Whose work do you prefer

Damn, this is tough! On the balance though, I think I'm gonna go with Fincher.

Fincher never made a Batman movie, but he kicks Nolan's ass in any other category I can think of.

Wow I didn't think this was going to be such a rout

Yea, me neither. I'm the only one who's voted for who Nolan thus far. Whatever, f you guys.

Seriously, though, they're both superb but in the end Nolan directed Batman and not Benjamin Button. Fucking Christ I hated that movie. Didn't much care for The Game, either. It's fun argument either way.

Yeah I didn't like The Game much either, or Fight Club, and I certainly wouldn't go to bat for the fucking Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but Christopher Nolan pisses me off so much. Memento was a great film. But since then he's fallen way too in love with himself, and somehow the rest of the world has followed suit

I think both directors are overrated to a degree, but given the choice, i'd have to pick Nolan.

Well then do. That's what the poll is for, right?

I loved Memento and Insomnia, but Nolan has not made a great film since those.

I don't know...let's do a quick tally.

Nolan Films Seen
Memento
Insomnia
Batman Begins
The Prestige
The Dark Knight
Inception

Fincher Films Seen
Alien 3
Seven
The Game
Fight Club
Zodiac
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Social Network
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Number of Nolan films I thought were good/great: 3

Number of Fincher films I thought were good/great: 5

Go Fincher.

I like them both a lot, but Nolan directed my favorite film. Then again, when I was a young lad, Fight Club was my favorite film. So hard to choose! I feel less inclined to defend Nolan like I might have back in the day, but I chose him because his directorial choices are occasionally more interesting and that matters more to me at this moment in time. Fincher's more consistent, though.

The Dark Knight Rises doesn't look great.

I'd normally say Fincher, but voted for Nolan out of pity. They've both made at least one great movie though. I think Fincher has more technical ability and is much better with directing actors. However, I do think that Fincher is slipping a little. The Social Network was the bomb, but I have little interest in Dragon Tattoo and Benjie wasn't that good either (I think the backlash is a little overdone though. Still a good movie).

I guess at this point I'm more optimistic about Nolan's future (outside of Batman) than Fincher's. I feel like Scott Rudin is trying to turn Fincher into an Oscar-baity filmmaker. He hasn't fallen for it, but his choices are getting a bit different.



Agreed so far. I'll wait on the movie though.

Heh, I know people outside of this board don't want to accept it, but The Dark Knight Rises is allowed to be good but not great.

I like both but voted Fincher even though i've at least liked all of Nolan's films (Memento and Batman Begins being my favorite), I can't say the same for Fincher - Alien3 is pretty bad and Benjamin Button was terrible but Seven is probably my favorite thriller from the 90's and Zodiac is so underrated I find it sad, I love that film.

Alien3 is underrated. I admit that it's a complete fucking killjoy which replaces the warm (but deserved) ending of Aliens with a slog through unrelenting nihilism, but taken on its own it's not bad.

Since nobody else seems to have seen what you did there: I see what you did there.

Nolan by a hair.

Love Fincher though. But Nolan hasn't made a single movie I haven't at least liked and actually just about love all of his movies. While Fincher made The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo which I don't think is all that good. I will say though that Se7en is probably the best movie out of both director's resumes.

Nolan has interesting and creative ideas, but Fincher is the consummate craftsman and storyteller. I think Nolan's Batman movies are humongously overrated - I flat out disliked Batman Begins but I thought The Dark Night was okay. All of the Fincher films I've seen are satisfying, although I still need to see Alien 3, Panic Room, and Zodiac.

The Dark Knight Rises looks like a very poor film if the stadium scene is of any indication (I really hope they don't actually use it). Regardless, David Fincher is the best director since Scorsese's heyday. He has the ability to transform films with his talent. Even the fans of The Dark Knight will readily admit, Nolan did little more than shepherd the good parts of the film into a coalescing whole. David Fincher made a 1995 genre flick with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman one of the best, most engrossing thrillers of the late twentieth century. Without his skill, the film would be nothing more than a bargain bin product along the likes of Murder By Numbers. And the latter was actually directed by Barbet Schroeder, so it's at least fair to say that an accomplished director can still falter under the burden of elevating poor/pulpy material.


P.S. - I still think The Social Network is the best-directed film of the decade so far. Although I certainly think you have to admire what Spielberg did with Tin Tin in terms of approach, if not overall effect.

I would probably have to agree on both counts. In someways though, I felt that what Fincher achieved with Panic Room was more impressive than what he did with Se7en. That's not to say that I find the 2002 film superior; on the contrary, I felt the plot was a bit more generic in that film and could have easily turned into an A-level clusterfuck under the purview of say, someone like Joel Schumacher but in this case, Fincher's superior sense of style elevated the material significantly. It certainly didn't hurt that the script was a bit more tightly written than what we have come to expect from most screenplays that revolve around similar plots but in the end it was the man sitting in the director's chair that truly brought it all together.