Tim Burton- he's got a dark side

Fincher, Scorsese, Burton...

I'll second Fincher (even Alien 3) and add in Bryan Singer (still think Apt Pupil is one of those outstanding movies nobody saw/remembers) on the director side (plus almost all the previously mentioned ones).

Peter Jackson (no way that I sit through ANY of the LOTR flicks if they weren't directed by him)

Ang Lee (no way I sit through "Sense and Sensibility" if it weren't directed by him)

Wes Anderson (Although I wish I could get my money back for "The Life Aquatic")

Todd Solondz (A macabre desire to see people suffer keeps me coming back)

David Cronenberg (Although I still haven't made it out to see "Eastern Promises." Will though.)

Coen Brothers (Though I have to admit I didn't bother to see either "Intolerable Cruelty" or "The Lady Killers.")

Martin Scorcese (Wish I could get my money back for that terrible ambulance movie with Nick Cage)

David Lynch (Still need to see "Inland Empire." Looking forward to it.)

Judd Apatow (Still young, but so far, so very, very good.)

Alfonso Cuarón (Maybe the brightest, most daring director in the world right now)

Michel Gondry ("The Science of Sleep" was way underappreciated)

Quentin Tarantino ("Grindhouse" was way underappreciated)

Honorable mention: Zemeckis, Fincher, Raimi, Aranofsky, Lee, Jonze

Wow, Matt. Great list. The only one I might be able to argue with is Zemeckis, though he's pretty close. Did you see What Lies Beneath?

Okay, maybe that one doesn't quite count, since he did it quickie between the before and after on Cast Away.

And I agree that Grindhouse really didn't get the acclaim it should have, though I admit I'm one of those who missed out...I saw it on DVD, so I missed out on the trailers. Except for the one for Machete (on the Planet Terror DVD), which was priceless.

And check out The Ladykillers. It's another one that doesn't get the acclaim it deserves. Hanks and JK Simmons are hysterical in it--Hanks will never get the credit he should for his performance in that because he comes off as so hyper-intelligent and talks so fast a lot of people can't keep up. And his ignorance shows through as well.

Pedro Almodovar Wes Anderson Fellini

Names speak for themselves:

Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Robert Rodriguez, Noah Baumbach, Cameron Crowe, Richard Linklater, Christopher Nolan, Jim Jarmusch, Alexander Payne, Clint Eastwood, Paul Verhoeven.

I like the movies directed by Judd Apatow. Most people don't get the humor of his movies. Personally, I think the guy has made comedies funny again.

Sydney Pollack, Cronenberg, Soderberg, Linklater, Carpenter, Wes Anderson, Tim Burton, and any Roger Corman produced film(can I count a producer?)