March Madness of Movies: Best Big Budget Directing of the 21st Century — Round 1
These matchups were vote on by the MovieMinis Staff.
For the most part, “Best Big Budget Directing of the 21st Century” went smoothly. 12 of the 16 matchups went to the higher seed.
In the superhero directing subcategory, two of the MCU’s arguably most controlled visions of both character and spectacle, in the Russo brothers’ Captain America: Civil War and Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, remain and are set to face off next. Then, the gritty, genre-transcending films The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan, and Logan, directed by James Mangold, will also go head to head.
In the franchise directing subcategory, #4 seed Alfonso Cuarón for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban fell in a very close race to #5 seed Denis Villeneuve for Blade Runner 2049. Villeneuve will face #1 titan Peter Jackson for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Then, #3 seed Matt Reeves for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes fell to #6 seed Sam Mendes for Skyfall — likely due to Reeves holding a higher seed with War for the Planet of the Apes and advancing, taking on Mendes next.
In the animated directing subcategory, higher seeds swept the matchups and we now only have Pixar films left. The matchups will be #1 seeds Pete Docter and Bob Peterson for Up competing with #4 seed Andrew Stanton for WALL-E, and #2 seed Brad Bird for The Incredibles matching up against #3 seed Toy Story 3.
The prestige/original/non-franchise studio is where things were most shaken up. Not only did Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street, #7 seed) fall to the higher seeded George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road, #2 seed), but he also fell to the lower seeded Christopher Nolan in the matchup between the directing of The Aviator and that of Dunkirk. Miller and Nolan will go head to head in one of the toughest matchups of the bracket. Nolan also advanced past #5 seed Peter Jackson for King Kong with his #4 seed directing of Inception. Nolan’s opponent comes from easily the biggest surprise of the topic and what we are always excited to see in bracket — a #1 seed vs. #8 seed upset. It came down to a tie-breaking vote, but Alfonso Cuarón, knocked out across the bracket, stayed alive with his Children of Men directing, while David Fincher, for Zodiac, has been eliminated.
Stay tuned for the round 2 results, which will be posted next week on Friday, March 23!
Featured image via Warner Bros./Sony Pictures/Marvel.