Stories, Facts, and Everything in Between

In the movie world, all aspects go hand in hand to make it a great and meaningful one – a kind of which people would love over and over. In this situation, a director’s role is often emphasized as the person that is fully responsible in giving life to the film, the animated representation of the script, and the in-depth enactment of the story.

In this roundup, we have put up a list of directors and name one definitive movie that they were a part of. This criteria is definitely a wide one thus we will narrow it down further:

• Director has greater than 2 movies under his/her belt
• Only 1 definitive movie is chosen per director

The list is not ranked and are randomly listed so as not to confuse. Let’s check them out:

Director: Martin Scorsese

Definitive movie: Goodfellas

IMDB rating: 8.7

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 96%

Defining point:

How we wish we could break our rules to put in more than one definitive movie for this director as there are quite a number of movies that is close to his directing personality. We chose Goodfellas as we recalled this movie is the first movie he directed that really showed close to reality mobster behavior – lots of angst and violence. The plot is there but how it was directed from cinematography down to the sequences is absolutely brilliant. We never got tired of watching this film over and over.

Other Notable movies: Casino, The Wolf of Wall Street

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Definitive movie: The Godfather

IMDB rating: 9.2

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 98%

Defining point:

While Mr. Coppola has a good number of great films on his belt, The Godfather did really define his style. The film showcased what it’s like to be a mob boss and how he could be endearing and mean and at the same time. His direction to make Marlon Brando talk like that is something of a gem, if not so brilliant everyone still remembers and emulates them (even just for fun) up to this day.

Other Notable movies: Apocalypse Now, The Rainmaker

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Definitive movie: Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai)

IMDB rating: 8.6

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 100%

Defining point:

Internationally acclaimed as one of the best directors of all time, Akira Kurosawa is best known for his sequences and cinematography. Seven Samurai provides quick sequences that will make you glued at the edge of your seat on what might come next.

Other Notable movies: Ran, Yojimbo

Director: David Fincher

Definitive movie: Se7en

IMDB rating: 8.6

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 81%

Defining point:

Another director that we could have chosen multiple films that defined them, David Fincher is the master of suspenseful climaxes, with plot twists in the end as a cherry on top. Seven provides a gleaming (and gory) effect on audiences because of the main plot while keeping them glued in finding out who really is the killer.

Other Notable movies: Fight Club, The Game

Director: Brian De Palma

Definitive movie: Scarface

IMDB rating: 8.3

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 81%

Defining point:

We do believe that no one will argue with us that Scarface is Brian De Palma’s definitive movie. In fairness to him, we equally (almost) loved the other movies he directed that we noted in here. However, Scarface is one of the best gangster films of all time for us so don’t tell us otherwise.

Other Notable movies: Snake Eyes, Mission Impossible

Director: Oliver Stone

Definitive movie: Any Given Sunday

IMDB rating: 69%

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 52%

Defining point:

Oliver Stone is known for having grit in his movies – a punch in the face approach in engaging audience. His movie Any Given Sunday best described (and showed) his grit to his direction approach in which he fully showed somehow the true meaning of sports enthusiasm and fascination to be on top.

Other Notable movies: Natural Born Killers, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Definitive movie: Pulp Fiction

IMDB rating: 8.9

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%

Defining point:

Some directors pained us for just choosing one movie that defines them, and Quentin Tarantino is another one of them. With much hesitation, we chose Pulp fiction over Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Basterds or even Kill Bill. In fairness to Pulp Fiction, it clearly provided notable sequences and performances, specially for Samuel L. Jackson.

Other Notable movies: Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Definitive movie: Ocean’s Eleven

IMDB rating: 7.8

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 82%

Defining point:

We like Steven Soderbergh for his cool sequencing and the short but meaningful explanation on plot twists towards the end of the movie. The movie we chose that best showcased that is Ocean’s Eleven. No wonder it got several sequels along the way.

Other Notable movies: Contagion, Traffic

Director: Christopher Nolan

Definitive movie: Memento

IMDB rating: 8.4

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 93%

Defining point:

We’re pretty sure Mr. Nolan is known by a lot of people for his work in Inception, but his brilliant ideas go way back, and we love him way before Inception or even the Batman movies he directed. Memento is great movie that gives a unique experience – watching a movie backwards.

Other Notable movies: Insomnia, Inception

Director: Farrelly Brothers

Definitive movie: There’s Something About Mary

IMDB rating: 7.1

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 83%

Defining point:

The kings of slapstick US comedy, the Farrelly Brothers became really popular when There’s Something About Mary came out. It really defined them doing this kind of genre in movies which paved the way for the other funny movies afterwards.

Other Notable movies: Kingpin, Me Myself and Irene

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Definitive movie: Desperado

IMDB rating: 7.2

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 61%

Defining point:

Robert Rodriguez is best known for his action movies, and the one movie that stuck to is Desperado. For us, it defined the career of Antonio Banderas as well and his acting skills was fully showcased on this film – humor and angst combined. In terms of the movie, the gunfight sequences are really worth something to look forward to.

Other Notable movies: From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City

Director: Richard Donner

Definitive movie: Lethal Weapon

IMDB rating: 7.6

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 82%

Defining point:

Well known for his action movies and film partnership with Mel Gibson, Richard Donner will always be tied to the Lethal Weapon movies. The chemistry of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover was simply the best along with the usual violence partnered with a lot of explosions – a recipe for a great action movie. Mr. Donner added it up humor here and there as well, which made it more special.

Other Notable movies: Conspiracy Theory, Assassins

There are other brilliant directors that were not mentioned in here. We had fun creating this one and we probably do another one yet again in the future.

So, as cliché as it may seem, you just have to sit back, relax and watch a movie!