1. Martin Scorsese

BEST: Goodfellas, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver
WORST BY FAR: The Last Temptation

Scorsese is the best American film director at depicting realism.

2. Quentin Tarantino

BEST: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction
WORST: Inglorious Basterds

Tarantino contributed some of the Nineties best films almost in concert with the alternative music popular at the time.

3. David Mamet

BEST: House of Games, Homocide, the Spanish Prisoner
WORST: Heist

Mamet is the master at writing dialogue that is sharp, funny, and intelligent. His films also offer commentary on modern society

4. The Coen Brothers
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BEST: Fargo, Blood Simple
WORST: The Big Lebowski

The Coen Brothers put their whole heart into their works and understand how to make a cinematic experience fully memorable.

5. Paul Thomas Anderson

BEST: Hard Eight, Boogie Nights
WORST: Punch Drunk Love

Paul Thomas Anderson took what was best of Altman and revised it for the Nineties; realistic human drama and original storytelling.

6. Steve Soderbergh

BEST: sex, lies, and videotape and Out of Sight
WORST: Full Frontal

Soderbergh came on the scene as an auteur who could capture realism and human drama while offering sharp commentary on modern living.

7. Jim Jarmusch

BEST: Down By Law, Mystery Train
WORST: Stranger Than Paradise

Like Tarantino after him, Jarmusch borrowed from film noir and the French New Wave to make modern independent films that complemented the independent music of their time and movies that appealed to the more intelligent and eccentric in society.

8. John Sayles

BEST: Matewan
WORST: Lone Star

John Sayles created independent films for the Eighties and Nineties that exquisitely captured human drama and human history and with the good guys winning against malicious villians.

9. Oliver Stone

BEST: Platoon, the Doors, JFK
WORST: Natural Born Killers

Oliver Stone is a topical filmmaker who takes subjects relevant to their time and to his youth that are powerful and sometimes unforgettable in their imagery and depiction. Also, Stone is a master at movie soundtracks.

10. Francis Ford Coppola

BEST: The Godfathers Part 1 and 2, the Conversation, Apocalypse Now

WORST: Dracula, Peggy Sue Got Married

Francis Ford Coppola filled the Seventies with three of its best epics and one other film all of which helped introduce a new level of realism and human drama to cinema.

David Fincher is number 8 on your list, and I complete disagree. He is definitely my favorite director. The man has never made a bad movie.

Alien 3 is not bad at all, is it much better than the awful Alien: Ressurrection. Alien 3 has some problems (it's predecessors doesn't make it easier). Fincher never made the movie he wanted to, cause of lack of trust from the moneymen. Even though Ellen Ripley is surrounded by unlikable characters and the fact that the Alien looks like a shiny dog, it still has a wonderful cinematography, it's very entertaining and the ending is brilliant. 8/10

Se7en is his best movie and one of the best in cinema history. It is perfect! 10/10

The Game is definitely underrated. The movie is slightly unrealistic at times, and there are some plot-holes, but it still is very clever, great, entertaining, pure Hitchcock. The ending ruins the experience a bit, but when the movie shines it really shines! 8/10

I can't say anything about Fight Club, that haven't been said. Masterpiece. 10/10

Panic Room is much more simple than his other movies, but is probably is one the best simple thrillers. It has great performances, and Fincher once again showcases his brilliant technical abilities. 8/10

Zodiac is not as good as Se7en but a little better than Fight Club. Everything is perfect, and Fincher shows that he can keep you glued to the screen for more than 2½ hours. 10/10

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a slight disappointment when I watched it the first time. I have since watched it again, and the second viewing improves. I agree that it is a little over the top sometimes and it is too long. But I haven't ever seen more beautiful visuals before. It is flawed, but is it beautiful, visually and emotionally.

David Fincher might be the best technical director working today, nay ever. Every one of his movies are visually superior, and if anybody says style over substance, I disagree. He has some of the greatest plots, characters, everything. He is still quite young, so he hasn't the same filmography as Spielberg or Scorsese. But the fact is that has never made a bad movie, and sometimes he makes a really good movie and sometimes he makes a masterpiece. Scorsese and definitely Spielberg's bottom movies are can't hold a candle towards Fincher's bottom movies.

Kudos on the love for PTA; it's incredible that someone with such undeniable talent – both as a director and as a screenwriter – isn't even forty yet. Also, THANK YOU for stating that Solaris is an underrated film. It is by far Clooney's best performance, Cliff Martinez's score is sublime and absolutely mesmerising, and the attention to detail that Soderbergh put into his direction – along with a natural, organic quality – is reason enough for it to be considered one of the best pieces of modern sci-fi. Dare I say, sci-fi as a whole.

Overall, a very solid list. Well done.

You liked "Collateral", then what do you think of his masterpiece "Heat"? Which by my meserment should have ranked Mann in the top 10 alone…

Kundun is my favorite Scorsese film.

True, it is completely different than almost anything else in his filmography – but it is one of the most remarkable portrayals on film of an inner spiritual life. It's coming from the opposite side of where Scorsese normally approaches humanity, but is equally insightful.

The imagery combined with Philip Glass' beautiful, haunting score create a sort of pure cinema experience to the latter half of the film, which transcends the mere narrative biopic. It is a great example as what you put as 'the passion that practically glows' in Scorsese's films. Additionally, the film deals with one of the most pressing international issues of today, but one of a small nation that needs a voice to speak for it on the international scale. The film is Scorsese's gift to the Tibetan people. But even just technique-wise it is one of the primary films that got me interested in filmmaking.

Don't get me wrong, I love Taxi Driver and most of Scorsese's other work as well!

I think Kundun would have fit well on Scorsese's Undervalued section though.

Otherwise, great list! I agree with your take on Aronofsky, it perfectly explains why I think he's one of the greatest directors working today. His four wonderfully risk-taking films are amazing, especially The Fountain!

That's soooooooooo off.. I'm not even remotelly an expert but Hostel Part II? RockNRolla Guy Ritchie's best? Ever heard of Snatch? Zodiac Fincher's best? Even Inglorious Basterds over Kill Bill, Pupl Fiction and Reservoir Dogs? No Soderbergh on the top10? No Scorcese? No Coen brothers? But you keep PTA.. That's rich

Those are only four but they show how Howard is consistently solid everytime out of the gate and movies are almost always succesful.
I personally am a huge Michael Mann fanatic but it makes me more upset that Ron Howard is not on this list rather than man.

Good list though, I would have left out Spike Lee. Would have included Linklater instead, but thats just me.