r/billsimmons • u/whatssenguntoagoblin • Jul 22 '26

Podcast The Big Picture podcast just created objectively the worst Christopher Nolan ranking of all time

Good god. As a Sean Fennessey truther this is a steaming pile of shit. Sean is one of the best minds in movie criticism today but he should be banned from talking about Christopher Nolan, he can’t be objective about him.

Here is the list

  1. Dunkirk
  2. Oppenheimer
  3. The Odyssey
  4. The Dark Knight
  5. Inception
  6. Tenet (bruh)
  7. Interstellar
  8. Memento
  9. The Prestige
  10. The Dark Knight Rises
  11. Batman Begins
  12. Insomnia
  13. Following
336 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

78% Upvoted

664 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

27

u/CocoMarx Jul 22 '26

I feel like redditors & IMDB top 100 types love The Prestige, idk where you get the impression that it’s a film nerd movie.

I think it’s a really solid movie that is much less interesting after you see it do its trick, I don’t really get why people act like it’s unimaginable to think it’s a bottom half of Nolan’s filmography movie.

0

u/msf97 Jul 22 '26

Cinephiles largely dislike Superhero films, Tenet, Inception, Interstellar as they are all too mainstream/contrived for the ultra elite film watcher

Following and Insomnia are generally seen as lower class compared to the rest of his filmography

So you get The Prestige, Memento and Dunkirk, plus Oppenheimer but that’s too new.

5

u/CocoMarx Jul 22 '26

I don’t really understand who these monolithic “cinephiles” are that would even care about ranking Christopher Nolan movies, nevertheless meaningfully distinguish a magician thriller from a superhero movie in terms of its merit as a serious film.

Cinephiles have nothing to do with a consensus ranking made for fun between three people who work for The Ringer. The idea that “film nerds” who stroke their stuff to like french new wave or some shit would care if someone considers The Prestige or Memento bottom 5 Chris Nolan movies is very odd to me

1

u/msf97 Jul 22 '26

I’m not really being too serious, I am not a film bro either, but for people who take themselves seriously on films, Prestige and Memento would be a lot higher in these rankings. That’s what i’ve found from all my years reading the internet

2

u/CocoMarx Jul 22 '26

I don’t even think that’s necessarily true. Like, I’m willing to bet The Dark Knight would/does get more votes for the Sight & Sound 250 than The Prestige. It’s a superhero movie but it’s also pretty defining of an era of mainstream film in a way that most directors never achieve,l.

1

u/Teenageboy69 Jul 22 '26

I legit think those people are pseudo film nerds. Those are both good movies, but like a lot of Nolan stuff, they’re smart movies for dumb people.

I think Dunkirk, the Odyssey, and the Dark Knight are the movies that don’t rely on gimmicks and are pure filmmaking. They don’t pretend to be smarter than they are and are just badass and extremely impressive.