I hadn't considered it until I read this post on IMDB, and now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not sure there has been a better streak or a better director from 2000-2013:
2000: Memento
2002: Insomnia
2005: Batman Begins
2006: The Prestige
2008: The Dark Knight
2010: Inception
2012: The Dark Knight Rises
I don't think anyone has ever had a flawless run like that, 21st Century or not.
Some of it seems a little cynical, but I'm inclined to think it's right. :modesty:He's the best director of his generation, in the same company as Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher, and Paul Thomas Anderson. No director has had a flawless streak of good films like this guy, and that includes Spielberg and Scorsese.
No matter how much the internet will crap on The Dark Knight Rises or Inception, Spielberg will have always made Always, Hook, 1941, The Terminal, War Horse, Tintin, and Crystal Skull. Scorsese will have always made Bringing out the Dead, Gangs of New York, and The Age of Innocence.
I don't think Nolan is the best director of all-time (that honor goes to Hitchcock and Kubrick), but I'd say Nolan is the greatest director currently alive. He simply is. Each of his films are an event now, and his quality far surpasses the likes of James Cameron for blockbuster material. Spielberg too. The way Nolan can take a huge, Hollywood blockbuster and go the opposite direction with it by making it feel like a small-scale, intimate, emotionally charged character study like Terrence Malick's work, it's simply unparalleled. Whenever there's a year where a Nolan film is being released, look out, because that film will be among the most talked about, critically acclaimed films of the year. It happened in 2000, it happened in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012. And it will happen again in 2014. He is the greatest director of the 21st Century.
If I go on the internet and read about how much of a backlash there is against Nolan's movies, that to me just shows the impact he has on pop culture. People get so up in arms about him, going to opposite ends of the extreme saying he's the worst director of all-time and the best director of all-time. He can't be both at the same time, and the polar opposite opinions just prove how relevant and unequaled he is. In a way, the haters make the case for his brilliance even stronger. If I go on IMDB and see so many threads and posts about how much Nolan sucks, I smile and think that the man must be doing something right.
He's by far this generation's Spielberg, and he has surpassed him, in my opinion.
Stanley Kubrick - Never won an Oscar
Alfred Hitchcock - Never won an Oscar
Christopher Nolan - Never won an Oscar
^ Sounds about right to me
2000: Memento
2002: Insomnia
2005: Batman Begins
2006: The Prestige
2008: The Dark Knight
2010: Inception
2012: The Dark Knight Rises
I don't think anyone has ever had a flawless run like that, 21st Century or not.