I had the chance to attend a talk given by David Gordon Green earlier this year, and like practically everyone else who’s seen him speak, I was charmed by his boyish, easygoing manner. Like Richard Linkater, Green sends out a very laid-back vibe that makes you want to listen to him, especially when he ventures from the ostensible topic of conversation. But none of this would matter if Green wasn’t also one hell of a filmmaker, which thankfully he is. When we polled Screengrab readers about their favorite Green film, his beguiling 2003 relationship story All the Real Girls narrowly edged out his feature debut George Washington, 43% to 36%. All of his other features- the Southern chase saga Undertow, 2007’s Snow Angels, and Green’s recent mainstream debut Pineapple Express- tied at 7%. Seems that Screengrab readers, by and large, prefer Green’s earlier works, although all bets are off after he makes his alleged next project, a quasi-remake of Dario Argento’s Suspiria.
Green might seem an unlikely filmmaker to direct a broad Hollywood comedy, but the same couldn’t be said of the subject of this week’s poll. With Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder recently becoming the first film in over a month to top the box office with a title that doesn’t rhyme with “The Clark Blight,” we figured the time was right to do a poll on movies Stiller has directed to date. We’ve included not only Stiller’s big-screen features but also his pilot for the never-picked-up series Heat Vision and Jack, which has become a kind of cult favorite. So, which film de Ben Stiller is your favorite?
As always, the comments section is open. See you next week!