The Amazing Career of Christopher Nolan 

What's your favorite Nolan movie? Go to audible.com/midnight to download The Caped Crusade free.

Describing The Prestige as “deeply silly” broke my heart

Nolan gets way too much hate from a huge number of people that live on the basis of “popular thing bad”.

not seeing dunkirk in theaters is my greatest failure

Tenet really solves Nolan's "hand to hand fights" problem. It's really well shot I thought

I think one way he doesn’t get credit is his really good way with actors. He draws out if everyone these very naturalistic performances that don’t even feel like performances.

I'm glad someone shines some light on Interstellar and how it shows Nolan has emotion. Whenever I tell anyone its my favorite Nolan film, I usually get made fun of for it, but its so unique imo. I understand the writing is a little everywhere, but the conclusion is so powerful to me

Christopher Nolan is the guy who encouraged me to look more deeply into movies. Interstellar and Inception are some of my favourite movies.

Michael Caine was looking quite old in Tenet and it scares me. The man’s a treasure.

TDKR never actually presented Bane as genuine revolutionary trying to give Gotham back to the people though. He was clearly from the very beginning just using the situation in Gotham to advance his goal of "fullfilling Ras Al Ghuls destiny". TDKR is pretty underrated honestly.

To describe Nolan as “Cold” or “Detached” to me feels absolutely blind. My favorite two movies are Inception and Interstellar, and both of these movies give me such a sense of raw yet subtle emotion. I actually watched Inception last week in the theaters celebrating its 10th anniversary. Very few movies have made me cry, but Inception manages to draw tears out of my eyes at least twice every time I see it. And don’t even get me started on the “Watching your child grow up before your very eyes” scene in Interstellar.

I really liked the fact that Chris Nolan cast David Bowie to play Nikola Tesla in The Prestige.

Christopher Nolan always had fascinating films in my book .

A new Captain Midnight video gets released: I’ll watch it when I’ve got some time to spare... It specifically highlights my favorite director’s career: SCREW THIS, I’M MAKING TIME!

First Hitop Films and now Captain Midnight? Two positive Christopher Nolan reviews in one day? Awesome!

I’ve often wanted more big budget original stories, and I’m so glad there is a director such as Nolan doing that. Most of the time to me, a lot of big films seem like a cash grab or try to capitalize on the nostalgia of already established franchises. I hope we get more directors that can get a big budget and still make a very interesting original story

How can people say his movies are emotionless, they have a lot of emotion and gives the audience emotions, for example when i first watched the dark knight, i genuinely had a hopeless feeling, like how can one man save a city this corrupt, against a person who is hell bent on destroying the city with nothing to lose, it felt hopeless to me, and then when Harvey died, i felt desperation, but then when batman sacrifices his name and more importantly his symbol that he wanted to be just to save the city he loves, was truly emotional, like a light of hope in the darkness, no i would never call a Nolan's movie emotionless.

Sorry, who criticizes the look of Inception? I've never heard that before. The cinematography is great. This "lack of colour" complaint about cinematography is such a telltale sign that the person has no idea what they're talking about.

The Prestige is a masterpiece and my favorite Nolan film. It combines Nolan’s gift for utilizing time as a major story element along with the best characters in his entire filmography.

We live in a twilight world

It's interesting to use the word "Misunderstood" for a normally well received director, but in the case of what you are arguing I agree.

You nailed it on the head, "His films feel like exciting events to me". Yes. This is how I feel I saw Tenet two nights in a row because of this.

The Prestige is some of the * chefs kiss * best foreshadowing in film if you watch it more than once

He's a great director but I think he reaches for concepts he can't grasp sometimes. I think he'd be great for mini series where he'd have more time to flesh out his larger concepts.

I was like “of all the people, why a video about Nolan” But then I remembered Tenet and it all made sense.

To be honest, the Dark Knight Rises is a terrific sequel, but it had to follow the Dark Knight which is one of the best comic book movies of all Time. I personally think Batman Begins is the best of the Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy as it's a fresh telling of his origin story and has a psychological twist to Bruce Wayne's character.

Im simple. I see Christopher Nolan and I click.

I think his personal best is The Prestige, its well written, well shot and the twists are amazing (better than all of M Night Twists combine). Though my personal Favourite is Interstellar, it's one his most flawed movie to me but at worst it's still good and at best it is his best. Cinematography, special effect, acting and soundtrack are all some of his best til this date.

captainmidnight Should talk about the dc animated Universe or young justice or how the clone wars improved the prequels

Emotionless Nolan? Interstellar has one of the most heartbreaking scenes in recent movie history (the video messages from Earth scene), and I actually liked Tenet. Nolan is one of the best film directors alive now

Hey captain, longtime subscriber here. I think this may have been your best video yet. I remember one video you mentioned you were always an English class guy and it surely shows in your script writing. I’m not a huge Nolan fan but still loved this upload. Thank you!

