Christopher Nolan has been one of most beloved and much lauded filmmakers for many years now. The man has brought movie fans everything from one of the best movies of the 2000s, Memento, to some of the greatest science-fiction movies like Inception and Interstellar, and Oscar winners like The Dark Knight trilogy and Oppenheimer. Another film that ranks as one of Nolan’s best movies would be 2020’s twisty Tenet, which stars John David Washington. Now the actor has admitted to a very unexpected rule that people are held to after working with the famed director.

What Rule Did John David Washington Say That Actors Who Work With Christopher Nolan Are Held To?

John David Washington has come a long way since co-starring on Dwayne Johnson’s HBO football drama, Ballers for five seasons, because it wasn’t long after that series began that he started to land leading roles in movies like Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, and Christopher Nolan’s mind-bender, Tenet.

It wasn’t long ago that the star said he thought Nolan was “shaking up the industry” when he decided to make a Black man the lead of a big-budget sci-fi/action spectacular, and now he’s opened up to Esquire about a wild rule I really wouldn’t have expected the filmmaker to hold his actors to. When asked if he’s ever kept any costumes from movies like Beckett, Amsterdam and The Piano Lesson (which he made with his brother, Malcolm), he answered rather mysteriously:

Now, it’s not exactly a secret that actors frequently finish production on movies or television shows and have been known to take props or clothing with them as mementos of their time working on said project. Keanu Reeves has admitted to having things from the sets of The Matrix, John Wick and other movies, though he was, apparently, gifted those items. Meanwhile, MCU star Tom Holland admitted to stealing major props from every set he’s on, and Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning lead Hayley Atwell was known as “Klepto Atwell,” on set due to her “rampant thievery,” which may have led to her actually taking a pair of Tom Cruise’s socks.

So, why the years-long secrecy when it comes to Washington having kept some of the incredibly dapper suits he wore in the Nolan movie, especially since it seems he was allowed to walk off with the clothing? Well, he explained:

Alright, y’all. This is wild to me. I can’t help but wonder if this rule is because while Nolan is OK with prop and wardrobe personnel handing out items to talent, he would simply prefer not to have it confirmed until he’s way past any work for that particular movie, or if he just doesn’t want to know about actors taking things from set until he can’t possibly be held responsible for it anymore. Either way, it’s such a specific restriction when it comes to being honest about what you got from set. I mean, why not tell people to wait until a year after filming? Is there some legal statute of limitations he’s actually trying to help everyone (including himself) get past?

I suppose it doesn’t totally matter at this point, and if we happen to see Washington step out in some ‘fits that look super familiar, at least we’ll know why.

Digital visual effects have been an integral part of the filmmaking process for decades but their increased use over the years has had some moviegoers convinced that Hollywood is far too reliant on creating worlds with a computer. Well, allow us to prove to you that practical effects do still exist by highlighting some modern classics that have honored the old-fashioned ways of creating movie magic.

The Substance (2024)

As an eye-opening behind-the-scenes featurette for The Substance proves, director Coralie Fargeat went to great lengths to use as little CGI as possible to realize her vision for the film, which received five 2025 Academy Award nominations, including Best Makeup. Some of the most bizarre and disgusting shots of this intense body horror spectacle were captured on camera with shockingly realistic doubles for body parts, such as when Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) births her double, Sue (Margaret Qualley), out of her back.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

One of the most appealing aspects of the Mission: Impossible movies is their intense action sequences, achieved with little to no digital enhancement. Arguably, the franchise's most unbelievable practical stunt comes from Mission: Impossible - Fallout. Tom Cruise trained for weeks to perform a HALO jump out of a plane from 25,000 feet above the ground for a sequence that only required CGI to create the storm raging around Ethan Hunt as he descends.

Jurassic Park (1993)

While considered a revolutionary moment for CGI in movies with its timeless dinosaur creations, the first installment of the Jurassic Park movies also uses practical effects in very impressive ways. While the animatronic velociraptors are among the most famous examples, according to special effects designer Michael Lantieri in a video by Great Big Story, one of the most difficult effects was creating ripples in a cup of water to signal the T. Rex's approach, which was achieved by plucking a guitar string placed underneath the cup.

Inception (2010)

Some of the more surreal moments from Christopher Nolan's dream-exploring adventure Inception obviously could not have existed without CGI. However, as demonstrated in a behind-the-scenes DVD featurette, the scene when Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) engages in a brawl in a hotel that is literally spinning was achieved by rotating a hallway set on an axis and, for shots in zero-gravity, building a vertical hallway set and suspending the actors on wires.

The Shape Of Water (2017)

Guillermo del Toro's Oscar-winning romantic fantasy The Shape of Water begins with an opening credits sequence taking place in a fully submerged building filled with floating furniture. According to THR, the surrounding water was added digitally but the scene was still primarily achieved practically by having puppeteers control the movements of the suspended props.

Spider-Man (2002)

Sam Raimi, creator of the Evil Dead movies, became an inspirational indie film hero with the use of clever, homemade practical effects in the original horror classic and would maintain that sensibility when he helmed one of the best superhero movies, Spider-Man. For instance, as a DVD commentary reveals, the scene when Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) catches Mary-Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and her falling lunch on her tray was captured for real after 156 takes, with some help from an adhesive that kept the tray steadily attached to Maguire's hand.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

The design of BB-8 is so unique that it seems it could only be achieved in a galaxy far, far away but, according to the official Star Wars website, he was filmed practically here on Earth. The rolling droid was constructed for Star Wars: The Force Awakens with magnets and gyroscopes that allowed his head to remain attached as he rolled through the sand.

Apollo 13 (1995)

The zero-gravity sequences from the classic space movie, Apollo 13, are so realistic, it almost seems like director Ron Howard and co. would have had to leave Earth to shoot them. Actually, according to AV Club, they only had to travel about 36,000 feet above ground by building the set in a NASA training craft called the KC-135 (nicknamed the "vomit comet") which authentically creates the feeling of weightlessness by taking gravity-countering dives.

Oppenheimer (2023)

Christopher Nolan said that there were "zero CGI shots" in his Best Picture Oscar winner, Oppenheimer, which dramatizes the development of the atomic bomb. To clarify, as reported in Variety, CGI was used in some instances to improve a visual but not a single shot was entirely created with a computer, including the Trinity Test, which was filmed practically using miniatures that were blown up by the crew.

Mad Max Fury Road (2015)

CGI is primarily used in George Miller's exhilarating post-apocalyptic thriller, Mad Max: Fury Road, to improve certain visuals and remove equipment from the frame. However, as a behind-the-scenes feature found on the Blu-ray reveals, just about every wild, death-defying stunt that takes place in this post-apocalyptic action movie masterpiece was performed on camera and on location, such as the pole-vaulting stunts. Bonus fun fact: the Doof Warrior's guitar was an actual working flame-thrower.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

Director Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a film that does not fit neatly into any genre, thanks to its mind-bending fantasy visuals, many of which were achieved practically. For instance, as mentioned in an article from Focus Features' official site, the scene when Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) appear to change size while walking around a set is achieved with a distortion chamber, which uses forced perspective to create the illusion that two people on opposite sides of a room are wildly different sizes.

Interstellar (2014)

The one scene from Christopher Nolan's breathtaking space epic, Interstellar, that, most surprisingly, is predominantly shot with practical effects sees Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) in a tesseract that allows him to literally interact with time itself. IndieWire reports that the sequence was achieved by projecting animated images onto thin strands of fabric that surrounded the fully built, life-size set which the actor was suspended inside.

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert created a fantastic world (or, more accurately, worlds) for their Oscar-winning, beloved A24 movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once, with a unique combination of CGI and practical effects and the help of a five-person VFX team. As they explain in a video for Wired, the first time Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) makes an interdimensional jump was done practically by shooting the actor being dragged to another corner of the office building in slow motion.

Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)

Peter Jackson and Co. easily could have used digital effects to make Elijah Wood's Frodo and other Hobbit characters appear much smaller than Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellan) in the Lord of the Rings movies. Instead, according to Wired, they went the old-fashioned route and used the simple act of forced perspective by placing actors further back in the frame to make them look smaller than the actor placed closer to the camera.

Grindhouse (2007)

Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino teamed up for a double feature that paid tribute to exploitative B-grade flicks of the '60 and '70s but only one of them really stayed true to the era's filmmaking principles. Rodriguez's Planet Terror relies heavily on CGI to create its grotesque world while Tarantino's Death Proof (according to Hagerty) is lauded for adding little to no digital enhancement to its crazy stunts, especially when Zoe Bell hangs on the hood of a car while being chased by Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

All three of Christopher Nolan's live-action Batman movies provide proof of his championing for capturing as many mind-blowing sequences on camera as possible, especially in The Dark Knight Rises. As a Business Insider feature details, the opening sequence, in which Bane (Tom Hardy) hijacks a CIA plane, was performed for real after obtaining permission to drop part of the plane from a helicopter over Scottish land.

1917 (2019)

One might assume that to create the illusion of being filmed in mostly one take, Sam Mendes' 1917 used a great deal of CGI to hide the seams. Truthfully, there were some Oscar-winning digital effects used in some key moments, such as the plane crash sequence, but, as detailed by The New York Times, the explosions from the climactic scene in which Schofield (George MacKay) runs across a field bombarded with bombs were authentic.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

In addition to its breathtaking stunts, such as in the iconic canal scene, one of the most impressive practical effects from Terminator 2: Judgment Day takes place in the director's cut when Sarah (Linda Hamilton) and John Connor (Edward Furlong) remove the T-800's (Arnold Schwarzenegger) chip from his head in front of a mirror. A video by Insider explains that in order to avoid the camera showing up in the mirror's reflection, the scene was instead shot in front of a window with a recreation of the set on the other side and Hamilton's twin sister, Leslie, mimicking her actions.

It (2017)

For his 2017 adaptation of Stephen King's It, director Andy Muschietti was initially planning on using CGI to give Pennywise a lazy eye to make the demonic clown even creepier. However, according to an exclusive interview with Entertainment Tonight, he discovered he did not need to use digital effects because Pennywise actor Bill Skarsgård can move his eye individually – a fact that It: Chapter Two star Bill Hader was frightened to learn on set, as he revealed on Conan.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)

Most of the magic from the Harry Potter movies is, obviously, brought to life with digital effects but there is one memorable, fantastic scene from the third installment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, that was created on camera. A feature by ScreenRant explains that, for the scene in which Harry (Danielle Radcliffe) accidentally casts a spell that causes his Aunt Marge to blow up like a balloon, actor Pam Ferris wore a special suit and facial makeup prosthetics that could actually inflate.

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Awarding the Oscar for Best Visual Effects to Spider-Man 2 was a no-brainer based on how realistic Doctor Octopus' mechanical arms look alone. As explained in a DVD bonus feature, CGI was used for most scenes involving Doc Ock's evil appendages but many of their movements were achieved with rigorous puppeteering which actor Alfred Molina was also heavily involved in.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Michael Keaton said that it was important to him and director Tim Burton that the long-awaited Beetlejuice sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, use as many practical effects as possible. EW mentions that, just like in the 1988 original, sandworms were created with stop-motion animation for a scene when Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) and her daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega) find themselves on one of Saturn's moons.

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

For Joel Coen's solo directorial debut, The Tragedy of Macbeth, the filmmaker wanted to give the adaptation of William Shakespeare's influential play a distinct look reminiscent of a theater stage. To create this aura, as seen on a featurette posted to YouTube by Apple TV+, life-size sets were built on a soundstage at the Warner lot and surrounded by matte paintings to fill in the backgrounds.

Midsommar (2019)

The secret to the visceral nature of the nightmares Ari Aster brings to life in his second great A24 horror film, Midsommar, is the use of practical effects, such as in the scene when an elderly villager has his face fatally smashed in after surviving a cliff jump. According to Vulture, the gruesome moment was filmed practically with a fake head equipped with pneumatic cylinders that could collapse and reset with the push of a button, allowing for multiple takes with the same prop.

Skyfall (2012)

What makes Daniel Craig's James Bond movies so memorable is the realism of their action sequences, such as the opening scene of Skyfall. A feature about the train fight from SlashFilm details just how challenging it was for director Sam Mendes and co. to shoot the scene on top of a real moving train.

Independence Day (1996)

The visual effects of the classic alien invasion movie, Independence Day, took home a well-deserved Oscar — not just for its convincing CGI but also for its more old-fashioned tricks. For instance, an article from the Director's Guild of America website explains that the destruction of recognizable landmarks like The White House and the Empire State Building was achieved with miniatures.

Tenet (2020)

Christopher Nolan goes above and beyond to create the most realistic and explosive action sequences possible, such as purchasing a real, full-size Boeing 747 only to destroy it. According to ScreenRant, that is how he shot the plane crash scene from Tenet.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Enough time has passed since the 1986 original that Tom Cruise and Co. could have achieved aerial action sequences in Top Gun: Maverick on sound stages and with green screens. Instead, as detailed by IGN, the actors trained for months to actually go up in the air in military-grade jets equipped with cameras for the most realistic shots possible.

First Man (2018)

According to Digital Trends, First Man director Damien Chazelle wanted to shoot Neil Armstrong's (Ryan Gosling) moonwalk without green screens but in a place that could later be slightly augmented in post-production. They chose to shoot the sequence at an Atlanta quarry and some of the only digital trickery involved was to remove elements the filmmakers did not want to be reflected in the actors' astronaut helmet visors.

Barbie (2023)

Before her feet fall flat due to an existential crisis, Margot Robbie's eponymous role is introduced in Barbie with her feet in an inhumanly arched position. Director Greta Gerwig told The Project that his shot was not achieved with CGI but by anchoring Robbie's toes to the ground with double-sided tape.

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Emily Blunt made magic with her wonderful portrayal of the iconic, titular nanny in Mary Poppins Returns but that was not the only stellar trick the production pulled. For instance, as a special featurette shared on YouTube by Rotten Tomatoes reveals, the scene in which Mary and the children enter a magical realm through their bathtub was achieved with a slide built underneath the tub that was cleverly concealed with a thick layer of soap bubbles.

The French Dispatch (2021)

Wes Anderson movies like The French Dispatch exist in a world that could only come from the filmmaker's vast imagination. So, how are these striking, surreal images brought to life on camera? A video by Piercefilm Productions reveals some of the drama's most memorable visuals are created with a combination of miniatures and painted backgrounds.

When Christopher Nolan’s Tenet headed to theaters in 2020, the buzz was all about the film’s twisty narrative, stunning action sequences, and its bold attempt at a theatrical release to bring audiences back to cinemas during a global pandemic. However, one thing that flew under the radar was the casting of John David Washington as the film’s protagonist. Looking back, Washington himself acknowledges the significance of Nolan’s decision to cast him, and how it contributed to shifting Hollywood’s narrative.

In a recent interview with Deadline, Washington opened up about his critically acclaimed film, The Piano Lesson, as well as how important it was for him to lead the cast of Tenet in 2020. At the time, he hadn’t quite reached the movie star status he has now, and only had a few projects under his belt like BlackkKlansman. In addition, he was a Black actor as the leading man in a big budget action movie that didn't have race as a focal point.

Washington appreciated this, because not only was it diverse casting, but the diversity involved didn’t end up being a marketing tactic for the film. Washington explained:

This comment shows how important diverse casting is in film, especially in movies where race isn’t integral to the casting. Roles that don’t explicitly need to be performed by actors with a specific background should encourage directors to look at actors who may not have led a movie before. Nolan is an incredibly popular filmmaker, and him casting Washington in Tenet sets a great example.

Washington is a tremendous actor and has a fantastic on-screen presence, which is likely why Nolan chose to cast him in Tenet. The Creator star noted that he felt his position gave him a sense of responsibility, especially as one of the top-billed performers and face on the poster. He said:

Being in a Nolan film is an honor, but also a lot of pressure. Many of the director’s films not only hinge on emotionally resonant performances from his lead stars, but also physical performances. Tenet was no exception, as it required a lot of stunt work, as well as intense scenes that relied on strong talent. Washington certainly proved himself, as he’s tremendous in the film. The actor seems to have enjoyed his experience as well, and only appears to have fond memories of making Tenet. The film also seems to have opened doors for Washington, as he’s gone on to lead movies like The Creator, Malcolm and Marie, and Amsterdam.

Fans can revisit John David Washington in Tenet now, as the film is currently available to rent on Amazon. You can also see the actor in this year’s The Piano Lesson, which is now streaming with a Netflix subscription. It is one of the buzziest films of the year, so make sure you check it out.

John David Washington returns to geek out about his favorite films, discuss his journey going from the NFL to Hollywood, and share stories from the making of "Tenet" and his new film "The Piano Lesson," directed by Malcolm Washington.

After our interview, stick around for our thoughts on "The Piano Lesson," and our reviews of this week's huge theatrical releases, "Gladiator II" and "Wicked."

Timestamps

• 00:00:00 - Intro
• 00:08:40 - John David Washington Interview
• 00:44:19 - ‘The Piano Lesson’ Review
• 00:51:10 - ‘Gladiator II’ Review
• 01:03:55 - ‘Wicked’ Review
• 01:20:38 - Outro

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It’s going to be a huge week in the Washington household. Silver screen icon Denzel Washington is generating waves of buzz – and an expected amount of awards attention – for his performance as Macrinus in Sir Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2. At the same time, Denzel’s sons Malcolm Washington and John David Washington are seeing their own Oscar player, The Piano Lesson, arriving on Netflix after a limited theatrical run. Malcolm directs the adaptation of the Tony nominated August Wilson play. John David stars in the movie. And Denzel produces it.

