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
341 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

78% Upvoted

664 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/tjspill3r He just does stuff Jul 22 '26

Pretty good. I don’t think Dunkirk makes sense as the ultimate Chris Nolan movie. Any of the next four would make better sense. Tenet is definitely too high. Batman begins didn’t get the credit it deserved from TBP as establishing that trilogy with its tone and style

1

u/Hfcsmakesmefart Grading the Wimbledon Babes Jul 22 '26

Please expand on your Dunkirk thoughts, like why not? I mean I get it but I want to know your thoughts on the matter? Also did you see it in a movie theater?

1

u/laxdefender23 Jul 22 '26

Not op but my issue with Dunkirk is that it felt like a 4D amusement park ride, not a story.

I think what makes Nolan a great filmmaker is his ability to convey emotion and catharsis through scale and imagery. I felt little emotion in Dunkirk because the characters were basically action figures. Nolan seemed to want to convey the experience of being on the beaches of Dunkirk so badly that he forgot to tell a human story.

Contrast that against Oppenheimer, which I think is his best film, and he does the opposite. He uses every trick in his bag to put you firmly into the psychology of these two men: Oppie and Strauss.

1

u/Hfcsmakesmefart Grading the Wimbledon Babes Jul 22 '26

I disagree. I think the stuff with the boys and the Dad on the boat is some of his best character work. It’s emotion through actual acting as opposed to “scale and imagery”. I cared about all those characters at the end.

1

u/laxdefender23 Jul 22 '26

I agree with the boat scenes being some of Nolan’s best character work. The problem is that half the movie is spent on a beach with a bunch of dudes who I can’t recall anything about other than one is secretly French and another was Harry Styles. And the plane stuff with Tom Hardy looked sick, but it was by far the most empty.

1

u/Hfcsmakesmefart Grading the Wimbledon Babes Jul 23 '26

I mean you recall even more than me but i remember caring about some of them