22. Quentin Tarantino
The newest director on this list, Quentin Tarantino changed the way an entire generation of filmmakers handled dialogue and violence. His films had an unmatched energy and rhythm that were reminiscent of The French New Wave, he gleefully referenced past films left and right, and his characters spoke with a stylized realism that pushed the narrative forward in ways no other filmmaker did. After writing scripts for successful movies like Natural Born Killers and True Romance, Tarantino demonstrated his considerable abilities in his 1992 directorial debut Reservoir Dogs. The film established him as a promising up-and-comer but his following film, 1994's Pulp Fiction, made him one of the most important filmmakers of his generation. His career has never quite reached those stratospheric heights again but all of his films have been interesting in their own way with Inglorious Basterds arguably being the best. Tarantino changed the way an entire generation of filmmakers approached screenwriting and his past two movies have been some of his most commercially successful yet. Although he will likely never make a movie that flips the film world upside down like Pulp Fiction did, there's no reason he can't rise a few spots before his career ends.