So yeah, a massive weekend for the Washingtons.

WIth John David Washington making the press rounds on behalf of The Piano Lesson, however, he has been getting asked questions about some of his previous roles, notably two films that got buried under the limited release practices affected by the COVID pandemic. During that era, John David appeared in both The Creator and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. The films received heaps of critical praise. But they faced an uncertain audience who didn’t want to sit in a theater and watch a movie with strangers. Understandable.

More people found Tenet on home video and streaming. And the film’s highlights continue to be celebrated. One of those moments happens to be John David Washington’s “hot sauce” joke when he enters a kitchen and prepares to fight a room filled with thugs. It played like this.

When John David came on CinemaBlend’s official ReelBlend podcast, he opened up about how that famous line came together, and Nolan’s amazing response to it. Washington told ReelBlend:

That’s so cool to hear. Christopher Nolan’s movies don’t leave a lot of room for improvisation. Specifically Tenet, which is an air-tight puzzle that needs every piece to snap cleanly into place. As John David Washington went on to explain to ReelBlend:

Take a look at John David’s career. He just turned 40, and to date, he has been able to work with Christopher Nolan, Spike Lee, David O. Russell, David Lowery, Sam Levinson, and his brother Malcolm. He’s eager to learn, to perfect his craft, and to grow. You can see his latest movie, The Piano Lesson, if you have a Netflix subscription. And click here to listen to our complete interview with John David, as well as reviews for both Wicked and Gladiator 2.

Despite a killer concept and the star power of Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, director Doug Liman's Edge of Tomorrow was not an instant hit when it was released in 2014. Luckily, the story of a soldier reliving the same day over and over amid a war with an extraterrestrial enemy is now regarded as one of the best sci-fi movies of its time.

Despite its enduring popularity (right now, it is one of the most-viewed great movies on Netflix), it looks like our long wait for Edge of Tomorrow 2 is not going to end anytime soon. Luckily, there are plenty of other fun movies with similar themes available to stream now, which should make the wait a little more tolerable.

Groundhog Day (1993)

A selfish TV weather reporter (played by Bill Murray in one of his funniest roles) finds himself reliving February 2nd over and over again while covering Punxsutawney's annual celebration.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: Obviously, we cannot talk about great time loop movies like Edge of Tomorrow without talking about the most oft-referenced film in the genre, director Harold Ramis' Groundhog Day, even if it is a far lighter take on the subject.

Rent or buy Groundhog Day on Amazon.
Buy Groundhog Day on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Happy Death Day (2017)

A selfish college student (played by Jessica Rothe) must relive her murder over and over again to figure out who is trying to kill her.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: A much darker take on the subject of time loops is writer and director Christopher Landon's acclaimed horror-comedy movie, Happy Death Day, which managed to spawn a sequel, Happy Death 2U, only two years later.

Stream Happy Death Day on Peacock.
Rent or buy Happy Death Day on Amazon.
Buy Happy Death Day on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Boss Level (2020)

Former special forces agent Ray Pulver (Frank Grillo) tries to piece together the secret behind his murder while mysteriously repeating the day it occurred.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: Another great action movie that sees the protagonist dying over and over again (and has a sense of humor about it) is director Joe Carnahan's Boss Level, which also stars Naomi Watts and Mel Gibson.

Stream Boss Level on Hulu.

Tenet (2020)

John David Washington stars as an unnamed CIA operative who is taught a special time-manipulation ability in order to complete a very important mission for a covert organization.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: An even more earnest and unique take on the subject of time loops (and "time inversion") is Tenet, which is yet another mind-bending sci-fi thriller from writer and director Christopher Nolan.

Rent or buy Tenet on Amazon.
Buy Tenet on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Source Code (2011)

A U.S. Army captain (played by Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal) inhabits the body of a train passenger just minutes before a terrorist bombing in order to identify the culprit.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: While not your traditional time loop movie, director Duncan Jones' Source Code is a thrilling movie set on a train that does see the protagonist reliving the same moment repeatedly to complete an important task.

Stream Source Code on Hulu.
Stream Source Code on Tubi.
Rent or buy Source Code on Amazon.
Buy Source Code on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Run Lola Run (1998)

A series of 20-minute short films that all follow Lola (Franka Potente) struggling to get ahold of a sum of money to save her boyfriend, with wildly different outcomes each time.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: While also not a definitive time loop movie (but, perhaps, a multiverse movie, more accurately), Run Lola Run is a classic action thriller that follows our protagonist in multiple attempts at the same task.

Rent or buy Run Lola Run on Amazon.
Buy Run Lola Run on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Tomorrow War (2021)

Chris Pratt stars as a former Green Beret and family man from the present day enlisted to travel to the year 2051 and join the resistance against a malevolent alien race that has invaded Earth.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: From director Chris McKay, The Tomorrow War is also not a time loop movie, but a time travel movie that, like Edge of Tomorrow, takes place during a war for mankind in the future.

Stream The Tomorrow War on Amazon Prime.

War Of The Worlds (2005)

A divorced dock worker (played by Tom Cruise) struggles to keep his children (played by Justin Chatwin and Dakota Fanning) safe when Earth comes under attack by otherworldly creatures.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: Before Rita Vrataski's (Emily Blunt) training makes Cruise's Will Cage a badass, he is a helpless coward in the face of the alien invaders, similar to his character in director Steven Spielberg's adaptation of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.

Stream War of the Worlds on Paramount+.
Rent or buy War of the Worlds on Amazon.
Buy War of the Worlds on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Independence Day (1996)

The human race bands together to defend the Earth from tyrannical visitors who came from another planet in gigantic space ships.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: If Doug Liman hadn't urged the studio to keep its time loop conceit (according to Yahoo!), Edge of Tomorrow might have turned out a lot like director Roland Emmerich's Independence Day, which has everything you might expect from an alien invasion thriller.

Stream Independence Day on Hulu.
Stream Independence Day on Max.
Stream Independence Day on Tubi.
Rent or buy Independence Day on Amazon.
Buy Independence Day on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Aliens (1986)

Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the sole survivor of a massacre involving a vicious creature attack, joins a mission to help regain contact with a colonized planet, only to face even more monsters.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: Ask anybody what the ultimate, let alone best, humans vs. aliens epic is, and their answer might be James Cameron's brilliant second installment of the Alien movies franchise, which even sees our hero fight the enemy in an exo-suit like Will and Rita.

Stream Aliens on Hulu.
Rent or buy Aliens on Amazon.
Buy Aliens on Blu-ray on Amazon.

You could choose to watch Edge of Tomorrow or any of these movies over and over and over again and probably never get tired of them.

Timing is everything, no matter what the subject at hand may be. Releasing a potential blockbuster is certainly one of those fields where strategy is key, and when it comes to the movies we’re about to discuss, it just was sadly a case of wrong place, wrong time.

Watchmen

If co-writer/director Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen had been released at any point other than the start of the MCU’s boom, it might have seen better box office returns. While the movie still holds up, one has to wonder if an era with larger IMAX capacity would have done this movie better.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

2015 was a good year for spy movies, with Kingsman: The Secret Service and Spectre both doing rather well at the box office. So maybe Guy Ritchie’s beloved The Man from U.N.C.L.E. should have thought about releasing in early 2016 instead, as the film’s breezy antidote to Daniel Craig’s James Bond arc could have been better appreciated.

The Rocketeer

The Rocketeer is one of the classic examples of a movie that had too much competition. With summer 1991 offering the likes of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, there was little room in people’s hearts for an underrated Disney take on comic book heroism. 

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

It was almost instantaneously decided that Edgar Wright’s cinematic adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World would eventually be a cult classic. Flopping in theaters, the people who actually saw it kept the torch lit for future fans to discover. Perhaps Inception had better legs than Universal had thought. 

Alita: Battle Angel

There’s still a dedicated fan base who want to see a sequel to Robert Rodriguez’s adaptation of Alita: Battle Angel. This would-be blockbuster’s debut saw it as the final 20th Century Fox movie to be released before the 2019 Disney/Fox merger’s completion; an event that would see various projects cancelled, sold off, or get lost in the shuffle.  

Tron

Nobody knew just how white hot E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial was going to be in the summer of 1982. Dominating the box office for a stretch that’s unheard of in the current market, Disney’s experimental sci-fi movie Tron was a casualty during that reign. Moved from a Christmas slot staked out in that same year, the arcade game wound up making more money than this cult classic would take at the movies.

The Last Voyage Of The Demeter

If you’re trying to craft a horror hit, even if you’re uncertain about the IP, a Halloween release date is your best chance at success. While director André Øvredal’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark bucked that trend with its well played August 2019 release, 2023 would see his film The Last Voyage of the Demeter crash into the rocks of misfortune.

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Six years can make a difference when you’re trying to follow the next big thing. Gremlins 2: The New Batch taught the world that lesson as it failed to capture its 1984 predecessor’s box office bonanza in 1990. Between a crowded year at the box office, and the arrival of so many imitators throughout that stretch of time, it was hard for this actually well-liked picture to last past midnight.

The Thing

Maybe a major studio with two alien-centric movies should be a bit careful in how they release them. As if John Carpenter’s The Thing wasn’t disturbing enough on its own, the fact that the movie shared cinematic air with E.T.: the Extra-terrestrial not only buried the picture, it made it look even more frightening. Lucky for the world The Thing found its feet on VHS, and all was right with the world. 

Blade Runner

Sometimes a classic needs to give the world a little more time to catch up. Thanks to the meteoric rise of E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial in 1982’s box office calendar, director Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner seemed destined to obscurity. However, when the picture landed in rental stores quicker than Steven Spielberg’s cinematic phenomenon, people were ready to dive in. 

The Last Action Hero

Believe it or not, heading into the theatrical release of The Last Action Hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s meta action/comedy was being touted as “the big ticket for ‘93!” And then a scrappy upstart student film called Jurassic Park was unleashed, just two days earlier, and the rest was history faster than you could say “Big mistake.” 

Doctor Sleep

November 2019 didn’t do many movies favors when it came to cashing in on existing IP. While Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep had a good head of steam heading into its release into multiplexes, its arrival was met by the surprising box office victory of Midway. If only it had gone toe to toe with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, perhaps the Halloween season could have booked more butts at The Overlook. 

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was a movie that underperformed so horribly, it closed Square Pictures’ doors not that long after they first opened. While one could debate when the right time was to release an ambitious video game tie-in flick, it certainly wasn’t in the same stretch where Legally Blonde was conquering in pink and Shrek was making its name. 

Surviving Christmas

Long before the Hallmark Channel somehow convinced people it’s ok to watch Christmas movies year long, the Ben Affleck-led holiday comedy Surviving Christmas was a huge example of releasing a movie way out of season. Opening on October 22nd, 2004, the only defense this forgotten flameout has is that it was probably trying to beat The Polar Express and Christmas with the Kranks to the punch. 

Black Widow

Marvel’s Black Widow should have been the massive homecoming for the MCU that the early pandemic world was looking for. Unfortunately, this was also the time that Disney+’s short-lived Premier Access program was tested, in order to entice audiences to enjoy the film at home. Scarlett Johansson’s eventual lawsuit was only the beginning of the fallout, as the film performed nowhere near the level the MCU brass expected.

Turning Red

A week after 2022’s The Batman crushed it at the early pandemic box office, Disney/Pixar’s Turning Red tried to make a savvy pivot as a Disney+ streaming original. Though the film had an eventual theatrical re-release, the picture still failed to make a proper stamp on the box office.

Tenet

Literally the first movie that reopened movie theaters after the 2020 COVID-19 shutdowns, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet became a champion of post-shutdown cinema. It also did as well as it could in the earlier, much more limited market that was available to theatrical titles; which only made it an eventual IMAX 70mm repertory favorite. 

Jersey Girl

Gigli was a theatrical bomb that was so devastating that its effects weren’t only felt by Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s ill-advised rom-com. With fears that Kevin Smith’s Jersey Girl would also crater as a result, the picture was tweaked to limit the appearance of Bennifer 1.0 in the film. It didn’t matter, because Smith’s heart on its sleeve family dramedy still tanked. 

The Village 

There’s a case to be made that M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village should have either been his first project, or a later career release. Riding the wave of “twist” laden movies like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, the film was marketed as a spooky, twisted movie…which hides the actually sweet nature of its cerebral drama. 

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

In a more traditional period of release, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar could have been a surprise hit that raked in box office gold. But as a 2021 release that was eventually turned into a PVOD exclusive debut, Kristen Wiig and Anne Mumulo’s sunny fun seekers weren’t given the spotlight they truly deserved. 

Crossroads

Ok, get all the jokes out now. No, Crossroads isn’t a movie that never should have been released. While it was a decent hit at the 2002 box office, this could have been a white-hot hit if it was produced and released earlier in Britney Spears’ career as a pop princess.

Haunted Mansion

20 years after the Eddie Murphy starring spin on the same Disneyland attraction arrived, Haunted Mansion was the reboot that hoped to get it right. But with a critical drubbing, and a non-Halloween release date, director Justin Simien’s new tale in an old haunt was barely a ghost by spooky season.

Tron: Legacy

When all was said and done, Tron: Legacy actually did pretty well for itself in a December 2010 release slot. However, in the era where Pirates of the Caribbean, and eventually the MCU, would become Disney’s preferred ATMs, the legacy-quel would act as a minor point of light before another franchise dark age.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

While Star Wars started as a summer-based franchise, the Sequel Trilogy era saw The Force Awakens relocate the series to its current Christmas holiday tradition. So by the time 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story became a reality, its attempt to return to the May release slot of its youth was seen as a massive misstep. 

Star Trek: Nemesis

In 2002, Star Trek’s movies were on a bit of a roll. At least, the franchise was in a comfortable enough position that Paramount Pictures brass decided that releasing Star Trek: Nemesis against The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was a calculated risk worth taking. It was not, even with the presence of baby Tom Hardy playing a clone of Patrick Stewart.

UHF

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Batman, Ghostbusters II, and Honey, I Shrunk The Kids all came out in the summer of 1989. Weird Al Yankovic’s UHF…also happened. That pretty much sums up how audiences reacted to the cult classic in its initial release phase, but history only went on to prove that maybe Al should have sold his bologna in another space on the calendar.

Brightburn

Points have to be awarded to Brightburn, as the James Gunn-produced mashup of The Omen and Superman not only predated superhero fatigue, it actually happened before both of those franchises would make resurgences in popular culture. If only this R-rated thrill ride had opened with a little more distance from Avengers: Endgame’s debut almost a month prior.

The Core

It was bad enough that 2003’s The Core was unceremoniously delayed from its original release date in late 2002. But when the Columbia shuttle disaster killed all seven astronauts aboard roughly a month before the movie actually made it into the world, the timing couldn’t have been worse. 

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Between The Matrix Revolutions and Return of the King was a window that should have worked for potential 2003 blockbusters. Yet between potential Russell Crowe fatigue, and inflated production costs, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World saw the wind unjustly robbed from its sails. 

The Matrix Resurrections

The Matrix Resurrections was a curious prospect from day one, as The Wachowski’s original trilogy seemed pretty open and shut. That unexpectedly meta approach, meshed with a controversial day-and-date streaming debut in 2021, marked a supposed low point in a once-dominating franchise. 

West Side Story

December 2021 was a bloodbath when it came to the glut of movies released in that very month. With the Disney/Fox empire pushing a lot of movies out in this early pandemic season of cinema, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake found itself crushed up against The King’s Man, Nightmare Alley, and Spider-Man: No Way Home…and that was just the competition from its siblings.

Steve Jobs

Part of Steve Jobs’ struggles manifested early, as a David Fincher-directed/Christian Bale-starring version of the Aaron Sorkin scripted biopic fell apart, despite holding great promise. The movie that resulted, with Danny Boyle directing an all-star cast led by Michael Fassbender, is a magnetic opus that deserves more love than it got.

Unfortunately, the ill-advised Ashton Kutcher vehicle Jobs may have played a part in sinking this beaut; along with an odd awards season release strategy…rolled out in the month of October. Which, just like a lot of the films we've just discussed, is prime proof that a movie at the wrong place in time can be unjustly seen as a failure. 

Sometimes a movie leaves us with a finale so head scratching, we need to run out and talk about it. That concern is always going to be valid, and that’s why we felt it was time to decipher 32 of the most confusing movie endings, so that you don’t have to. Brace yourselves, as some of these finales are all-time stumpers. 

Inception

Is Dom (Leonardo DiCaprio) still in the dream world, or is he back home with his kids? It’s been over a decade since Inception planted that question in our minds, and as far as Christopher Nolan’s thoughts on Dom’s ending are concerned, it doesn’t matter because the character doesn’t care. Though if you ask us, Leo’s still dreaming in the end.

Looper

Because of how Looper’s time travel works in Rian Johnson’s story, one could say that it’s safe to assume that young Cid (Pierce Gagnon) doesn’t become the criminal overlord known as The Rainmaker. However, our own interpretation of the ending is that the death of both Joes (Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Bruce Willis)  probably had no effect on Cid’s future, and the kid’s still destined for darkness. 

Shutter Island

This one’s a pretty cut-and-dry affair, as the finale of director Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Shutter Island is actually clearer than the book when it comes to the final fate of Andrew Laeddis (Leonardo DiCaprio). In author Dennis Lehane’s novel, we’re not sure if Andrew or his Teddy Daniels persona is in control; but in Shutter Island’s movie ending, it’s plainly clear that Andrew wants that lobotomy, and pretends he still thinks he’s his US Marshall alter ego. 

mother!

The ending to mother! is a literally Biblical finale, with Jennifer Lawrence’s titular matron unleashing apocalyptic ruin against her lover, Him (Javier Bardem). As we saw Darren Aronofsky’s film start with a woman burning in some hellfire of her own, we’re led to believe that the cycle of creation and destruction is about to start again, thanks to Him waking up his new companion the same way he roused mother. 

Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film Birdman, Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance is a rare case where a seemingly impenetrable ending fits along with the story that came before it. While we debate whether Riggan (Michael Keaton) jumped to his death or soared with the birds, the blurred lines of reality never let up even in the finale, causing us to question everything we’ve seen come to pass. 

The Shining

Stephen King’s notorious dislike of The Shining, at least as a movie, certainly has its points. While Stanley Kubrick’s iconic adaptation is definitely a different beast from its literary source, as the film seemingly depicts the soul of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) now caught in the purgatory of The Overlook. For years the mystery of that ominous photo kept people guessing, but thanks to Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep, that seems to be the best answer available. 

Fight Club

Just as Fight Club’s Operation Mayhem is about to punch a hole in the status quo, we learn that Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) is a manifestation of the Narrator (Edward Norton) and his contempt for the world. Sometimes dissociating into that personality it’s our Narrator that was the mastermind this whole time. Holding hands with Darla (Helena Bonham Carter) while the world seemingly ends, there’s two comic sequels that tell the story of what happened after one of the best ‘90s movies of all time.

American Psycho

Did Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) really kill all of those people? Apparently not. While he confesses to killing rival Paul Allen (Jared Leto), and even engages in a gun-toting showdown with the NYPD, the next day sees Patrick’s crimes being laughed off by anyone he mentions them to. Mary Harron’s film is just as open-ended as Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, but at the end of the day, Patrick does do a lot of drugs, and nobody can keep anybody’s names straight. 

Memento

2000’s Memento saw would-be detective Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) seeking out his wife’s killer. Unfortunately,  Leonard’s anterograde amnesia prevents him from remembering that he actually killed his wife’s assailant a year prior to the movie. Even after learning the truth, a moment of vengeance ensures that he’ll keep hunting his wife’s killer for the foreseeable future.

No Country For Old Men

The audience for 2007’s No Country for Old Men thought that there was a chance Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) could have escaped the wrath of hitman Anton Chegur (Javier Bardem). As it turns out, that was never the case, as Moss and his wife were already dead. The true point of the story is to observe Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) and his acceptance that the past is in the past, and there’s nothing you can do about it. 

A Serious Man

In a quest for cosmic and karmic answers, Professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) sees two potential misfortunes befall him at the end of The Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man. Larry’s recent lab tests may indicate some serious health problems, and his son Danny (Aaron Wolff) is seconds away from being lost in a tornado. All because Larry took a bribe to change a student’s grade. 

Blade Runner

The question of whether Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a replicant depends on how you view Blade Runner, right down to the cut you choose to view. While Harrison Ford believes Deckard is a replicant, both Ridley Scott and the events of Blade Runner 2049 seem to fall into the camp of uncertainty at best, and flat-out rejection in its most extreme. So yeah, Deckard’s humanity is up for grabs, with a firm lean towards confirming he’s flesh and blood.

Arrival

The ending of Arrival also happens to be the beginning, as the visions of Louise Banks (Amy Adams) losing her young daughter are not flashbacks, but flash-forwards. Since the Heptapod language allows the human consciousness to basically remember the future, Louise’s fate is all the more bittersweet, as she proceeds to live through the tragedy she could have prevented.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dullea) finds himself experiencing one of the trippiest endings of cinematic history in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The simplest way to explain what happened is that thanks to the third, most powerful Monolith, Dr. Bowman found himself unbound from time and space. Reborn as “The Star Child,” he is now ready to transition into even crazier forms throughout the rest of Arthur C. Clarke’s source novels; as he’s basically become immortal. 

Donnie Darko

Time travel helps Donnie Darko become a confusing loop of causality, in which Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) realizes that in order to save his community from a chain of death and tragedy, he has to die. Using the strange powers he’s been developing throughout the film, he causes the jet engine that lands on his house earlier in the movie to ultimately kill his past self, rendering the events of Richard Kelly’s story null and void.

The Thing

John Carpenter’s The Thing is a horror classic for several reasons, one of which is the legendary special effects magic that remains chilling to this day. For our purposes, the other reason open for discussion is the movie’s ending, which questions whether Macready (Kurt Russell) or Childs (Keith David) could be The Thing. If you really want to fit the paranoid theme of the movie, the best assumption is that neither is The Thing, and their distrust eventually kills them both in the end.

Tenet

Sometimes it feels like Christopher Nolan is going for the Hall of Fame when it comes to confusing endings. Tenet’s wild time inversion ride is one of the best examples, as the ending is as twisty as its concept of time. For The Protagonist (John David Washington), and the rest of us in the audience, Tenet is the beginning. However, for Neil (Robert Pattinson), this journey has been an inverted arc that leads to his death saving his new old friend in the movie’s killer opening sequence. 

Annihilation

In a world of doppelgangers and uncertainty, Alex Garland’s film version of Annihilation is a double helix of a twist ending. Not only do we learn that Kane (Oscar Isaac) is actually an alien replica of his human self from the mysterious area known as “The Shimmer,” but we see that the original Lena (Natalie Portman) has been possessed by some of that Shimmer herself. 

Total Recall

Admit it: Total Recall is so pumped full of adrenaline that it’s kind of easy to overlook whether or not Arnold Schwarzenegger’s protagonist had been dreaming the whole time. Paul Verhoeven’s action-packed retelling of Philip K. Dick’s “We’ll Remember It For You Wholesale” may seem to hedge its bets by the end, but we’re willing to say that Total Recall’s ending was all a dream.

Minority Report

Legendary sci-fi author Phillip K. Dick had a knack for writing stories that lead to some of the most open-ended finales of all time. Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report is a long-standing beacon of ambiguity, as Tom Cruise’s John Anderton may or may not have dreamed his own happy ending after a certain point. 

12 Monkeys

Poor James Cole (Bruce Willis). Plagued by nightmares from his childhood, the man trusted to prevent 12 Monkeys’ viral apocalypse from occurring just happens to be the man he saw gunned down in an airport when he was young. While the apocalypse seems to be on its way to being averted, this unfortunate time traveler’s fate would appear to have always been sealed.

Jacob’s Ladder

Vietnam Vet Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) winds his way through a maze of mystery and hallucination in Jacob’s Ladder, which ultimately leads to one hell of a twist ending. By the time we see his dead son Gabe (Macaulay Culkin) welcoming him to the afterlife, we learn that Jacob actually never made it home from Vietnam. The entire movie, save for the sequences set during the war, was a hallucination on Jacob’s deathbed.

The Dark Knight Rises

Based on the overwhelming evidence left in the finale of The Dark Knight Rises, the question of whether Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is alive and well in Italy at the end seems pretty open and shut. After learning that the Caped Crusader fixed the autopilot function on The Bat, it would appear that Bruce found a way to retire from his life of crime-fighting, while leaving his arsenal to the next person he trusted with the mantle: Officer Robin John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

Joker

What do Joker’s Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) and American Psycho’s Christian Bale have in common? Well, apparently, they both suffer from a state of psychosis so great they’ve imagined killing people in their waking lives. What makes Todd Phillips’ Academy Award-winning thriller all the more confusing is that thanks to Arthur’s reputation as an unreliable narrator, there may be several layers of fantasy at work throughout this chilling narrative. 

Us

Throughout Jordan Peele’s Us, we’re supposed to believe that Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) is being chased by her Untethered doppelganger Red (also Nyong’o). In actuality, what seems to have happened is that on that fateful night in 1986, Red swapped places with Adelaide. Over 30 years later, when Adelaide attempts to reclaim her life through an Untethered revolution, Red kills her - maintaining her stolen life on the surface.

Brazil

Brazil’s ending is one of the most confusing in history thanks to the fact that there are three different conclusions. Thanks to good old-fashioned studio meddling, Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) either suffers a mental break, escapes with his true love (Kim Greist), or winds up in a sort of middle ground; depending on which cut you watch. But the definitive ending is the first and bleakest scenario, which explains what inspired the meddling in the theatrical and TV cuts. 

Predestination

Predestination’s ending is a confusing affair because of all the twists one has to keep in mind when defining the identity of our protagonist. The trick is to know two things: John (Sarah Snook), Jane (also Sarah Snook), and their baby are all the same person, and thanks to time travel shenanigans they eventually become the terrorist they’re hunting (Ethan Hawke). With that knowledge, it doesn’t seem like the terrorist attack in question can be changed, especially since it all hinges on several variants of the same person involved in all the crucial aspects. 

Life Of Pi

Apologies to all of you animal lovers out there, as the tiger known as Richard Parker wasn’t in the lifeboat with young Pi (Suraj Sharma). All of the animals in the tragic story on the boat are metaphors for the very real tragedy of Pi losing his mother (Tabu) and killing her murderer (Gérard Depardieu) before being lost at sea. It turns out the tiger was the metaphor for Pi’s inner strength to survive. 

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

Stanley Kubrick’s trust in Steven Spielberg to make A.I.: Artificial Intelligence into a reality has led to many people wondering where the movie should have ended. It only confused things more when there wasn’t a readily apparent explanation that the “aliens” that young David (Haley Joel Osment) encounters in the far-flung future are actually evolved Mechas trying to learn about the age of humanity. 

Contact

Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) assumes that her journey toward the end of Contact actually sends her to the outer reaches of space. In truth, while her consciousness may have encountered alien life, there’s no physical evidence to corroborate her story. For once, the scientist is on the side of faith. 

Black Swan

In the third act of Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, ballerina Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) mistakenly thinks she killed her presumed rival Lily (Mila Kunis) with a large shard of class. In actuality, it was herself that she stabbed, right before a supposedly star-making performance in Swan Lake. It's presumed that Nina bleeds out as the film fades to white. 

Dune: Part Two

To be completely honest, there’s one simple yet baffling reason the ending to Dune: Part Two is on this list. Honestly, if you can walk away from Paul Atredies’ (Timotheé Challamet) journey and think he’s still a hero, you’re wrong. Try as he might, the dude’s turned into the prophecy, and he’s about to commit space genocide. Sorry, he’s about to “show his enemies to Paradise.”

We hope that your head isn’t spinning too hard after this collection of the most confusing endings of cinematic history. At least you can count on the finale of this very rundown to be a clear and concise version of events. Or can you? 

Friends and readers, the IMAX format is on a hot streak. 2024 movies like Dune: Part Two and Civil War have been hyping up that particular venue in their marketing, which is great news for the future. But what's even more exciting are the re-releases, like Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, that have been attracting moviegoers to take part in the large format 70mm magic outside of the crop of incoming blockbusters.

With that particular scenario in mind, I’d like to suggest some long overdue re-issues that the IMAX format could benefit from. Though mostly, I’ve crafted this list as a love letter to fond outings of the past, as well as some titles I missed for one reason or another that I’m still looking to catch. So let’s start the countdown, and go big with these delightful IMAX releases that deserve another spin on the platter.

Speed Racer

You can bet I caught The Wachowskis’ Speed Racer back when it was released in IMAX the first time around. But now, with the film’s critical reappraisal, it feels like the perfect time to bring that large format magic back to the biggest screens possible, if only to encourage a 4K remaster and home video release to follow.

Tron: Legacy

As we make our way to Tron: Ares’ upcoming Disney movie release date of October 10, 2025, people are going to want to revisit 2010’s Tron: Legacy. The IMAX 3D variant is hands down the best way to experience Joseph Kosinski’s awe-inspiring cult classic, and a revival could fuel the next entry in the Tron franchise timeline’s journey to the big time.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Sometimes a major motion picture like Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol films special scenes in IMAX format, but doesn’t send that version to home video. As the series continues to be quite popular, despite Dead Reckoning’s box office performance, Ghost Protocol lighting the fuse in IMAX is quite an opportunity to remind people why the format works so beautifully.

Fantasia 2000

In the absence of further installments of what was supposed to be a Fantasia franchise, bringing back Fantasia 2000 for a new generation would take total advantage of people seeking out IMAX 70mm entertainment. It could also spark the want for a fresh installment, which in turn could be a major movie event waiting to happen. Also, "Rhapsody In Blue" in true IMAX would especially make my day.

The Polar Express

As far as my money is concerned, IMAX 3D is the superior third-dimensional experience at the movies. And while I’ve seen periodic re-issues of The Polar Express in regional IMAX showings, this year’s 20th anniversary basically begs for this holiday favorite to ride the rails on a wider scale.

Treasure Planet

Treasure Planet is another Disney movie that seems to have amassed more love over time, and it was also part of the early era of IMAX conversions for the studio’s work. If you can convince me Jim Hawkins’ coming of age journey through space wouldn’t look and sound brilliant in this format, I’ll stop asking for it... but good luck trying.

Tangled

One of several IMAX titles offered in 3D internationally, to have Tangled re-released for the rest of the world to experience nice and huge would be a beautiful sight. Even though I fully understand it's hard to see third-dimensional thrills through tears of joy, I think this would certainly be worth the extra cash on the big, big screen.

No Time To Die

Yes, I have another international IMAX 3D variant to plug, because while the company has seemed to distance itself from wide spanning releases in the format, movies like No Time To Die still get to enjoy such versions. Standard 3D was a treat for Daniel Craig’s James Bond swan song, so I could only imagine the premium format expansion of the picture being even more exciting to behold.

Dune

Much like No Time To Die, the first half of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune also received the IMAX 3D treatment in certain international markets. With the 70mm variant of Dune: Part Two already returning to rake in the IMAX cash, having a double feature that includes this version of the previous part of the story just makes business sense.

Real Steel

While we continue to wait for some sort of movement on the Real Steel Disney+ series, Shawn Levy’s rock ‘em sock ‘em sci-fi flick has become a streaming champion. The fanbase seems to be there, so why not let people indulge in some massive robot fighting action on an IMAX screen?

Ford v. Ferrari

A lot of the movies on this list are admittedly some pretty huge genre undertakings, which usually makes for the majority of movies that are presented in IMAX. However, learning that Ford v. Ferrari had a limited run in large format only makes me want to relive the heartbreak and the triumph of Matt Damon and Christian Bale’s journey through auto racing.

The Martian

If The Martian’s IMAX 3D variant could be brought back to premium auditoriums worldwide, I’d gladly be seated to see Mark Watney’s journey to survive the wilds of Mars at least a handful of times. Also, this would make for a perfect Matt Damon double feature with either Ford v. Ferrari or Interstellar, which actually is returning to IMAX this November!

Top Gun: Maverick

While I got to see Top Gun: Maverick in a Dolby auditorium, I missed out on experiencing this Tom Cruise legacy-quel in the IMAX format. If we’re going to get the world as hyped for a potential Top Gun 3 as Mr. Cruise happens to be, a re-issue of this box office goliath is a good first step.

Beauty And The Beast (1991)

The original animated Beauty and the Beast was Disney’s first IMAX re-issue of a classic from the vaults. As if that wasn’t enough incentive to send this tale as old as time back to the movies, this variant also happens to be the Special Edition, which reinstates the oft-overlooked and yet best Beauty and the Beast song “Human Again.” I need to see and hear this movie on an IMAX system, and I especially need that tune to be a part of the experience.

Alita: Battle Angel

There was an IMAX re-release of Alita: Battle Angel as part of an early effort to get fans back into movie theaters in late 2020. But if 20th Century Studios really wanted to take advantage of the re-issue craze that seems to be going on right now, as well as try to gauge the popularity of Robert Rodriguez’s cult favorite manga adaptation, another roll of the dice in IMAX 3D would certainly be welcomed.

Turning Red

Yes, I know Turning Red was re-released into theaters this spring. However, there are two versions that sadly never got to shine in its hugely altered 2022 theatrical exhibition: 3D and IMAX. Seeing that the movie was optimized for large format when first watching it on Disney+ broke my heart, as the gigantic finale alone would have been worth the ticket price.

Our girl Mei deserves her day in IMAX, and the 2024 theatrical landscape has plenty of room. With plenty of other titles on this list set to get their premium ticket due, there’s certainly a wide swath of options to entice moviegoers to keep fueling the recent boom in this format.

Is there ever a bad time to watch a time travel movie? Some of the best sci-fi movies in history have tackled this frequently explored topic, and new wrinkles in the fabric of the concept have made the subject more exciting over time. So why don’t we take a look at the different rules these flights of fancy have introduced? Should you be stuck in a time loop, we apologize if this list is starting to get old.

Back To The Future

Everyone loves to talk about how Back to the Future’s time travel works, but there’s one aspect we take for granted throughout the whole trilogy. Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) may have given Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) the keys to travel through the past, present, and future; but you seriously need to consider the exact spot you’re traveling to. Otherwise, you might find yourself altering history in some intriguing ways. R.I.P. Twin Pines Mall. 

Time After Time

A novel adventure starring the father of time travel H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell), Time After Time actually introduced an interesting mechanic to temporal transport. Let’s just say that if you don’t use the Time Machine properly, you could find yourself stuck in your final destination. Or worse, falling through the time-space continuum, without a way back home.

The Terminator

The Terminator's time travel will forever be a head-scratcher, as the existence of John Connor is the ultimate ontological paradox. How else can you explain Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) being sent back to the 1980s to save the world…and make sure the person who sent him is born in the first place?

