Hollywood's 10 best directors

10. Damien Chazelle

There are so many lyrical things to say about Whiplash, above all, which not only put the young Damien Chazelle on the map but also gave the extremely versatile J.K. Simmons his first (unquestionably 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 to be 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 is a given on this list.

9. Danny Boyle

127 Hours is a study in filmmaking style. The way Danny Boyle keeps the tension alive and lets me, the viewer, experience step by step the nightmarish situation Aron Ralston has put himself in, shows a confidence and technical skill as a director that very few can match. Add to that 28 Days Later, Sunshine (unbearably 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 drive his narrative forward. There is a fury and rawness in his dramaturgy that works best when his leading actors are comfortable with the fast pace of Scorsese's dialogue, which makes most of his films feel snappy without being rushed in the editing.

7. Ethan Coen

No Country For Old Men is in every conceivable way a masterstroke that is almost unparalleled. The way the Coens navigate Cormac McCarthy's bloody story and deconstruct the myth of the Wild West as something morally complex and never black and white. In addition to this, films such as The Big Lebowski, Oh Brother, Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing, Fargo, Inside Llewyn Davis, and True Grit must of course be mentioned. Ethan Coen, like his partner and brother Joel, is a phenomenal filmmaker whose pitch-black humour colours everything he does.

6. James Cameron

James Cameron has directed the world's two highest-grossing films, Avatar and Titanic, and Terminator 2, The Abyss, and True Lies, which undoubtedly makes him one of the greatest filmmakers of all-time. Cameron has an incredible ability to paint with broad strokes, maximising scope and spectacle without ever losing focus on the characters. A true master.

5. Steven Spielberg

After making 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 quite as good in recent years, which puts him in the middle of the top list, but Hollywood would look very different today if Spielberg hadn't defined "American cinema" in the 80s and 90s.

4. Denis Villeneuve

If I had to guess how many other Hollywood filmmakers could do Blade Runner justice with a highly anticipated sequel and shortly thereafter film Dune—the book series that for half a century has been described as "unadaptable"—and be praised for both, I would guess zero. No one. Zero. Denis Villeneuve is one of a kind, in other words, 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 and proven time and again that he is equally skilled at orchestrating grand action scenes and dense, small-scale dialogue dramas, and he has made so many great films at this point. 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. Without a doubt. Quentin Tarantino's idiosyncratic, quirky, deeply entertaining approach and incredible work directing some of the film world's most watchable actors means that it is 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 unison that Tarantino is a superb director who makes films that set standards and are imitated ad nauseam.

1. David Fincher

Se7en is so skilfully directed... That alone would probably be enough for me to place David Fincher at the top of this list. The ingenious way in which he paints a noir-drenched New York as the film's third character, the way in which morals (when does a sin become evil?) characterise every second, and the way he builds tension not only between police officers and murderers but also in the contrasting views of the world between the newcomer and the veteran, make this a directorial masterpiece. Add to that The Social Network (a chillingly fascinating thriller about a subject that is basically 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 work. A true master.