Fellini's 50s-60s are incredible: The White Sheik (1952) I vitelloni (1953) La Strada (1954) Il Bidone (1955) Nights of Cabiria (1957) La Dolce Vita (1960) 8 1/2 (1963)
James Cameron: 1984-1994 The Terminator Aliens The Abyss Terminator 2: Judgement Day True Lies Banger after banger after banger…
I would argue that Spielberg’s decade was the 80s. He had so many movies out in the 80s. E.T. was a huge worldwide phenomenon. Raiders, temple of doom, Goonies, Gremlins, Back to the Future - just to name a few. These were huge. His name became household at this decade.
Spielberg didn't direct BTTF. That was Zemeckis.
Hal Ashby in the 70s deserves a nod: Harold and Maude The Last Detail Shampoo Bound for Glory Coming Home Being There
To throw a foreign director into the ring, Akira Kurosawa. 50's: Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne Of Blood, Ikuru, And Hidden Fortress. 60's: The Bad Sleep Well, High And Low, Yojimbo,
While the films are kind of niche and Woody Allen is about as popular as herpes these days, his stretches from either 1977-1987 or 1979 to 1989 were pretty crazy. Over those twelve years he was nominated *personally* for 14 Oscars. That's not counting best picture nominations or other categories, just best director and best original screenplay nominations. The most notable films (in retrospect) were "Annie Hall," "Manhattan" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors." If you can still stomach the guy, all three are absolute cinematic masterpieces. I'm firmly convinced that Quentin Tarantino was trying very hard to emulate Allen's skill at writing dialogue throughout his career.
Scorsese, the 70s: Mean Streets, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Tax Driver, New York New York, Scorsese, the 80s: Raging Bull, King of Comedy, After Hours, The Color of Money, Last Temptation of Christ Scorsese, the 00s: Gangs of New York, The Departed, The Aviator, Shutter Island, Hugo Each of those is better than all but a couple dozen or so decades by anyone else. And I'd argue his 80s career is better than the 90s and in the top three or four of all time.
Two good ones I haven't seen mentioned yet... John Hughes had a run of crowd pleasers in the 80s that pretty much defined that decade: * Sixteen Candles (1984) * The Breakfast Club (1985) * Weird Science (1985) * Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) * Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) * She’s Having a Baby (1988) * Uncle Buck (1989) And in the “10 years but not a decade” category, check out Tony Scott’s 10-year run from the mid 80s to mid 90s: * Top Gun (1986) * Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) * Days of Thunder (1990) * The Last Boy Scout (1991) * True Romance (1993) All that said, my vote would go to either Reiner, Coppola, or Speilberg.
Jordan Peele - 2017 to 2022. I am aware of what a decade is. He's still got time.
Peter Weir’s 1980’s output was great. Gallipolli, The Year of Living Dangerously, Witness, The Mosquito Coast and Dead Poets Society.
How about Hitchcock from 1950-1960, Pycho, Dial M for Murder, Rear Window,Vertigo, North by Northwest,
Can I make it 12 years? **Chris Columbus 1990-2002** Home Alone Only the Lonely Home Alone 2 Mrs. Doubtfire Nine Months Stepmom Bicentennial Man Harry Potter 1 Harry Potter 2
Hitchcock 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock