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Your top 5 Christopher Nolan movies

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
I've been going through a handful of Christopher Nolan movies this summer, and I think my top 5 is going to be a lot different than most people. After rewatching Interstellar, The Prestige, Dunkirk, Tenet, Memento, Inception all since the new year(and the Batmans back in 2021), my opinions have changed on several of his movies. Some I enjoyed more than I initially remembered, and some I didn't enjoy quite as much. Here's my ranking.

1. The Prestige. I loved everything about it. The atmosphere, the time jumps back and forth in which the movie took place. Also I am fascinated with magic, and rivalries and it had both. Love how the movie itself was structured like a magic act, and how little things were hiding in plain sight and you didn't notice until the ending.

2. Inception. Not the most emotional of his films, but I don't care, it was a visual spectacle and I have a fascination with dreams so it really resonated with me. Amazing soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, keeps you on the edge of your seat for so much of the movie. Some movies don't need to be the most philosophical, they just need to be tense, fun, and full of amazing action and visuals. I could watch this a thousand times and never be bored of it.

3. Interstellar. This is one I enjoy more and more on each viewing. It wasn't in my top 5 when I first saw it. The more I watch it, the more I like it. It's probably Nolan's most emotional movie. Makes you think more than any other of his movies IMO. I love space and time and thinking about all the layers this movie has, and the performances by Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway(where's she been btw?). Mind blowing visuals on top of it.

4. Memento. This was higher up until the past year. I still like it a lot, but not quite as much. Still have it ranked in my top 5 because of how unique it is, and the twists and turns the movie has to offer.

5. Dunkirk. Some people I talked to didn't like this movie that much. I loved it. Simple story, taking place in multiple time scenarios. I loved how simple and grounded it was compared to most of his movies, but I thought it kept my on the edge of my seat the entire movie. It basically felt like the movie was one act. Barely gave you time to breathe. Love the end parts with Tom Hardy.

Other notables: I thought Tenet was great too. Enjoyed it more on second viewing. Again, Nolan's obsession with time. Even more mind bending than Interstellar and Memento, but felt so over the top that it lost a tiny something for me to make the top 5.

The Dark Knight: it's a great movie, don't get me wrong. I'm sure this is many people's #1 for Nolan, but maybe it's just because I'm so bored of super hero movies, I wasn't nearly as into it when I saw it last year as I was the first couple times I saw it. Great performances, but I just enjoy many of his other movies more. They make me think more, and explore subjects that have always been an obsession of mine that a movie about a comic book super hero simply can't match.
 
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Going to have to go with

Tenet
The dark knight
Interstellar
Inception
Batman begins

And most of the rest following closely behind with dark knight rises at the tale (Batman give up, never !!! That’s like Luke skywalker giving up 🙈)

Special shout out to the prestige, just a classy movie in almost all areas
 

dr_octagon

Banned
And if I have to pick a 5th it would be Interstellar but I fucking hate that overrated movie.
Love is a flat circle that transcends time brah.
Matthew Mcconaughey Crying GIF
 
1) The Dark Knight
2) Interstellar
3) Batman Begins
4) The Dark Knight Rises
5) Inception

I'm in the camp of thinking he's good-not-great. The dude makes 8 out of 10/three out of four star movies movies like none other.

Anybody else hoping they recruit him hard for the next James Bond movie?
 
Love is a flat circle that transcends time brah.
Matthew Mcconaughey Crying GIF
Just about all his movies have elements of magical realism. Think about it: Prestige had some with the ending twist (steampunk tech). Inception is built around it. Same with his Batman trilogy.

Just because the magical realism is usually nihilistic sci-fi stuff, it gets a pass, but as soon as Interstellar tries to make a grand point about love it's cringe? Whatever, I thought it was cute.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Following
Memento
Insomnia
The Prestige
Inception
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight Rises
Interstellar
Dunkirk
Tenet


What an oeuvre.

