TENET is out this weekend, so let’s take a look at some Christopher Nolan classics, ey?

If you’re anything like us, you’ve been keenly waiting for the release of TENET. Nolan’s time-bending film was initially due out in July, but due to COVID-19 has faced a couple of delays, each of which has seen us gazing out to the distance wondering “will it ever come?” Well, fear not. It’s opening in select cinemas around Australia this weekend so cancel your plans.

Throughout his career, Nolan has never been afraid to go big in terms of budget (TENET cost $200 million to make), concept or movie duration, and there aren’t too many other directors who champion original stories quite like him. So let’s take a look at an unsurprisingly epic list of our favourite Christopher Nolan films – all of which you need to see if (for some fucked up reason) you haven’t. Check it:

Inception

It feels that out of all of Nolan’s movies, Inception will be the closest thing to TENET, with John David Washington (who is starring in the latter) stating the films are “in-laws” and they’re “related by marriage.” So if that’s not enough of a reason to go back and watch Nolan’s 2010 blockbuster, I don’t know what is. It’s hard to even focus on a single feature that stands out in Inception – the writing, acting and cinematography are simply incredible, even if we still don’t know what happened in the end…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hP9D6kZseM

Dark Knight

When Nolan took on the Batman franchise no one expected it to have a resurgence like it did. Collectively the three films (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises) have grossed over $2.3 billion, and very few people would argue with The Dark Knight being the pick of the bunch. Of course the Oscar-winning performance from Heath Ledger is the movie’s major talking point, with the Aussie cementing his spot as the best Joker ever…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXeTwQWrcwY

Memento

A film with all the grit of Fight Club, including the world’s most unreliable narrator, Memento is kind of like a jigsaw puzzle that you put together backwards. The 2001 flick, which stars Aussie Guy Pearce, is an absolute mindfuck as we follow an insurance salesman who suffers from short term memory loss who is attempting to find and kill his wife’s murderer. It’s psychologically intense, but certainly the one put Nolan and his writing/plotting style on the map.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDWylEQSwFo

The Prestige

Who said they don’t like magic? I definitely did. Magicians always weirded me out. Not because of their tricks, but because they dress up in capes and gloves and often have small animals shelved in different parts of their costumes. Well, The Prestige changed all that. Here Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play madmen magicians obsessed with each other and their little routines, which sounds kinda basic but it’s riddled with Nolan tricks and twists. This is the reason that Interstellar is not on the list, so go and shed a tear for old Murph and Coop…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObGVA1WOqyE

Dunkirk

So intense, so visual, a little bit of Harry Styles. What’s not to love? If TENET is half as visually stunning as Dunkirk, I’m in. Don’t just take my word on how good of a film this is, check out what Tarantino says about it: