In my opinion and I encourage any disputes or comments.
My top 3 in no particular order:
M. Night Shyamalan, a big chunk of directing boils down to camera work and this boy has beautiful angles every time. Frames a lot of his shots with doors and windows, and I'm a sucker for panning. It's because of this man I refuse to ever watch another movie in 4:3. Another thing, he lets the actors act! Sick and tired of all these editing-whores out there. During dialogue between two characters you might get 1-2 seconds in-between edits, which is gross and takes away any realism.
Six sense was good, Unbreakable was just as good (I'll talk a little more about that later), Signs was ok, Village ok, Lady in the water was good and hugely underrated. The man took a bedtime story he tells his two daughters and turned it into a feature film. You could tell in that movie that he loved his characters but tried to stay away from wasting time developing ones with small significance to the story in order to keep up the pace.
You know what makes unbreakable a good movie? It makes you give into your imagination. For moments in the movie you feel apart of what's going on, and you give in a little more into believing in the story. Make no mistake this was a superhero film. M. Night wanted to focus on the becoming of the hero. The hero realising his magnificence, which is arguably one of the most interesting parts of a superhero's story. When explaining who spider-man is to a caveman you wouldn't say "O, he defeated doctor octopus and saved New York". You'd be like "he was bitten by a radio-active spider and was given super-human abilities". Ya, Christopher Nolan was great with the Prestige but it just didn't fit for me with the Dark Knight, shoulda gave it to Shyamalan. Had that of happened it would've saved me from "the happening" which was a total let-down for me, Night needs to try something different to stay in my top directors.
Quentin Tarantino, Carries a similar style to Shyamalan which is probably why I like the two so much. Camera follows along the same scheme but Quentin likes the close-up just a little more and will flip between the pair while in dialogue. ln comparison to the rest of hollywood, lower budgeted films, less stunts, but when the action happens it's very signifacant and you feel more shock as you would in real life. I'd recommend seeing "True Romance" which he wrote, didn't direct. Pulp Fiction, obviously great film. Kill Bill 1 and 2 where good, not a big Uma Thurman fan though. Loved Death Proof, wasn't impressed by Reservoir Dogs but it was his first go on a tiny budget.
Steven Spielberg, Probably the best period. This man makes movies about things I usually have no interest in but I still love the film. Schindler's List was awesome, it was like staring at a beautiful painting and imagining its story. An incredible performance by Ralph Fiennes I'm sure helped. I hate war films but loved Saving Private Ryan, good action but it wasn't mind-numbing action, it provoked thought. Munich was great. Steven loves that shaky camera look but doesn't abuse it like it has been in many movies. Two of my favorites as well "Catch me if you can" and "Hook", flippin awesome. I have to mention Dustin Hoffman's performance as Hook, he kills me every time I see that movie. A personification of evil and deceit. I can't list all his great pieces but I would like to end this article with a question. Where are all the E.T. fans? I mean that movie was totally wasted on me and I never meet anyone who's like "Steven Spielberg you say? I LOVED E.T.!" I admit though I am in my twenties and it may have possibly been great in its time.