If pressed, I could maybe shave off Insomnia for being the most conventional of the bunch, but even that is an excellent thriller. And I'm reluctant to cross off Following, since it is an exceptionally well-made $6000 budget film.

Too much love to narrow down to only five.
 

dr_octagon

Banned
What an oeuvre.
I thought this was French for eggs.

Insomnia was well made but more for the performances of Williams and Pacino, I wouldn't put it as top of the Nolan list.

Prestige has Bowie which makes it even better.
Batman and Interstellar are goat tier, the score and cinematography are unmatched.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
The Dark Knight
Inception
Memento
Batman Begins
The Prestige

Probably. For me it's TDK and Inception and then a bit of a gap but I like basically everything he's done. I think TDKR is probably his worst and even that's fun.
 

Jennings

Member
I have not seen Following or Dunkirk. My list as follows, no particular order:

Insomnia
I have no complaints about this movie and thoroughly enjoyed it when it first hit theaters. It was the first creeper role I'd seen Robin Williams play and made me rush out to see Williams in One Hour Photo when it arrived the following year.

Tenet
I wish Christopher Nolan's brother had written this. While Christopher Nolan is good at trying to fit high-concept sci-fi elements into a story, his brother Jonathan Nolan is better at inserting the twisty-turny human elements. This movie leaned in a little too far towards the spectacle/gimmick compared to the people involved, but I still have a good time with it every time I rewatch it.

Without getting too spoilery, if I had one complaint it would be how temporary the changes are to the timeline, as explained by having time be a "river" that smooths over inconsistencies when backward people are essentially "pissing up wind." That's too easy an excuse for why certain things like bullet holes will appear/disappear out of nowhere even though they should have been there for eternity, and honestly makes the whole premise of the movie fall apart for me.

Loved the soundtrack, and putting the puzzle pieces together. And Pattinson was by far a better Bruce Wayne in this movie than The Batman's concept of him.

The Dark Knight
Honestly, Heath Ledger's Joker single-handedly saved this film. On first viewing this is a bloated fast-moving convoluted mess, at least it was in theaters when I couldn't pause and catch up to what was happening. But every single second Ledger's Joker is on screen the movie was elevated to god tier. It was Joker's scenes alone that has caused me to rewatch the film so many times and to gain so much more appreciation for everything else happening in the film. Nowadays it's among my favorite Nolan movies, but I admit it was only through repetition that I could learn to fully appreciate it.

Memento
Great movie beginning to end, but one I didn't see until long after I was familiar with Nolan's style of story telling. Because of this I had an easier time keeping up with what was happening. The lead actor was genuinely perfect for this role, and I honestly haven't seen him in much (or anything good) since, which seems a shame. I really love some of the philosophical exploration done in this movie. And while there are no good people in this film, Carrie-Anne Moss's character is wholly loathsome from start to finish.

Interstellar
i really appreciate this film introducing many concepts to the general masses, like various causes of time dilation, and the bootstrap paradox. It has some good twists, some fantastic scenery, and a great resolution, but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out how flat out dumb some of the non-terrestrial environments were, compared to the pain-staking detail put into rendering and presenting a massive black hole and its various effects on screen. These environments help move the story to where Nolan wanted it to go, but even ignoring the man-made tesseract as presented on screen, the extra-solar worlds themselves were just unrealistic for supposedly being natural constructs. But all that and Anne Hathaway's idiotic proposal of a Love dimension aside, this was a great experience.
 
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1) The Dark Knight
2) Interstellar
3) Batman Begins
4) The Dark Knight Rises
5) Inception

I'm in the camp of thinking he's good-not-great. The dude makes 8 out of 10/three out of four star movies movies like none other.

Anybody else hoping they recruit him hard for the next James Bond movie?

Bond 28: No Time To Rise
 

FunkMiller

Member
The Dark Knight remains his best movie, with Inception second. I don’t see that ever changing as he was at the height of his abilities in that period, but wasn’t so successful that every one of his whims was catered for by the studio.

His five best movies are The Dark Knight, Inception, Dunkirk, Memento & The Prestige.

