Director's who threw us fans a curve.

I apologize in advance if I sound a bit scattered but I only got a few hours sleep last night/this morning as I was out most of the night. ;-)

When I finally arrived at my apartment a few hours ago I was happy to see the sun coming up strong (like me, haha) cause yesterday was dreary, grey and utter shit if you ask me. I know I have mitochondria in my cells but some days I think I may have chloroplasts because seeing the sun can turn my mood and my energy level 180 degrees into high gear. So obviously this morning sleep wasn't in the cards. So I decided to blog.

I found an article here discussing film directors who went totally out of their own "form" to make some really good movies. I was delighted to see that I had seen everyone on the list and have most in my personal DVD collection. As a side note: I love the site where I got the list and read it frequently. The reviewers and article writers all seem like real down to earth fans/enthusiasts and not too stuffy and high brow.

So here's the list:

Robert Altman – Popeye (1980)
Francis Ford Coppola – Jack (1996)
Roman Polanski – Pirates (1986)
Stanley Kubrick - Spartacus (1960)
Walter Hill – Brewster's Millions (1985)
Brian De Palma – Wise Guys (1986)
Robert Wise – Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
John Huston – Victory! (1981)
David Lynch – The Straight Story (1999)
Sam Raimi – For Love of the Game (1999)
Gus Van Sant - Finding Forrester (2000)
Tim Burton – Planet of the Apes (2001)
Woody Allen – Match Point (2005)
Wes Craven - Music of the Heart (1999)

I know. The first thing that might strike you odd is that you may have seen these films before (perhaps not in their entirety) and have enjoyed them. Only you would be hard-pressed to guess at who directed them knowing some of the big names on this list. I realize that movie fans come in all flavors and many are purists in a sense that they engross themselves within their chosen genre. It's not that far of a reach to find that these types of fans would not really consider (speaking hypothetically) a family musical directed by Cronenburg to be a true part of his catalog of works. Or simpler still, the odd-ball film might be written off as "what the hell were they thinking?"

I argue that this list above is unique in that you have directors who diverged from their known element or style and still made fantastically entertaining films. Take a moment and ponder this list. Seriously.

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