There’s literally no reason I’m doing this except I feel like it.
10. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES–it pains me to say this, but this film that I desperately love is riddled with flaws. Not the flaws you THINK it has, most of your nit-picky “plot hole” critiques are wrong (don’t even get @ me with “why don’t the police have beards,” watch more carefully). Its real problem is emotional. It’s a jumbled mess of plot arcs: Batman is retired, then UN-retired, then he’s knocked out of commission, then he’s back IN commission, then he retires again; not exactly a nice clean arc, there, Chris. Also, Bane would’ve been a million times more interesting if he actually believed his “topple the rich” message, and the Talia twist was about as surprising as Mitch McConnell’s Senate voting record (read: not at all). And finally, that climax with the multiple Batmobiles is the moment Chris Nolan’s “we do it all real” ethos finally backfired and produced an action scene that is turgid and lame. And the “Clean Slate” thing wins the ward for clumiest, stupidest exposition ever.
BUT!
It’s still better than 99 percent of superhero movies. The Bane sewer fight. Everything about Selina Kyle. The huge, “Doctor Zhivago” street brawl. The tear-jerking finale. Bane in general. There’s so much to love here. But also a lot to hate. It’s a complex web of great and terrible. I suspect Nolan didn’t really want to do another Batman movie, so he shoe-horned a bunch of other stuff in. Everyone should still see it.
9. INTERSTELLAR—Hoo boy. I have a… complex relationship with this movie. I love so so so many things about it. I HATE so many other things. Every single scene in this thing, I’m either swooning with joy or throwing something at the screen, nothing in between. I adore the accurate space travel. The time dilation. The wave planet. The gorgeous cinematography. The astonishing score. The heart-rending Murph-Cooper relationship.
But then you have the unnecessary plot twists (NASA really don’t behave like this). Jessica Chastain’s whole storyline (no offense to her, she does what she can). The Anne Hathaway “love” speech. Everything post-black hole. Topher Grace doing… something? Casey Affleck. Everything that happens on Earth after the expedition leaves.
Like “Rises,” “Interstellar” is a mess of astonishing ambition and beauty and total wrongheadedness. It gets more points because it’s an original IP, but it’s basically equivalent to “Rises” for quality.
8. FOLLOWING–For its budget, “Following” is incredible, but it’s obviously not gonna stand toe to toe with modern Nolan. If you’re into indie cinema, you should really watch this bizarre, fascinating, micro-budget noir.
7. INSOMNIA–From here on out, we’re ranking classics. “Insomnia” is a haunting modern noir with career-best performances from Al Pacino and Robin Williams. A modern classic that improves on the film it’s remaking in every way. Its only sin is being a conventional, by-the-numbers modern thriller, and in Nolan’s filmography, that’s unusually safe.
6. THE PRESTIGE–A great movie about dueling magicians in the late 19th century. Suck it, “The Illusionist.” Infinitely rewatchable with career-best performances from Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. The twists are either too obtuse or too obvious, but still fun. I withhold a few points because the timeline-shuffling goes a little overboard. At one point, we watch Hugh Jackman read a diary entry about Christian Bale reading a diary entry of Hugh Jackman’s. Come on, man.
5. BATMAN BEGINS–Batman was a joke, and then Chris Nolan got his hands on him, and he wasn’t anymore. The best superhero origin story ever made. The twist concerning Liam Neeson still blows my mind. That Batmobile was so sexy I thought I was gonna die. I dock a few points for the garbage, shaky-cam fight scenes.
4. DUNKIRK–A war film remixed as a survival thriller, basically inventing a new genre. The aerial dogfighting makes “Top Gun” look like “2 Fast 2 Furious.” They sank actual ships, AT Dunkirk. Some people said they couldn’t understand the dialog, apparently not comprehending that “Dunkirk” is essentially a silent film for the modern era. A classic.
3. MEMENTO–The entire movie goes freaking BACKWARDS. Backwards. He made a backwards movie, while you were probably ordering Domino’s and complaining online about “Star Wars.” Guy Pearce, Carrie-Ann Moss and Joey Pants (can’t be bothered spelling that last name) are all amazing. If you haven’t seen it, I’d recommend carving out the time.
2. INCEPTION–Objectively, the best movie Chris Nolan ever made. I dock him two points for under-using Ellen Page, and not having Batman. Other than that, “Inception” is mind-bendingly perfect. And if you have a problem with it, I’ve seen it more than you and you’re wrong. I’m just kidding, you can not like it, but it’s hard to deny its a unique, singular piece of cinema.
1. THE DARK KNIGHT–Do I really have to explain it to you?