My personal favourites are Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Inception, Dunkirk, Interstellar.

His worst film is The Dark Knight Rises.

He remains probably the best director working today.
 
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Konnor

Member
Interstellar
The Prestige
Memento
The Dark Knight
Inception



Tenet
I wish Christopher Nolan's brother had written this. While Christopher Nolan is good at trying to fit high-concept sci-fi elements into a story, his brother Jonathan Nolan is better at inserting the twisty-turny human elements. This movie leaned in a little too far towards the spectacle/gimmick compared to the people involved, but I still have a good time with it every time I rewatch it.

Nice, someone else noticed. Christopher Nolan seems like he's not even bothering with the characters and it keeps getting worse with every movie he writes. I like my movies to be character driven which is why I disliked Tenet so much which imo is the worst Nolan movie this far, and not just because of the characters that were empty husks but because of how needlessly convoluted and gimmicky the movie was. Can't blame people that like this stuff though, weird scifi concepts themselves are often very interesting
 

thefool

Member
Hmm
Prestige (one of the nicest editing in movies)
Memento (unique mix of craftiness, creativity and moodiness)
Interstellar (its just so grandiose and operatic)
Begins (the first hour it's almost like a motivational reel)
Inception/TDK (some of the most inventive big budget cinema wrapped into thrilling experiences)
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
1) Interstellar
2) Inception
3) TDK
4) Batman Begins
5) Dunkirk

Prestige didnt click with me, but i have come to appreciate it more over the years. Insomnia was simply decent, and Memento felt heartless. I enjoyed all three movies but they arent incredible like his other movies. Picked Dunkirk over Tenet because Tenet is also lacking something. Nolan's movies feel almost robotic. IIRC, Dicaprio had Nolan put in the bits about the kids in Inception otherwise Nolan was making it a straight up heist movie. You can see it in Tenet. I LOVE Interstellar because of the father daughter angle and Nolan not being afraid to embrace emotion over getting bogged down by the technical details. Funnily enough, interstellar is ripped by everyone for precisely the thing I love it for.
 

Mr Hyde

Member
1. The Prestige
2. Interstellar
3. Memento
4. Inception
5. Insomnia

Shout out to Tenet, that film was absolute bonkers in terms of high concept sci fi, but it was too convoluted in the end, even for a Nolan flick, so I didn't enjoy it as much as his previous work.
 

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
I havent seen Memento and Insomnia in a long time so its hard for me to rank those.

But I would say Prestige is a def number 1 for me.
 

F0rneus

Tears in the rain
Following
Memento
Insomnia
The Prestige
Inception
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight Rises
Interstellar
Dunkirk
Tenet


What an oeuvre.

If pressed, I could maybe shave off Insomnia for being the most conventional of the bunch, but even that is an excellent thriller. And I'm reluctant to cross off Following, since it is an exceptionally well-made $6000 budget film.

Too much love to narrow down to only five.
Ok now I really need to know why you rate Begins over TDK. Begins is amazing don't get me wrong, but the TDK is THE Batman movie and not just because of Heath Ledger. In terms of direction, acting, soundtrack....everything goes to TDK in my opinion. The Dent arc is just perfect in every way.
 

Fbh

Member
Inception
TDK
Prestige
Memento
Interstellar

Would have to watch Insomnia again as I only saw it once a long time ago
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Ok now I really need to know why you rate Begins over TDK. Begins is amazing don't get me wrong, but the TDK is THE Batman movie and not just because of Heath Ledger. In terms of direction, acting, soundtrack....everything goes to TDK in my opinion. The Dent arc is just perfect in every way.
I was listing all of his feature films. It wasn't in ranked order. :messenger_smiling_with_eyes:
 

bender

What time is it?
Prestige seems right up ally because of the subject matter and time period but it just does nothing for me. Maybe I hate Hugh Jackman. Momento is probably the only movie of his I love. Heath Ledger crushes the Joker but Bale as Batman doesn't work for me. The 1st and 2nd movie are fine, the 3rd Batman movie is bad. Similarly, casting is my issue with Inception. JGL will always be the kid from 3rd Rock From The Sun and I can't unsee it. I've never been able to finish Interstellar but that's not surprising, Sci Fi just isn't my thing. Dunkirk is admirable but the scale is completely wrong. I appreciate the lack of CG but it just feels too small.

