Christopher Nolan’s Filmography Ranked: From Following to The Dark Knight to Oppenheimer

Opening Credits: This week on Live Breathe Film with Corey, Doug, and Murph…
Reviews, Recaps, and Box Office Updates: Barbenheimer has taken the world by storm so it’s time to discuss just how impressive its performance has been during its first two weeks and how it has impacted all the films around it such as Mission: Impossible and Haunted Mansion.
Feature Presentation: The Films of Christopher Nolan - Prepare for some controversial picks as our hosts go through the filmography of Christopher Nolan in chronological order ranking each film by personal preference in their own non-linear fashion. All of this leads to Live Breathe Film’s collective rankings from #12 to #1. While there are no bad films in Nolan's oeuvre, there was a clear 12th pick and a decisive 1st pick, with a couple of surprising ties towards the top of the list.
For reference, the films discussed in order of release are Following, Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, and Oppenheimer. Spoilers are abound so proceed with caution.
End Credits: Please make sure to Like, Follow, and Subscribe to Live Breathe Film!

[@Rizky-Gumilar]

People really hate Nolan nowadays

[@livebreathefilm]

Not sure if sarcasm, but it sure isn't showing from the critical acclaim, audience reception, and overall box office for Oppenheimer.

[@Sachin_C10]

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) is underrated because for the entire runtime it was engaging & entertaining, the unfortunate weak parts were how the suspension of disbelief scenes were ironed out in the screenplay in the 2nd half to become a wrap up montage rather than progression of events that most people wanted, it may not be Nolan's best, but i dont think it's his weakest, that is still Insomnia, following & dunkirk -> (which bored the hell outta me) The 1st half of TDKR was awesome, 2nd half does take some lenience & moves with scenes that are far fetched but i didn't find the movie boring one bit. The Dark Knight (2008) to be very honest, after the heist scene, the next 35 mins is just flat & boring due to how flat the scenes r staged & the terrible sound mixing of gordon & Harvey dent, the locations of Dark knight is monotonous & bland! However from the *fake batman death & the joker video threat scene* the movie picks up & doesn't stop till the end, albeit some conveniences. It would've been my #1 had the staging was more interesting by Nolan, many scenes without joker in this movie is just boring for me, being brutally honest!

[@livebreathefilm]

Love the brutal honesty! Sounds like we're all on the same page with Dunkirk and Following as those were are individual and collective bottom 2 picks. Also, agreed that The Dark Knight Rises is ultimately underrated after having followed up The Dark Knight and Inception (we all love it and one of us even likes it more than its predecessor). It's an incredibly well made film that unfortunately had to follow up Nolan's Batman film that changed the perception of comic book adaptions on film and then his first big budget original that blew people's minds.

[@Sachin_C10]

@@livebreathefilm Corey obviously loves tdkr over TDK, doug isn't a fan of it & Murph obviously put it at 9. I actually want to say I love the movie man, I love the 1st half. The 2nd half when bane starts his plan somehow the movie cuts corners to 5 months within next 30 mins & Bruce Wayne returns back to Gotham without any hints of how he did it! His return is fine (Wayne manor is not within city limits) but atleast a hint would've worked, instead he comes back & declares war by freeing the cops. Then the movie is set within 11/2 day, the timeline jump was just crammed in the movie sadly, but the movie doesn't bore one bit, unlike the dark knight 1st act. I still say dark knight edges due to the joker's terrifying act in the 2nd & 3rd act, tdkr just missed out a villain like joker, bane is great but he ain't terrifying like joker was in TDK, I'm happy though Bruce Wayne got to live his life, as he's been wanting to move on since the dark knight with Rachel. The worst part of the dark knight is easily the sound mixing, Gordon & dent I couldn't hear properly what they're speaking. Tdkr obviously fixes sound issues & actually is staged better than the dark knight.

[@livebreathefilm]

@@Sachin_C10 This has been Murph speaking. Sound mixing has almost always been a notorious issue for Nolan films (he says it's a choice of his and then there is the issue of the loud IMAX cameras he uses). I personally had more issues with the sound in Rises (specifically some of Bane's dialogue), Tenet (random dialogue throughout), and Oppenheimer than I did with TDK. Doug referenced needing to watch Tenet with subtitles. As for ranking Rises #9, it's strictly due to the number of bangers in Nolan's filmography. Other than my 10-12 picks, every film from 1-9 including Rises has been rated 5/5 Stars on my Letterboxd account. Just had to make some tough choices. I love each of those nine films despite each of their individual flaws which I can't help but dissect and poke fun at (particularly The Dark Knight Trilogy). Ultimately, I don't believe Nolan went into Rises with the enthusiasm he went into TDK with and it shows the most in the rushed third act. Thankfully the epilogue after Batman's sacrifice is pitch perfect (depending on how you feel about Robin's name being shoehorned in).

[@Sachin_C10]

@@livebreathefilm Yeah I understand Murph & I do agree the denouement was rushed & the final battle doesn't feel right because the expectations was that both batman & bane fight till death but we get that scene with Talia😶😒. Bane is instructed not to kill him, but he denies her orders anyways & tries to kill him only to die in such a lame way (to become a joke of No guns & no killing early in the movie). I'll tell u why I felt the sound issue with TDK, The opening scene where Chechen (mob gangster) & scarecrow are making shady deal, Chechen voice accent is inaudible to understand, Rachel's dialogue with dent while walking towards dent office after the court scene, the 1st time Gordon meets dent in his office, I swear literally couldn't understand what both were murmuring, the boring dinner scene with dent speaking about French revolution, The dull & snoozefest hong kong extraction scene of lau on how its edited, staged & executed, we need to keep up what they're planning, The mayor inaudible dialogue when speaking with dent in his office (before the fake batman jump scare death scene), Batman's annoying growl voice throughout the movie, (thankfully next movie wasn't as annoying like this movie) Alfred dialogue in Wayne tower when speaking to Bruce Wayne (before the joker videocam scene). I can go on how poorly shot the film is, barring the beautiful IMAX shots in dark knight, the cinematography is really bad (Chicago locations suck), batman begins had a better looking gotham & even tdkr cinematography was mind blowing (despite the inconsistent gotham) There was no sound mixing issue in tdkr like TDK (maybe I can agree sometimes bane's voice can be like wait what?!) But I didn't face any issues at all, the movie was better staged & edited, didn't bore one second like TDK 1st act but i can't disagree the tdkr 2nd half is rushed like a wrap up montage rather than progression of events.

[@livebreathefilm]

@@Sachin_C10 The inconsistency of Gotham's look in Nolan's trilogy (and even in the two Burton films let alone what Schumacher did when taking over for Burton) will never not be funny. Each of Nolan's Gotham's have their own charms with Begins definitely being the one that feels most like its own city vs Chicago or Pittsburgh. As for the sound, perhaps we have greater sensitivity to higher or lower frequencies. But yes, Bale started to go way too far with his Bat-voice from his first scene in TDK ("I'm not wearing hockey pads") to the Joker interrogation, and then all the way to his final conversations with both Joker and Gordon.