Who is The Greatest Film Director of All Time? (Feat. Ryan Hailey)

[@cameronmitchell8180]

You guys should rank masterpieces.

[@JaredBauer]

I’m getting a headache just thinking of how painful that would be

[@jasongeorgis3483]

Way to take a virtually impossible task of ranking greatest directors and turn it into a pretty stimulating, intelligent, and entertaining conversation! I'm so glad to be able to listen to discussions like this, it would be better if I had a film nerd friend like Ryan to have these conversations myself. Also so bummed Billy Wilder didn't make it into Ryan's selections, he's my GOAT and would love to hear Jared talk about his films.

[@RBGameRZ1]

Awesome vid! I've got to check out some of the directors whose works I haven't seen. My A/S-tier add would be Denis Villeneuve

[@Warstub]

I watched Tarkovsky's Solaris on my laptop sitting on my bed and was absolutely enthralled. It's one of those -moments- _films_ that right from the start tells you what it's going to be like - time-consuming shots, moody characters. For me that movie spoke to me the same way 2001: A Space Odyssey does - the perfection of someone behind a camera in absolute control of every scene and image being presented to the audience.

[@mattgilbert7347]

Agreed. Solaris, Nostalgia, Stalker. Loved em. At least two masterpieces and several great films. And he's incredibly influential. Game-changer. S!

[@JaredBauer]

I can’t argue with this. First time I saw Solaris I remember loving it. But my most recent attempt was just a SLOG! Gotta keep it real.

[@errwhattheflip]

@@mattgilbert7347 Tarkovsky should definitely be an S-tier. One of the most influential filmmakers ever with 7 classics, many of them being some of the best ever

[@benesmonde6866]

28 days later by Danny Boyle is a masterpiece c'mon.

[@austinhayden]

Gotta say I’m with Ben on this one.

[@MightyPinecone]

It was a good one, I wouldn’t say it’s a masterpiece, he does have some movies though that could be labeled as such.

[@dogbone3388]

im more of an 127 hours guy

[@mattgilbert7347]

It's an excellent film. Not quite great. Not a masterpiece

[@MightyPinecone]

@@mattgilbert7347 I’d say it’s great, just not quite a masterpiece.

[@MarMotorbiker]

The 3 best missed. Kurosawa, Felini e Leone

[@EstebanDeLaVille]

Yeah, Leone was the one I missed the most

[@donotworryatall]

They dont have Fellini? Litmus. KZbin is full of cinema experts loving Stielberg and not caring about real geniuses. Sergio Leone is another example, yeah

[@peabrained_11]

Loved watching you two collaborating on a video again! The dynamic between you guys is very comforting for whatever reason. Also, am I the only one whose eyelids feel extra heavy every time Ryan takes a hit? (haha!)

[@JaredBauer]

We used to share a roughly closet-sized room. We’re very comfortable with each other haha

[@AnimeRenegade]

This video (and the companion piece) inspired me to watch all the Masterpieces y'all mention here. Thank you for making this.

[@GilbertGrapestruck]

In all seriousness. Thank you for doing this video. It is amazing watching you guys have a real conversation about all of these directors.

[@Sir.Craze-]

The hair is almost as amazing as him taking a bong hit as natural as taking a breath, on camera. Are we culturally aloud to do that now? Because that's something I've lived around my whole life, it's totally normal to me, and it is so strange for me to see after having the opposite normalized in "public" situations specifically. I like it. And I respect it.

[@terapiaculturapop]

I believe he did that in a couple wisecrack podcasts and I was surprised back then

[@ASMEPICFACE]

We need more relaxed opinion pieces like this! This is so fun to listen to.

[@johnchiu]

Happy Jared putting out quality = Best Jared. Stay well, Best Jared!

[@christophernaze]

Not a huge Spielberg fan, but he is S or A. Period.

[@EdFitzi04]

Really enjoyed this and the one that is on Ryan's channel! Would really look forward to more tier ranking compilations between the two of you in the future.

[@modernfckinman]

Ryan just seems like the most authentic person. I subscribed to his channel after your beautiful speech at the end 🙂

[@RyansShorts]

That was a blast dude! Real quick though: rank George Miller

[@Rafael-fr1cq]

Show me the meaning made me a cinephile because of you guys. Happy to see this collab and hope there's more in the future!

[@mattgilbert7347]

Ok the post-apocalyptic film aesthetic certainly owes a lot (not all) to Mad Max 2...and Fury Road is a great film. I would say one great film. What's that - F?

