Very interested in how this turns out.
Villeneuve is probably the best filmmaker working today aside from the big 3 (Scorcese, Tarantino, Nolan). Blade Runner 2049 was amazing, too bad it bombed. But even aside from that, I don't think he's made a movie that isn't great since he started making American films.
Prisoners
Enemy
Sicario
Arrival
Blade Runner 2049
That's 5 fantastic movies. Prisoners is very underrated, Enemy is probably the least appreciated but still an interesting mind bending film very well done. Sicario is one of the best thriller/crime movies of the decade, Arrival is terrific alien/sci fi and oscar nominated and BR 2049 was just amazing.
Firstly, have you seen
Polytechnique (2009) or
Incendies (2011)? Both are incredible, and they showcase what I will rave about in the following paragraphs.
Polytechnique, for example, is a black-and-white film based on the 1989 “Montreal Massacre”; the guy just covers so much ground.
I think he’s the best period. Can’t stand Scorcese, Tarantino, and Nolan, and for all the same reasons. All three of those directors, you don’t need to see anymore than 1-2 of their movies:
Scorcese:
Taxi Driver;
Goodfellas
Tarantino:
Reservoir Dogs;
Pulp Fiction
Nolan:
Memento;
The Dark Knight
Casino is great, but you don’t
need to see it.
Jackie Brown is great, but you don’t
need to see it.
Inception is great, but you don’t
need to see it.
Tl;dr: if you’ve seen 1-2, you've seen them all.
Nolan tried recently to break his own mold with
Dunkirk, which ended up being entirely mediocre IMO.
Part of what puts Villeneuve above the rest is his
range. The calling card of a Villeneuve film is that it’s just incredibly well crafted. Those other three directors, you can tell who directed the movie 30 seconds into it (and basically know what will happen during the following 7,799 seconds).
His visual and aural aesthetics, casting, subject matter...he’s just truly a master of his craft.
I’ll tell you right now:
Dune is going to be a 5-star event that even people who don’t give a f*** about
Dune will have to see.
—
Ari Aster is my other albeit lesser favorite, even though he’s only directed two feature films.