Random Movie List: Ranking Christopher Nolan's Movies

This year has marked the conclusion of Christopher Nolan's heralded Batman trilogy.  In addition, I think it's safe to say that it has marked an end of an era for Nolan himself.  While his career thus far has been more or less defined by the success of his take on the Caped Crusader, his overall record over the last decade or so has been nothing short of astounding.  

I don't think there's ever been a filmmaker who began his career with so many consecutive successes, both critically and commercially.  There are surely examples of filmmakers who made art-house or independent movies that had better track records.  But, in terms of both audience appeal and love from the critics, Nolan is in an elite class.

All in all, he has directed seven feature films -- eight if you count Following, which I don't.  I'm leaving Following off the list for no good reason other than I haven't seen the whole thing.  I keep starting it (it's streamable on Netflix) late at night and have fallen asleep, which is more of a commentary on my ability to stay awake than on the movie itself.  Other than that, it doesn't count simply because it was never really released in any real form other than to show people what Nolan did before he became famous.  Yet, even that's a crappy reason for not including it.  

I'm just not counting Following, okay?  I don't have a good reason.  

So...where was I?  Seven feature films directed by Christopher Nolan.  I will do my best to rank them here.  One thing to keep in mind: I hold all of these movies -- almost all of them anyway -- in very high regard.  Nolan is simply an incredible filmmaker and a master storyteller.  Those that appear lower on the list are all high-quality films, they're just low on Nolan's list.  They'd probably be near the top of a list ranking the works of virtually any of Nolan's contemporaries.  

In Theaters: The Dark Knight Rises ***1/2

The Dark Knight about four years ago, virtually everyone on the planet has been eagerly anticipating the next entry in Christopher Nolan's Batman saga.  The only thing exceeding our anticipation was our expectations.  After all, given Nolan's track record and the brilliance of the first two films, we've all been certain from the outset that the third -- and what is purportedly the final -- act in the trilogy was going to blow us away.

But, what if it didn't?  What if it fell victim to the Third-Movie-in-a-Super-Hero-Series Curse and just stunk up the place?  Between the tradition of franchise-ruining third entries and the law of averages suggesting that Nolan is due for a misfire, there was a lot going against The Dark Knight Rises.  And, honestly, when the first few trailers started rolling out, I, personally, started to feel like maybe the just wasn't going to be as good as we all hoped/needed it to be.

If you haven't seen the movie in the first two days, you'll be happy to know that my fears were misplaced.  This is a very good movie.  It left me riveted, fascinated, and anxious to go out and see it again.  But, that doesn't mean it's flawless.

Rather than catalog all the little problems with this movie, I'll just lump them into one big problem: the first hour.  The first sixty minutes or so of the movie are, for lack of a better word, dumb.  Another good descriptor for the initial hour would be sloppy.

Random Movie Lists: Most Anticipated Movies of 2012

I've been meaning to blog about my most anticipated movies of the year for a couple months now, but I haven't gotten around to it.  I suppose it's a bit odd to unveil such a list when we're more than a third of the way through the year, but luckily, none of the movies on my list have been released yet.  But, that all changes tomorrow.  So, here we have it, my Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2012:

Best of 2011: #5 Win Win

Remember what I said about Alexander Payne and his perfect, Pixar-like record?  That he was as reliable as Christopher Nolan?  Well, it's late at night, I'm tired, and I'm suffering from a minor case of writer's block.  Now, I'm wishing that I had saved that description to talk about Thomas McCarthy, the director of Win Win.

But, I don't want to plagiarize myself.  So...let me start over.