10 Best Directors of All-Time Relay

Nostra has created a directors version of their relay races which has been making it's way around the internet lately. This one is still quite fresh, only starting a couple of days ago. The torch was handed over to me by Surrender to the Void, but here is what Nostra has to say:

So what’s the idea behind the relay? I’ve created a list of what I think are the ten best directors. At the end of the post I, just like in a real relay race, hand over the baton to another blogger who will write his own post. This blogger will have to remove one director (that is an obligation) and add his own choice and describe why he/she did this. At the end the blogger chooses another blogger to do the same. We will end up with a list (not ranked in order) which represents a common agreement of the best directors. If you are following the relay race it is also a great way to be introduced to new blogs!

Here's the previous entires:
My Filmviews
Southern Vision
And So It Begins...
Surrender to the Void

Here are the directors:

Ingmar Bergman

Akira Kurosawa

Joel & Ethan Coen

Hayao Miyazaki

Martin Scorsese

Alfred Hitchcock

Krzsysztof Kieslowski

Lars von Trier

Quentin Tarantino

Stanley Kubrick

Who I'm taking out...

Lars von Trier makes me very uncomfortable. I know that's what he aims to, but I just find him a generally repulsive man. I liked Breaking the Waves and Melancholia enough, but Dogville didn't sit well with me at all. It literally gives me a headache just to think about it. So sorry, Steven, but Lars has to go. He's the kind of person I could do without in my life.

Who I'm adding...

Okay, so since Christopher Nolan is my favourite director, it'd be only natural to stick him in. However, apparently it's now not cool at all to like him (wow, things have changed from when I started blogging). So I'll dodge him in order to not become the most hated blogger ever. Steven Spielberg got taken out, and he's my second favourite director, but I'm sure he'll be back so I've decided to bring a new name to the table: Paul Thomas Anderson. Now the guy hasn't made a lot of films, but that's because he takes time to create mega awesomeness. Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood are all extremely awesome - in fact, it's kinda like they're from another planet. There'll never be a moment in my life when I'm not looking forward to his next film.

Anyway, I'll pass on the torch to Defiant Success.