3. Terrence Malick
One of the all-time great filmmakers, Malick would arguably be number one on this list if he had directed more than three movies in the last twenty years. In 1998 he created one of the all-time great war films in the Thin Red Line, which was nominated for Seven Academy Awards and praised by Martin Scorsese as the second best film of the 90's. Malick experimented a good bit with the Thin Red Line, eventually cutting out whole parts and reshaping the narrative around different characters. The film featured Malick's signature visual brilliance and has a good bit of thematic depth if you look hard enough. Malick's next film came almost a decade later with 2005's the New World, a retelling of the story of Pocohantas. While earning mixed reviews upon release, it has since gone on to become one of the most acclaimed films of the 2000's and again featured incredible visuals while Malick experimented even more narratively. His 2011 film The Tree of Life is one of the most significant films of recent years as it is a work of vast scope and ambition. Essentially, the film juxtaposes the lives of a family in 1950's midwest America with the birth,life, and death of the cosmos. Praised by critics such as Roger Ebert, who later put it on his top 10 films of all time list, the Tree of Life was voted onto Sight & Sounds list of best films only a year after its release. Malick is best known as an incredible visual stylist as many of his films are considered among the most beautifully shot movies ever made. A former philosophy professor, Malick's films contain a variety of moral, philosophical, and religious themes, giving them a sense of significance few other films can match. With several movies in production, Malick is currently the most prolific he has ever been and he could very well be number one on this list a few years from now.
Eligible Films: The Thin Red Line (1998), The New World (2005), The Tree of Life (2011)