4. Big Fish - Tim Burton
Previously known for: Batman, Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood Brightly lit, whimsical stories backed by a sense of drama in relation to a neglectful son and his dying father are usually directed by someone like Wes Anderson, but not in this specific scenario. Big Fish is a funny and heartfelt movie that features many moments of reality that are typically very uncommon of the way Tim Burton works. He has dealt with the more fantastic elements of film many times before but Big Fish is an altogether different film for him since it deals with real life and the consequences people have to face. Burton's films are usually either very funny in a creepy kind of way, while balancing darker themes with a childlike innocence. Beeteljuice is one such example and it is positively worlds away from Big Fish. All of the performances given in Big Fish blur the line of reality and fantasy in a way that actually humanizes the characters instead of having the opposite effect as many of Burton's movies tend to do.