The Best Directors Working Today

There are some directors who are just artists. They work film like an artist paint, a sculptor stone, or a writer words. Some just get the medium. These are the directors whose projects I look forward to the way normal people look forward to Happy Hour, their birthday or a beach trip. Here are, in my humble opinion, some of the best working directors today, and some of their upcoming projects. Since its safe to say none of them read my blog, you know they didn't pay me to promote them!

Christopher Nolan immediately comes to mind. His resume includes Memento (2000), Batman Begins (2005), The Prestige (2006), and The Dark Knight (2008). His latest project is Inception, and of course, his mostly highly anticipated is the third Batman movie, release date undetermined. My reasons for loving him are many; the greatest is his ability to combine the cerebral with entertainment. From Memento, which is told backwards, to The Prestige, with its time-shifting and uncertain protagonist, to his intelligent reboot of the beleaguered Batman franchise, Nolan always has a trick up his sleeve, and will entertain you intelligently, with tight, complicated plots, twists and smart dialogue. But he's not too flashy; look on his insistence of verisimilitude in Batman. He's smart, and intelligently made, well-crafted films are hard to come by. So I can't wait to see Inception, a psychological thriller due out July 16th.

Next is Joe Wright. He's not as established, or prolific, as some other directors, but his brief resume is pretty darn impressive. It includes Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Atonement (2007). He also made a film called The Soloist in 2009, but I can't comment on that one as I haven't seen it yet. Being a Jane Austen purist, I was mortally offended on the undertaking of ANOTHER Pride and Prejudice. After the perfection that is the 1995 BBC adaptation, how dare he? Though imperfect, this film brings an artistic eye to the comedy of manners and makes it unabashedly romantic while still being visually interesting. He perfected the game in Atonement; it's a beautiful mix of styles, images and moments that perfectly recall the very internal nature of the novel source material. He's flashier than Nolan, but his style takes what would be conventional stories and makes them original and memorable visually. And isn't that the point? His next project is called Hanna, set for release in 2011, about a girl who is a killer, but is taken in by a family who want to give her a normal life.

Up next is Martin Scorsese. I know, he's a legend. Taxi Driver. Raging Bull. Goodfellas. Casino. The Aviator. The Departed. And my personal favorite, The Age of Innocence (No really! Only he can make receiving a letter as violent as a gunshot. But just kidding on the my favorite part. That's The Departed.) And you fans out there know this is the shortlist. Scorsese's mediocre film (*cough* Shutter Island *cough*) is still a far better day at the office than most directors can boast. He's simply a master at the top of his game. Most any project with his name attached is bound to garner attention. His most recent project was Shutter Island, released in February. He's got a George Harrison documentary in the can, and his next project is called The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which is due out December 2011, about an orphan trying to solve the mystery of his father. It's refreshing for Scorsese to branch out from the gangster genre his name automatically evokes, so I'm glad to see he's really stretching his wings.

Close behind is Alfonso Cuaron, a Mexican director who isn't familiar to most American audiences unless you've seen Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). I know him as the brilliant mind behind the Mexican film Y tu mama tambien (2001) and Children of Men (2006). His film making (family friendly A Little Princess and HP films aside) is visceral and in-your-face, be it sex or violence. He doesn't flinch and he doesn't turn away. Children of Men is on my list of practically-perfect films; I am still breathless whenever I watch it. He doesn't have any projects currently in production; I look forward to seeing what he's doing in the future.

And who could have a conversation about directors without Spielberg? Though I'm not always a fan of his gape-mouthed kiddie fare (at least not since ET), I love his more adult work. Though Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was just unfortunate, his other body of work, especially his impressive list of producing credits, always brings me in. His current project is producing The Pacific, a mini-series answer to the immensely popular Band of Brothers, while his CGI motion capture project with Peter Jackson, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is in post production until its release in 2011.

Lastly, you know I couldn't make it through a director conversation without mentioning Edgar Wright. You know this to be true. I could go on and on about whip pans, but I know you don't want to hear it. So I'll make this easy on all of us: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is due out August 13th, and I'll be first in line. I don't even know anything about the comic books its based on, but he's enough.

Any favorites of yours I missed? Tell me all about it in the comments! Movie fans, unite!