Who is the best director of the recent release of Comic Book feature films?

[John H]

Who is your choice for the best director of the recent release of Comic Book feature films from the above list?

Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) also directed NightWatch and DayWatch feature films.


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[Nick Costanzo]

Christopher Nolan, easy.

[BadMotives]

Christopher Nolan, easy.
I agree. I would have voted for Raimi if it wasn't for Spider-man 3 :#

[Jim Learning]

I voted for both Nolan and Favreau. If I had to choose one, it be Favreau.

[Greg Reeves]

The more I see the movies, the more I hate the Spider-Man films. I still have yet to see all of the third one.

I will admit that I may be biased due to my dislike of Tobey Maguire.

I enjoyed the Batman films, but I do find myself liking Iron Man more. Of course, they're completely different movies though.

It's kind of unfair to credit the director for the films though. They do have the vision to put it together, but it couldn't happen without the writers and actors.

[Nick Costanzo]

Could someone who knows movies better answer me the following: What precisely does a director do? And more generally, I've seen movies that I thought were well-acted, but overall weren't that great for a variety of other reasons. I've always felt that the Director is the one responsible for bringing all of the different elements together, which is why he typically gets credit for good movies and blamed for bad ones. Is this a correct interpretation of the director's duties? In other words, can a movie be well-directed and still be bad, or poorly-directed and still be good?

And I agree Greg, just watched the first movie the other day. It really didn't seem to age well.

[Marty P]

Christopher Nolan, easy.
Same here, although Iron Man and Hellboy are awesome as well.

[Anthony Devlin]

Although I’m a huge fan of Christopher Nolan, I went with Guillermo del Toro whose films are absolute visual treats… I even don’t mind blade II. :P

[Blade Runner]

Nolan, then Del Toro, Favreau, and Raimi (barring Spider-Man 3--he's just not that great a writer).

[Kevin Jones]

Michael Bay has more than zero votes?!?

[ElectricX]

Raimi because i enjoyed the movies. Christopher Nolan and the director for the Fantastic Four films were also directors that I have highly enjoyed.

[orange dragon]

Michael Bay has more than zero votes?!?Yeah this is quite puzzling. Personally I liked the FF films better than Transformormers but i may be in the minority there.

Also I voted for Favreau. Nolan is good but I just like Favreau in general, plus I like what Marvel is doing with their movies more than what DC is. Although Dark Knight was pretty bad @$$.

[Keogh]

Michael Bay has more than zero votes?!?
This startles me too. :jaw:

[Marty P]

Why?

I mean, sure, Transformers is nowhere near genius, but it's a nice popcorn brain-on-zero action flick.

[Michael Regan]

I'm surprised the FF flicks haven't had a single vote yet :ohwell:

[Nick Costanzo]

I'm not :P

[Kevin Jones]

Why?

I mean, sure, Transformers is nowhere near genius, but it's a nice popcorn brain-on-zero action flick.Sure, but "brain-on-zero" does not equal best director to me. I guess it depends on what people are looking for, but I can't think of anything Transformers does that Iron Man or Dark Knight don't do better. Except, of course, the giant transforming robots.

[Jordan T. Maxwell]

Could someone who knows movies better answer me the following: What precisely does a director do? And more generally, I've seen movies that I thought were well-acted, but overall weren't that great for a variety of other reasons. I've always felt that the Director is the one responsible for bringing all of the different elements together, which is why he typically gets credit for good movies and blamed for bad ones. Is this a correct interpretation of the director's duties? In other words, can a movie be well-directed and still be bad, or poorly-directed and still be good?

And I agree Greg, just watched the first movie the other day. It really didn't seem to age well.

you've more or less got it. it's the director's job to interpret the script visually. this involves, to varying degrees depending on the director's process, helping out with casting to make sure the actors not only look their parts individually but also together (and, ideally, can actually read their lines with some level of emotional reality), planning out the shots and communicating to their DP how they want it framed and lit, working with practical and special effects people (if such are required), set and costume designers, editing and all of the fun of post production and basically trying to perform the daily miracle of keeping the whole thing from dying on its feet. the shorthand i've always tended to go by...film is a director's medium, TV is a writer's and theatre belongs to the actors.

i voted for Nolan because he doesn't just make good comic book films, he makes really damn good films in general (still love me some Memento and The Prestige). i'd put del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth is a thing of beauty) and Raimi in that camp as well, but only voted for one. i've dug Favreau's writing in the past, but before Iron Man i wasn't that impressed with him as a director (Made was pretty good, but a bit stagnant in places...i think it was his first time as a director, though, so i cut him some slack). not sure i'd count Transformers as a comic book film and Bay certainly isn't the best director on this list. haven't seen Wanted yet, nor the Nightwatch/Daywatch films so i can't comment on that. Tim Story's capable enough, but was the wrong choice for the FF franchise (like Jessica Alba!). not sure why Francis Lawrence is on there...Constantine was little more than a glorified music video that bastardized one of the greatest comic book characters of all time. James McTeigue was more recent with V for Vendetta and did leagues better. and if we're going back as far as 2005 for Constantine, why the Bryan Singer snub? i know some people didn't like Superman Returns, but i thought it was awesome and considering the brilliant work he did with the first two X-Men films (without which many of these films wouldn't even exist), he deserved a bit more of a nod i feel.

[Kevin Jones]

I think X2 was a great film as well, but maybe Singer wasn't on the list because he hasn't done anything recent enough. All of the directors on the list have a comic book type movie within the last year.

[Jordan T. Maxwell]

I think X2 was a great film as well, but maybe Singer wasn't on the list because he hasn't done anything recent enough. All of the directors on the list have a comic book type movie within the last year.

Constantine was released in 2005, one year before Superman Returns (and the same year as V for Vendetta and Sin City, while we're batting this around. ;) ).

[John H]

No snubs here, as the poll title states this is Part I. Part II will go live on Sunday evening, with both Hulk directors on the list as well others that have been mentioned in this discussion.
And thanks to everyone who voted.

[Jordan T. Maxwell]

ah. part 1. missed that, um, part. heh. color me rash. ;)

[John H]

No harm. Glad to have the discussion that's going on. There are just so many comic book directors that it felt best to split the poll in two. And Zack Snyder might be more popular this time next year, after the Watchmen release.