Even Nolan's movie is considered "meh" or "worst", it's still the best

I pray Nolan continues with this good work and hopefully doesn't get onto the Hollywood bandwagon of remakes and reboots.... He is the only director that makes me excited about watching Hollywood nowadays

TENET was awesome and had a very emotional moment that I feel like gets overlooked. The interesting thing about that movie though, is you don’t really understand the emotional weight of what’s happening in the plot until you start to think about everything that happened. Also, Robert Pattinson has an amazing performance in TENET. Go watch it.

Your audio levels in your videos are perfect

Man this was great I have to watch Dunkirk now, I hope my videos are as good as yours one day lol

The Dark knight will always be my favorite Nolan Movie! Nolan's my favorite director. IMHO I think he does a great job of balancing art house with blockbuster. Also aren't most art house films manly about their concepts more than their characters. Like Good time, I love Good Time, but I don't like the "Protagonist" very much. It's the acting and the atmosphere that makes me love it. That's my two cents, hope everyone has a pleasant day!

Your analysis in this is sheer fatuous!!!

Last time I was this early inception horns were still rare to see.

"ok what am i doing? oh im following this guy. No he is following me"

First Hi-Top posts a Batman Begins video and now you post one on Nolan in general, this is a dream come true

When hitop and Captain Midnight relese Nolan related videos at the same night

nolan is the reason i love movies. inception is my favorite film. there is so much i could say about what makes his films important to me, but then i'd have to make a video essay about it.

Alfred Hitchcock: Remember that british director who made all those silly thrillers in Hollywood and critics didn't get him? The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Interstellar was incredible. I became a father after I saw it in 2014. I recently watched it again and was brought to tears. Brilliant

The Prestige is my favorite Nolan movie. I still remember my friend bringing his dvd over and watching it after school. I was blown away and still am.

I don’t care what anybody says, I LOVE The Dark Knight Rises

How to make a great Batman movie (unless you're Nolan): Step 1: Acquire the script to Year One Step 2: Cast good actors for the roles Step 3: Shoot the script, basically panel for panel Done.

I love the feeling I get from a Christopher Nolan movie. You feel separated or detached from the story but not in an inaccessible way and in a way it makes me appreciate the characters even more.

Nolan can do no wrong in my eyes. I’ll watch whatever he makes and I’ll always see it in imax.

I think that the 'Dark Knight trilogy' deserves it's own video on this channel

Inception is still one of the best movies ever.

Thanks for this. I was inspired by Nolan. Also you should've mention Practical effects for Tenet. New films may have same tastes or may be better. But Nolan outdid his perfection through practical effects. Since it's not green screen, it's pure immersion.

In Vietnam, we're showing Tenet in theatre. Watched it twice already. It's really good 10/10. Hope you'll be able to watch it soon!

I saw Dunkirk on the Prague IMAX twice. It was 70 mm and i have never experienced such quality of picture on a movie theater before. The stuka scenes were literally deafening and i had to cover my ears on the first screening (which was avant premiere). Funny thing, the lady next to me left the theater after 30 minutes and never came back.

I generally agree with you. I'm usually not easily drawn to the adoration of Nolan's more popular movies, but his ambitions and his pure passion in filmmaking is highly admirable. He may not always reach his potentials and I may not be a fan, but I'll always look forward to his next project.

I remember almost teared up towards the end of Interstellar when Cooper reconnected with his daughter. Idk it struck a chord with me seeing someone's daughter dying of old age and wishing throughout her whole life to reconnect with her father once more, and the only opportunity to do so is when she's on her deathbed.

Tenet is incredible. I saw it 4 times in theaters loved it after the first viewing snd it got better and better each time

I always tell friends what you see is what you get when watching a Christopher Nolan.

You are extremely right about HAND TO HAND FIGHT SCENES handling.

Imterstellar is also my favorite Nolan film, hell yeah!

Ayeeeee I recommended a video on Nolan🔥🙏

I'm so glad I started following his work almost from the very beginning with Memento. The idea itself was very interesting and it didn't hurt that Guy Pearce was the lead with intetesting performances from a couple of Matrix alum and Stephen Tobolowsky. His films always had really interesting ideas behind them. I think it helped make his films more accessible to mainstream audiences early on by the casting of the aforementioned actors in Memento and Robin Williams playing very against type in Insomnia. He always had command of the visual language of film. He's also capable of bringing out amazing performances right from the start. Given the way Memento is told it would've fallen apart if the actors didn't nail their performances and that does not happen without a great director who can work with actors. Give them the emotion, the motivation. Even the best actors can't give their best without a director who knows how to work with them.

