I had really high expectations for this one, so I was a bit disappointed. Maybe if I’d gone in with no preconceived notions. Dunkirk was solid but didn’t wow me.
For me, Dunkirk was my Nolan disappointment. But even that was good, just … well… boring and not something I’m keen to rewatch.
My favorite Nolan film will always be Memento, but from there I’d go The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Inception, Batman Begins, Interstellar, The Dark Knight Rises, Dunkirk, and Insomnia.
Haven’t seen Tenet because I heard it’s kinda bad. Maybe I should so I can form my own opinion as I have a hard time imagining an outright bad Nolan film.
I was going to see Oppenheimer in theaters but something came up the day I planned to see it and I never got a chance. I’m expecting it’ll land somewhere around Memento and The Prestige right at the top.
There is also his first very indie film The Following, but it was a grainy black and white, super low budget and quite amateurish production so I have a hard time ranking it.
*EDITED to include Insomnia.
Like Memento, it is not straightforward. A challenging film to watch
I like challenging. But almost all his films are, so I’m wondering where the relatively poor (for him, anyway) critical reception came from. I actually want to see it and form my own opinion.
Oh, I forgot Insomnia (2002)! I remember it was good, but not great and an inferior remake of a foreign film. So I’d actually rank that lower than Dunkirk on my Nolan scale.
Memento is definitely the best, which is why I’ve been a little disappointed with everything that’s come since, with the exception of Oppenheimer, which is excellent. I can’t take superhero movies seriously, and I have to assume Nolan did the Batman movies for the money. The Prestige and Insomnia were decent for mainstream films. The others, aside from Dunkirk, I can take or leave.
I can’t take them seriously anymore since they have become like a soulless fast food product under Disney. But there’s a few rare ones, and The Dark Knight is as good as Michael Mann’s Heat, which it draws heavy inspiration from. It’s not the best movie ever, but it’s certainly the best comic book movie.
I mean, of course. But hopefully he was inspired to at least a little as well. Every project would be a balance between the money and passion, even his greatest hits. Just a matter of where the balance splits.
I don’t like dark knight rises very much personally. I haven’t seen tenant yet
No way. Heat is much more fun to watch. C’mon, Pacino and De Niro? The Dark Knight? The only thing I remember about it is Ledger’s performance.
Of the three it was the weakest, but for superhero movies what is better than the trilogy?
I thought the newest Batman Film was pretty close on quality though I think the ending was even worse in that one
I would however argue that it doesn’t have any of the character building and complexity that makes momento great. It has a similarly hard-wired scifi system but it’s all about the action, although it’s never entirely clear what that action is to me. Idk. It was visually fun but that was it for me
A big difference for me was the long wait after the last one (Clooney), followed by such a strong reboot.
As opposed to an unnecessarily soon reboot that deserves a Razzie for casting and cinematography!
You think Memento is a scifi movie? Definitely Tenet is less character driven and more effects/budget driven. Memento is the better film, but both are enjoyable movies!
Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino are all in contention for the title of “most overpraised director of all time”.
They’ve all got hits and misses, but undoubtedly have been influential
Say you’re a film snob without saying you’re a film snob.
It’s the weakest of that trilogy, but Hardy’s Bane saves it for me. As good as Ledger’s Joker, though I know many disagree.
Ledger’s performance in Dark Knight is better than DeNiro or Pacino in ‘Heat.’ This was during Pacino’s obnoxious over-acting period where he screamed all his lines like he was on coke all the time.
Very good, but not enough to carry the movie.
That’s part of what makes Heat so fun to watch!
That trilogy isn’t even that good.
Wow, it’s almost like people have different opinions. 
I don’t think it’s the best thing ever like some people, but it’s probably the strongest trilogy of comic book movies (an admittedly weak genre).