At the moment Christopher Nolan is the director whose films I look forward to the most. Terry Gilliam hasn't done much good in a long time, but Brazil is the best movie ever, so I'll nominate him. David Fincher is also good. I even liked Alien 3. Zodiac was very underrated. Alfonso Cuarón made Children of Men, that makes him one of the best by default. He also helped carry the Harry Potter films into darker territory.
no mention of the hughes bros. i love their stuff menace to soceity dead presidents american pimp from hell book of eli
off the top of my head, my current favorite filmmakers are Wes Anderson, The Coen Brothers, Tom DiCillo, Tim Burton, and Judd Apatow
Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine) Ridley Scott (Blackhawk Down, G.I. Jane, Thelma & Louise) Joss Whedon Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Punch Drunk Love, Boogie Nights) Zack Synder (300, Watchmen, Dawn of the Dead) Peter Jackson (LOTR)
After Inception I would say Nolan now. The others would be Scorsese, Spielberg, Ridley Scott, and Tarantino.
Twenty-two of my favorite directors and the films that popped into my head when I thought of them: David Lean - Lawrence of Arabia John Ford - The Searchers Stanley Kubrick - Paths of Glory Lindsay Anderson - O Lucky Man! Billy Wilder - The Apartment Woody Allen - Annie Hall John Huston - The Maltese Falcon Alfred Hitchcock - North by Northwest Orson Welles - Touch of Evil William Wyler - Ben-Hur Frank Capra - It Happened One Night George Cukor - The Philadelphia Story Howard Hawks - To Have and Have Not Joel and Ethan Coen - The Big Lebowski Martin Scorsese - Taxi Driver Quentin Tarantino - Pulp Fiction Ridley Scott - Blade Runner Terrence Malick - Days of Heaven Sophia Coppola - Lost in Translation Francis Ford Coppola - The Conversation Wes Anderson - Rushmore Clint Eastwood - Play Misty for Me (great... I can still edit!)
Deckard: Do you mean Sofia Coppola? Following Deckard's format off the top of my head. I'm sure I've left out a few. Kurosawa Kiyoshi (not Akira) - Cure (favourite horror director) Kubrick - A Clockwork Orange Miike Takashi - Gozu Francis Ford Coppola - Apocalypse Now King Vidor - The Crowd (have only seen The Crowd, but liked it so much) Nolan - Inception Chen Kaige - Farewell to my concubine Wong Kar Wai - Chungking Express Park Chan-wook - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Edit: You're right, of course. I don't know how I got Wes Anderson mixed up with Sophia Coppola, lol! Make her one of my favorite directors, too. Pencil Anderson in for Rushmore. The Conversation, 1974, is a superb film directed by Francis Ford Coppola that has possibly the finest acting job to date by Gene Hackman. It's one of those films that would be difficult to describe, so I won't attempt to, but if you've never seen it, you're in for a treat. It was nominated for Best Picture and screenplay, but was up against, get this... The Godfather, Part II.
Bill Murray's best acting job. Yes, Scarlett damn near gave me heart failure, as well. She is so freakin' hot in this flick, it's rediculous. I stayed in a hotel in Tokyo years ago that was nearly a dead ringer of the hotel in the film. Japan is a freaky country. I loved it.
I haven't seen American Graffiti... but the 2 best films of the star wars franchise were the ones that weren't directed by him, which I think says a lot about his directing ability. I love Lucas for creating star wars/indiana jones, but as a director...
Clint Eastwood - My All Time Favorite Director. IHMO due to his incredible work this past decade, his resume stands up against any director, including Kapra, spielberg, scorcese, etc. Furthermore in addition to directing two of my all time favorite movies... Unforgiven & Million Dollar Baby, Eastwood was unquestionably the BEST DIRECTOR of Decade... Invictus, Gran torino, Changling, Letters from Iwo Jima, Flags of our Fathers, Mystic River, six beautifully directed and critically acclaimed movies in a row. Ang lee - For Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Ice Storm and Sense and Sensibility, as well as Eat Drink Man Women, and The Wedding Banquet. Loved his movies in the mid 90's and absolutely LOVED CTHD. Also I'm probably one of the few who liked the first Hulk Movie more than the second. Steven Soderbbergh - For his cutting, slick and smart style, evident in Out of Sight, Oceans Eleven, Traffic, Erin Brockovich, Solaris, and the Good German.
Forgot to mention Ang lee (along with heath Ledger and the rest of the cast) did a phenomenal job with Brokeback Mountain. Never in my life would i have thought I'd watch a gay cowboy movie in the theater, much less enjoy it, but I did and found it to be a beautiful film.
