Pretty Much Pop #158: “Oppenheimer” and Other Christopher Nolan Films

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:13 — 51.8MB)

Christopher Nolan has directed ten films starting with 1998’s The Following and his first major film, 2000’s Memento. We consider his work up to the present through Insomnia (the only one of these he didn’t write), The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar, Tenet, and Dunkirk (and yes, the Batman films, but we’ve already talked about Batman).

We talk about his typical heroes, his apparent love of noir, and his attempts at philosophy. Does he have a “woman problem”? Do his sci-fi plots actually make sense? Do they bear repeated viewings, or are they too dependent on some kind of plot twist gimmick? Oppenheimer may finally have overcome many of the issues we have with his previous work.

Sponsor: Get 60% off (and free shipping) on America’s #1 Meal Kit for Eating Well at GreenChef.com/60pmp (code 60pmp).

A few articles we used to prepare include:

• “All 12 Christopher Nolan Movies, Ranked” by Bilge Ebiri
• “The Exacting, Expansive Mind of Christopher Nolan” by Gideon Lewis-Kraus
• “The Excellence of Christopher Nolan: The Cinematic Master of Attention to Detail” by Leah Donato
• “Christopher Nolan and the Contradictions of J. Robert Oppenheimer” by Dennis Overbye
• “‘Oppenheimer’ Is Ultimately a History Channel Movie with Fancy Editing” by Richard Brody
• “Hear Me Out: Christopher Nolan is a bizarrely overrated filmmaker” by Calum Russell
• “Why Christopher Nolan Is One of the Best Working Directors Today” by John Odette

We’re recording video for these now:

Get bonus talking for this and nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop, or you can sign up directly via Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark’s podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel.

Audio editing by Tyler Hislop of Pixel Box Media.