The men (yes, they're all men, a situation I hope will change in the coming years) listed here are the best directors working right now. Nobody dead, nobody retired. And nobody whose best days are seemingly behind him (Woody Allen has made some of my all-time favorite movies, but he's currently in a slump preventing his inclusion here).

	1. Wes Anderson My all-time desert island favorite film maker, by a long shot. Anderson's four films are delicate, hilarious and poignant and all share a tone of refreshing innocence the auteur had honed to sheer perfection right out of the gate. He has a genius for composition and detail, but it's his off-kilter characters and subtly uproarious dialogue that really make his films such a treat.
	2. Paul Thomas Anderson Sure he's indulgent, but nobody better captures the complex emotional mess of daily life. Anderson really understands the power of cinema, the things you can do with a camera that you can't do on a page or a stage. He uses light, color, sound and montage to exquisite effect. He's also perhaps the finest director of actors working today -- every performance in his films is stellar.
	3. Pedro Almodovar It's no accident that the top three directors also write their movies. Like the Andersons, Almodovar's unique imprint is on every frame of his films -- from his early bawdy comedies to the more dramatic lush melodramas of recent years. Almodovar crafts visually gorgeous, morally ambiguous, intricately plotted character studies that explore art, politics and the human condition.
	4. Richard Linklater The most versatile director on this list. Who else could bookend Shool of Rock with Waking Life and Before Sunset then move on to a Bad News Bears remake? He's a hipster philosopher with an effortless ear and eye for the way people interact, from the stoners of Dazed and Confused to the lovelorn Gen X couple so beautifully realized by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.
	5. Alejandro Gonzalez Inárritu Wy shy away from hyperbole? Amores Perros is the most impressive debut film by anyone, ever... and yeah, I've seen Citizen Kane. In his two films, Inárritu has explored helplessness and despair so unflinchingly he makes most of his peers look like kids playing with dolls. His work is deeply religious but without the false promise of comfort from a personal god. Powerful, beautiful stuff.
	6. Alfonso Cuaron An artist with a deft touch for both the magical and the realistic, Cuaron first caught my attention with the beautiful A Little Princess before flooring me with Y Tu Mamá Tambien. In that film he beautifully captured the sweetness and sadness of male adolescence, something he touched on in a whole new way with his masterful Harry Potter adaptation.
	7. The Coen Brothers These mad geniuses would be higher on the list had their last two films not disappointed. Those missteps aside, the Coens are responsible for some of the funniest, strangest, most exhilarating films I've ever seen and I'm confident they'll continue to produce them for years to come. They more than Tarantino should be credited with ushering in America's independent film movement.
	8. Spike Jonze Like Inárritu, Jonze has worked with the same screenwriter on both his films (the brilliant Charlie Kaufman in this case) so it's tempting to attribute his success to the material. But that's a mistake. Being John Malkovich and Adaptation are as much Jonze's achievements as Kaufman's. The films work because Jonze grounds the lunatic moments and knows just when to zero in on the quiet and devastating ones.
	9. Quentin Tarantino Tarantino is as frustrating as he is talented. He's a master of the sequence and perhaps the best orchestrator of prolonged tension working in movies today. His movies are pop culture explosions of wit, violence and energy. But it would be nice to see him attempt something below surface level. I'll be first in line for the truly meaningful film he must have in him.
	10. Steven Spielberg Another frustrating master... in a way the anti-Tarantino. He can't resist the easy emotion, the happy ending. How many of his films would be classics if they only had better conclusions? What happened to the man who staged that brilliant warehouse finale in Raiders of the Lost Ark? Nevertheless, Spielberg is a brilliant film maker with an eye for moments both intimate and extraordinary.