Mike Nichols. I’m higher on Nichols than the majority of cinema buffs for two main reasons: A. I have The Graduate as an unquestionable top 100 film, and B. I also have Carnal Knowledge as a top 300 film (this is way higher than the critical consensus). Nichols has three top 500 films (he’s the only one remaining with more than 2 as I’m at slot #96 here). The weakness for Nichols on this list is that his 4th best film is nearly unidentifiable and though I like all of his archiveable films (Silkwood at #10 say is just a really good

Almodovar. Almodovar has produced a masterpiece and a deep filmography (12 archiveable films and counting) that are all unmistakably Almodovarian’. That’s pretty rare in contemporary cinema where you can have 9th or 10th film from an auteur that even if it isn’t a great film, it’s a delightful unique auteur-driven experience that could only be done by that director (like Cronenberg’s Existenz or Mann’s Miami Vice) because it is so infused with that artist’s authorship. The weakness here is I only have 1 film in the top 500 of all-time but I’m pretty far apart from the consensus of All About My Mother so

Demme. Demme’s strengths are really his dedication to his chosen aesthetics. He’s made a political thriller remake (Manchurian Candidate), a courtroom drama (Philadelphia), an odd romance (Something Wild) and a serial killer potboiler (Silence of the Lambs) and they all look like Demme films--- specifically the close-up on a face. He only has 1 top 500 film (a weakness) but the consistency is there visually even if it’s in a film that’s no better than the 20th of 2004 (Manchurian). He’s influential, and a style-plus director tied to a very important stylistic trademark. Best film:  The Silence of the

Preston Sturges. Sturges was the foremost film satirist of his era and was absolutely unstoppable from 1940-1944. In those 5 years he made 7 archiveable films- four of those films were in the top five of their year. Many who have studied both have Lubitsch as the superior director but I haven’t found that to be true and since I have Sturges’ filmography as slightly superior I have him ranked above Lubitsch. Sturges makes the top 100 because he has a whopping 4 films in the top 500. Nobody below Preston Sturges on this list has as many (and

Yimou Zhang.  The impressive resume of Yimou Zhang starts with the unmitigated triumph of 1991’s Raise the Red Lantern. Red Sorghum 4 years prior was the work of a clear talent and in the early 2000’s we had a flash of utterly breathtaking martial-arts genre visual spectacles (particularly Hero but also House of Flying Daggers). These four films are the strengths of the case for Yimou Zhang. There’s consistency there— but he also has an entirely different wing of his career where he made naturalistic or work that bordered on neo-realism (Not One Less, The Road Home)—closer to the

Wenders. It never hurts to be an incredible photographer who makes beautiful films. Wenders’ strengths here are Kings of the Road as his best film, The American Friend as his 4th best film, and the consistency and wall-art picturesque beauty of his body of work. He was one of the best auteurs on the planet from 1976-1987—absolutely. There’s not a lot outsider of that though and has spent the majority of his career post-Wings of Desire making documentaries (which again, for the purposes of this list and my site, is not something I track or archive). from Paris, Texas-

Aronofsky. I’m not sure he is done. It would seem that way (writing this in 2019 it seems like a long time since Black Swan) but Mother! showed ambition and I look forward to a revisit. Even if he is done, Aronofsky has already put a stamp on the world of cinema with his fractured characters, bold visuals and editing bravado. He’s a unique voice, certainly a talented “style-plus” auteur with 2 inarguable masterpieces (Black Swan, Requiem) who will inevitably have at least 3 top 500 all-time films (Black Swan is not allowed on the top 500 because of

Stone. I’ve thought for years that Stone is underrated for two reasons: 1. His subjects are controversial (Lars von Trier is polarizing on metacritic but has managed to be adored by TSPDT) 2. He’s a very American director (regardless of his politics I feel like the subject and content of most of his films are very American-centric) and I feel like this hurts him on lists like TSPDT. Basically too much of the conversation is on the subject of the films which isn’t something I think matters when we’re talking about film art. Stone should be ranked higher. I

Wyler. He only has three films in the TSPDT top consensus 1000. I’ve got that many in the top 500 and a whopping 8 in the top 100 of their respective decade (which since I do not have a top 1000 yet is about as close as I can get to approximating).  Wyler’s strength is his depth because I’ve never thought of including one of his films in my top 100 or even top 200 (in fact his first film does not show up until #436). So, it may seem odd that he’s on this list at #88 but

Soderbergh. It seems unlikely that Steven Soderbergh won’t have 20+ archiveable films when it’s all said and done (he’s at 15 as of 2019) and that’s remarkable for a contemporary auteur. This is 3 and 5 ahead of Linklater and Spike Lee who are Soderbergh’s contemporaries and both are also extremely prolific. The fact that Soderbergh almost always serves as high on DP (I’ll get to that more below in stylistic traits) makes it all that more impressive. He only has two top 500 films though and 4 films that are in the top 100 of their respective decade

Linklater. Richard Linklater is no visual master and only has two films in the top 500 of all-time. However, has an unbelievably (had to double-check) high 8 films that land in the top 100 of their respective decade. Linklater is incredibly prolific (12 archiveable films) and some dry spells (the period between Before Sunset and Before Midnight from 2004 to 2013 was really weak) but the body of work cannot be denied. As we look forward when the 10-year moratorium lifts on the top 500 clearly films like Before Midnight and Boyhood in back to back years will also change an auteurs

Preminger. Preminger made 4 outstanding top 500 of all-time films that helped him make this list. That many films in the top 500 would normally warrant a higher ranking but Preminger has zero films in the top 300 so they’re (Anatomy of a Murder, Laura, The Man with the Golden Arm, Fallen Angel) all wedged between 300-500. The remaining body of work of his is uneven but deep (15 archiveable films total) and stylishly directed (he loves the rolling tracking shots) even if the final product isn’t always perfect. Many think of Preminger as the stereotypical director: accented and