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

The oldest method of time travel in the Star Trek movies, 1986’s The Voyage Home saw Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew trying to save the whales through a time heist. This wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for the Enterprise crew using a Klingon Bird of Prey, a slingshot orbit around the sun, and a lot of engineering power to do it.

Primer

2004’s Primer is still hotly discussed among time travel aficionados, and it’s not hard to see why. The shenanigans in this test case involve multiple versions of a singular traveler (Shane Carruth) existing in a single timeline, which creates one of the most chaotic timelines ever depicted.

The Adam Project

Story-wise, The Adam Project is pretty cozy when it comes to how it handles time travel. But when it comes to traveling in style, the older Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds) has a Time Jet that’s specifically coded to his DNA! Not many temporal travelers HAVE that, and it prevents so many mistakes other adventures of this sort use for story purposes.

Avengers: Endgame

How Avengers: Endgame’s time travel works is rather unorthodox, to be honest. Instead of overwriting the past into a more pleasing result, the MCU’s finest are only allowed to use it in the name of stealing/returning the Infinity Stones. Timelines can still create tangent histories, and 2014 Gamora takes over for her slain variant in the films, but you can’t stop “The Snap.”

Lost In Space

If all time travelers had the device Older Will Robinson (Jared Harris) built in 1998’s Lost in Space, they’d have it made. While only one person can travel at a time, exact coordinates in time and space are required; so you can go to a very specific spatial location on the timeline. 

The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect's time travel works on rules similar to that of Quantum Leap. Evan (Ashton Kutcher) can indeed change history, but it’s only within his own life’s timeline. Unfortunately, thanks to the multiple trips leading to continued alterations to the fabric of events, it all adds up in terms of severe physical wear and tear. 

Hot Tub Time Machine

Hot Tub Time Machine is a very special case when it comes to time travel. To be fair, the comedy ensemble franchise gets points for having its protagonists travel only within their own bodies. As for how one can actually travel with said titular device, apparently you need an energy drink, the right hot tub with the right temperature, and some convenient writing. 

Looper

Real-time bodily damage. That’s probably one of the most unique additions to Looper’s usage of time travel, as we see people incur damage in the past, only for it to show up on their future selves. Poor Seth (Paul Dano) demonstrated that lesson the hard way in Rian Johnson’s sci-fi masterpiece. 

Star Trek: Generations

What if you could wish really hard to create an alternate timeline? Or what if you could send yourself back to your best memory, and never leave? That’s what The Nexus from Star Trek: Generations could do, and both Captains Kirk (William Shatner) and Picard (Patrick Stewart) got a taste of that sweet life, before ultimately using their new power to stop the villainous Dr. Soren (Malcolm McDowell). 

Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure

If you ever want to bring a figure from history home for dinner in the present, do it in the universe of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. There are little to no consequences, especially when it comes to our heroes (Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves) whisking away two medieval princesses to become betrothed in the 1980s. Seriously, how did that not start a war?

The Time Traveler's Wife

“Chrono Impairment” is a seriously rare affliction, but it’s enough of a headache that it prevents Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana’s clock-crossed lovers from ever enjoying a normal life. Such is the nature of The Time Traveler's Wife, which invented that affliction to send Bana’s character Henry on unpredictable trips at unforeseeable intervals throughout his life. 

Indiana Jones And Dial Of Destiny

For Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny's time travel to actually happen, the world of Harrison Ford’s iconic archeologist needed specific hardware. Aided by some very precise calculations to try and take the Nazis to where they were trying to go, it wasn't as simple as jumping into a car and gunning it to 88 miles per hour. 

Star Trek: First Contact

For a franchise that uses temporal transit as much as the Star Trek series does, there sure are a lot of different ways to go back in time. And if you’re not satisfied with The Voyage Home’s method of a slingshot orbit around the Sun, then you can always do what Star Trek: First Contact did. While I wouldn’t personally recommend waiting for a Borg invasion to cause a temporal wake you can just hitch a ride on; you do you. 

Tenet

Ok, so technically Tenet’s shenanigans involving time is “time inversion,” rather than time travel. Which only makes the journey, and the resulting reality The Protagonist (John David Washington) lives in all the more complicated. It also makes for some classic Christopher Nolan mind melts.

Timeline

Would this really be a sci-fi party if author Michael Crichton didn’t show up? Timeline’s time travel is a lot of fun, if you consider using a “human fax machine” to send yourself to medieval times “fun.” In which case, try not to abuse it too much, as every trip has the chance to leave you with transcription errors in your reassembled DNA. Again, we’re working with a fax machine here.  

Somewhere In Time

It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for Christopher Reeve fans! Somewhere in Time just had to be on this list, as it's pretty unique in how it sends a person back through the ages. In the case of Reeve’s playwright Richard, all he needs is a really powerful hypnotic focus to zoom back to 1912. 

Star Trek (2009)

It’s kind of fitting that the 2009 Star Trek reboot would use time travel, given that the series has continually danced with that concept on TV and in movies. For this J.J. Abrams-directed venture, the destructive and inexact force of a black hole is what’s used to accidentally alter time so vastly that William Shatner turns into Chris Pine.

Déjà Vu

Tony Scott’s 2006 action-thriller Déjà Vu is a big movie with a relatively limited scope. With intelligence gathering, and ultimately one human transport, that can only go as far back as four and a half days, Denzel Washington’s work was kind of cut out for him on this caper.

The Tomorrow War

The Chris Pratt-starring time travel ensemble adventure The Tomorrow War has some pretty huge stipulations when it comes to recruiting an army for the future. The largest among them was, of course, you had to be dead according to the records of the future hellscape that pitted humanity against some very nasty creatures.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Going from here to there in the then and now in X-Men: Days of Future Past requires a serious amount of power. With Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) going back to his past body, the key to how it all happens lies in the phasing abilities of Kitty Pryde (Elliot Page). So this story uses a very physical, and incredibly vulnerable, method to execute its vision.

12 Monkeys

Out of all the time travel universes we’ve seen on screen, perhaps the one I feel the most sorry for is the one shown in 12 Monkeys. The basic rule of this Bruce Willis epic’s temporal transit is “hope for the best,” thanks to the method of being shot through time and intending to land in the right place going wrong more often than you think.

Midnight In Paris

Reminiscent of many other vehicular-based time travel films like Back to the Future, any character that travels through time in Midnight In Paris just needs to catch the right ride, at just about Midnight. The experience is bespoke to whoever is traveling, as the period of time that suits them best also dictates the method of transportation provided.

The Final Countdown

Dropping an aircraft carrier from the 1980s into the moments before Pearl Harbor, The Final Countdown delivers a moral dilemma plenty of time travelers have tangled with. But the real difference with this underrated sci-fi movie is the fact that the time-traveling storm that is responsible for the trip is inescapable. You’re going home, whether you want to or not.

About Time

Sharing a similarity with the romantic classic Somewhere In Time, Richard Curtis’ About Time allows any potential traveler to jump into the past with merely intense concentration. However, certain caveats are in play, like the recommendation of not traveling past certain life milestones, or the fact that only the men of the Lake family can actually use this gift.

Donnie Darko

Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) can’t exactly travel through time in Donnie Darko, but he does have a special temporal ability that’s kind of funny and kind of sad. With the ability to open a wormhole between the present and the past, Mr. Darko can send objects through time; the skill that gives Richard Kelly’s movie its bittersweet ending. 

Kate & Leopold

Kate & Leopold’s usage of a localized time portal is a method as old as time. However, the big difference with this Meg Ryan/Hugh Jackman rom-com is that the journey Leopold (Jackman) takes to the “future” of 2001 robs us all of elevators. Also, there’s a ticking clock on this specific portal’s usage, which only complicates things further.

Groundhog Day

Perhaps the movie that nailed the time loop into the consciousness of the world, Groundhog Day brought us a charming Bill Murray rom-com mixed with a time travel story. Its misanthropic lead needed to change, even as the world around him stayed the same. The rest was sci-fi history in the making. 

Happy Death Day

What happens if you make a Groundhog Day-style time loop into a deadly game? You get a movie like Happy Death Day, in which our initially unlikable lead Tree (Jessica Rothe) is being stalked through a single-day time loop. The big kicker in this variant is that, unlike your standard time loop, Tree has a finite number of cycles before she possibly dies for good.

Detention

Where does one start with director Joseph Kahn’s Detention? Well, how about the fact that the teenagers in play (including a pre-Hunger Games Josh Hutcherson) use a stuffed bear as a time travel capsule? Or the fact that a mother/daughter pair can body swap on a permanent basis, and with no consequences? 

And with that, our supreme sampling of time travel trips has come to a close. Which more than likely has left you with a want to watch some of these movies again, or for the first time. That's totally natural, because this is a subgenre that always leaves us with one question: is there ever a bad time to watch a time travel movie?

Christopher Nolan's films have genuinely changed the world – so we decided to rank them. 

When it comes to some of the most-known filmmakers, I'm sure plenty come to mind. Maybe you think of the best Steven Spielberg movies, or perhaps you think of the best David Fincher films. But today, we're going to be focusing on a director who has released some of the most influential films of the last few decades—and that's Christopher Nolan. 

From his debut movie Following to his latest, Oppenheimer, here is how we rank Nolan's films from the very start. 

12. Following (1998)

For a debut film, Following is a great one to have. The movie mainly tells the story of a young man who follows the lives of strangers in London, only to find himself drawn into the criminal world when it's taken too far. 

Nolan directed, wrote, and produced the film, and as his debut film, it's not the big, bold pictures that we've seen him make way down the line in his career. Following is an interesting story to begin on, but certainly not his best. 

11. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The Dark Knight Rises is the third film in the Christian Bale Batman trilogy, telling how Batman needs to return to crime fighting when a terrorist known as Bane threatens nuclear destruction. 

Regarding the best superhero movies, The Dark Knight Rises is a great one, but it pales in comparison to the previous trilogy installments. After losing Heath Ledger, it suffers an understandable pitfall with a clunky storyline that's barely rememberable all these years later. While it's saved a bit by the performances of Bale, Tom Hardy, and Anne Hathaway, there's not much to this Batman entry. 

10. Tenet (2020)

Tenet was released during the COVID-19 pandemic and told the story of a former CIA agent who has to trace the origin of objects that travel backward through time to stop an attack that is going to occur. 

The premise for this film is wacky. I'll give Tenet a Top 10 spot mainly because the visual effects are out of this world. I believe it should have been given a long theatrical release when it first debuted. But, the story itself leaves a lot to be desired. I've had to rewatch this film a few times to truly understand it. 

9. Insomnia (2002)

Insomnia was released in 2002 and featured the story of two homicide detectives who are looking for the murderer of a teenage girl, only for their lives to become intertwined. 

The following movies in Nolan's filmography are all objectively great; it's just that some have more outstanding qualities than others. Insomnia, for example, is a silent killer of a movie. It features an exceptional performance from Robin Williams, but also Al Pacino, Hilary Swank, and so many more who rock here. If I had to pick one of Nolan's less intense films, this would be it—a true psychological thriller.

8. Memento (2000)

Memento is an interesting one – it stars Guy Pearce as Leonard, a man who can't make memories after witnessing the rape and murder of his wife. Now, he uses a camera and a gun to hunt down the person who did it to bring her justice. 

This film is excellent. I wasn't super impressed when I first watched all of Nolan's films, but when I rewatched it, the movie grew on me. The mystery unfolding is unlike any other and captures the eyes of the viewer in an instant. 

7. Batman Begins (2005)

The first film in the Nolan Batman trilogy, Batman Begins, tells not only the origin story of Bruce Wayne but follows as he attempts to stop Ra's al Ghul and other villains from turning Gotham City into nothing but a criminal haven. 

Reintroducing Batman to the general public after the bombs of the Batman franchise in the 1990s took guts, but Nolan did that and more with Batman Begin. It's a gritty drama with excellent acting, an incredible cast, and a story that made even a superhero hater like me a superhero lover early in her life. 

6. The Prestige (2006)

Starring Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, The Prestige is another psychological thriller that follows two rival magicians in Victorian London who try to sabotage the other to perform the ultimate magic trick. 

The Prestige surprised me when I first watched it, and even more so now, as it's one of Nolan's best movies. Both Bale and Jackman give career-high performances, but the sleight-of-hand scenes you witness mixed in with the game both the main characters are playing to outdo the other is what you stay for. Truly, so much fun.

5. Dunkirk (2017)

Dunkirk is an epic, and one of the best war films, that follows the soldiers during the real-life Dunkirk evacuation during World War II.

This film…sits with you. I don't think it's number one, but Dunkirk is a movie that you never really forget. Thanks to the sound editing, I can still feel the shaking of my theater seat years later, and I was blown away by the cinematography. 

The film is dark, realistic, and downright devastating when you think about all the lives lost. What makes it even better is that there's barely any speaking – only a true cinematic master can pull off a film with so much emotion when there's barely a peep of dialogue. 

4. Inception (2010)

Inception is a sci-fi action film about a thief who can steal information by literally entering his victims' minds. However, the chance to have his criminal record erased throws his life into a tailspin. 

Arguably, Leonardo DiCaprio should have won an Oscar for Inception, as it's one of DiCaprio’s best movies. Is it confusing at first? Yeah, it is, but everything changes once you start to understand the science behind it. And, of course, the visual effects have gone down as some of the best in film history. 

3. Oppenheimer (2023)

Oppenheimer is a biographical film about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man who created the atomic bomb. Was it one of the best movie experiences I've ever had? Heck, yes, it was. 

From the incredible Oppenheimer cast to the impeccable soundtrack, Oppenheimer hooked me. Pair that with an incredible lead performance from Cillian Murphy, and this is certainly one of Nolan's best-directed features. I think there are two others that surpass this, but it's up there. 

2. The Dark Knight (2008)

Most people would say that Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker makes The Dark Knight so high, but there are so many other reasons beyond his earth-shattering portrayal. 

The action scenes were incredibly well-done. Unlike any other Batman interpretation, the story was evenly paced and thrilling. The score is phenomenal. And let's not even get started on the number of iconic lines that have cemented themselves into pop culture. 

The Dark Knight would be number one if this last film didn't exist. So, one other film takes the cake for me. 

1. Interstellar (2014)

I had to put this at number one.

Some people wouldn't agree with my pick of Interstellar, but objectively, I can't not put this at number one for so many reasons. Sure, the sci-fi aspect of this film — that— they must travel into space to find a habitable planet for humans — is a little clunky — I can understand that. I've needed to watch this film a couple of times to truly understand it. 

But the themes are downright unforgettable. The Interstellar cast gives it their all for the entirety of the film, with a positively heartbreaking and yet uplifting performance from Matthew McConaughey post-Dallas Buyers Club. Hans Zimmer's score is one I still listen to in my car as I drive down a highway late at night. 

This movie has impacted my life so much ever since I first watched it — which is why I have to place it as my number one. 

This is my list, and while I believe this is the proper ranking, your ranking of Christopher Nolan's best films might differ entirely from mine. 

Either way, let's all admire how amazing he truly is as a filmmaker — and somehow patiently await his next movie, whenever that comes. 

The 2024 Oscars nominations were announced earlier this week, and Oppenheimer dominated amongst the other 2023 movie releases being recognized. Christopher Nolan’s latest feature has been nominated in 13 categories, including Best Picture, Best Director and three of the acting categories, but we have a little over a month to go until we learn how many Oscars it will win, if any at all. In the meantime, the movie Nolan delivered to the masses before Oppenheimer, Tenet (which CinemaBlend rated a perfect 5/5), is heading back to movie theaters, and I’m hoping that it crushes.

Tenet originally opened on September 3, 2020, which was still relatively early into the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when few movies were opening widely in theaters. Now the John Washington David and Robert Pattinson-led movie is getting a second chance to shine on the big screen. Per THR, Tenet will screen on 70mm IMAX, IMAX, digital and 70mm film screens for one week starting on Friday, February 23 in the United States and select international markets. Tickets are on sale now, and as some extra incentive, the screenings will be accompanied by exclusive footage from Dune: Part Two, which opens a week later on the 2024 release schedule.

I’ll be honest, Tenet is not one of my favorite Christopher Nolan movies. Quite frankly, it ranks towards the bottom of his filmography for me, because even as someone who reads and watches all kinds of time travel stories, I had trouble wrapping my head around how time inversion works and following along with the complex story. Nevertheless, it was a shame to see Tenet’s original theatrical release derailed by the pandemic, with the movie ultimately only a little over $365 million worldwide off a reported $205 million budget, according to The Numbers.

Now obviously I don’t expect Tenet to make anywhere near that amount of money given that it’s only playing in theaters for a week and is easily available to buy on home media or stream with a Max subscription. Still, I’m hoping both Tenet fans and those who’ve missed out on the movie thus far come out in droves to see the limited engagement. It deserves to be seen in a theatrical setting under much better circumstances.

Additionally, THR’s article mentioned that Warner Bros. Pictures Co-Chairs and CEOS Michael Luca and Pamela are hoping that Tenet’s return to theaters will lead to them “luring” Christopher Nolan back to the studio. You may recall that in late 2020, the filmmaker was displeased about WB’s decision to release all its 2021 movies to then-HBO Max on the same day as they opened in theaters. That ultimately led to him taking Oppenheimer to Universal Pictures, and clearly that turned out well.

While I certainly won’t complain if Nolan decides to stick around Universal, the man had a nearly 20-year run at Warner Bros. Packed with successes, including the Dark Knight trilogy and Inception. It would be great if that professional relationship could be revived, and perhaps Tenet’s theatrical return could help pave the way to that happening. For now though, just remember that if Drive-Away Dolls and Ordinary Angels, i.e. the two new movies opening in theaters on February 23, don’t strike your fancy, you’re welcome to check out Tenet between then and the next weekend. 

As for Oppenheimer, remember to watch the 96th Academy Awards Sunday, March 10 on ABC to see how it does amongst competition like Killers of the Flower Moon, Poor Things and Maestro, among many others. Christopher Nolan hasn’t announced what movie is making next, but once he does, we’ll let you know.

With Oppenheimer’s box office dominance and critical acclaim, Christopher Nolan is finding himself in a monumental moment, which he got to celebrate on Thursday when he was given the Best Director prize by the New York Film Critics Circle. However, while accepting the prize, he kept things humble by sharing a funny anecdote about the time he was on his Peloton watching a class when the instructor called out one of his films, saying “That’s a couple hours of my life I’ll never get back.” Following his comments going viral, the instructor has shared a message in response. 

Jenn Sherman is an instructor on Peloton who hails from New Jersey and was, in fact, the subject of Christopher Nolan’s story. The internet even found the exact moment from the class on Twitter where Sherman asks “Anybody see this shit?” after a song from Tenet comes up on her playlist. She then quipped “because I need a manual” and said the comments Nolan loosely paraphrased. Here’s how Sherman replied: 

In Nolan’s speech, the director shared he was “dying” on his Peloton taking part in the class that he was streaming on a TV screen. (Yes, the filmmaker does watch those). Randomly, Jenn Sherman started insulting the movie in the midst of his exercise. 

Christopher Nolan shared the story as an example that “film criticism is being democratized” with opinions “everywhere.” Here’s how Sherman continued to respond: 

While Sherman stands by her thoughts on Tenet, and to her credit, that’s one of the more confusing one’s from the filmmaker, she gave Christopher Nolan some major credit when it came to Oppenheimer. She shared that she’s seen one of the biggest 2023 movie releases not only once, but twice, and she is happy she spent six hours with the film. 

She also invited Nolan to one of her classes, saying he can “critique” it all he wants and she’ll keep it “insult free.” Check out the video: 

We didn’t have it on our bingo card for 2024 that Christopher Nolan and a Peloton instructor would go viral in the same sentence, but if you did, congrats on being psychic and also knocking that one out in the first week of the year. 

If you’re a fan of Nolan’s Oppenheimer (or would like to be), the movie is coming back to theaters in 70mm IMAX on January 12. It’s one of CinemaBlend’s best movies of 2023, and now it's been given the thumbs up by a Peloton instructor who wasn’t high on Tenet. 

Christopher Nolan is arguably on track this year to finally win the Academy Award for Best Director for his blockbuster biopic Oppenheimer—he's been nominated five times before, including for his devastating war drama Dunkirk. However, that doesn't mean the famed filmmaker doesn't often find himself on the receiving end of criticism. 

While accepting the Best Director prize from the New York Film Critics Circle on Thursday, January 4, Nolan spoke about the "complex emotional relationship" he has with critics of his films and detailed one of his most confounding run-ins with a cinematic cynic. Per Variety, it involved a Peloton, with the filmmaker saying:

Social-media sleuths have seemingly tracked down the fitness instructor in question, who, in the below video, can be seen atop one of the brand's pricey exercise bikes ranting about Nolan's 2020 sci-fi thriller Tenet: 

Thankfully for the director, his latest, Oppenheimer, has garnered rave reviews from critics, fellow filmmakers like Denis Villeneuve And Paul Thomas Anderson, and moviegoing audiences. The film, which stars Cillian Murphy as "father of the atomic bomb" J. Robert Oppenheimer, pulled in a staggering $954 million last year, and may end up being the third Christopher Nolan movie to cross the billion-dollar mark at the box office thanks to various re-releases.

At the NYFCC ceremony, the filmmaker went on to praise professional film critics, whose work he called "vital and timeless and useful" to the tradition of cinema, but he did reveal that reading reviews can at times be an uncomfortable practice: 

However, he concluded his speech by acknowledging that ultimately it's up to audiences, professional and otherwise, to interpret a cinematic work, no matter a director's "authorial intent": 

We'll see just how those ever-critical awards bodies interpret Nolan's work as Oppenheimer navigates Oscar season. The biographical drama is already up for eight awards at this Sunday's Golden Globes ceremony, including Best Picture and Best Director. Will the Academy follow suit? Stay tuned!

Following the home release of Oppenheimer, there’s a good chance many are looking to watch the best Christopher Nolan movies more than any other point in the past few years. Whether you’ve seen his various psychological thrillers and all-time great superhero movies multiple times or never before, we have everything you need to know for one incredible marathon full of the director’s incredible scenes and his trademark style and plot devices.

And while we wait for Christopher Nolan's next movie, now's the perfect time to go back and watch everything the Academy Award-winning filmmaker has given us over the years. Here's how to watch Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, and so many other great films from the visionary director.

Inception (2010)

One of the sci-fi movies to not focus on aliens or robots, Christopher Nolan’s 2010 visually-stunning action thriller Inception offers a unique concept and one hell of an execution of said premise. The movie follows Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), an on-the-run thief who’s given the prospect of a clean slate if he can successfully break into the dreams of his client’s rival and plant an idea instead of stealing information. 

This star-studded spectacle is full of twists and turns, as well as an ending we’re still debating more than a decade later.

Rent/buy Inception on Amazon.

Interstellar (2014) 

In 2014, Nolan gave the world one of the most awe-inspiring and emotional sci-fi stories of all time with Interstellar, a movie that features equal parts hard science and human emotion. The film centers on Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a widowed NASA pilot-turned-farmer who becomes humanity’s best chance of survival as he leads a last-ditch effort to find a new home. Leaving behind a young daughter and son on a dying Earth, Cooper sets off to the cosmos for a mind-bending and heart-wrenching journey.

What makes the movie even more impressive is its scientific accuracy and the fact much of the movie was shot without a green screen.

Stream Interstellar on Netflix.
Stream Interstellar on Paramount+.
Rent/buy Interstellar on Prime Video.

Dunkirk (2017) 

One of the best war movies ever made, Dunkirk is also one of the more unique, as it picks up after the battle on which it draws its name instead of focusing on the action. With three different storylines – one taking place over a week, one a day, one an hour – the moving 2017 drama features a nonlinear narrative that shows that heroes come in all forms with varying motivations.

The movie features some of the director’s most impressive shots and sequences, and what makes them even more extraordinary are all the tricks and techniques Nolan employed to pull them off.

Rent/buy Dunkirk on Amazon.

Tenet (2020) 

Months after the pandemic forced major changes to the theatrical calendar, Nolan came out with Tenet, one of his loudest movies yet, which was also one with one of his wildest plots to date. The movie centers on a secret agent known as the Protagonist (John David Washington) as he is tasked with traveling through time to prevent World War III. 

This is an incredibly simplified description of the film’s plot and doesn’t even tackle the Tenet ending, as there are certain elements of the labyrinthian puzzle that are still being unpacked nearly three years after the film’s initial release. 

Rent/buy Tenet on Amazon.

Oppenheimer (2023)

In July 2023, Christopher Nolan released not only one of the biggest movies of the year but also one of the most well-received films of his career with Oppenheimer. This three-hour epic detailing the creation of the Atomic bomb and the man behind it, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) is an absolute tour de force, both in terms of storytelling and filmmaking magic. 

Focusing on several different periods in Oppenheimer's life, the movie examines what made the "Father of the Atomic Bomb" tick as well as the fallout of his landmark achievement. With its blistering pace and heightened drama, Nolan rewrote the biopic with Oppenheimer.

Stream Oppenheimer on Prime Video.
Rent/buy Oppenheimer on Amazon.

The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005 - 2012)

Over the course of seven years and three movies, Christopher Nolan told the story of Batman (Christian Bale) as he transforms himself from the heir to the Wayne family legacy to a symbol of hope for Gotham City. From his early days of burning the candle at both ends in Batman Begins to taking on an anarchic and violent enemy in The Dark Knight to saving the city he loves from a zealot in The Dark Knight Rises, the caped crusader (as well as the man behind the mask) goes through tremendous change.

With some of the best Batman chase sequences and unforgettable scenes we still think about years later, there are plenty of reasons the Dark Knight trilogy remains so popular after so much time.

Stream Batman Begins on Max. (Rent/buy Batman Begins on Amazon.)
Stream The Dark Knight on Max. (Rent/buy The Dark Knight on Amazon.)
Stream The Dark Knight Rises on Max. (Rent/buy The Dark Knight Rises on Amazon.)

The Prestige (2006)

Between his first and second Batman movies, Nolan took audiences to late 19th-century London with a story about two rival magicians (Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman) who are driven to the brink of madness as they attempt to master the art of teleportation. 

The Prestige, with its complex story, outstanding performances by its cast, and stunning visuals, remains one of the best examples of the director’s work, whether or not you like the film's ending. 

Rent/buy The Prestige on Amazon.

Insomnia (2002)

Released in 2002, Insomnia follows embattled LAPD detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino) as he travels to a remote fishing village in Alaska to help local authorities nab a serial killer who has been targeting young women. With the man suspected of the killings, Walter Finch (Robin Williams) toying with the cop and taking advantage of his troubled past, Dormer finds himself in quite a heated situation.

Though it’s not talked about as much as Nolan’s other films, this remake of the 1997 Norwegian crime thriller of the same name, is something that fans of his work need to check out.

Rent/buy Insomnia on Amazon.

Memento (2000)

Memento, the movie that put Christopher Nolan on the map back at the turn of the 21st century, is one of those movies that not only transformed the director’s career but also modern cinema. This riveting psychological thriller follows Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) as he attempts to find out who brutally murdered his wife. But that’s not the hard part…

Leonard suffers from an extreme form of amnesia that results in short-term memory loss and the inability to create new memories, which adds a whole other dimension to this complex murder mystery.

Rent/Buy Memento on Amazon.

Following (1998) 

If you want to go back and see where it all started for Christopher Nolan as a feature film director, then you have to check out his 70-minute, black-and-white thriller, Following. What starts out as a hobby of shadowing people around the streets of London quickly turns into a game of life or death for a young writer (Jeremy Theobald) after he makes the mistake of following the wrong person.

This is your classic neo-noir story but with some inventive Nolan-isms, elements that would be fine-tuned in the movies that followed.

Rent/buy Following on Amazon.

Christopher Nolan is truly one of the greatest living filmmakers, one with an incredible number of wonderful movies. And while we don't yet know what he has in store for us moving forward, it's safe to say Nolan is going to blow us away many more times in the years to come.

I actually would consider myself a big movie-buff. While I haven’t seen many older films in my lifetime, I’ve stayed up to date with a lot of the newer directors that have become mainstays in Hollywood over the last forty years or so, such as Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, Greta Gerwig, James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro – the list really goes on, but one person that I had yet to see all their filmography was Christopher Nolan. 

While Nolan is responsible for some of my favorite movies of the last two decades, he has many other films that I had never seen before. So, in honor of Oppenheimer releasing, I decided to revisit all of Nolan’s films, both the ones I did watch and the ones I had never seen before – and I have a clear favorite. Let’s get into it. 

A Lot Of His Earlier Films Didn’t Impress Me That Much

I’m going to be honest – many of Nolan’s movies from the late 1990s and early 2000s didn’t do it for me. 

Don’t get me wrong, they were all great films in many ways. Following was a great directorial debut, Memento is famous for many reasons and has an excellent story, and Insomnia has plenty of psychological moments that get you on the edge of your seat. They all have their good qualities.

But for some reason, I just couldn’t get behind these first three. While they were intriguing movies, I don’t think I would find myself watching them again. While they were fun to watch one time, I don’t anticipate heading back towards their respective streaming platforms in order to watch them again. 

It’s almost like Requiem for a Dream – I’m glad I at least watched it once, but in terms of coming back to the movie in the future, that’s not really my cup of tea. 

The Prestige Was Great – But Not My Favorite

Another Christopher Nolan film I had never seen before was The Prestige, and quite honestly, I think it’s probably my third favorite among all of them. 

The Prestige is an excellent film, helmed at the front by two amazing performances from both Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, and just the premise alone was enough to intrigue me – two rival stage magicians who are trying to perfect some sort of magic trick that would change the world as we know it. 

While The Prestige is a totally different film from Insomnia, I think it takes the psychological thriller aspect to a new level and really elevates it. And don’t even get me started on the cinematography – it was out of this world. 

Even so, the film is one of my favorites but not the best in my mind.

His Batman Trilogy Is One Of The Best 

When we talk about Batman and any iteration of the character that we have seen on screen, Nolan’s films are always in the conversation, and that’s for good reason – they’re good freaking films. The Nolan films are honestly some of the best Batman movies ever made, in my opinion.

From Batman Begins to The Dark Knight to The Dark Knight Rises, these three have cemented their legacy in the movie industry as mainstays, with brilliant performances in all three films – but of course, I have to single out Heath Ledger’s version of the Joker as one of the best. 

Beyond his impressive performance, there is so much to love about this franchise. Christian Bale is spectacular as Batman along with the rest of the incredible cast of characters. The visual effects are great. The story is out of this world. I love it. The Dark Knight Rises is definitely my number two among all of Nolan’s films. 

Even so, there’s one more that is number one – but we’re not there just yet.

Inception, Dunkirk, and Tenet Are Visual Masterpieces – But Storywise, They Lag

Okay, don’t get me wrong – I love visually dazzling films. I was eager to see Avatar: The Way of Water because I knew it was going to be absolutely beautiful on a big screen. My favorite film series of all time is the Harry Potter franchise, a movie series that is drenched in visual effects. 

Out of everyone who knows effects, Nolan knows how to make visual masterpieces and that is amazing to see. Inception, Tenet and Dunkirk are all beautiful examples of that. Heck, I remember seeing both Inception and Dunkirk in theaters (Tenet was during the pandemic so that was an at-home watch), and I was blown away. 

But the stories just lag for me. 

Before I re-watched these films, I would've had a hard time describing what they were about. The most easy one to understand was Dunkirk, since that was based on a real-life event, but the narrative moved around a lot. Tenet was almost too much information for my brain to handle that it made the movie harder to understand, and Inception is great, but the concepts – at least to me – were difficult to grasp even now watching it again. 

Out of the three of them, Inception is great, and would probably be number four because it feels like the easiest one to follow, but still – the visuals are what draw me in for that. One stands above the rest, though. 

However, Interstellar Is My Favorite, Overall

It’s just better. 

To be honest, the main reason I never watched this movie before was because when it first came out, I was in high school and taking a physics class at the time, and the last thing I wanted to do was watch a movie that was going to be centered around physics and science. So I just missed it for years. 

Now almost nine years later, I watched it. And I fell in love. 

Is the physics of the movie still a little hard to understand? For someone like me who was never the brightest bulb in science, yes, but it’s not nearly as complicated as some of Nolan’s other films, and for all the science that is included, it somehow flows very easily where it doesn’t feel like information overload. 

What makes it better is the visuals – the visuals of this film made me wish I saw it on a big screen. Granted, my partner bought an 85’’ television, so I have a pretty big screen at home, but I could only imagine what seeing this film would be like on a movie theater screen. There was so much thought and effort and design put into every one of these shots, I was absolutely floored. 

And the Interstellar cast in and of itself is just so full of talent. The story is heartfelt and inspiring and so much more. Nolan hasn’t made a film like this one since, that’s truly captured my heart and my soul in many ways. I could rewatch Interstellar again and again and not get bored. 

To me, it’s my favorite out of all of his films – and it’s time it got even more praise. 

I’m Not Sure If Oppenheimer Will Beat It

I am currently writing this piece on July 18th, 2023, and tonight, I am going to be seeing my Oppenheimer screening. 

This movie has been getting a lot of media attention recently, and I knew I was going to see it for months just based off of the incredible Oppenheimer cast, but I’m not sure it’ll beat Interstellar for me. While I do love a gritty, biographical movie about war that aims to teach me things about history, I don’t know if Oppenheimer is going to top Interstellar. 

I do think it’ll be one of my favorites. I adore these types of films and I really do think that Nolan doesn’t really miss on anything. Even with the movies I didn’t enjoy as much, they were still easily watchable. But we’ll just have to wait and see. 

What’s your favorite Christopher Nolan film? All I know is that I am prepared to have my heart hurt after watching Oppenheimer – before re-watching it all over again once I convince my dad to go see it in a theater instead of waiting for streaming. 

Whether he’s playing with time, pulling off massive action set pieces, or surprising audiences with a sleight of hand, Christopher Nolan has long had a unique sense of style that gives his movies a distinct look and feel.

As part of our partnership with AMC Theatres, where you can now purchase tickets to see Oppenheimer presented in IMAX, we’ve gone through the visionary director’s movies and picked out a scene from each that we think best represents his style, themes, and plot devices. Deciding on just one moment from each film was no easy task, so please enjoy.

Following - Following The Man In The Suit

Christopher Nolan made his feature film debut with the 1999 black-and-white neo-noir crime drama, Following, a movie about a struggling writer (Jeremy Theobald) who follows people around London as he tries to come up with material for a book. Though the movie lacks the flash and stunning visuals seen in the director’s later work, this 70-minute thriller features one of his best opening scenes: following the man in the suit (Alex Haw).

