10. Richard Linklater
9. Steven Spielberg
8 Paul Thomas Anderson
7. Krzysztof Kieslowski
6. Wong Kar Wai
5. Martin Scorsese
4. Mike Leigh
3. David Lynch
2. Quentin Tarantino
1. The Coen Brothers

I originally assembled 18 names, these guys got cut:


Wes Anderson, Harmony Korine, David Fincher, Lars Von Trier, Abbas Kiarostami, Robert Altman, Jim Jarmusch, Whit Stillman

now you go!

Not a bad list but I'd definitely place Tarantino as #1. He owned the 90s, and thanks to him we had an entire decade of shitty indie crime movie knock-offs.

The more optimistic view is that he brought independent filmmaking to the forefront and allowed many directors who normally wouldn't have had an opportunity to distribute their film to the masses a chance to have their films seen.

In no order (all made at least two movies I like in the '90s):

Michael Haneke
Claude Chabrol
Abbas Kiarostami
John Woo
Nikolas Refn
David Mamet
Gianni Amelio
Ken Loach
Ringo Lam
Tsui Hark
Alejandro Amenábar

What about Gilliam? The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys, Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas? Three knockouts.

After Tarantino...

John Woo (HARD-BOILED, FACE/OFF)
Tsui Hark (ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA I & II, GREEN SNAKE)
Hayao Miyazaki (PORCO ROSSO, PRINCESS MONONOKE)
Isao Takahata (ONLY YESTERDAY, POM POKO)
Mamoru Oshii (PATLABOR 2, GHOST IN THE SHELL)
Yoshiaki Kawajiri (NINJA SCROLL)
Yuen Wo Ping (IRON MONKEY, TAI CHI MASTER)
Ching Siu-Tung (SWORDSMAN III: THE EAST IS RED)
Takeshi Kitano (HANA-BI, KIKUJIRO)

EDIT: I took off Ringo Lam (TWIN DRAGONS) to add Kitano (thanks for the reminder, Inri222!)

I was a kid in the 90s and my knowledge of 90s cinema is slightly limited as such, so with that:

David Lynch
David Fincher
Jonathan Demme
Steven Spielbergo
Quentin Tarantino
Alex Proyas
Jean-Pierre Jeunet (and Marc Caro)
Terry Gilliam
James Cameron
Robert Altman

What the hell happened to him?

Edit: Oh yeah, Agora. And he does have a new one w/ Emma Watson and Ethan Hawke next year, for some reason the first tab that shows up on imdb for him is under Composer. Whoops.

Spike Lee
Abel Ferrara
Bruno Dumont
Dardenne Bros.
Bela Tarr
Hou Hsiao-hsien
David Cronenberg
Lars von Trier
John Sayles
Tsai Ming-liang

I have more, but they have already been mentioned.

Ugh. My 1990s knowledge is weak on filmmakers. I was a kid during all that.

I'll have to think about this.

Good list of contenders. I would add Hal Hartley, David O Russell, Ken Loach.

I'll add Atom Egoyan. He made some great films in the '90s, but he deserves a spot on the list for "The Sweet Hereafter" alone.

Michael Apted probably wouldn't make a top 10 but pretty incredible decade.

1991 - Class Action
1991 - 35 Up
1992 - Incident at Ogala
1994 - Blink
1994 - Nell
1996 - Extreme Measures
1998 - Always Outnumbered
1998 - 42 Up
1999 - The World is Not Enough

Those Damn Western filmmakers couldn't make shit back in the 1990's

No love for Clint?

White Hunter Black Heart
Unforgiven
A Perfect World
The Bridges of Madison County

Your words, not mine, but, yeah, you're right!

Oliver Stone had a flawed but highly entertaining decade, with The Doors, JFK, Heaven and Earth, Natural Born Killers, Nixon, U-Turn and Any Given Sunday.

After he did "Exotica" and "The Sweet Hereafter" he became one of my favorite filmmakers.

Sadly, IMO, he's gone off the rails big time since then.

I saw Heaven and Earth in High School. I remember it being long but it was also very fascinating specifically cuz we have the viewpoint of the vietnamese woman.

Anthony Minghella for The English Patient and The Talented Mr. Ripley. He also had two smaller films from earlier in the decade.

And James Cameron for his three "T" movies: Terminator 2, True Lies, and Titanic.

QT and James Cameron. I'd have to think of the rest.

Soderbergh deserves a mention.

Sure has. "Devil's Knot" was a true chore.

Haven't seen that one but for me Where the Truth Lies & Ararat were a chore.

Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter & Felicia's Journey were great.

Exotica is fantastic. The Sweet Hereafter is, IMO, one of the very best films of the past 20 years.

The Adjuster was pretty solid, too.

Chloe was also quite a chore.

I bought Chloe last month. I don't normally ask for stuff like this but needed more Seyfried fucking Moore or something. The intrigue keeps ya going but the payoff is so weak.

Egoyan hasn't made a film worth a squirt of piss in the last 15 years since Felicia's Journey. As good as he was in the 90's, who would have thought.