{"id":2452,"date":"2014-11-07T15:29:36","date_gmt":"2014-11-07T15:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.3.178\/?p=2452"},"modified":"2014-11-07T15:29:36","modified_gmt":"2014-11-07T15:29:36","slug":"to-celebrate-the-release-of-interstellar-here-are-our-5-favourite-christopher-nolan-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/2014\/11\/07\/to-celebrate-the-release-of-interstellar-here-are-our-5-favourite-christopher-nolan-movies\/","title":{"rendered":"To celebrate the release of Interstellar, here are our 5 favourite Christopher Nolan movies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Interstellar<\/em> is released today, and it\u2019s fair to say we\u2019re pretty excited.<\/p>\n<p>The first reason is that it looks like a genuinely brilliant movie, with an incredible cast headed up by a top-of-his-game Matthew McConaughey.<\/p>\n<p>The second is that it\u2019s directed by Christopher Nolan, a director who &#8211; in our heads &#8211; can do no wrong. Nolan can always be relied upon to conjure up something epic that gets you thinking as well.<\/p>\n<p>So, to celebrate the release of <em>Interstellar<\/em>, and satisfy our own Nolan fanboy leanings, here are 5 of best movies from one of Britain\u2019s greatest directors.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Batman Begins<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vak9ZLfhGnQ\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/comicsalliance.com\/supermovies-this-is-what-the-next-few-years-of-your-life-looks-like-infographic\/\">this infographic<\/a>, there are going to be 39 new superhero movies released between now and 2020 &#8211; roughly 7 per year. Superheroes are the dominant force in the movie industry, and we\u2019ve got one movie to thank for it: <em>Batman Begins<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Batman Begins<\/em> introduced us to the idea that movie superheroes don\u2019t just have to be goody two-shoes who spent their days saving the world; they\u2019re real people with flaws who just happen to have a relatively decent set of morals.<\/p>\n<p>Nolan\u2019s Batman is an angry, troubled young man whose sole aim is to avenge the murder of his parents. He doesn\u2019t just suddenly decide to take on the world for the good of the people; there\u2019s even a bit where he considers killing a mob boss in cold blood!<\/p>\n<p>Without Batman Begins, there would be no <em>Iron Man<\/em> &#8211; with it\u2019s arrogant version of Tony Stark &#8211; and definitely no <em>Man of Steel<\/em>, with it\u2019s murderous version of Superman. In fact, <em>Begins<\/em> spawned all manner of \u201d\u02dcdark\u2019 reimaginings of franchises, although Nolan\u2019s take on Batman remains the most successful.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Memento<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0vS0E9bBSL0\" height=\"315\" width=\"420\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Memento<\/em> was Nolan\u2019s breakthrough movie, which is remarkable considering it\u2019s one of the strangest films we\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n<p>Based on a short story by Jonathan Nolan (Christopher\u2019s brother and frequent collaborator), <em>Memento<\/em> tells the tale of an amnesiac hunting the murderer of his wife. To combat his frequent memory loss, he tattoos clues onto his body and maintains the company of various weirdos.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a weird enough premise on its own, but Nolan takes it a step further and introduces a dual timeline &#8211; one chronological, one reverse chronological. Black and white scenes are in chronological order, while the colour scenes play in reverse.<\/p>\n<p>It sounds like a gimmick-y addition, but it works incredibly well and adds to the overall sense of disorientation <em>Memento<\/em>\u2019s central mystery creates.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Got a copy of Memento that you don\u2019t watch anymore? <a href=\"http:\/\/192.168.3.178\/entertainment\/sell-dvds\/\">Sell it with musicMagpie<\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Inception<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/66TuSJo4dZM\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Coming off the back of <em>The Dark Knight<\/em>, Nolan was given free reign to do what he wanted by Hollywood executives. We can only imagine how they reacted when he returned with an epic crime thriller about a gang of criminals who steal people\u2019s thoughts from their dreams.<\/p>\n<p><em>Inception<\/em> is without doubt the boldest blockbuster of the past 10 years. The central concept is difficult enough to grasp &#8211; how can people jump into someone\u2019s dreams to steal their secrets? &#8211; but then Nolan introduces the idea that dreams have levels, and that they can be manipulated from by outside influences too. You certainly don\u2019t get that in <em>Transformers<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>And yet, as with <em>Memento<\/em>, Nolan finds a way to make this madness work by tying it to main character Cobb\u2019s relatively straightforward desire to be reunited with his wife and children.<\/p>\n<p>Despite it\u2019s crazy premise, <em>Inception<\/em> is actually a fairly simple movie about love and loss, and it\u2019s this combination of massive, complex plots and simple themes that make Nolan such a great director.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>The Dark Knight<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yQ5U8suTUw0\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If <em>Batman Begins<\/em> kickstarted the superhero revival, The Dark Knight sent it into the stratosphere.; it was the first superhero movie to gross over $1 billion at the box office, showing Hollywood bigwigs the money-drawing power of men (and women) in tights.<\/p>\n<p>Strangely, though, <em>The Dark Knight<\/em> isn\u2019t really a superhero movie at all. Name another superhero movie in which the main superhero ultimately fails, even after undertaking some morally dubious methods to take down a single villain intent on causing chaos.<\/p>\n<p>Batman is constantly outwitted by the Joker, portrayed by Heath Ledger in an incredible performance, which is practically unheard of in a superhero film. Although he is ultimately<strong> [SPOILERS]<\/strong> arrested, the Joker manages to kill Batman\u2019s girlfriend, turn the noblest man in the city into a half-faced psychopath and send Batman into exile. Who really won there?<\/p>\n<p>Nolan\u2019s twisting of the superhero genre extends to the plot of the film itself, which plays out more like a crime thriller than a traditional superhero romp.<\/p>\n<p>As well as cleaning up at the box office, <em>The Dark Knight<\/em> is beloved by critics and fans alike. At one point, it even held the coveted #1 spot on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/chart\/top?ref_=nv_ch_250_4\">IMDB\u2019s Top 250<\/a> (although it\u2019s since dropped to #4, above Pulp Fiction).<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Insomnia<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1OY5J11CWrE\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Insomnia<\/em> is the forgotten film in Nolan\u2019s filmography, despite being one of his best.<\/p>\n<p><em>Insomnia<\/em> stands out for a couple of reasons: it\u2019s a remake of a Norwegian crime drama, and it\u2019s the only film Nolan directs that he doesn\u2019t have a writing credit on (even though he actually helped produce the final draft).<\/p>\n<p>Despite not having his usual level of control, Nolan still makes this remake his own, with a unique shooting style and two excellent central performances by Al Pacino (in his trademark \u201d\u02dcslightly-crazed\u2019 detective role) and Robin Williams (who was in the midst of his dark, brooding phase).<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s well worth digging out if you haven\u2019t seen it yet.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>If you own any of the films in the post but don\u2019t watch them anymore, why not see how much you could make by <a href=\"http:\/\/192.168.3.178\/entertainment\/sell-dvds\/\">selling them with musicMagpie<\/a>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Interstellar is released today, and it\u2019s fair to say we\u2019re pretty excited. The first reason is that it looks like a genuinely brilliant movie, with an incredible cast headed up by a top-of-his-game Matthew McConaughey. The second is that it\u2019s directed by Christopher Nolan, a director who &#8211; in our &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3226,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452\/revisions\/3226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}