This revised and updated edition of the "Critical Guide" encompasses the careers of over 500 directors that have worked within the North American film industry, including Canada, since the early 1990s. This edition features new or revised material on 150 directors, and includes coverage of mainstream luminaries such as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Robert Altman, and Kathryn Bigelow, independent mavericks like Hal Hartley and Jim Jarmusch, and innovative emerging talents including Todd Field ( "In the Bedroom"), David Gordon Green ( "George Washington") and Christopher McQuarrie ( "The Way of the Gun"). This is a unique reference to the changing dynamics of the world's most watched movies.

Encompassing the careers of over 350 directors who have worked within the British and Irish film industries over the last twenty years, this volume covers stalwarts such as David Lean, Richard Attenborough, and Neil Jordan; pioneers of 1960s Social Realism such as Lindsay Anderson and Tony Richardson, 1980s heritage filmmakers Ishmail Merchant and James Ivory; stylistic innovators such as Sally Potter, Lynne Ramsay and Derek Jarman; documentarists Nick Broomfield and Kevin MacDonald; and many emergent contemporary talents such as Danny Boyle, Shane Meadows and Guy Ritchie. For each director, the volume provides brief biographical material, a complete filmography, and critical analysis of individual works.

"The Wallflower Critical Guide to Contemporary North American Directors" encompasses the careers of over 500 directors working in the United States and Canada today. In comprehensively covering a wide range of film-makers -- from established luminaries such as Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, and Kathryn Bigelow, through independent mavericks like Quentin Tarantino, Hal Hartley, Jim Jarmusch and the Coen brothers, to innovative emerging talents including Spike Jonze, Lisa Krueger, Todd Solondz, Kimberly Peirce, and David O. Russell -- the evolving landscape of contemporary film-making is brought into sharp focus. For each director, the volume provides brief biographical material, a complete filmography, and critical analysis of individual works.