Directors I think are awesome (for a variety of reasons. Feel free to add any suggestions in the comments below).

Quentin Tarantino
Christopher Nolan
Robert Rodriguez
Darren Aronofsky
Matthew Vaughn
Michael Mann
Peter Jackson
James Cameron
Ridley Scott
Henry Selick
Joss Whedon
Sam Raimi
Neill Blomkamp
Steven Spielberg
Jon Favreau
Ang Lee
Kathryn Bigelow
Matt Reeves
Gareth Edwards
Martin Scorsese
Kenneth Branagh
Sophia Coppola