This sequence introduces several of the trademarks Nolan would use in subsequent movies, like the quick cutting between multiple scenes, expository voiceovers playing over the action, and layer of mystery that baits and hooks the audience.

Memento - The Polaroid In Reverse

In 2000, Christopher Nolan came out with Memento, a film starring Guy Pearce as a man with short-term memory loss and the inability to create new memories, leading to him tattooing himself and taking polaroids.

The scene that sticks out the most is the opening title sequence with the polaroid of a dead body being shown in reverse. Not only does it tell the audience that violence awaits, it also introduces the director’s trademark of tinkering with time, which would show up time and time again.

Insomnia - Sting Operation In The Fog

Christopher Nolan further developed his visual style in the 2002 psychological thriller, Insomnia, a disorienting film about LAPD detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino) as he travels to a remote fishing village in Alaska to assist with the investigation into the murder of a teenage girl who is believed to be the latest victim of an alleged serial killer (Robin Williams).

The entire movie has this feeling of being lost in confusion, and the scene that best represents this is the sting operation part way through the movie where Dormer attempts to lure the killer to the scene of the crime only for a wall of fog to make a mess of things. Not only is it visually stunning, it also creates this terrifying scene that messes with all your senses.

Batman Begins - The Tumbler Pursuit

Christopher Nolan has become one of the most creative directors when it comes to action set pieces over the years, and one of the best examples of this is the Tumbler chase sequence in Batman Begins.

After Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) is sprayed by Scarecrow’s (Cillian Murphy) fear toxin and goes into shock, Batman (Christian Bale) is in a race against time to save the woman he loves. And while this proves to be no easy task for the Dark Knight, considering all the police in between him and the Bat Cave, it leads to one of the most iconic action sequences of Nolan’s career, and 21st-century cinema.

The Prestige - The Reveal

Between his first and second Batman movies, Christopher Nolan released The Prestige, a movie about two rival Victorian era magicians who will stop at nothing to woo audiences and best the competition. In the final moments of the movie, both Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) reveal how they pulled off the “Transported Man” act in equally impressive yet unsettling ways.

We’ll avoid spoiling the ending for those who have yet to watch the movie, but the scene features one of the best peeks behind the curtain you’ll see in any of Nolan’s works.

The Dark Knight - Batman Racing To The Wrong Location

Coming up with the “most Christopher Nolan scenes” in The Dark Knight was harder than every other movie on this list simply because the director’s 2008 Batman movie is bursting at the seams with iconic moments like the opening bank robbery, the Hong Kong extraction, Jim Gordon’s funeral, etc., etc.

But the one that captures the essence of a Nolan film better than the rest is the sequence in which Batman races to save Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), only to show up at the wrong location. It plays with action, time, and drama, while also leads to the creation of Two-Face after Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is burned in the explosion.

Inception - The Hallway Fight

Inception, Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending heist film about a thief (Leonardo DiCaprio) who breaks into people’s dreams to steal information remains one of the director’s best films, thanks in part to all those iconic sequences.

The scene that best represents Nolan’s visual creativity is the one in which Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) fights through a hallway in one layer of a dream as it is being subjected to the gravity of the first layer. It plays with time, cause and effect, and action, all staples of Nolan’s work.

The Dark Knight Rises - Destruction At Gotham City Stadium

The Dark Knight Rises is another movie that could have had multiple examples, but none are as epic and memorable as Bane’s (Tom Hardy) destruction of Gotham City Stadium at the start of his occupation of the city. 

The sheer size and spectacle of the exploding and collapsing football field during opening kickoff combined with the simultaneous destruction of all but one of the bridges and tunnels leading to Goham kicks off the second half of the 2012 movie in a startling way.

Interstellar - Venturing Into The Black Hole

Interstellar is a movie about science, human emotion, and determination to save the ones we love, no matter what it takes or how many years we spend accomplishing our goals. Christopher Nolan best illustrates this in the scene in which Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) slingshots himself into the Gargantua black hole so that Brand (Anne Hathaway) can reach the inhabitable Edmunds’ planet. 

The act of self-sacrifice, the stunning visuals of a black hole unlike anything anyone has seen, and the epic swelling of Hans Zimmer’s score create a dizzying and emotionally-charged sequence of events that lead to the biggest reveal of the movie.

Dunkirk - The Ending Sequence

One thing that Christopher Nolan has done over the years is end his movies as another chapter begins. He did it with The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar, and again in his 2017 World War II epic, Dunkirk.

This ending sequence shows the conclusion of all three major storylines and timelines while also leaving the audience guessing the next steps, both on the micro level with Tom Hardy’s stranded pilot and the macro with the continuation of the Second World War. It messes with our emotions and also leaves us wanting more, which is honestly the best way to end a movie.

Tenet - The Protagonist Fights Himself

There probably isn’t another Christopher Nolan movie that plays around with the concept of time more than Tenet, the director’s 2020 sci-fi action thriller starring John David Washington as a character simply known as The Protagonist. At one point in the movie, the future version of the character goes back to an earlier scene and is encountered by his past self, leading to an epic and creative showdown.

Admittedly, there are parts of the movie that feel like a puzzle that require additional viewings to figure out, but this scene is one of those all-time great Nolan moments that is just so much fun to revisit.

We can’t wait to see what Christopher Nolan has up his sleeve with Oppenheimer, but if it’s anything like previous efforts, it’s going to be one unforgettable experience. If you’re just as stoked for what’s to come, you’ll probably want to go ahead and purchase your tickets before Oppenheimer arrives in theaters on July 21st. 

Some of the proudest moments a parent can have often revolve around watching their child branch out on their own. When you're a world famous actor, who also happens to be the parent of an up-and-coming star, seeing your child blossom on screen has to be especially surreal. Denzel Washington will tell you that his own experience seeing his son in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet was unforgettable – and not just because they watched the movie at the director’s house. 

John David Washington has really started to make a name for himself as an actor, which is no small feat given that his father is a two-time Oscar winner and one of the most beloved performers of all time. While the elder Washington has shown plenty of support for his son, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a strange experience to watch him carve out a career. He told ReelBlend’s Kevin McCarthy that when he saw Tenet for the first time, he really went through it: 

Denzel Washington having a “duh, that’s my son” moment while sitting in the Dark Knight director's personal screening room makes for a pretty amusing mental image. It also shows not only how supportive he is being of his son but also how down to earth and relatable the actor can be. Most parents have at least one moment where they look at their child and get freaked out by how similar they are to them, even if those moments usually don’t happen while watching the big budget, mind-bending movies they’re starring in. 

I would've loved to have heard the actors debriefing with the director after the movie. If the veteran actor's mind wasn’t blown by his son’s resemblance to himself, it definitely would have been by Tenet’s storyline, which even John David Washington has admitted he can’t explain. Also, I can’t help but wonder whether any talk of a potential father-son collaboration took place when they visited the Nolan home – that is something that could blow everyone’s mind. 

No matter what the future holds for Denzel and John David Washington, it’s cool to know they have a strong relationship. They can hype each other up and leave each other speechless, but also make sure to keep each other humble, too. Maybe next we’ll get to hear what the younger Washington thought of his dad’s performance in The Tragedy of Macbeth, which is currently available to stream on Apple+. 

Sometimes there are those projects that, when they present themselves to you, are too good of an opportunity to pass up. That’s not to say that composer Hans Zimmer wouldn’t have loved to have worked on writer/director Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, as the two have cultivated an amazing working relationship over several hit movies. But when it came to the timing of that opportunity, two things prevented Zimmer from accepting, one of which was the chance to score Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. Apparently Christopher Nolan’s reaction to this chain of events was “not great.” 

Those are the exact words that Hans Zimmer used to set up the story of why Dune trumped Tenet when he sat down with the hosts of our in-house podcast ReelBlend. Though it wasn’t initially Warner Bros’ latest sci-fi hit that saw Zimmer turning down the Christopher Nolan film that would eventually be scored by composer Ludwig Göransson. When he sat down with the ReelBlend hosts to discuss the matter, this is how Hans Zimmer laid out the scenario: 

While moviegoers would remember Hans Zimmer through his iconic scores from films like Disney’s The Lion King and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, the past couple of years have indeed seen him become a bit of a rock star. 2017 saw Zimmer performing a set at the famous Coachella music festival, and in the years since he’s run two separate tours: The World of Hans Zimmer and his current gig, Hans Zimmer Live. Taking the music that he’s used to give powerful cinematic moments their punch, Hans Zimmer’s zest for live performance is undeniable. 

Of course, everyone has their dream gigs, and those moments are precious when they arrive. Being brought in to score Dune was something that Hans Zimmer, a fan of the book since childhood, would never have dreamed of passing up. And as he explained in this interview, it didn’t take much to bring him to the table. All Zimmer needed to hear was one word:

Reteaming after Hans Zimmer acted as co-composer alongside Benjamin Wallfisch for Blade Runner 2049, fellow Dune fanboy Denis Villeneuve brought the composer back to the world of the movies. And it’s a good thing too, because if it wasn’t for Villeneuve’s big opportunity, Zimmer may not have accepted the duties to score No Time To Die as his next project. It all comes full circle, as while Maestro Zimmer is still slated for his Hans Zimmer Live tour to continue in 2022, he has the scoring duties for the recently confirmed Dune: Part Two waiting for his patient hand as well. 

If you’re a fan of the great Hans Zimmer’s music, you can hear his melodic method in the score for Dune, which is currently in theaters and on HBO Max until November 21st. Or, if you want to hear No Time To Die’s musical cocktail of action and emotion, you can see that film in theaters or rent it on PVOD. Then again, you can listen to those soundtracks on Spotify, but then how would you spot Zimmer’s big ticket cameo in Dune?

Generations of moviegoers are currently going wild over Denis Villeneuve’s newly released Dune, and it would appear that another big director is on the Dune train, too. After Villeneuve raved about Christopher Nolan’s Tenet that was released mid-pandemic last year, Nolan returned the favor by praising the newest rendition of Frank Herbert’s Dune. 

Honestly, it makes a ton of sense that Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve would be fans of each other, because their approach to movies are very much the same: go big or go home. Both directors are known for the awe inducing and jaw-dropping cinematic experience their movies produce. And if Villeneuve didn’t grab Dune, Nolan would probably have been the next best person to take up the task. 

In an episode of The Director’s Cut podcast, Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve both sit down to discuss Dune, and Nolan sings his praises of the masterpiece of a film. Nolan comments on how sound the film is visually, saying the merge of live-action with digital elements is pretty “seamless”. Here it is in his own words:

In addition to how visually and technically pleasing the film was to Christopher Nolan, the director goes on to say that he feels Dune will have a huge impact on the newest generations. Frank Herbert’s Dune novels have been around since the ‘60s and both David Lynch’s film adaptation captured people’s attention back in the ‘80s and Denis Villeneuve's have opened up the world of Dune for younger people to dive into. Nolan thanks Villeneuve for this “gift”, saying:

Denis Villeneuve and fans alike are hoping for a sequel to get greenlit, and it sounds like the Dune director has the backing of Christopher Nolan. If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Villeneuve’s Dune yet, you can catch it in theaters or streaming at home on HBO Max, but if you want to follow the director’s advice, you’ll opt for watching the masterpiece on the big screen.

The best part of interviewing famous directors is when they prove themselves to be huge fans of OTHER famous directors. Quentin Tarantino will rave about an Italian master that he adores, or Martin Scorsese will explain what makes Steven Spielberg so special. And then there’s the reaction that Dune and Arrival filmmaker Denis Villeneuve gave to CinemaBlend’s official ReelBlend podcast when we asked him about Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. 

We kind of knew that Denis Villeneuve would like Nolan’s most recent puzzle box. The two filmmakers are the loudest proponents for the theatrical experience these days, and Dune’s performance in IMAX theaters to date proves that his audience wants to see his movies on the biggest screen possible. So when ReelBlend asked Villeneuve if he’d seen Tenet, and wanted his take, he told us: 

Tenet feels like one of those movies that too many people slept on, and years from now, we’ll wake up to the influence that it will have on filmmakers to come. At the time of the movie’s release, so much of the narrative was driven by Chris Nolan trying to convince people to see a movie on the big screen during a pandemic. That overshadowed the actual movie, which is a truly masterful twist and turn of intelligent storytelling. Here our full interview with Denis Villeneuve on ReelBlend here:

And you can begin enjoying Denis Villeneuve’s own masterpiece, Dune, now that it is available in theaters and on HBO Max. If anyone has Chris Nolan’s email address, hit me up. I want to get his review of Dune, and report back to y’all as soon as possible.

Now that Tenet has come and gone, Christopher Nolan is deep into putting together his next movie, a biopic about theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in developing the atomic bomb during World War II as leader of the Manhattan Project. Earlier this month, it was confirmed that Cillian Murphy will play Oppenheimer in the biopic, and now word’s come in that Jungle Cruise star Emily Blunt is being eyed for a substantial role.

While a deal hasn’t been finalized just yet, Deadline reports that Emily Blunt is in talks to join Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer as Katherine Puening, Robert Oppenheimer’s wife. Assuming she signs on, this would reunite Blunt with Cillian Murphy following their time together on A Quiet Place Part II, and these two would be part of an “all-star ensemble.” 

This has been a big year for Emily Blunt cinematically, as along with reprising Evelyn Abbott for A Quiet Place Part II, she also starred as Lily Houghton opposite Dwayne Johnson’s Frank Wolff in Jungle Cruise. Both movies have done commercially well in these pandemic-fueled times, with the Quiet Place sequel pulling in over $297 million worldwide and Jungle Cruise collecting over $212 million across the globe. Looking to her future beyond a potential role in Oppenheimer, Blunt is currently shooting an Amazon series called The English, and she’s also signed onto a movie for the same platform about Kate Warne, the first woman to become a detective at the Pinkerton Agency.

It was first reported that Christoper Nolan was working on a Robert Oppenheimer biopic in early September, with Cillian Murphy’s participation in the project only being hypothetical at that point. At the time, it was also unclear if Oppenheimer would be housed at Warner Bros., which has been involved in every Nolan-helmed movie since Insomnia in one form or another. Late last year, Nolan criticized the studio’s decision to release all of its 2021 theatrical slate simultaneously on HBO Max for a 31-day period, going so far as to call the platform “the worst streaming service.” Soon after, word came in that Nolan was “unlikely” to work with WB again.

Sure enough, less than a week after Oppenheimer’s existence was revealed to the public, it was announced that Christopher Nolan’s next movie would be housed at Universal Pictures. Since Nolan wasn’t contracted at WB nor had any first-look deals set up at the studio, this allowed him to look for other places to set up Oppenheimer, and Universal ultimately agreed to finance the estimated $100 million picture. It’s also been reported that in addition to being promised first-dollar gross and final cut on the biopic, Nolan has requested that Oppenheimer be given an exclusive theatrical window of somewhere between 90-120 days. It remains to be seen if that will be fulfilled, especially since it looks like 45 days is becoming the new window norm.

In any case, Oppenheimer is set to come out on July 21, 2023, though a specific filming start date hasn’t been revealed yet. While we wait for confirmation of Emily Blunt’s involvement and other actors to be announced for the biopic, keep track of other movies on the way with our 2021 release schedule and 2022 release schedule.

Yesterday marked the end of an era for Christopher Nolan’s career. Following the release of Tenet last fall and a report from early this year that the filmmaker was “unlikely” to work with Warner Bros again, it was revealed yesterday that Nolan’s next movie will be released by Universal Pictures rather than WB, which had been involved with every one of his movies in some form or fashion since 2002’s Insomnia. Now details have surfaced regarding how Nolan’s upcoming biopic about theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer ended up at Universal.

You’ll recall that back in December, Christopher Nolan expressed his dissatisfaction with Warner Bros’ decision to release all of its 2021 movies on HBO Max for a 31-day period at the same time they played in theaters, even going so far as to call HBO Max the “worst streaming service.” Needless to say this factored into Nolan’s decision to jump from the WB ship, but the director and the studio were having issues even before that. As a proponent of the big screen experience, Nolan argued with WB about releasing Tenet in theaters, with the latter being concerned about releasing a tentpole picture at a time when many movie theaters were closed due to the pandemic and COVID-19 vaccines were still a ways off.

In the end, Tenet began its domestic theatrical rollout on September 3, 2020, but it only made around $363 million worldwide and, according to Variety, lost Warner Bros approximately $50 million. Cut to the present, because Nolan wasn’t contracted or have any first-look deals set up at WB, it was easy enough for him to look for other studios to house his Oppenheimer biopic, which will explore the man’s role in creating the atomic bomb during World War II. Nolan ultimately agreed to sign a deal with Universal, but not just because the studio will fully finance his estimated $100 million picture.

Along with Christopher Nolan reportedly being promised first-dollar gross and final cut on the Oppenheimer biopic, Variety’s sources claim that Nolan has asked for the movie to have an exclusive theatrical window of somewhere between 90-120 days. While it’s unclear if that request will be fulfilled, supposedly the Oppenheimer biopic will is expected to stay in theaters for longer than 45 days, which looks like it’s becoming the new norm. It will also be exempt from the deal Universal set up with theater chains like AMC and Cinemark that makes its movies available to watch at home on digital platforms 17 days after premiering (31 days if they makes at least $50 million on opening weekend).

It’s also worth mentioning that at Warner Bros, Nolan had a contractual stipulation that no other movies from the studio can open three weeks before or three weeks after whenever one of his movies came out. Apparently he’s asked for something similar at Universal, though there is some “wiggle room.”

As for why Universal decided to get into the Christopher Nolan business, that reportedly boiled down to the studio being impressed with his ability to “spin cinematic gold out of everything from Normandy battles to heady explorations of time, space and dreams.” Interestingly, Universal and other studios interested in snagging the Oppenheimer biopic could only read Nolan’s shooting script from his office to avoid spoilers leaking, and some meetings also took place from his home.

So far no actors have been officially announced for the Oppenheimer biopic yet, although Christopher Nolan supposedly is eyeing Inception and Dunkirk actor Cillian Murphy to be involved. We’ll keep you apprised on how Nolan’s next movie is coming along as more details come in, but for now, keep track of movies arriving in the near future with our 2021 release schedule and 2022 release schedule.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many studios like Warner Bros started to quickly pivot their release strategies so major films like The Suicide Squad could premiere as day and date streaming releases on HBO Max. This studio’s actions in particular sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry, with one of the massive pieces of fallout being long time WB loyalist/Tenet director Christopher Nolan claiming that he’d be “unlikely” to work with the studio in the future. Now, that threat has officially been carried out, as Nolan’s next project has found a home at Universal.

Per reporting coming out of The Wrap, an unnamed source connected to the production has stated that Christopher Nolan’s untitled biopic on theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer will be financed and distributed by Universal Pictures. With a supposed eye on Cillian Murphy to play some sort of part in the production, Nolan is also reported to be going into production on this film in “first quarter 2022.” This decision marks the end to an almost 20 year partnership, which started when Warner Bros and Christopher Nolan teamed up for the 2002 remake of Insomnia.

The moment that Warner Bros decided to make its entire 2021 slate of theatrical releases available to HBO Max, under a timed 30 day window, Christopher Nolan was one of the first to speak up about the matter. Alongside directors like Wonder Woman 1984’s Patty Jenkins and Dune’s Denis Villeneuve, Nolan spoke his piece about what he labeled “the worst streaming service.” But while Villeneuve reversed his position on the matter of a streaming debut, in connection to the impending release of Dune, Christopher Nolan has remained steadfastly against the strategy.

An interesting footnote to this matter is the fact that Christopher Nolan, the anti-streaming premiere man that he is, would choose Universal as his next partner. The reason being, after pushing Halloween Kills a full year to preserve the theatrical experience, Universal has made the decision to premiere David Gordon Green’s follow-up to the 2018 legacyquel as a day and date hybrid on Peacock. Though, one can be certain that if this round of negotiations with the Dark Knight Trilogy helmer are indeed concluded, there’s a clause that prevents such treatment.

Streaming premieres have changed the landscape of Hollywood, and the shockwaves are still resonating. Even Warner Bros. is backing away from the day and date model, as they’ve signed a pact with AMC to ensure 45-day windows of theatrical exclusivity throughout 2022. But apparently, it was too little and too late to keep Christopher Nolan from trading in the shield for the globe. The die is cast, dear readers; and now we’ll see just where this new partnership is headed in the years to come.

At the moment, there’s no intended release date for Christopher Nolan’s untitled J. Robert Oppenheimer biopic. Coincidentally enough, if you haven’t seen Tenet just yet, the film is currently streaming on HBO Max. Check out the current subscription offer if you’re not already a subscriber, as that platform will give you access to this particular film, as well as future releases like The Matrix Resurrections.

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It took a little longer to come out than previously expected, but a little over a year ago, Christopher Nolan’s most recent movie, Tenet, finally began its theatrical rollout. With that chapter of his filmmaking career over, now we have our first inkling of what Nolan will be working on next. Much like he did with 2017’s Dunkirk, the filmmaker is reportedly tackling a movie set during World War II.

Word’s come in that Christopher Nolan is looking to tell the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s involvement in developing the atomic bomb, the weapon used to end World War II when two of them were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. As of right now, this project doesn’t have a title yet, but Cillian Murphy, who previously worked with Nolan on Inception, Dunkirk and the Dark Knight trilogy, might be involved. Assuming Murphy signs on, whether he would play Oppenheimer or someone else is unclear.

But wait, there’s more. Although every one of Christopher Nolan’s movies since 2002’s Insomnia has been distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures in some form or fashion, Deadline reports that other studios in Hollywood are read Nolan’s screenplay for this Oppenheimer story and are speaking with him and his representatives about acquiring it. THR specifically names Sony, Universal and Paramount among the interested parties. That’s not to say that Warner Bros. still couldn’t end up releasing this movie, but evidently it shouldn’t be a given that the studio will get first dibs on it this time around.

So why could Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer end up at a different studio? This likely stems from Nolan having voiced his opposition to Warner Bros. releasing all of its 2021 movies onto HBO Max for a 31 day period at the same time they were released in theaters. He said the studio’s decision “made no economic sense” and even called HBO Max “the worst streaming service.” Then in January, it was reported that Nolan was “unlikely” to work with WB again because of the implementation of this day-and-date plan. Anyone familiar with Nolan knows he’d a big supporter of the theatrical experience, and he was adamant that Tenet would not be sent to VOD in the midst of movie theaters shuttering their doors last year. The timey-wimey flick starring John David Washington and Robert Pattinson ultimately made over $363 million at the global box office when it finally came out in fall 2020.

Regardless of which company release his next movie, Christopher Nolan choosing to make a movie about Robert Oppenheimer’s impact on World War II means that this will mark his third time venturing into the past to tell a cinematic story. Let’s not forget that he delivered The Prestige to the masses in 2006, although needless to say that the Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman-led flick was not based on real events, although it did see David Bowie playing inventor Nikola Tesla. Going back to Nolan’s first venture into World War II, Dunkirk earned a lot of critical praise (it ranks at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes) and made almost $527 million worldwide.

As soon as more details about Christopher Nolan’s next movie come in, including what it’ll be titled, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, keep track of what movies are arriving in the near future with our 2021 release schedule and 2022 release schedule.

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Every now and again, a movie comes along that blends elements of sci-fi, noir, action, and romance, creating a remarkable (in terms of visuals and narrative) feature that appeals to all the senses. One of the most recent movies to do that is Reminiscence, Lisa Joy’s atmospheric and intricate story about a near-future detective stumbling through memories to find a missing woman who stole his heart and, potentially, something more.

After watching Hugh Jackman search far and wide for Rebecca Ferguson in a world on the brink because of the effects of climate change, you might be looking for movies like Reminiscence that capture the same feeling or have a similar look. Here are a few options and where you can find them on streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, and HBO Max.

Inception (Netflix; HBO Max)

Led by the mysterious Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a group of highly-trained thieves with an unorthodox way of pulling off large-scale heists is hired by a businessman to enter his rival’s dreams in order to set in place a plan that will allow him to eat up the competition. An already difficult task becomes nearly impossible when Cobb’s past comes back to haunt him.

Why it’s worth checking out: Like Reminiscence, Christopher Nolan’s Inception follows a protagonist with a myriad of secrets that make him untrustworthy — even if he doesn’t know it. The 2010 mind-bending thriller, which happens to be one of the best movies on Netflix, also explores how someone is affected by spending too much time in a dreamworld based on old memories; memories that aren’t always built on truth.

Stream Inception on Netflix.

Stream Inception on HBO Max.

Rent/Buy Inception on Amazon.

Double Indemnity (Amazon Rental)

Insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) finds himself in the middle of a murder plot when the beautiful femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) takes out a life insurance policy on her wealthy husband (Tom Powers) and tempts the smitten man to be the one who sets her dangerous plan in motion.

Why it’s worth checking out: Billy Wilder’s film noir classic Double Indemnity has everything you want from the genre: a strikingly beautiful woman tempting a hopeless romantic man with love and fortune, a sinister murder plot, and an outstanding cast that also includes Edward G. Robinson as Walter Neff's boss and insurance investigator, Barton Keyes, who sets out to get to the bottom of the messy affair. Like Reminiscence, this iconic 1944 film plays on the idea of a how easily a man can lose himself when confronted by a beautiful yet deadly woman.

Rent/Buy Double Indemnity on Amazon.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Showtime)

When Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) discovers that his ex-girlfriend Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) has erased all memories of their relationship he decides to undergo the same procedure. But, as the memories — both good and bad — begin to fade away, Joel fights back in an attempt to preserve any trace of the woman he still loves before it’s too late.

Why it’s worth checking out: Written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry, 2004’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a beautiful, transfixing, and mind-bending experience that, like Reminiscence, shows how far someone will go to hold onto a memory no matter how much it may affect their reality.

Stream Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on Showtime.

Rent/Buy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on Amazon.

Blade Runner (Amazon Rental)

Replicant hunter Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is given a fairly simple assignment: find and eliminate four rogue cyborgs who have escaped from an off-world colony and returned to Earth. The task, however, becomes complicated when Deckard is introduced to a beautiful replicant named Rachel (Sean Young), who leads the once-solitary detective down a path that will have him questioning everything, even his own existence.

Why it’s worth checking out: Like Reminiscence, Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi noir drama Blade Runner takes audiences on a beautiful yet daunting journey in a world that is like our own enough to be familiar yet different enough to be almost foreign and unknown. It also features one of Harrison Ford’s best characters that just so happens to be one of his most complex as well.

Rent/Buy Blade Runner on Amazon.

The Game (Netflix)

When successful banker Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is given a rather unique birthday gift from his estranged brother Conrad (Sean Penn), he enters an intricate and maddening game that tears down the walls between reality and fantasy. This mysterious and potentially deadly game sends the reclusive Van Orton on a journey like nothing he has ever experienced before: life.

Why it’s worth checking out: David Fincher’s 1997 cerebral drama The Game is at times hard to follow, which puts the audience in the same mindset as Michael Douglas’ wealthy yet broken character. By constantly betraying our trust, Fincher’s intricate story leaves us not knowing what is real and what is fantasy.

Stream The Game on Netflix.

Rent/Buy The Game on Amazon.

The Fountain (Tubi)

The Fountain features three intertwined narratives told through the eyes of a 16th Century conquistador, a present-day scientist, and a 26th Century astronaut (all played by Hugh Jackman) who all have the same goal: find a way to save the woman they love from death.

Why it’s worth checking out: One of the best Hugh Jackman movies, The Fountain is an epic love story that explores just how far someone will go in order to save someone they love. And, like a lot of Darren Aronofsky’s movies, this intricate and oftentimes hard-to-follow story is a real gem for those who approach with an open mind and heart.

Stream The Fountain on Tubi.

Rent/Buy The Fountain on Amazon.

Tenet (HBO Max)

A secret agent known simply as The Protagonist (John David Washington) is forced to travel through time, bend the very fabric of nature, and create a new reality to prevent World War III from destroying life as we know it. Armed with a single word — tenet — the mysterious hero embarks on a confusing journey where the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning.

Why it’s worth checking out: Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi spy thriller Tenet is one of those movies you understand less the more you think about it, but still want to go back and take in its intriguing and enigmatic plot, stunning visuals, and commanding performances by John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, and Elizabeth Debicki.

Stream Tenet on HBO Max.

Buy Tenet on Amazon.

L.A. Confidential (Tubi)

When a robbery-turned-murder at a coffee shop in 1950s Los Angeles goes unsolved, three dedicated yet complicated policemen set out to bring closure to the case in a variety of different ways. Their investigations into the heinous and mysterious crime leave no stone unturned, but lies under those rocks exposes truths no one wants to know.

Why it’s worth checking out: L.A. Confidential has a little bit of everything you want out of a good noir film: crime, intrigue, hard-nosed police officers (Guy Pearce, Kurt Russell, Kevin Spacey), and a beautiful woman (Kim Basinger in an Oscar-winning performance) who could be at the center of the best L.A. detective movie. And like Reminiscence, it's hard, if not impossible, to know who you can and can't trust.

Stream L.A. Confidential on Tubi.

Rent/Buy L.A. Confidential on Amazon.

Dark City (Amazon Rental)

John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) attempts to unravel a twisted mystery surrounding his alleged role in a series of brutal murders, the biggest problem being that he can’t figure out if he’s guilty or not. As he digs deeper into the mystery, Murdoch struggles to get a grasp on reality, which is made all the more difficult when he stumbles upon a dark underworld more dangerous than anything he could ever dream.

Why it’s worth checking out: Dark City is one of those movies that does a tremendous job of showing someone lose all touch with reality and become their own worst enemy. As much as you want to trust Murdoch and see him clear his name before it’s too late, the more you learn about him, you realize a happy ending becomes less likely by the minute.

Rent/Buy Dark City on Amazon.

Westworld (HBO Max)

Set in a future in which the powerful and wealthy can make their fantasies — whatever they may be — become reality with little or no repercussions at a technologically advanced amusement park, Westworld shows what happens when seemingly harmless androids have enough of their abuse and strike back and to regain their dignity.

Why it’s worth checking out: This sprawling HBO series, which was co-created by Reminiscence writer/director Lisa Joy and stars Thandiwe Newton, welcomes audiences into a world that is at times strangely familiar, yet at others nothing like anything we’ve ever seen before, and asks a series of questions about servitude, free-will, and consciousness.

Stream Westworld on HBO Max.

Rent/Buy Westworld on Amazon.

These are just a few of the movies and shows that are perfect for anyone wanting to explore similar themes and the mood of Reminiscence. If you want even more to watch, check out our list of the best movies on Amazon Prime for some great hidden gems.

CinemaCon has for the first part of the week been a love letter to cinema. Panels from Sony and MGM recommitted to theatrical releases. However, there was always a question of how the Warner Bros. panel was going to go, giving that CinemaCon is a week that is all about movie theaters and Warner Bros. has for the last year distributed its movies in theaters while also making them free the same day on HBO Max. Well, the panel has come. The answer? Warner Bros. execs didn’t show up.

Instead, Marcus head honcho Rolando Rodriguez came onstage and make the introductions to the Warner Bros. panel. Marcus’ CEO spoke out about the studio’s “commitment to film,” leading to some titters from the audience. Unfortunately, the actual people who head up Warner Bros. did not come to the event to talk about the decisions made in 2021 head on. Instead we heard from them via a CinemaCon video clip.

The execs cited “family commitments” keeping them off the stage. With the Delta variant, this isn’t exactly an abnormal decision, but given the choices Warner Bros. has made throughout the year, it was an interesting one. Instead, we got a video clip that introduced clips from the movies coming to the big screen (and HBO Max) over the next six months or so. There's a lot of great-looking stuff coming, including Matrix 4 (which just got a title) and the long-awaited Dune, not to mention The Batman but a lot of the focus was still on the decisions made over the past year

Jeff Goldstein and Andrew Cripps spoke out about "all important partners in global distribution" as well as what's coming in an "even more vibrant 2022." He then began addressing the decisions the company has made during the ongoing pandemic, calling the choices "tough" and "controversial." He noted:

In recent days, Warner Bros. has made the decision to revert back to an exclusive window for theatrical releases in 2022. A deal was signed with AMC earlier in August to return to a 45-day release window before turning movies to other platforms, like VOD or streaming services such as HBO Max. One exec also put it, watching movies on your TV is all good and well, but it “turns out size does matter.” Warner Bros. had also made headlines for some other issues for putting same day movies on HBO Max over the last year, as several of its partners, most notable Legendary, the studio behind Godzilla vs. Kong and also the Dune team were unhappy about the decision. At one point, the idea of legal action was even floated around.

To note, Warner Bros. did put out 13 movies during the pandemic-- a fact that was also noted in the presentation. That is a number larger than what other studios put into theaters over the past year, though that comes with the additional HBO Max caveat. Christopher Nolan also championed the theatrical experience with Tenet and became the first filmmaker to put out a movie during the pandemic. Other Warner Bros. films, including Godzilla vs. Kong followed suit and were able to make early strides in helping to get the box office back on its feet after the lights dimmed. But given movie theaters have still lost their exclusive windows with the studio for the remainder of the year, it's difficult to keep the focus on those points.

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Have you figured out the ending to Tenet yet? The movie came out about a year ago and many of us are still scratching our heads about what the heck happened during Christopher Nolan’s latest science fiction film. If you somehow found yourself in a conversation with Tenet’s Protagonist, John David Washington, he might not be much help to finding peace about the meaning of the film, given that he only shares a funny response.

The actor was recently asked about Tenet and whether people still ask him to explain what happened in last summer’s release. John David Washington shared that “just about every one” of his friend and family members ask him to explain Tenet, but here’s his apparent answer when he is confronted with the question:

It sounds like John David Washington is not down to get into intense Tenet discussions. Probably because he’d be in them all the time. When speaking to Collider, Washington shared that he just plays it off at this point, joking that he “forgot” what Tenet is about and he’s on to other subjects. At the same time, he’s just inspiring them to go back and watch it because that’s how the writer/director intended it.

Tenet is one of those movies that you might get something new from everytime you watch it. Christopher Nolan has put a lot of tender love and care into the film in order to inspire thinking and discussion. And the beauty of it is there isn’t one way to explain Tenet – so it actually makes sense as to why John David Washington would take a step back when asked to explain it.

The Christopher Nolan movie, which explores time travel in a twisty way, found its first home in theaters at a time when the industry especially needed a big exclusive release for exhibitors to benefit from. Tenet hit HBO Max this past May and was met with some crazy internet discussion regarding what the film was about. You can sign up for HBO Max using this link if you’d like to stream the Nolan movie.

John David Washington’s latest film is Beckett, a Netflix release about an American tourist who finds himself in the middle of a political conspiracy in Greece. The actor, who is the son of Denzel Washington, has found some more recognition in the past few years with movies like Malcolm & Marie and BlacKkKlansman. But do you feel like you have a solid grasp on Tenet? Vote in the poll below.

