IMO, Christopher Nolan is the best. Dark Knight and Inception were terrific films!

George Lucas.

Can't beat the Star Wars series.

the guy who made that movie of your choice which you love and can watch any number of time.

He is my favorite director too.

You can't be serious. I mean, I'm an avid Star Wars fan, and I respect the crap he went through with the first film, but he really didn't have that much to do with Empire and Jedi.

He only produced Empire Strikes Back, and that's by far the best film in the series.
Don't EVEN try to defend the prequels, either. Those aren't movies, they're big budget toy advertisements.

As for Christopher Nolan: He's a good director, but he often gets too complicated and pretentious with his films. Inception is a very good example of that. It's a silly concept, the story is half decent, but he treats it so seriously. Although, I loved The Prestige (Friggin' David Bowie as NIKOLA TESLA)

Now, The Coen Brother's I can respect. I suggest everyone watches "Oh Brother, Where art thou" at least once.

Plus, Their rendition of True Grit was FANTASTIC. They haven't always made grade A films, but when they do, they hit right on the money.

Another Good one is Frank Darabont. He hasn't done much, but he did direct one of my all time favorite films, The Shawshank Redemption. He also did the Mist (good movie, sometimes a bit preachy, but the ending is crazy.) and the Pilot for the Walking Dead TV series. A very good director.

David Lynch is also a good director, if you're not initially freaked out by his content.