Insomnia is with Robin Williams right? I'm not sure I've ever seen it.
 
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MaestroMike

Gold Member
1. The Dark Knight
2. Batman Begins

I have either TDK and Batman Begins on weekly as background noise lol I don't really fukk with the other movies
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
I think Nolan does make amazing movies and isn’t overrated, but I also think that Hans Zimmer should get so much credit for making the moments in every movie pop. Hans Zimmer’s music made Interstellar 10 times more emotional than it would’ve been otherwise and made Inception so amazingly epic just with his music alone. Those two are a juggernaut pairing. I haven’t checked to see who is composing for Oppenheimer, I hope its Zimmer.
 
Probably Inception
Interstellar
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight Rises
Tenet
The Prestige

I really enjoyed Tenet though, could easily be in my top 3. It just has a cool style, it’s a vibe
 

Trunx81

Member
1. Batman Begins
After the Schumacher-Era, this was the movie we needed. Sure it has its flaws, but it’s Batman done right on so many levels. The build up, the setting, the actors - it just felt like Nolan was taking the character serious.
2. Inception
The bondiest not-Bond movie, also with a great cast, an amazing concept and a soundtrack that keeps you on the edge of your seat
3. Tenet
Heard so many things about it, that it’s hard to follow, difficult to understand - until I finally saw it and it was just soooo good. The part when he steps into the backwards world is pure cinema, with the birds and the water puddle. When everything clicks and you got the puzzle together - breathtaking!
4. Prestige
Clever, witty and with the best Tesla-impersonation ever. The scene on the field with the lights, or all the foreshadowing that you’ll only understand if you watched the movie more than once.
 

German Hops

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
As I said before a thousand times, I can't choose from all of Nolan's movies a single one as my favorite.

But if we consider all the parts of a film, I mean not only the story but also the direction, the script, the photography, the visuals, the set, the actors, etc., then my favorite is definitely The Dark Knight.
 

BLAUcopter

Gold Member
1) Interstellar
2) Inception
3) TDK
4) Batman Begins
5) Dunkirk

Prestige didnt click with me, but i have come to appreciate it more over the years. Insomnia was simply decent, and Memento felt heartless. I enjoyed all three movies but they arent incredible like his other movies. Picked Dunkirk over Tenet because Tenet is also lacking something. Nolan's movies feel almost robotic. IIRC, Dicaprio had Nolan put in the bits about the kids in Inception otherwise Nolan was making it a straight up heist movie. You can see it in Tenet. I LOVE Interstellar because of the father daughter angle and Nolan not being afraid to embrace emotion over getting bogged down by the technical details. Funnily enough, interstellar is ripped by everyone for precisely the thing I love it for.
My top 5 also, in the same order.

Bring on Oppenheimer!!!
 
1. Memento
2. Inception
3. The Dark Knight
4. The Prestige
5. Batman Begins

I love all 5 of these movies and hate everything post-Inception. He's travelling further up his own ass with each successive movie. I do appreciate his passion for practical effects though.
 

kurisu_1974

is on perm warning for being a low level troll
Not a fan of his at all. Think most of his stuff is boring and pretentious, trying to be a lot smarter than it is. Tenet kind of proves that point.

I only really liked two of his movies, and one I really loved.

1. Memento
2. The Prestige

Don't understand what people see in his Batman movies, and as a big sci-fi fan i really hated Interstellar.
 

Shubh_C63

Member
Interstellar
Dark Knight
The Prestige
Inception
Memento

Good movie and what I like are different list.
The Prestige is his best movie yet but I can't get enough of Interstellar. that soundtrack.
 
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