The best directors in Hollywood today who is your top 5?

If you had to pick 5 directors right now in Hollywood who are your favorites who would you pick? Nolan? Spielberg? Scorcese? Abrams? Shaylaman? Zemeckis? other than Back to the Future franchise.

Off the top of my head: Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Damien Chazelle, Denis Villeneuve. All have made several good movies in the past few years, each with their own unique style.

Are you interested specifically in directors making "big"/Hollywood films, or directors in general? I have some old stand-by folks (as in several films I love) and also some directors with one or two movies good enough that I'm keeping my eye on them.

Current Favorite "Hollywood" Big Budget Directors
Bong Joon-ho
Alex Garland
Taika Waititi
Mike Flanagan
Denis Villeneuve (I only just now realized he also directed Polytechnique!)

Honorable Mentions:
Nolan (not as excited as I used to be, but I still pay attention)
Rian Johnson
Brad Bird
Spike Lee
Steven Soderbergh
Ryan Coogler
Takashi Miike
Edgar Wright
J.A. Bayona
Chan-wook Park


Current Favorite "Indie" Directors
Peter Strickland (In Fabric)
Jeremy Saulnier (Murder Party, Blue Ruin, Green Room, Hold the Dark)
Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here)
Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project)
Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, Queen of Katwe, The Namesake)
Claire Denis (High Life)


Short but Strong Track Record, Keeping an Eye on Them
Leigh Whannell (Upgrade and The Invisible Man)
Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird and Little Women
Panos Cosmatos (Beyond the Black Rainbow, Mandy)

Well this one is tough because a lot of my top directors of all time are still working but not even close to the top of their game anymore. Anyway here goes


Joel Coen (Still doing fantastic work)


Martin Scorsese (I was a bit worried for a while but The Wolf of Wall Street proved he still has it)


David O. Russell (One of my favorite directors and other than "Joy" is super solid)


David Lynch (Maybe not what he once was but he's still on my list)


Quentin Tarantino (Once my favorite living director and now close to falling off this damn list)






Ones who have fallen too far for me to still consider but certainly once were up there or just not quite there yet.


Alexander Payne
Darren Aronofsky (Noah blew his chances out of the water, no pun)
George Miller (always loved his work)
Paul Thomas Anderson
David Fincher

Newskool:

1. Denis Villeneuve
2. Safdie Bros.
3. Bong Joon-ho
4. Taika Waititi
5. Cary Joji Fukunaga

Older skool but still in the game:

• Quentin Tarantino
• Martin Scorsese
• Clint Eastwood
• Christopher Nolan
• Spike Lee

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Admittedly I don't watch a ton of Hollywood big budget films, so I'll just list some of the newer and some bigger name directors I enjoy.


S. Craig Zahler
Jeremy Saulnier
Panos Cosmatos
Oliver Stone
Takashi Miike
Edgar Wright
Martin Scorcese
Quentin Tarantino
Harmony Korine
Jim Jarmusch
Coen Bros
Paul Thomas Anderson

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My top 5:
Jeremy Saulnier
Panos Cosmatos
Oliver Stone
Coen Bros
Paul Thomas Anderson

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Michael bay
Sam Taylor-Johnson
Paul WS anderson
Spike lee
Tom hooper

joseph kosinky from oblivion, tron, and the upcoming top gun: maverick

Ken Loach
Aki Kaurismaki
Mike Leigh

Chistopher Nolan
Martin Scorcese
David Lynch
Ridley Scott
Terry Gilliam



Hard list for me, because most of my favorites are no longer working, or fallen of their game
all time favorites
Woody Allen
Lynch
Bergman
Fellini
Gilliam

Im gong to base this on work done in the last 10 or so years and I think the list is similar to a lot of posters already...

Nolan
Coen Brothers
Russo Brothers
Sam Mendes
Bong Joon Ho

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