I dunno how to explain this but out of all the directors I've seen all their works....Akira Kurosawa and Christopher Nolan are the only ones to come up to mind that I've seen an improvement in their directing ability w/ each film. Granted AK and CN are vastly different in quality, AK being what I'd call a master of Cinema..Nolan's still growing, those 2 directors have made films that I can visibly see growth in each subsequent film (for the most part). Who else could we say have consistently grown w/ each film?

I'd want to say Kubrick but I've yet to see his much earlier works. But his WB stuff from 2001 to Eyes Wide Shut he's at the same level of filmmaker. Amazing in every regard. I can't say I saw a growth in his ability. I'd say he was at the peak of his skills and it was fucking amazing that didn't falter once he went to that top.

I wouldn't say better but I think Wes Anderson has been one of the more consistent directors I've seen.

Brad Bird is one that I think has been great with each movie he's made as well.

I just want to make a point that I think the quality in director's works come in waves. While I love Eyes Wide Shut, I doubt there are many out there that say it's his best work.

You mentioned AK and Kubrick but have you considered Italian directors like Fellini, Bertolucci, or De Sica or French New Wave giants like Truffaut, Godard or Rohmer?

Back to modern directors, I like guys like Darren Aronofsky, Brad Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson -- I think those guys get better with each film.

It's amazing how Sergio Leone kept going up from Colossus of Rhodes, Fistful, For a Few Dollars More, and finally GBU.

THEN he did the greatest western and one of the greatest films ever, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST...and then he did OUATIA...which I really really like but....you can tell it's cut in places...and I want Leone's original long as fuck cut. I know if I see that cut he had to have made another complete masterpiece. Leone's daughter a while back, well not too long ago, mentioned that they'd release it at some point...and here I am..still fucking waiting...

Isn't the complete movie available? I have a 4 hour version on dvd. There's an even longer cut than that one?

Yes, Leone's daughter mentioned it. The cut he made for Cannes and the one we have on DVD, which is a damn fine movie btw, is the cut he did to not have it split as 2 films cuz of the producers. I can't remember where but I remember her mentioning it. I've mentioned it here several times

Wikipedia has this:

David Lean is a good example.

Most directors blow their creative wad early and go into freefall.

James Cameron's first film was Piranha 2: The Spawning. Kubrick's first film Fear And Desire has until recently been under lock and key, most likely because he was unhappy with the results (as reported by our own beloved Savant ) Francis Ford Coppola started out directing stuff like Tonight For Sure and The Bellboy And The Playgirls .
Like rock legends starting out in bars and poolhalls, filmmakers have to start somewhere, and that somewhere is the bottom unless they are already established as stars (or very connected).

ehhhh...not really....

If we leave out DEATHPROOF, I'd say Tarantino.

I personally think his filmography peaks with Lawrence of Arabia; Doctor Zhivago is gorgeous, but not quite as tight. I like Ryan's Daughter, but a lot of people hate it for being over-long and self-indulgent.

In any event, filmmaking is much more collaborative than the self-aggrandizing auteurs would have you believe. Discussing whole films as the singlehanded work of a director is entirely too reductive.

.....true, but the unity and use of it (including the how to use it as a coherent element) is the decision of the director for the most part. This is what I understand as the ability of the filmmaker...that's as simplified as I can make of it.

John Carpenter circa '76-'88

Definately David Fincher.

I think Tarantino showed plenty of growth in Deathproof even if it isn't better than Kill Bill.

Uwe Boll's Rampage

Shyamalan! *runs out of thread