Hollywood’s 10 best directors –

10. Damien Chazelle

Above all, there are so many lyrical things to be said about Whiplash, which not only put young Damien Chazelle on the map, but also earned the extremely versatile J.K. Simmons his first (undoubtedly well-deserved) Oscar. Of course, it wasn’t just the script, based on his own experiences as a music student in New York, that allowed Simmons to shine in the way he does here. It was Chazelle’s stylish direction that made this drama thriller what it is: a masterpiece. The fact that he went on to create what we at Gamereactor consider the best musical of all time did not make us love Chazelle’s filmmaking any less. Both films are deeply personal to the music-loving Chazelle and revolve around the balance between ambition and obsession – and he’s a given on this list.

9. Danny Boyle

127 Hours is a study in cinematic style. The way Danny Boyle keeps the tension alive and lets me, the viewer, experience step by step the nightmarish situation Aron Ralston has found himself in shows a confidence and technical skill as a director that few can match. Add to that 28 Days Later, Sunshine (excruciatingly well directed) and Trance, and you have the obvious number nine on the list. Now we just hope that 28 Years Later is as well made as the previous parts of the trilogy.

8. Martin Scorsese

Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Aviator, Taxi Driver and Cape Fear are Martin Scorsese’s best films, if you ask me, and what stands out as the common denominator in all of them is his way of studying and exposing the characters he uses to propel his story forward. There is a rage and rawness to his dramaturgy that works best when his protagonists are comfortable with the fast pace of Scorsese’s dialogue, making most of his films feel punchy without being rushed in editing.

7. Ethan Coen

No Country For Old Men is in every conceivable way a masterstroke unlike any other. The way the Coens navigate through the bloody story of Cormac McCarthy and deconstruct the myth of the Wild West as something morally complex and never black and white. In addition, films like The Big Lebowski, Oh Brother, Barton Fink, Miller’s Crossing, Fargo, Inside Llewyn Davis and True Grit should of course be mentioned. Ethan Coen, like his partner and brother Joel, is a phenomenal filmmaker who colors everything he does with jet black humor.

6. James Cameron

James Cameron has directed the world’s two most profitable films, Avatar and Titanic, as well as Terminator 2, The Abyss and True Lies, making him undoubtedly one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Cameron has an incredible ability to paint with broad strokes, maximizing scope and spectacle without ever losing focus on the characters. A true master.

5. Steven Spielberg

Having made E.T., Jaws, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Indiana Jones and Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg needs no introduction, nor does he need any explanation as to why he is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. He just is. He hasn’t been very good in recent years, which puts him in the middle of the top list, but Hollywood would look very different today if Spielberg had not defined “American cinema” in the 1980s and 1990s.

4. Denis Villeneuve

If I had to guess how many other Hollywood filmmakers could do Blade Runner justice with a long-awaited sequel and shortly thereafter film Dune – the book series that has been described as “unadaptable” for half a century – and be praised for both, I would guess zero. No one. Zero. In other words, Denis Villeneuve is one of a kind and an incredibly skilled storyteller.

3. Christopher Nolan

In my opinion, there are not many directors whose films always feel like an “event” when they are released. Christopher Nolan has jumped between genres, proving time and time again that he is just as adept at orchestrating big action scenes as he is dense, small-scale dialogue dramas, and he has made so many great films right now. Memento, The Dark Knight, Inception, Interstellar, and everything in between make him a master of his craft.

2. Quentin Tarantino

Pulp Fiction is undoubtedly the most important American film of the 1990s. To be sure. Quentin Tarantino’s quirky, quirky, highly entertaining approach and incredible work as director of some of the world’s most watched actors means it’s still just as good 31 years later. We add Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to the list as we all shout in chorus that Tarantino is an outstanding director who makes films that set standards and are imitated ad nauseam.

1. David Fincher

Se7en is so expertly directed…. That alone would probably be enough for me to put David Fincher at the top of this list. The ingenious way he paints a noir-soaked New York as the film’s third character, the way morality (when does a sin become evil?) characterizes every second, and the way he builds tensions not only between police officers and killers, but also in the contrasting worldviews between the newcomer and the veteran, Make it a masterpiece as a director. Add to that The Social Network (a chillingly fascinating thriller about a subject that is really no more exciting than a bingo card), Zodiac, Gone Girl, Benjamin Button, The Game and Fight Club, and it becomes clear how incredibly skilled Fincher is at his job. A true master.