[@JaredBauer]

You’ve seen more Miller than me. I’ve only seen two mad max films

[@EstebanDeLaVille]

Holy shit, this is one of the most useful videos I've seen to pick movies. All I know is that I need to see Into the Void right now. Thank you both for this 🤘🏽

[@tommyVv96]

Jared glad to see you have alot of spirt in your voice! You and Ryan are a dynamic duo!

[@brandongers]

Red State Ryan. It’s weird seeing Ryan being more serious and knowledgeable.

[@JaredBauer]

He’s secretly brilliant

[@mosyemessy]

Jared and Ryan... the best of Wisecrack!

[@Land_shark1]

Love that Trey instantly made it to S-tier. Personally, I think Fincher belongs there too. I’m surprised Saving Private Ryan wasn’t discussed in the Spielberg section.

[@uncomfortablecat]

Wes on C :( But i agree with you on the S tier directors.

[@Skippa1986]

Hey Jared, I'm glad you're back in the saddle, talking about movies again! Listening to "Show me the Meaning" made me appreciate movies on a new level, so thanks to you guys. Now where would you put Ridley Scott and Dennis Villeneuve on your list?

[@st.parastoo]

This was so much fun to watch. For personal reasons, I would put PTA on the S tier and Tarantino on A. You should do the greatest movies of all time next!

[@JaredBauer]

I hear ya. The master, inherent Vice, and the phantom thread are all…. Good at best

[@st.parastoo]

@@JaredBauer Hahaha… well I actually put Tarantino on S tier too. PTA still can make his way up there. I feel like he still have more masterpieces in him. Tarantino however has only one more movie left (according to him).

[@lospolloshermanos6800]

@@JaredBauer I personally think The Master and Phantom Thread are along with there will be blood his top 3

[@dustinmergenthaler6737]

Jared and Ryan, great video! Since I’m not on Twitter or Instagram I figured this would be a good way to ask you this question. Have either of you read the novel “Antkind” by Charlie Kaufman? In an old Show Me the Meaning episode Ryan told an anecdote about asking Charlie at a Q&A if he had ever considered writing a screenplay about time travel. His response was something like, “I haven’t figured that one out yet” I just finished Antkind and time travel is a reoccurring theme within the book. It’s also a very funny novel that anyone who is a fan should read. Be well and stay safe boys

[@christinawald_art]

Empire of the Sun(with Christian Bale) and Close Encounters by Spielberg are brilliant. 1941 is so good and so underrated.

[@mattgilbert7347]

Respect to Ryan for taking all those hits and still keeping it together. I couldn't do that if you paid me. Collateral is Mann's best film. Trey Parker changed the cultural landscape, maybe permanently, for better or worse and is a film director. Deserved S tier. Hawkes? Fellini? Eisenstein? Glad you got Hitchcock in at the last minute. The guy invented Pure Cinema. I met Lloyd Kaufman. His breath smelled like vodka.

[@JaredBauer]

Hawkes at least A. Fellini would be tough. 8 1/2 has put me to sleep multiple times. Love La Strada. Fell asleep during La Dolce Vita. But it’s been years since I’ve tried

[@mattgilbert7347]

@@JaredBauer ...I fell asleep the first time I saw the Matrix... I was tired! Srsly, I get you on Fellini. Perhaps throw in Jacques Tati as well, many find him boring but he definitely changed the grammar of cinema.

[@JaredBauer]

@@mattgilbert7347 hey man tired happens 🤷‍♂️

[@salvadorslim3234]

Spielberg criminally underrated By your own metrics He changed the game

[@GrantPearson]

Plus he has 28 certified fresh movies on rotten tomatoes. I think only Scorsese is close with 25.

[@donotworryatall]

​@@GrantPearsonahahahaha spielberg

[@andrewg5854]

I love Ryan still uses a waterless pipe and lighter. 20th century vape contraptions, oils, carts...my dude with his bowl and lighter. Kudos to you both, cant wait to check this out!

[@ConnerNielsen6]

Greta Gerwig’s Little Women is one of the best films of the last 10 years. She is so cool!

[@Nkanyiso_K]

This is such a good recommendation list. Very interesting video

[@Nkanyiso_K]

Ryan gave me a list of 9 films he loved by Hideo Yamamoto which I really appreciated. Can't wait to see whatever you make it future man

[@tylerreinhold7431]

I liked Ryan's bong hoot during the Lars Von Triers decision haha. I heard it first and had to rewind a d double check. Conan did it on air about a month ago during one of his last shows and... and I'm in Canada where it's legal now!

[@JaredBauer]

Not legal in Finland :/

[@nflanfarm]

great vid :) love seeing you back. one director I can think of that was missed - Sam Raimi!

