Christopher Nolan: In all his characters each character has some sort of guilt. In Insonnia, Pacino feels guilty for killing his partner, in Memento, the main character feels guilty about letting his wife die, in Batman, he feels guilty about not being able to save his dad. Prestige, feels guilty about the girl being killed in the glass case. (Sorry, I don't remember the characters exact names.)

Darren Aronofsky: Using obsession, Pi with numbers, RFAD with drugs, The Fountain with love.

Yes, and I've also noticed all of Michael Bay's films (Bad Boys 1&2, The Rock, Armageddon etc...) are in English!!!

back off steinbrick . . . its a legitimate observation . . .

god, there used to be less jerks on here.

It sure is.

And we can continue by raising those questions: as film maker, what are your favortire theme?

Or have you noticed reccurent one in the works of other directors?

Personaly, I like weaknesses and the lack of vertu in general.

I'm also going to bring up motifs.

Mamoru Oshii, the guy who made Ghost in the Shell, has flocks of birds in all of his movies.

Isn't it John Woo that always has a dove in his movies?

John Woo does have indeed have doves in all his films.

David Lynch has the whole symbolism involving electricity in all of his films. He also explores a lot of the the same themes repeatedly.

Continuing the motiff aspect of the conversation...

Wes Anderson has ended all 4 of his films in slow-mo. And they're all very effective on their own in my opinion.

David Gordon Green has started out all three of his feature films with a conversation about love.

I suspect it's intentional in Anderson's case, not so sure about Green though.

Also, Woody Allen seems to use characters who cheat on their spouses as a vital part of the story quite a bit.

quote:

Yes, and I've also noticed all of Michael Bay's films (Bad Boys 1&2, The Rock, Armageddon etc...) are in English!!! Roll Eyes

That's another good one, thanks.

Someone mentioned using flocks of birds, I know Shinichiro Watanabe uses crows in his animes, as a motif.

UH, and while we're talking about him, a lot his themes have to do with one's past catching up with them.

Scorcese is always about a man finding redemption, usually through violence.

Michael Mann often examines the line between good guy and bad guy, and how the two can respect each other.

Wim Wenders often deals with social or cultural isolation.

There's more I just can't think right now.

Terrence Malick's films all have prolonged sequences depicting natural beauty. This was particularly pronounced in 'The New World.' He also seems to use narration a lot to show what his characters are experiencing inside.

Satoshi Kon seems to always feature a look into the human psyche, a blending of reality and imagination, in his films. Speaking of which, 'Paprika' was amazing. (Though I'm not sure I bought some of the story elements.)

I just remembered that all of Wes Anderson's movies are presented in unique ways. Rushmore as a play, Royal Tenenbaums as a book and Life Aquatic as a Doc.

Tarentino uses odd structures.
Dogs - Flashbacks
Pulp - Non-linear
Kill Bill - Chapters

Spielberg uses family themes a lot.