I'd like to add Insomnia to my favorites in terms of cinematography. It's weird: the characters make it clear that Nightmute is a small town, but seeing a plane bank around the side of a mountain with the glacier behind it, or seeing a towering cliff face and a one-story hotel in the same frame makes it all feel much bigger.
Wow, this is tough and I'll have to think more thoroughly about the 2nd part of the question. But probably my favorite cinematography from a Pfister/Nolan collaboration is The Prestige. That shot when the light bulbs all become illuminated is amazing.
Hard to say which is my favourite overall, it's mainly between The Prestige and The Dark Knight Rises.
Memento: My favourite shot is in the ending scene, as Lenny drives off and it switches to a POV shot of the car driving through the street. It's a pretty typical shot (I've helped do a few myself) but what makes it so fascinating for me is that to the left you can see a car reversing into a parking spot. I'm sure it wasn't intended but it gave a brilliant parallel to the opening being in reverse and wrapped the movie up brilliantly.
Batman Begins: A wide-shot of the frozen lake, the sound helped make an effect with the distance.
The Prestige: The field of light bulbs.
The Dark Knight: Either the truck flip (gasps aplenty, one of my favourite memories of being in the cinema) or the beginning of the interrogation. Just seeing the Joker in the dark gave it a dream-like feel. Speaking of which. . .
Inception: Either the shot of Dom struggling to squeeze through the alley or the rotating hallway fight.
The Dark Knight Rises: Bane hanging from the airplane seats. That made the whole scene for me, like he was in control and completely above the situation.
My favourite shot from TDKR is an odd one - it's the one where one of Bane's henchmen who was on the motorbike has been floored in the city street and Batman approaches him. It's sort of looking down on the henchman and all you see of Batman is his legs and his cape billowing in the wind. Somehow Batman had an energy and iconic quality in those kinds of shots that he didn't quite have in either of the other films.
christophmac wrote:My favourite shot from TDKR is an odd one - it's the one where one of Bane's henchmen who was on the motorbike has been floored in the city street and Batman approaches him. It's sort of looking down on the henchman and all you see of Batman is his legs and his cape billowing in the wind. Somehow Batman had an energy and iconic quality in those kinds of shots that he didn't quite have in either of the other films.
That and the music was so amazing. You simply see Batman standing over the henchman about to punch the glass out of his mask.