Best Christopher Nolan Movie?

[Deimos 100]

I'm just gonna keep doing this director series of topics! At first glance the easy choice is The Dark Knight but once you remember the other movies Nolan has done it's not quite as clear which movie is his best.

[Galeigh 308]

Still The Dark Knight for me. 

[Nairn Smoith 73]

Memento-Insomnia-Batman Begins-The Prestige-Dark Knight... that is a crazy streak of great movies.

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

You forgot Heat.

 

Oh, wait...

[webhead 519]

29 minutes ago, Nairn Smoith said:

Memento-Insomnia-Batman Begins-The Prestige-Dark Knight... that is a crazy streak of great movies.

 

I have no idea how I'm going to choose between those.  I really can't pick. 

[Deimos 100]

23 minutes ago, Psycho666soldier said:

You forgot Heat.

 

Oh, wait...

 

Is there a joke in there that I'm missing? Lol. I should do Michael Mann though.

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

13 minutes ago, Deimos said:

 

Is there a joke in there that I'm missing? Lol. I should do Michael Mann though.

Nolan was influenced by Heat and Michael Mann films when he made Dark Knight.  There are even some visual nods and whatnot.

[Downshift 54]

Dark Knight for sure, but 2nd place is where it gets dicey.

Memento, The Prestige, Inception and Interstellar are all phenomenal...

 

 

The thing with The Prestige was that I saw it and The Illusionist the same day and probably back to back, so it didn't stand out as much against that level of competition.

[Vic Boss 612]

Dark Knight, I've only seen his Batman movies

[webhead 519]

I have to give it to TDK.

 

Very close after that between Memento, The Prestige, and Inception.

[Deimos 100]

I've always been an avid fan of dreams and stories about dreams. Inception is my favorite Nolan movie.

[webhead 519]

These topics make me want to go watch a bunch of movies again lol.  I've got the TMNT movies on Blu-ray, just saw a deal on the og Batman movies, got the Nolan ones in 4k, I of course own nearly all the Tarantino movies... Not enough time god damn it lol.

[Tassifox 418]

So not surprised The Dark Knight is in the lead. But considering that I worked with a magician and the thrill of magic Prestige is mah vote! Also because Hugh Jackman and David Bowie

[webhead 519]

There's really no wrong answer here but yeah, it's not surprising TDK is winning.

[Galeigh 308]

I actually don't like Nolan's directing style. I find it boring and tedious for the most part. The Batman Trilogy is carried by the actors involved more so than the director's vision. 

 

In fact, I lay a good portion of the blame for DC movie failures on his shoulders. His "let's cut out the "comicy" stuff" approach neutered every IP that wasn't Batman, but because it was so successful money wise WB made it the defacto approach for all DC movies. 

[Nairn Smoith 73]

10 minutes ago, Galeigh said:

I actually don't like Nolan's directing style. I find it boring and tedious for the most part. The Batman Trilogy is carried by the actors involved more so than the director's vision. 

 

In fact, I lay a good portion of the blame for DC movie failures on his shoulders. His "let's cut out the "comicy" stuff" approach neutered every IP that wasn't Batman, but because it was so successful money wise WB made it the defacto approach for all DC movies. 

 

I think this is a great take, honestly. I’ve grown tired of watching Nolan’s movies ever since Inception. 

[webhead 519]

40 minutes ago, Galeigh said:

In fact, I lay a good portion of the blame for DC movie failures on his shoulders. His "let's cut out the "comicy" stuff" approach neutered every IP that wasn't Batman, but because it was so successful money wise WB made it the defacto approach for all DC movies. 

 

That's Goyer more than it is Nolan, I think.  That and Zack Snyder.  Have you ever read or listened to anything that idiot says?  In case you were under the illusion he learned something from the shitty DC movies he made:

 

https://comicbook.com/dc/2019/03/24/superman-batman-kill-dawn-of-justice-man-of-steel-zack-snyder/

[Deimos 100]

He's not wrong. Everyone turns a blind eye to just how violent those two can be and the damage they cause. If you believe they have never killed someone and won't do it again, you're pretty wrong. Accidents happen. Something things can't be avoided. 

 

Also, 300/Watchmen/Dawn of the Dead are all great. 

[webhead 519]

8 minutes ago, Deimos said:

He's not wrong. Everyone turns a blind eye to just how violent those two can be and the damage they cause. If you believe they have never killed someone and won't do it again, you're pretty wrong. Accidents happen. Something things can't be avoided. 

 

Also, 300/Watchmen/Dawn of the Dead are all great. 

 

Man of Steel was okay, BvS was fucking awful, and Justice League only marginally better than BvS.  He has made great movies that suit his style.  He's not a completely incompetent director.  It's like when Bendis takes a character and just does whatever the hell he wants with the character and everyone gets super fucking mad.  Yes, he's a good writer, but he's also stubborn as hell sometimes.

 

And yes, I understand what he's saying but it doesn't quite jive with the murderous Batman in BvS.  It just doesn't.  The Batman of the comics doesn't kill necessarily out of a moral code completely right?  That idea has been explored to death.  It comes down to the fact that he's not quite right in the head and starting to murder people like the Punisher would not do well for his sanity (aren't they exploring that concept right now with a Punisher Batman from the dark universe or whatever?).

[Deimos 100]

Except you're seeing an end of career Batman that's lost everyone. I believe he didn't start that way, but at this point...he does kill. I'm guessing after the Joker ruined him.

[webhead 519]

That could be one way of looking at it.  That's a terrible choice for the Batman that joins the Justice League after all the new heroes appear.  That Batman is the Dark Knight Returns Fank Miller Batman.  That's a fun elseworlds story but as an in universe Batman, it's really hard to get behind.  I know he said he was going for Frank Miller too and I was worried when I heard that.  It was well founded fear.  DKR Batman is fucking crazy.

 

I would love to see them just make a DKR movie as an elseworlds concept.  THAT would be fun.

 

Hell Snyder could probably direct that.  It would suit his style perfectly.  Just keep him away from the not crazy as balls superheroes (another reason he did Watchmen so well...it fits his style beautifully).

[Garlic Junior 136]

Following - Have not seen.

 

Memento - Gets my vote but I think his brother deserves far more credit. Everyone focuses on the gimmick of the black & white vs colour, forward/backward dual narrative shit but forgot that the STORY strength enabled the direction of the film and not vice versa.

 

Insomnia - Can't even remember if I've seen.

 

Batman Begins - If this was the only movie in the Batman trilogy it would be heralded as a classic but is sadly overshadowed. Still great. Would argue it for top three.

 

The Prestige - Again, gets overshadowed by Memento for the "ole switcharoo" gimmick movie of his filmography but I'd also put this in the fight for third.

 

The Dark Knight - Second best movie in this criteria, but a contender for GOAT movie and the death of Heath Ledger tragically gives it that extra mystique. An actual FORCE of a performance that drags the rest of the movie kicking and screaming along behind him, if his portrayal of The Joker isn't the single greatest performance of all time it is certainly in the conversation. Everyone else does their part well, and by well I mean far more than average, but a great Two-Face is always going to be diminished alongside a GODLY Joker.

 

Inception - Loved it on first viewing. Confused, but loved it. Second viewing I enjoyed half the characters less. I mean, Michael Caine isn't his character, he is clearly Caine in a Nolan film. Ellen Page is just "Ellen Page". And repeated viewings strip away everyone until your left with, upon the fifth or sixth viewing, only Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy feeling like characters and not paid actors. The beginning of style over substance Nolan.

 

The Dark Knight Rises - Bane was incredible. That opening was incredible. Various scenes were incredible. That twist was... weird. Scarecrow officiating court proceedings was.... weird. On repeated viewings, the extras not connecting with their punches was.... weird. I'm being taken out of the movie again. Help.

 

Interstellar - Okay, I'm liking the performances. But suddenly he's went from a field to some weird government meeting where they have determined HE is humanity's last hope. Why? Because it's in the script. Okay, time is working weird now. Why? Because it's in the script. Matt Damon is here now. Why? In the script. Funny robot? Script. Weird ending? Script. Sloppy seconds from 2001? Script. Moral of the story? Script.

 

Dunkirk - And we arrive at the pinnacle of "style over substance" Nolan that began with Inception. This, and I say this with a straight face, is a movie made by a film lover for lovers of film. It exists purely because Nolan wants it to exist. It is the equivalent of James Cameron making Titanic because he wanted to fuck around with underwater cameras. Christopher Nolan envisaged a tight shot of Tom Hardy flying a plane and built the entire film around that one scene making it to theatres for movie buffs to masturbate over. It is not BAD and its existence is not having a negative impact on the world, but it is art rather than entertainment and it may be an objectively "good" "movie", it is not going to be his "best" and comes across surprisingly soulless.

 

tl;dr I fucking love Nolan's films even if everything since Inception is a "one and done" and everything before it is "rewatch these fucking glorious nuggets of gold every week for three years".

[Galeigh 308]

1 hour ago, webhead said:

 

That's Goyer more than it is Nolan, I think.  That and Zack Snyder.  Have you ever read or listened to anything that idiot says?  In case you were under the illusion he learned something from the shitty DC movies he made:

 

https://comicbook.com/dc/2019/03/24/superman-batman-kill-dawn-of-justice-man-of-steel-zack-snyder/

I didn't say Nolan was completely to blame, but that his approach is what led to the Snyder-verse bollacks we got. Suits told Snyder to make it like Nolan's movies and he did so, without even stopping to think whether or not he should. 

[Deimos 100]

For the record @Garlic Junior

 

Scarecrow wasn't supposed to be officiating that court. It was originally supposed to be Joker. We know why it became Scarecrow.

[Garlic Junior 136]

I know, I was going to sidebar something but felt I was beginning to rant which wasn't my intention.

[Downshift 54]

2 hours ago, Garlic Junior said:

Interstellar - Okay, I'm liking the performances. But suddenly he's went from a field to some weird government meeting where they have determined HE is humanity's last hope. Why? Because it's in the script. Okay, time is working weird now. Why? Because it's in the script. Matt Damon is here now. Why? In the script. Funny robot? Script. Weird ending? Script. Sloppy seconds from 2001? Script. Moral of the story? Script.

Now I'm going to change my vote to Interstellar.

The science in this was solid AF, whether it landed with viewers or not.

[Garlic Junior 136]

I don't dispute the science, but the story beats were jarring as fuck.

[Galeigh 308]

47 minutes ago, Garlic Junior said:

I don't dispute the science, but the story beats were jarring as fuck.

That's Nolan in a nutshell right there. He is really good at technical aspects, but terrible at anything abstract. His movies are like a robot's attempt at human emotion.