[@JaredBauer]

Yes. And he’s one of Ryan’s favorites. Huge miss

[@AngeloVanTerra]

Hope there's more Ryan on your new channel man. Miss hearing you two on the Show Me the Meaning podcast

[@chadtindale2095]

Cosmopolis (Cronenberg) I would argue that Cosmopolis is brilliant. You're watching a variety of people interact with the main character who is the Personification embodiment of Capitalism. The way they all relate to capitalism reveals more about themselves than the capitalism.

[@T_Dot94]

Thanks for the recommendation!

[@ja9_9]

I couldn't agree more... But that's the thing about movies: every time someone sees, it's a different movie and brings different perspectives...

[@JaredBauer]

I’m not saying the content isn’t there. But MAN the cinematography is ugly. Really broke the performances for me. People walked out of the theater.

[@chadtindale2095]

@@JaredBauer you're not wrong about the cinematography.

[@slivermonger]

This list is too US-centric.

[@G5TWA2]

Well, that's where they are from

[@von.lohengramm]

Just found out about your channel, you're my favorite person from Wisecrack!

[@ADMaheux]

Where is Denis villeneuve?

[@Mark-co8gt]

Probably in Canada

[@claydoub]

I do not know how you could put Nolan above Bong Joon Ho and Lars Von Trier

[@markhenderson6389]

Interesting list and great discussion throughout. I'd argue the Coens deserve S tier: Fargo, The Big Lebowski and No Country for Old Men are clear masterpieces. They're essential to the cinema canon of the past 50 years. Blood Simple, Barton Fink, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing and O Brother, Where Art Thou? are all great films - most directors would kill to make a single movie as good. True Grit might belong there, as well. Considering their body of work to date, the Coens may only surpassed by Scorsese, Tarantino and Soderbergh among living American directors imo.

[@geekwithabible4477]

I just subscribed to Ryan’s channel because you took the time to convince me.

[@tevinwhitney]

I watched the whole thing and loved it! And I finally got to hear your thoughts more on David Lynch and by extension, Twin Peaks.

[@lorihicks340]

This was so much fun to watch. Loved it!

[@talkingyellowyellow6787]

Love hearing you guys having your take on this. Any chance to do a similar take on film composer's/soundtrack? I would love to hear your take on it. :)

[@youtuuuuuuuube]

Loved this video, learnt so much. I just missed Denis VIlleneuve, he's my fave these days (personal taste) and I think he would be a solid C at least.

[@JaredBauer]

[@jingyulee96]

I too clicked on this link thinking Hitchcock is going to be an S if no one else, so pretty happy to see that last callout. I totally agree that it's hard to really appreciate Citizen Kane unless you're a hardcore cinephile, and it's so incredible in contrast that Hitchcock films are fun even without that sort of expertise. Also happy to see Park Chan-wook on S.

[@joeoliveira8633]

Sam Peckinpah! Wild Bunch and Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid are masterpieces to me. Also love Russ Meyers Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Total masterpiece.

[@carstereobandits]

You should make a vlog channel and document your time in Finland, I thoroughly enjoyed your vid about your first couple weeks there.

[@DerDieDasBoB]

Nice format guys...i missed Darren Aronofsky on the list...would be interesting to see where he lands (one of my personal S's)

[@adamgates1142]

He put him in C

[@domwalker6526]

PTA is S tier no question, I agree on tarkovski. Outside is stalker this man bores me to tears. Bro you gotta give Wes Anderson his props, he's made some great films

[@OArthurFeital]

I could watch this forever

[@qwertyqwerty-ek7dy]

If you are interested in Finnish movies I would recommend seeing: Tuntematon sotilas/The unknown soldier and Täällä Pohjantähden alla/Here under the northern star

[@Luca-bv5ic]

I agree with where you put Michael Mann, but I think his debut Thief should be mentioned as being in the running for masterpiece status.

[@JaredBauer]

Great soundtrack

[@the_quadracorn]

Loved hearing that bong hit at the start lol

[@franconegri9530]

I did not expect this crossover

[@JUNNY923]

Interesting, no Denis Villeneuve. He's never made a bad movie. And I feel like one of Arrival, Sicario, BladeRunner 2049 or Prisoners is a masterpiece. They're all at least great. Maybe I am off on this one.

[@Hack_The_Planet_]

1:50 the bong rip made me laugh cause I was listening to the audio but I could just tell.

