Our Top Ten Directors for 2016.

#10.  Clint Eastwood (Sully)

#9.  Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

#8.  Jon Favreau (The Jungle Book)

#7.  Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan (Swiss Army Man)

#6.  Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By the Sea)

#5.  The Russo Brothers (Captain America: Civil War)

#4.  Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge)

#3.  Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

#2.  Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals)

#1.  Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Chazelle seems obvious to me.  What a brilliant job directing this film, with so many great numbers and dance routines.  He has now two consecutive huge winners in La La Land and Whiplash.  Obviously he loves music, jazz in particular.  Tom Ford wove those two (or three) stories together seamlessly in Nocturnal Animals and nearly took that top spot.  Mel Gibson does great battleground scenes and Hacksaw Ridge was a tough second half to watch.  Just ahead of Gibson was Denis Villeneuve whose Arrival was the thinking man’s sci-fi hit of the year.  The Russo Brothers deserve the credit for taking a cast as large as Civil War and still making that film feel like a Captain America movie.