Best of the Best: Part 4 - Christopher Nolan

[Athena]

Best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear story-telling, acclaimed writer-director Christopher Nolan has, over the course of 15 years of film-making, gone from low-budget independent films to working on some of the biggest blockbusters ever made.

But what's the best of the best when it comes to Christopher Nolan?

Doodlebug (1997)
Following (1998)
Memento (2000)
Insomnia (2002)
Batman Begins (2005)
The Prestige (2006)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Inception (2010)
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Interstellar (2014)

Vote above, discuss below 🙂

Thanks to @Mr Trick for the suggestion!

 

[GwenRaiden]

I'm a fan of his Batman films. And I really like The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, but Batman Begins is way underrated - it's the one I go back to most. In saying that, in comparison to all his other work, I like The Prestige the most. I widely consider The Prestige Nolan's masterpiece. I'm a fan of Nolan's open-ended film endings, and of them all, The Prestige is the one that made me wonder the most. There's loads of alternate theories out there, and lots of discussion on the film even ten years later. It's also one of my favourite Bale movies.

Admittedly I have not seen Doodlebug or Interstellar, though. I asked my other half what his favourite Nolan film was and he answered Interstellar without hesitation. Weirdo.

 

[HowiMetdaSlayer]

I ♥ The Dark Knight. Still the only truly great 'comic book movie'. Although, I don't like to limit it to just that, cause it's so much better than that.

 

[Mr Trick]

I'm a fan of his Batman films. And I really like The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, but Batman Begins is way underrated - it's the one I go back to most. In saying that, in comparison to all his other work, I like The Prestige the most. I widely consider The Prestige Nolan's masterpiece. I'm a fan of Nolan's open-ended film endings, and of them all, The Prestige is the one that made me wonder the most. There's loads of alternate theories out there, and lots of discussion on the film even ten years later. It's also one of my favourite Bale movies.

Admittedly I have not seen Doodlebug or Interstellar, though. I asked my other half what his favourite Nolan film was and he answered Interstellar without hesitation. Weirdo.

I really agree! TDK is great but I think has things which could be edited out or ideas which don't quite work, and I thought outside Hathaway as Cat Woman TDKR was a bit of a bore. Begins is just about perfect, love the mix of art house character stuff and impressive action scenes. Love how they explain the history. And Bale when he first appears as Batman seems the perfect choice.

Me neither. Not heard of Doodlebug. Is it a short film?

1. Memento
2. Batman Begins
3. Insomnia

The Prestige is my least favourite.

 

[vellavu]

I voted for The Prestige as well.

 

[Priceless]

I look at that list and I think that I'm obviously not a big Nolan fan because none of those films were a hit with me. So I went for The Dark Knight because it's the one I remember most clearly

 

[Mr. Pointy]

Memento for me. It was a difficult watch at first because of the reverse timeline but once I'd got used to it I was blown away. The Batman films are excellent but Memento just pips them.

 

[sk]

I really liked The Prestige and Inception too. Both good and cool movies.
Interstellar was okay so are the Batman movies was but nothing spectacular.

Don't think I've seen Doodlebug or Following.

Memento was a really fun experience to watch though and gets my vote.

/SK

 

[Fuffy Baith]

I'm a bit bias and naive when it comes to Nolan because I've only seen his Batman movies and Interstellar. So I voted for The Dark Knight. It's a solid movie. Interstellar was more ambitious but I think I think it suffers from being too long and I didn't like the ending. I thought everything in space was amazing though and I liked the concept. TDK I think is just a better script. With a few minor tweaks I think Interstellar could have been great.

 

[The Bronze]

I've only seen the Batman Trilogy and Inception. I enjoyed Inception but I love the Batman films. I voted for The Dark Knight because I was blown away first time I saw it. The Joker is such an unpredictable and dangerous villain that it puts you on edge throughout.

I could happily make an argument for Batman Begins as it's a wonderful origin story and possibly holds up better for rewatching. I rate Dark Knight Rises third but still really enjoy it. Would have been better if they hadn't ruined some big moments in the trailer. I like that the whole film feels like it's on a massive scale. Also raises some good questions about power in society. Let down a bit by the villain.

 

[Washburne]

He may be great but I'm not a big fan. Sure Memento was nice and the Batman movies are ok but that's about it. Don't remember much of The prestige and Inception wasn't for me. The rest I haven't seen. Batman begins get my vote since I enjoy it the most.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Memento is the only decent thing the man's done. Ugh.

 

[Bluebird]

I don't like his work, I find it pretentious. And imo his movies aren't as smart as they think they are. But The Dark Knight was a tight movie regardless. I can't fault it.

 

[Mr Trick]

I really liked The Prestige and Inception too. Both good and cool movies.
Interstellar was okay so are the Batman movies was but nothing spectacular.

Don't think I've seen Doodlebug or Following.

Memento was a really fun experience to watch though and gets my vote.

/SK

The Following is a cool little throw back thriller. Very much in the Hitchcock mould but a little bit more gritty. And its much shorter than most of his other films if you're of the opinion that his films drag on a bit😉

 

[Athena]

It's between Memento and The Prestige for me, but The Prestige pips it because I remember being truly blown away by that movie. I think Memento is incredibly smart film-making though.

I wasn't that impressed with either TDKR or Interstellar. I enjoyed Batman Begins and TDK though, probably Batman Begins a bit more, because Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker freaked me out a little bit too much. I have to say though, Maggie Gyllenhaal was such a better Rachel Dawes. Usually I hate when they recast, but Katie Holmes was the worst thing in an otherwise great movie.

 

[Taake]

The ones I've seen:

Memento (2000)
Saw when it came out. Have no memories of it so can't say anything about it really. I owned it on VHS once though, so maybe I really liked it?

Batman Begins (2005)
Meh

The Dark Knight (2008)
Really loved it!
Guess that answers it for me. Dark Knight it is. 🙂

 

[Mr Trick]

It's between Memento and The Prestige for me, but The Prestige pips it because I remember being truly blown away by that movie. I think Memento is incredibly smart film-making though.

I wasn't that impressed with either TDKR or Interstellar. I enjoyed Batman Begins and TDK though, probably Batman Begins a bit more, because Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker freaked me out a little bit too much. I have to say though, Maggie Gyllenhaal was such a better Rachel Dawes. Usually I hate when they recast, but Katie Holmes was the worst thing in an otherwise great movie.

Yes to this! Gyllenhaal is one of my favourite actresses (and beautiful too😛). She gave so much more dramatic weight to Rachel.

Shame no one has given any love to Insomnia. Its one of Pacino's better recent performances and I love the look of the film and storytelling.