although it's a very close call between him and Malick. Kurosawa dislayed great energy in his directing, knew how to pick music and actors to complement it perfectly, and excelled in so many genres that it's impossible to get bored by his stuff. Malick is just a great artist who almost makes me regret that I didn't pay more attention to philosophy classes in HS. I've yet to dislike one of his movies (then again there are only 4 of them). I used to be into movies more as entertainment than thought-fodder, then I saw The Thin Red Line in college, and things were never the same... Seeing Days of Heaven on blu-ray, then again on the big screen (new print), were some of the biggest highlights of my movie-watching last year.
------------------------------ For the record, my teams: MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets