- Atonement - Joe Wright

- The Bourne Ultimatum - Paul Greengrass

- The Lives of Others - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

- No Country For Old Men - Joel Coen/Ethan Coen

- There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson

Joe Wright

Joe Wright has become the golden boy of Working Title in such a short period of time.

Gone are the days when all British movies contained are Hugh Grant and Richard Curtis.

With just his second picture Atonement, starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy Wright has landed a Globe nomination for Best Director and Best Picture, as well as a nod a piece for his two leads.

Atonement is an adaptation of Ian McEwan’s much love novel which centres around two lovers Robbie and Cecila separated by class.

But the two are parted when Cecilia’s younger sister wrongly accuse Robbie of raping their cousin Lola.

Robbie is sent to prison. Cecilia turns her back on her family moving to London to become a nurse, and eventually working through the blitz.

After spending some time in prison Robbie is drafted into the army to fighting the Second World War and ends up at on the beaches at Dunkirk.

Wright has produced a truly classy movie, and it’s not often that you say that about British movies.

However despite a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars Wright has been over looked in the directing category.

Paul Greengrass

Paul Greengrass' career has been on a high since the critically acclaimed United 93, based on the September 11th hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93. For which he was Oscar nominated.

He returned this summer with The Bourne Ultimatum the third movie in the Bourne trilogy starring Matt Damon.

Ward Abbott (Brian Cox) is dead and Pam Landy (Joan Allen) has the taped confession.

On the surface the Treadstone project appears to be dead bit in the form of Noah Vosen (David Strathairn), who will stop at nothing to kill Bourne, it lives on.

Jason Bourne however continues to stomp his way down memory lane hopping from country to country, city to city visiting Moscow, Paris, London, Madrid, Tangiers and New York in a bid to discover who the real Jason Bourne is whilst trying to out manoeuvre cops, federal and Interpol officers who would prefer him dead

Greengrass has produced an intelligent, fast paced blockbuster making Bourne the most consistent franchise of the summer, producing three high quality movies and the best sequel of the summer.

Joel and Ethan Coen

No Country For Old Men is the first film by the Coen brother, who brought us Miller’s Crossing and Fargo, for a couple of years and is widely regarded as the front runner for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Local hunter and Vietnam veteran Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) has fallen on hard times.

But when he comes across a drug deal that has gone horribly wrong he steals the money that he finds.

But on his trail is hitman Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) a merciless killer.

Following both of them is Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) a man confronting a new and disturbing sense of violence as the body count begins to rise.

No Country For Old Men has achieved critical acclaim and the Coen brothers have already received the New York Film Critics Circle, San Francisco Film critics Circle and the Washington D.C Area Films Critic Association for Best Director.

Paul Thomas Anderson

There Will Be Blood is just one in a long line of movies that have made Paul Thomas Anderson a success, including Boogie Nights and Magnolia.

The five time Academy Award nominated film-make is back with There Will Be Blood, which stars Daniel Day Lewis and has been met with critical acclaim.

Set over a twenty year period the Will Be Blood follows Daniel Plainview (Day Lewis), who rises from a lowly silver miner to become a successful oil baron.

Following a tip from a visitor named Paul Sunday, whose family sits atop a veritable ocean of oil, Plainview travels to the town of New Boston, California, with his young son.

Sunday’s preacher brother Eli (both roles are played by the excellent Paul Dano) grudgingly accepts Plainview’s ambitions under the condition that he help fund the town church.

As Plainview’s plans come to fruition, a series of events begin to fracture the insular world he has constructed for himself, pitting Plainview against Sunday and forcing him to become even more vindictive and ruthless.

Along with No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood is the front runner at this year's Oscars with Daniel Day Lewis favourite to take Best Actor.

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

German director and screenwriter Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is the least known of the nominees in this category and as with The Lives of Other Best Picture nod is a surprise inclusion.

East Berlin, November 1984. Five years before its downfall, the former East-German government ensured its claim to power with a ruthless system of control and surveillance.

Party-loyalist Captain Gerd Wiesler hopes to boost his career when given the job of collecting evidence against the playwright Georg Dreyman and his girlfriend, the celebrated theater actress Christa-Maria Sieland.

After all, the "operation" is backed by the highest political circles. What he didn't anticipate, however, was that submerging oneself into the world of the target also changes the surveillance agent.

The immersion in the lives of others--in love, literature, free thinking and speech--makes Wiesler acutely aware of the meagerness of his own existence and opens to him a completely new way of life which he has ever more trouble resisting.

But the system, once started, cannot be stopped. A dangerous game has begun.

Tip to win BAFTA's Best Director - Joe Wright for Atonement

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw