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Mark's 21st Century Movie Milestones

Number 10…

If you were asked to come up with the most prominent film director of the 21st century and the name was not Christopher Nolan, you would be climbing a rather slippery slope.

After his breakout second feature Memento, Nolan began a steady rise as the most revered of directors of the last century. When coming up with this list, I knew sticking to the “one film per director” rule would prove most difficult with him, because even his lesser movies are still worth watching. That said, when you make a film that is possibly the most popular of all films this century, one of the best sequels ever made, the best of its genre (superhero/comic books), and, after not getting a Best Picture nomination, even (allegedly) made the Academy start having more than five Best Picture nominees,…yeah, I had to go with The Dark Knight.

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4 1/2 Stars Movies

Oppenheimer (2023)

With the possible exception of Tom Cruise, no entity in Hollywood today cares more about the theatrical experience more than Christopher Nolan.

His name is the first to come to mind when thinking of directors of his generation, and few have been as successful. His is one of the very few names in Hollywood that can draw an audience just by his name alone. He is one who goes big with every ingredient that makes a movie, letting everyone from the actors to the replacement sound guy to shine. In Oppenheimer, he has gotten the closest he has gotten to outdoing himself in some time, as it is easily the best he has done in years.

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3 1/2 Stars Movies

Tenet (2020)

In short, if you were confused too much by Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010) a decade ago, then his new film Tenet is not for you.

Watching the first hour or so of Tenet is like walking slowly into the ocean, unaware that the floor beneath you is not as flat or reliable as you would like (such as in a pool).