[@kiwione12]

damn its 2:21am in Australia rn, guess i aint going to sleep anytime soon

[@tylerreinhold7431]

Mike Nichols isn't a director I'd put in my top ten list either... but I gotta say, I am shocked that you haven't seen The Birdcage yet. It is hands down my favorite comedy of ALL TIME! It's one of those beautiful few 90's films that was adapted from a play but managed to retain its theater influence in the flow of the editing. Fun Fact: it was shot by future 3x Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki! He shows a completely different approach in this film than what he eventually became famous for. He still has plenty long, extended shots but rather than being complex and super technical, he instead plants his camera and only subtley pans here and there. Scenes are focused more on setting up a vibrant, mid-wide frame that often lingers and let's the actors play with-in it. 10/10 would recommend. I'll mail you my copy to Finland if need be!

[@tobi2960]

Jared forgot Christopher Nolan reinvented cinema forever with that truck flip and so, deserves to be in S tier

[@DustinMaxim1015]

Great video, bad thumbnail. People love tier lists, it should be clear it's a tier list in the thumbnail. Improve thumbnails, improve your channel growth. Love you brotha, hope you're doing well!

[@ConnerNielsen6]

My personal Mt. Rushmore is Alfred Hitchcock, Christopher Nolan, David Lynch, and Richard Linklater.

[@simianinc]

Scorsese only has two masterpieces? Taxi Driver and Mean Streets were game changing for American Cinema.Spielberg didn’t have to change himself, he changed the vocabulary of movies. Woody Allen’s pure comedies - and even Annie Hall - own nothing to Bergman. Norah Ephron’s career owes everything to him. Spaceballs is lame and wont last forever, but Young Frankenstein is Brook’s best IMHO. Tarantino is my favourite director after Allen, but he hasn’t done a truly great movie since Jackie Brown

[@stevecaryk406]

This was a fun watch! Great to have you back Jared. I definitely have a few films I need to watch now. I think this list also really highlights the need for more female representation behind the camera! I mean the only female director - that wasn’t a Wachowski - you hadn’t seen enough of her films to place. Not blaming you it’s obvious a systemic problem. I’m curious if you would place any female directors in A or S?

[@JaredBauer]

I would say that Lynne Ramsay is probably my favorite female director. Ratcatcher is a Masterpiece. I’d need to revisit some of her other films to really say confidently if any others are. She would be in B or above.

[@HeroicPenguin]

The list felt a bit Ameri-centric, would have liked to see more non-English language directors; Renoir, Mizoguchi, Ozu, Bresson, Goddard, Fellini, Tati, Lean, and Bergman were all fairly missed, even some American directors like Chaplin and Hawks weren't brought up. I guess 50 is still too small of a number, but you could have trimmed a few names from that list and come off all the better; like who gives a shit about Cameron. Still, this was a good effort and a fun video.

[@MountTaborkid216]

This was dope and I’m not even a cinephile

[@Maddie01022]

Kurosawa ~ S Tier!

[@gunnerktl]

No Denis Villeneuve?

[@juancamilo4684]

yall missed villeneuve, prisoners is a materpiece

[@asddfasdf3558]

Whoever made Akira. S tier. Next

[@scmkar]

Concerning Antonioni: "didnt he do The Talented Mr Ripley? " WHAT? that was ALSO done by Anthony Minghella, who, just a few minutes earlier was confused with Milos Forman as the director of The English Patient 😄

[@ExasBits]

The amount of arguing I did with 2 people who couldn’t hear me tells me this should have been a live stream.

[@VacFink]

Quite the daunting exercise but fun none-the-less. I would have put Paul Thomas Anderson in the S column for No Country and There will be Blood. Plus a few great surprises in Punch Drunk Love, and Boogie Nights. I would have like to see Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch at least in there probably on the B row. If you read this far, check out Cory McAbee two small art house movies "Stingray Sam" "The American Astronaut". I think you can still find both on Amazon but good luck on physical media. Funny, Surreal, and unabashedly low budget, and I'd almost call them musicals.

[@JaredBauer]

No country is coens

[@VacFink]

@@JaredBauer 100% correct. My bad.

[@aaronanderson2092]

You didn’t follow your own rules. S-tier is for “game changers?” Spielberg and Cameron both taught Hollywood how to use CGI. They did things that hadn’t been done before and have since been imitated. Same with Wells. He created cinematographic techniques that have become standard. If literally creating new techniques with new technology isn’t game changing, what is?

[@JaredBauer]

I mean you could say the same thing about Lucas shooting episode 2 in all digital. But then again, we’d be saying Lucas is a S-tier master for Episode 2….

[@aaronanderson2092]

@@JaredBauer Innovative technique and style don’t necessarily correlate with an overall good movie. A great example of that is the fact that Michael Bay is in the Criterion Collection.

[@dogbone3388]

hey jared just curious on what your problem with Charlie Kaufman's directing?

