I'd add Fellini to the list.

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Larry and Andy Wachowski and Micheal Moore can make it on the Guardian list, but no Woody Allen or Steven Speilberg.

Besides any list that has Terrance Mallick in the top ten screams "art snob asshole critic"

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Quentin Tarantino. Even if you don't like the subject matter, you still have to respect the talented direction (and, of course, writing).

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Glad to see that there was at least SOME love for Wong Kar-wai.

But how about Francis Ford Coppola? You know, the man responsible for four of the best films of the 1970s? Anyone?

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Josh, Fellini died in 1993.

That said, can't really argue taking anything OFF that list.

Expanding the list to include Coppola, Miyizaki, Wajda, Rivette, Almadovar, Lynch, Cronenberg, Woody Allen, Scorsese or Jane Campion wouldn't be such a bad idea.

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Lindsay Anderson was highly underated. Best director ever.

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Hmmm. Glaring in absence from the Guardian list and everyone else's, making me wonder why, in fact, is Terry Gilliam. Did he die recently? Was Brazil not the most brilliant film, and groundbreaking, and all that? Time Bandits, The Fisher King? 12 Monkeys?Anyone?

Also maybe deserving a spot somewhere near the bottom, among the thirties, I think, is Robert Rodriguez.

So who else is missing? Let's see... Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog, Tom Tykwer, John f-ing Sayles for crying out loud. You know, I was all aglee when I saw Lynch at number one, because he's also my number one, but the more names I'm coming up with, the more I'm getting mad at that Guardian list. And this list can just be thrown out the window completely for skipping Jim Jarmusch. Also, I fully understand but still disagree with the exclusion of Peter Greenaway.

These are my seven: David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, John Sayles, P.T. Anderson, Peter Greenaway, Terry Gilliam, and Spike Jonze (really Charlie Kaufmann, but... OK).

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Aside from Antonioni, whose most recent work has gotten little distribution, the greatest living Italian filmmaker is Bernardo Bertolucci, even if most of his work has been in English.

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Oops, I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention. I didn't realize it was only living directors. I didn't get much sleep last night.

Anyway, I'd probably add Woody Allen and Martin Scorcese, but how can you really just choose seven?

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It just takes such an extreme level of elitism to make a list of the seven best narrative filmmakers currently working if you don't include Spielberg. Yeah, his endings have stunk for a decade (or more). Yeah, he's all "sentimental" and "manipulative" and "Hollywood" and whatever banal criticisms you want to whip out. But he made Duel and Sugarland Express and Jaws and Close Encounters and The Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. and Schindler's List and 90% of Saving Private Ryan and 80% of A.I. and 80% of Minority Report and 80% of Catch Me If You Can.

It wouldn't take a second's consideration for me to take Spielberg ahead of several directors on the main list or the list of other "mentioned" directors.

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My magnificent seven of greatest LIVING directors would include:
Ingmar Bergman
Jacques Rivette
Martin Scorsese
Robert Altman
Michaelangelo Antonioni
Woody Allen
David Lynch

My magnificent seven of greatest DEAD directors would include:
Sergio Leone
Stanley Kubrick
John Cassavettes
Howard Hawks
Ernst Lubitsch
Robert Bresson
John Ford

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Difficult...but if I had to choose only seven...

Terrence Malick, Hayao Miyazaki, David Lynch, Zhang Yimou, Chan-wook Park, PT Anderson, Baz Luhrmann.

I'm gutted I have no space for Wong Kar-Wai, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Shunji Iwai, Lars von Trier...

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What, no Michael Bay or Brett Ratner?

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