Heartless? Robot? "Because my dad promise me so..." As a single dad just fuckin' remembering that line delivered brings me to 😭😭😭

Spoiler warning for some of the clips from The Prestige around the 10 minute mark.

*"A movie I had mixed feeling on after walking out of the theatre."* I'm sorry, what?

actually you can go to the martin village theater in lacey and watch it there in IMAX, i did that wiht my bro yesterday. It's one of the only open theaters here

I had the good fortune of being in Berlin while Dunkirk was still in theaters and I saw it in IMAX at the Sony Center on Potsdamer Platz, and I get goosebumps even thinking about it. I've heard it closed down a the end of 2019... :(

I got to see Tenet in IMAX yesterday and I really dug it

Yes! I’m just so relieved to finally have someone agree about Bale’s Bat/Bruce, THE BEST

Me: allright its 3am time for bed RU-vid: Do not go gentle into that good night

what a great essay. want to rewatch inception and batman begins now. :]

Dark knight rises I’d say is my favourite one of them but I get the bane criticism. EDIT: I have no problem with bane himself he’s a great mirror to batman of what he could become if he continued on this path I meant the twist rlly.

I love the career summaries it's an endless possibility. Some suggestions i have for the next are Robert Downey Jr, Keaunu Reaves, Jenifer Aniston, Jerry Seinfield, and Bill Murray

Thanks for this, curious who your favorite directors are? if you dont have 1 perhaps you could mention a few. Thanks again.

Just saw Tenet last night in IMAX and wow what a theater experience for sure.

After my dad, who’d suffered a stroke, asked me, “Are you taking me to the hospital to see your mum?” and I had to remind him, yet again, that his wife died the previous year, the look on his face, trying to mask his pain and act like it had just slipped his mind, when I could see the shock and confusion, etched under the mask, stayed with me. So, that line in Memento, when the protagonist burns the effects of his wife and says, “I can’t remember to forget you,” was a gut punch for me. But it supplies the emotional drive for the character, and the audience too. I thought that was a really insightful, clever and honest assessment of Nolan’s career. I didn’t agree with absolutely everything you said, but pretty close. The idea of, “love, conquering humanity’s flaws,” as such, is of course schmaltzy, but the cinema has a tradition of such fair. Where else could such ideas be mixed into high concept sci fi, but in a grandiose movie like Interstellar? But, with his track record, that strikes me more now like a ham fisted attempt at tacking an emotional core to a movie that would otherwise be devoid of it. The question I ask myself is, would the movie have suffered if Anne Hathaway’s character was absent? Not sure? Nolan’s basic problem is, as you said, that he often fails to develop his characters’ emotionally enough. Which is why the high point (for me) in his career so far, has to be Memento. Because we have the complexity of a truly original idea, mixed in with, “unreliable narrator,” stuff, but with a strong emotional core. And because of the moving difficulty he suffers, which is central to the plot. We experience the world as he does, which I thought was a genius idea, never before attempted. You’re right about the character of Batman, which his love interest, Rachel, literally states out loud at the end of the first (arguably best?) movie. She tells him that Bruce Wayne is the real mask, and that is the core of his story, as you nailed so rightly there. Batman has a soul, drive and a perfectly rounded, if damaged, personality, balanced by his morality and the fact that he won’t kill people. His towering intellect, planning and thinking on his feet make him able to pull this off, and to be a great detective. But, Bruce Wayne is empty, lost and just waiting for an excuse to don the cowl again. Nolan captures that brilliantly. The stoicism of the heroic characters in Dunkirk works very much to Nolan’s advantage in this respect. I’d like to see him get that balance right, between the big ideas of his movies and the characters and their motivations within them. The Prestige was a respectable attempt at this, which does work on many levels. Yet, even here I’m not 100% drawn in by their dilemmas so much as I’m intrigued by the, “prestige,” itself, if you get me? I think, if and when Nolan cracks that puzzle, giving us a character as sympathetic as Cobb in Inception, balanced against a villain or counter protagonist as compelling as that protagonist, in a movie with the same scope as Inception or Interstellar, he’ll quite possibly give us the movie of the century! Would you agree?

"...69 minutes long." Where is the "nice," I demand a "nice."

