As a stage actor who has delved into film a bit, I have a different view of movies than most people do. Live theatre has to compete with film and there is no escaping that. Which is why as a theatre artist I try not be resistant to a little spectacle, as long as it does not take away from the play. This translates to my taste in movies as well, however.
I appreciate when a film takes advantage of all of the things that the magic of movie-making offers and maintains a highly theatrical feel to it. I do not need to see more “real life”, sit-com type stuff (romantic comedies, relationship dramas, etc.) on the big screen. I get that every day on my television. Highly stylized films are the ones I almost always enjoy. It is the best way for a director to really leave their mark on a film and communicate a message to the audience. And these three are some of the best at it.
Tim Burton
The king of stylized films. I have liked every single thing I’ve seen by Tim Burton (and it does not hurt that he enlists Johnny Depp in many of his movies). Burton creates these fantastical worlds where he can make up the rules as he goes but you can’t help but go along with him in movies like Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Big Fish and Edward Scissorhands. I cannot lie, I even loved Mars Attacks! in all its low-budget, A-list cast glory. His films are always interesting, highly theatrical and usually leave me thinking. I cannot ask anything more from a piece of entertainment.
Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze makes this list almost solely for his work with Where the Wild Things Are . Being John Malkovich gets an honorable mention here, because that was enjoyable and highly stylized as well, but Jonze is better known for his documentaries than his fiction films. Either way, I shed tears the first time I saw Where the Wild Things Are . It inspired in me a sense of nostalgia and lost youth that has not been equaled since, even on repeat viewings. Jonze brought to life not only a book from my childhood but all of the feelings that childhood inspired. The story and the subject matter deserve some credit here, but so does Jonze for creating the world of the Island of Wild Things and showing it to me.
Julie Taymor
Julie Taymor is perhaps best known for the fiasco that is Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark and her removal from that Broadway production. Before that incident tarnished her not insignificant reputation, however, Taymor made waves as the acclaimed director of The Lion King on Broadway as well as the director for Across the Universe and a couple of film adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, Titus Andronicus and The Tempest, which I appreciate as a lover of theatre.
Taymor has a special place in my heart for those film adaptations and for The Lion King, which I have seen. But her work with Across the Universe won me over completely, especially the scene “I Want You/ She’s So Heavy.” Taymor does in films just what she does on stage, the worlds she creates are so fantastical and interesting and I always enjoy her work.