[@JaredBauer]

I don’t like any the movies he’s directed. Full of laudably strong artistic choices, I just don’t think they work.

[@charlieoliver5300]

Phantom Thread is a masterpiece!

[@CancelledPhilosopher]

Into the Abyss changed my mind about capital punishment.

[@TriColoredTiger]

Director Roman Polanski is actually best known for the charges against him of rape of a child and his escape from justice. We can discuss “death of an author” but IMHO this discounts him from any list of greatness.

[@hernans901]

Ryan should invite you to Funhaus to play some video games. We need more points of view on Ryan’s lore, the best of the best.

[@patches3]

Mentioned all Wong Kar Wai films except Happy Together, which i think is something you could call another masterpiece

[@notaspeck6104]

Here in 2023, Nolan is definitely not a parody of himself. Objectively speaking his only actually disappointing movie was Tenet. 11/12 ain't so bad, especially with his new movie Oppenheimer being a masterpiece of cinema. I would argue he's absolutely moved the medium forwards, you just don't realise it because of your perspective. You're always going to be more forgiving to movies/directors you grew up with. It's the same logic as to why people are so hesitant to regard new athletes as some of the greats, a mix of nostalgia and time.

[@WellnessOverFitness]

Hey Jared. As a Matrix fan asking another Matrix fan, what do you think of Lanna wachowski and Matrix resurrection ?

[@josefkrenshaw179]

You need to see Polanski's "repulsion". At least to see its influence on other films and directors such as Aronofsky. It's Polanski's best film. In many ways, the later "Rosemary's Baby" inverted the premise of this film and they make great companion works. A sick person in a normal world and then a normal person in a sick world.

[@JaredBauer]

I’ve seen repulsion. It’s great

[@PhoenixRiseinFlame]

I just watched Spielberg’s Lincoln a couple days ago and I 100% agree with Jared. This is despite the fact I’m a law student and love US history. It was a really baffling decision to focus the movie on the passing of the 13th Amendment. I can’t think of a more boring concept for a movie. I think it could have been alright if the movie was a more traditional biopic focusing on the whole life of Lincoln.

[@CancelledPhilosopher]

Funny Games is awesome too.

[@finisherofwar]

Wow jared you didnt put Children of Men as a masterpiece. I literally cannot believe that.

[@derTangram]

Tarkovsky in B tier? Blasphemy!

[@danielmcnamara_]

You guys forgot The Beach Bum when listing Harmony Korine films - did you like that one Jared? I thought it was hilarious

[@acornmorocco]

Jurassic Park, my G... Jurassic Park.

[@JaredBauer]

I can’t argue with that

[@asksolution2336]

Spielberg deserves better. sad to see him ranked C

[@cheut]

Wes Kraven also satirized a genre while working within it.

[@noname-bk7bc]

You forgot Sergio Leone

[@mario1223456]

I'm glad that someone else doesn't like Spielberg. He's a D tier for me and so many people get so mad when I say that.

[@the_quadracorn]

Re Inception, there's a lot of exposition, but it's not exposition that's the problem. It's how they do it. Tenet doesn't get too caught up in exposition and explaining the rules. It doesn't spoon feed you like Inception does (not knocking Inception). It's a shame that now Jared can only experience Tenet at home now where the sound mix is even worse. In my local theatre the mix sounded fine, in IMAX it sounded terrible... Technical issues with films tend to put people in a worse state of mind, it sets them up to be less forgiving of generally innocuous flaws. It makes it harder to pay attention to the movie and get lost in it. Honestly, I feel like if they didn't screw up so many people's audio experience, people wouldn't have been nearly as harsh on the film.

[@mulefa1]

yall should get austin on for one of these, would love to see that

[@JaredBauer]

Thinking I might do actors with him

[@Squeegee_906]

Tarkovsky in B is insaaaaaaane

[@jessicaflux]

It would be nice to appreciate Sofia Ford Coppola! "Virgin Suicides" it's superb! :*

[@NikolajKuntner]

Dogville unwatchable? I doubt Space Balls can be a master piece in any objective way. Only God Forgives is fantastic.

[@JaredBauer]

I haven’t seen dogville since high school. Maybe I’ll try it again… maybe.

[@raoulduke2924]

Wes Anderson is A tier for me but I get it. I would've had Zemeckis and Cameron S tier as well though, just from their cultural impact over decades.

[@Shishkebarbarian]

There's a lot of missing B-A-S-tier directors. And a few popular directors that I"m less of a fan of but would love to hear Jared's thoughts on [MICHAEL BAY lol]. But it was a good watch.