I really enjoyed tenet and I think that I’ll enjoy it more the second time I watch it because of how non-linear the story is and how many hints are made throughout the story. I’d recommend watching it for yourself instead of just seeing reviews for it

Great analysis

Hey Midnight, great video! I don't always agree with what you say, but I just wanna thank you for saying that the Christian Bale batman voice is a theatrical performance. I've been telling people that for years whenever they made fun of how over the top it is, so it's nice to hear someone say it in a video. Also, my favorite Nolan movie is probably Inception with Dunkirk as a close second (like a hair difference), although I haven't seen The Prestige, Interstellar, or Tenet, and I haven't seen Batman Begins since it came out so it could change. Thanks again and STAY SAFE.

I love everything he has done. Interstellar is by far my fave. The dark knight is a triumph and inception & TENET were stunning too. he is such a great film maker.

I saw Tenet yesterday, and although it may not be the best movie ever but it's a great story and you want to know how everything works through out the story. And I am desperately waiting to see a making of for this film

I love all his movies.i think each film brings something new onto the table

Inception is my personal favorite Christopher Nolan film but I think Dunkirk is his best. It has really good editing and visuals and doesn't feel too short nor too long. Dunkirk is honestly perfect in my eyes.

The Prestige is one of my top 3 favorite films. I could watch it every week.

I swear captain uploads similar topic videos when hitop drops some heat 🤔

I can't believe you've done Harvey Dent, the heart and soul and CORE of the dark knight, this dirty. Removing him and having only the Joker makes for an unstable and honestly kind of crappy film anyway the best nolan movie is the prestige

In regards to Nolan not committing to its themes in TDKR, I do have some disagreements with it even though I understand your criticism. When asked about the reception of TDKR, Nolan said he was most surprised about the political interpretations of the film and that his goal was always trying to reveal societal tensions where they lie without taking any sides. Honestly, it's easy to point the finger at one group and the whole "rich people bad" theme has been done to death in my opinion. Instead, I think Nolan takes a more nuanced approach to the issue by illustrating that while some of the elites are all too willing to exploit the system and the working class for their own gain, the working class themselves can become dangerous when radicalized which not only ties in perfectly with Joker's "see when the chips are down, these uh civilized people, they'll eat each other" motto but it's also become strangely relevant given what's happening in America right now.

Going to see Tenet tonight. Interstellar and Inception were good, mind bending movies but probably not among my favorites.

its only been 2 weeks but....MIDNIGHT IS BACK BABY

You'll enjoy TENET Captian Midnight. It's great. SOOOO looking forward to a rewatch.

I still remember that I had accidentally skipped like a quarter or more of inception in some remarkably seamless way and I was so confused how short the movie was. All of the parts where that girl is introduced and the city is going crazy, right past it.

"...sure, it's absolutely front-loaded with exposition, which can get pretty dull on rewatches." Weird. Inception's first 45-minutes or so became far more of what I was interested in. My first rewatch was to watch it with the "token" theory where people theorized that Cobb's token is actually his wedding band since Mol's was the top. In reality: Cobb doesn't wear the band anymore because she's dead. In dream, he wears it because duh. But then other re-watches I found myself just preferring the starting chunks and exposition of the movie when I realized it was the process of getting a movie production started. They hire the actors, the producers, they work on the screenplay, explain how to build sets in ways that will trick the eye, explain how exposition and world building works from a screenwriting and editing perspective, and of course discuss how you get inception to work in the first place. Then the dream heist onwards is the shooting of the film.

Bro you described what I couldn't put into words about Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins: emotionally repressed! He played it so well and does give an amazing, soulful performance! He's just not good at expressing it around others which is so human, especially for someone with his psyche. Thank you!!!

I was fortunate to have a screening of Tenet here, and man, it's outstanding. While I could use a rewatch of some of his movies, Tenet felt the most unique in terms of what is presented on screen in a Nolan movie and likely something we'll never see anywhere else, or atleast not in a long time. It defo has that "detachment" feel to it tbh, which for me personally wasn't an issue, altho there was a gutwrenching moment for me that honestly made up for the seeming lack of emotion in the rest of the movie.

make a video about your fav director next

4:53 Anterograde amnesia (short-term amnesia) isn't some hollywood style Amnesia, it's real (even if the movie does take few liberties with it). And I think people might be saying this because from everything I have seen about Tenet so far the emotional connection between the main character and the movie's themes (and more importantly the movie's gimmick) is missing in Tenet, In all his movies Memento, The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar, ...etc that connection is very important and essential to ensuring the movie resonates with the audiences. I can't seem to find at all in Tenet whenever I watch the trailers or hear the reviews, maybe that's why people are calling the movie cold and detached, Nolan seems to have been so obsessed with the gimmick and themes he forgot to add that most important human connection that makes the people actually care about what's happening in the movie.

Can you do a video of some of the worst/best plot holes in movies?

I didn't like Dark Knight Rises when it came out, but after seeing the Snyderverse, it started looking better and better.