Sam Raimi's fantastic. He's a greater director by far than most mentioned. He took cheap magic tricks that cost a dime, threw them in front of the camera and made a grossing movie. But he was too irreverant about his art for me. He never took himself seriously and this was reflected in the majority of his work.
All Quentin Tarrantino seems to be able to do is copy, homage or mock film genres. He does this infamously well, but he's too much of a one-trick pony for my tastes. He accomplishes the same thing jumping from genre to genre, like he's marking off targets on a hit list.
Christopher Nolan and the Cohen brothers are the closest anyone's come to greatest contemporary film directors in this thread. They aren't one trick ponies and they grip the audience. But they're both so hollywood it hurts, these days. Christopher got his start with great indie film-noir homage pieces that belong in any collection. But if you've seen The Dark Knight, you'd know it has enough hollywood unoriginality in it's shots to be suspect. It cleverly mixes these cliches with some original ideas, but you can see the director Nolan is...slowly dying. The same cannot be said of the Cohen brothers, but they are the wild cards and rebels of this era...you never know what effect they will have on you. That can be an issue if you're in the mood for something specific.
My problem with all of these directors? Consistency. Sam Raimi is the only remotely consistent director I've listed and as I've said, his films aren't very serious...unless you count his Spider-Man works.(which I like to ignore)
No, imho, the greatest contemporary director would be...
Dario Argento (contemporary because he still makes movies, not because they're good) He rates high in my list of greatest directors of all time. He's consistent to a fault and yet he always surprises and delights viewers within the expected genre and tone. His shots are gruesomely angled and prepared and he has a flare for picking the right script. I can only imagine he starts to visualize movies from the second he thumbs through a script.
EDIT: Also I must shame you all that I'm the first person to name-drop Danny Boyle...SHAME!
EDIT: EDIT: I recant, I didn't see Danny's name in the OP until just now. Kudos. Long live Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, A Life Less Ordinary and Slumdog Millionaire.
-Sin
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