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Christopher Nolan is a master at delivering movies that viewers continue to ponder long after the fact, and last year’s Tenet was no exception. In fact, with its use of time inversion, you won’t find any shortage of people who find Tenet the most difficult Nolan movie to follow yet. While fellow filmmaker Quentin Tarantino isn’t necessarily fully in this camp, his one-sentence review definitely makes it clear that he’ll need to re-watch Tenet at some point.

As part of ReelBlend’s exclusive interview with Quentin Tarantino tied to the release of his Once Upon a Time novelization, hosts Sean O’Connell, Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy asked the director what he thought about Tenet, which arrived in theaters last fall. Here’s how Tarantino responded:

Now to provide full context for those who haven’t listened to the interview, Quentin Tarantino delivered his answer with a hint of sarcasm, and the audience cracked up at his blunt summary of his Tenet experience. Luckily, Tarantino elaborated on why he thinks he’ll need to watch Tenet again, noting how this is the same way he grew to appreciate the full scope of Dunkirk, Nolan’s 2017 movie. As the director put it:

Considering that Tenet literally messes with the flow of time rather than just plays with it in a narrative sense like Dunkirk did, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’ll take Quentin Tarantino more than three watches to completely understand Tenet. Along with sounding off about Christopher Nolan’s latest movie (which made over $363 million worldwide), Tarantino also shared his thoughts on Zack Snyder’s Justice League and more in the ReelBlend interview, which you can listen to below.

Along with being available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD, Tenet can also be streamed on HBO Max, which you can sign up for using this link. Neither Christopher Nolan nor Quentin Tarantino have announced what their next movie will be (for the latter, it’ll be his final directorial endeavor), but we’ll be sure to let you know once those projects are unveiled.

In the meantime, keep track of what’s heading to theaters in the near future with our 2021 release schedule and 2022 release schedule.

The last words anyone wants to hear while on vacation are “government conspiracy.” Unfortunately for John David Washington’s character in the Netflix original film Beckett, those two words are about to become a lot more dangerous. What began as a lover’s retreat has now become a free-for-all that sees Washington getting shot at, punched, and tied up. And that’s just the beginning of the mayhem that’s on display, courtesy of the film’s first trailer.

It all starts out innocently enough in our first look at Beckett, as John David Washington and Alicia Vikander are ready for some rest and relaxation, while taking in the sights and sounds of Greece. A fateful car accident changes everything, with Beckett being the sole survivor. Forced to trade lunch dates for being chased across a country where political unrest is growing, our hero must clear his name and learn who to trust in the process.

That lesson is going to be something the audience of Beckett will get to join in on, as there’s some familiar faces that we’ll be forced to question. Already in the trailer we see Phantom Thread and Old star Vicky Krieps, as well as Boyd Holbrook from Logan and We Can Be Heroes, as two people that may or may not pose a threat to John David Washington. Much as you’d see in a conspiracy thriller like Beckett, those people that look like the safest bet can sometimes be the greatest threat.

Another factor worth mentioning is that Beckett’s central hero is doing all of this with a broken arm. As if John David Washington didn’t already have enough of a battle learning how to fight in reverse for Tenet, he now has to run for his life with one arm bound in front of him. The odds still seem pretty even, as we’ve all see how the man handles himself in a fight. But I'd be lying if I said that the whole injury situation didn’t present this protagonist with a unique challenge.

With the season for action blockbusters already in full swing, thanks to offerings like F9 and Black Widow keeping the box office blazing, Beckett seems to be coming at the right time. The adrenaline of movie fans will be up, and all anyone needs to do is decide to take the journey. Of course, there’s only one place you’ll find Beckett, and it’s not in a theater near you.

Continuing its campaign to deliver blockbuster originals every week in 2021, Beckett is set to invite Netflix subscribers into its world of intrigue and danger when it starts streaming on August 13th. While you wait, check out what’s headed to platform in July 2021, as there’s quite an impressive catalog of newcomers coming online.

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Depending on who you ask, the list of the best Aaron Taylor-Johnson movies is made up of superhero action films like Avengers: Age of Ultron or Kick-Ass, sprawling and epic historical dramas like Anna Karenina or Outlaw King, and dark and twisted thrillers like Nocturnal Animals. And honestly, none of those choices are bad or any lesser than the others, which says a lot about the range of the Golden Globe-winning actor.

But with so many great outstanding performances from Aaron Taylor-Johnson, deciding on one, two, or even 10 movies is no easy task. To help out with that, we’ve put together a list of the best streaming, digital rental, and DVD/Blu-ray options for the actor who will soon go back to the world of comic book movies when he takes on the role of Kraven the Hunter in the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters.

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

Tom Ford’s 2016 psychological thriller Nocturnal Animals follows art gallery owner Susan Morrow (Amy Adams) as she receives a manuscript written by her ex-husband and novelist Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal). In the pages of the Edward’s latest work, Susan reads of a family traveling through the American West on vacation that slowly unfolds into an unbearable and gut-wrenching nightmare for all involved parties thanks to a gang led by the sadistic Ray Marcus (Aaron Taylor-Johnson in a Golden Globe-winning performance). A revenge story told across two storylines, Nocturnal Animals features memorable performances by its expansive and talented ensemble cast which also includes Michael Shannon, Isla Fisher, Armie Hammer, and Laura Linney.

Stream Nocturnal Animals on Netflix.

Rent/Buy Nocturnal Animals on Amazon.

Buy Nocturnal Animals on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)

The second major crossover event in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Joss Whedon's Avengers: Age of Ultron follows Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as they band together to stop a product of their own creation (or at least a preventative measure gone wrong by Tony Stark). To make matters worse, the villainous Ultron (James Spader) has a pair of twins — Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) — on his side who use their respective powers to turn the superhero group against one another. Although more of a world-building story than the other three Avengers movies, this 2015 summer blockbuster features several iconic moments that are still just as remarkable more than a half-decade later.

Stream Avengers: Age of Ultron on Disney+.

Rent/Buy Avengers: Age of Ultron on Amazon.

Buy Avengers: Age of Ultron on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Nowhere Boy (2009)

Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (the actor's future wife), the 2009 biographical drama Nowhere Boy sees Aaron Taylor-Johnson portray a rebellious teenage version of John Lennon as he discovers his love of music and figures out who he is as a person in 1950s England. The film largely deals with the future Beatle rekindling his relationship with his estranged mother who he was separated from when he was five. Over the course of several years, the film follows John as he meets his future songwriting partners Paul McCartney (Thomas Sangster) and George Harrison (Sam Bell), forms his first band, and starts his journey to become one of the most important lyricists and musicians of the 20th Century.

Stream Nowhere Boy on Pluto TV.

Rent/Buy Nowhere Boy on Amazon.

Buy Nowhere Boy on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Kick-Ass (2010)

Released in 2010, Matthew Vaughn’s comic book adaptation Kick-Ass follows Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) as he transforms himself from a meager teenager into one of New York City’s newest crimefighters, albeit without out any superpowers or specialized skills. Still, though, Kick-Ass partners up with Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) to take on the Big Apple’s most dastardly villains. But even with the a close-knit group of heroes, wiping the streets clean of crime proves to be no easy task in one of the best movies on Amazon Prime.

Stream Kick-Ass on Amazon.

Rent/Buy Kick-Ass on Amazon.

Buy Kick-Ass on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Godzilla (2014)

Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Godzilla, which kicked off the Legendary MonsterVerse, follows Navy bomb expert Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) as he finds himself in the middle of an international crisis that could bring forth the destruction of the entire planet. Starting off in Japan with the rekindling of his relationship with his estranged father, Joe (Bryan Cranston), Ford follows close behind the legendary kaiju as he takes on a pair of fierce monsters who have set their sites on San Francisco.

Rent/Buy Godzilla on Amazon.

Buy Godzilla on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Tenet (2020)

The 2020 mind-bending and action-packed Tenet sees director Christopher Nolan do what he does best: confuse the hell out of audiences with sometimes hard-to-follow narrative choices and enough explosions and muffled dialogue to send you to an ear specialist. Armed with one word, tenet, the Protagonist (John David Washington) embarks upon a journey that will seem him traverse multiple realities and timelines as he sets out to save humanity with a little help from the closest thing he has to friends: Neil (Robert Pattinson), Kat (Elizabeth Debicki), and Ives (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).

Stream Tenet on HBO Max.

Buy Tenet on Amazon.

Buy Tenet on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Anna Karenina (2012)

The sprawling 2012 period romantic drama Anna Karenina sees director Joe Wright bringing Leo Tolstoy’s landmark 1877 novel of the same name to the big screen in spectacular fashion. Set in the Russian Empire in the late 19th Century, the sprawling epic follows Anna Karenina (Keira Knightley), a high-ranking member of society who creates a major scandal when she cheats on her husband (Jude Law) and starts an affair with Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a charming and decorated cavalry officer. When caught in the act, Karenina is given a choice: end the affair and live her luxurious life or go into exile with her lover and never see her child again. And then there’s the beautifully-choreographed dance scene for all those waltz fans out there.

Stream Anna Karenina on Amazon.

Rent/Buy Anna Karenina on Amazon.

Buy Anna Karenina on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Albert Nobbs (2011)

The 2011 period drama Albert Nobbs tells the story of a shy butler (Glenn Close) who has a secret that could upend the lives of multiple people: he is actually a woman dressing up like a man. Always one to keep her true identity under wraps, Nobbs experiences a great change when she meets Hubert Page (Janet McTeer), another woman living her life as if she were a man. Also playing a major role in the events of Rodrigo Garcia’s Academy Award-nominated film is Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who portrays Joe Mackins, an ill-tempered man who cons his way into a job and the heart of a maid at the hotel where Albert works.

Stream Albert Nobbs on Kanopy.

Rent/Buy Albert Nobbs on Amazon.

Buy Albert Nobbs on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Outlaw King (2018)

One of the best movies on Netflix, at least in terms of the gritty dramas set in early 14th Century Scotland, David Mackenzie’s Outlaw King follows Robert the Bruce (Chris Pine) as he is sent to live in exile by King Edward I of England (Stephen Dillane) not long after word begins to spread that Robert has been declared the king of Scotland. Together with a band of outlaws that includes James Douglas (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) in its ranks, Robert sets out to take back his throne and reclaim Scotland for his people, free of the tyrannical reign of the English monarchy. All of this leads to the epic showdown at the muddy and bloody Battle of Loudoun Hill, a historical military affair that is still being researched centuries later.

Stream Outlaw King on Netflix.

Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging (2008)

The 2008 coming-of-age teen romantic comedy Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging follows Georgia Nicolson (Georgia Groome) as she does everything in her power to win over her classmate and crush Robbie Jennings (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) through any means necessary. Based on a series of books by Louise Rennison, Gurinder Chadha’s adaptation sees Georgie try to get Robbie’s attention by acting like her cat, Angus, is missing, taking “snogging lessons,” and other means dreamt up by the hopeless romantic on a journey to make the charming and charismatic musician feel the same way about her.

Rent/Buy Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging on Amazon.

Buy Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

This is all just a small portion of Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s extensive filmography dating back to his first film appearance in the 2000 made-for-TV movie The Apocalypse. Over the years, Taylor-Johnson has shown up in everything from Shanghai Knights as a young Charlie Chaplin, The Illusionist, and alongside John Cena in the 2017 war drama The Wall. Only in his early 30s, it is safe to say we’ll be seeing a lot more of the talented actor for years to come.

To see what Aaron Taylor-Johnson and the rest of Hollywood has in store for audiences in the coming months, check out CinemaBlend’s updated schedule of all the 2021 movie premiere dates.

John David Washington is now a full-blown movie star. Despite Tenet having a tumultuous release that was marred by the pandemic, the film also marked John David Washington‘s arrival as a star. Tenet is getting another life after releasing in theaters earlier this year, now that it’s streaming on HBO Max. More people are getting to watch Christopher Nolan’s time-bending epic and witness John David Washington take the next step in his career. Now, it looks like he'll stick with streaming for his next flick and Netflix has shared the first look At John David Washington’s new thriller months after Tenet tried to lure people back to theaters.

Tenet's failed theatrical release happened during the height of the pandemic and the uncertainty around the movie industry, resulting in smaller box office numbers than expected. In the meantime, theatrical struggles have led a slew of other movies to head to streaming, which is where John David Washington's next movie endeavor has been set up. The actor is set to star in Beckett, which looks exciting. Here is a first look at the film:

Tomb Raider’s Alicia Vikander and The Predator’s Boyd Holbrook are joining John David Washington in a dramatic thriller following a man (Washington) who gets caught up in a conspiracy while vacationing in Greece. If you are a fan of John David Washington, this genre movie is probably precisely what you want to see from him, and I can't wait to see how the film turns out.

Tenet establishes John David Washington as a really physical on-screen presence even if he can’t explain what happens in that film. He is a former professional athlete, so he runs with purpose and can make sliding 15 feet look routine. When he beats a man with a cheese grater, you can feel the athleticism bouncing off the screen. Next, he'll have to maneuver and fight his way through a vast conspiracy while on vacation and it will undoubtedly be a sight to behold.

Commanding the screen clearly runs in the family, and like Christopher Nolan, many fans are holding out hope for Denzel Washington and his son John David Washington to make a movie together. John David Washington is a star now (who still has to do what his old man tells him) and it would truly something to see the pair share the big screen. The way John David Washington’s career is going, nothing is off the table, and a movie with his iconic father is certainly in the cards.

The future is bright for John David Washington, and fans will get to see him on streaming train when Beckett hits Netflix this August. As for after that, Washington has a lot of options on deck, and there’s even the very unlikely chance we see Tenet 2 in the future. Whatever is in store, the actor is making his mark, and I for one am looking forward to what's next.

Tenet, Christopher Nolan’s time-bending epic, has finally come to HBO Max this weekend. The film could be seen as one of the first movie casualties of 2020, having its release severely affected by the global pandemic. The initial response to Tenet varied from person to person, with some people who loved it, some who hated it, but mostly everyone had no idea what was going on even if they enjoyed the film. Now, the movie is now getting its second life, first making a comeback at the box office and now releasing on one of the most popular streaming platforms in HBO Max. And as you'd expect, the internet has more thoughts about the movie in the midst of its streaming debut.

Tenet is a polarizing film for a few reasons. Still, the central divider is the confusing nature of its plot that requires subsequent views to even begin to wrap your head around what John David Washington and Robert Pattinson were up to. With its release to HBO Max, Tenet is now widely available for people to experience for the first time or give it a second chance, and people are doing just that, judging from the film trending on Twitter:

Tenet is a semi-flawed and admittedly confusing film, but it absolutely rules, as Teen Wolf director Stephen Ford puts it. Christopher Nolan's latest is best experienced as pure spectacle. Leave everything else at the door until your second or third viewing, as internet commentators will tell you, along with some other key advice:

Tenet is confusing, especially on its first viewing. The user above describes the correct way to watch the film and truly appreciate and understand what’s going on in Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster. There is truly a higher level of thinking that is required to finally "get" Tenet but if that is too intimidating just think of it as a conventional spy thriller and enjoy the ride.

Aside from its disorienting storytelling, the Christopher Nolan-directed movie also had some technical problems. References to Tenet’s notorious sound problem controversy also got a shoutout in the form of a funny and ironic subtitle seen at the beginning of the film:

Fans also seem to be having a good time having fun with their methods of watching the film. Many know that Christopher Nolan prefers that his films be seen on the largest screens possible, and some can't help poke fun at the notion:

The stars of Tenet, John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, are also getting their praise from fans. John David Washington had one of the craziest fights sequences you will see in a movie, and Robert Pattinson was basically auditioning for the role of James Bond. Their chemistry in Tenet is excellent, and the reveals at the end and watching a second time really highlight their back and forth in the film:

Tenet is gaining more steam thanks to streaming and, despite its confusing plot, it has its devotees and has gained some new fans. The cult following around it will surely keep gaining members, and the call for a sequel might become too loud for Christopher Nolan to ignore.

Even if you aren’t super interested in how the plot device of the movie works, you will probably still be on the edge of your seat, asking how they pulled off crashing a real plane into a building and, for most people, that may be enough. My advice is to leave the speculation and theorizing in the hands of the true Tenet-heads and just enjoy the spectacle.

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Following his turn as Ron Stallworth in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, John David Washington scored the opportunity to work with director Christopher Nolan on his latest movie, Tenet. For more than two decades now, Nolan has been one of Hollywood’s most famous filmmakers, from his time putting a unique stamp on Batman in the Dark Knight trilogy to delivering the epic space adventure known as Interstellar. Well, as it turns out, Nolan keeps mementos (pun intended) to commemorate working on these movies, and this resulted in one of the happiest moments of Washington’s life.

John David Washington recently stopped by Rolling Stone’s First Time show to talk about his career, and one of the topics covered was his first time reading Tenet. Washington started off by talking about when he walked into Christopher Nolan’s office for the first time, saying:

Christopher Nolan may not have a cell phone or use email, but clearly he doesn’t take office decoration lightly. No doubt many of you reading this are a fan of at least one of Nolan’s movies, if not many of them. So John David Washington wouldn’t be alone reacting with glee to the director’s decor. And unlike the Wizard of Oz, I’m pretty sure Nolan wouldn’t hide behind a curtain while visitors to his office gazed at his Interstellar posters, Batman figures and other adornments spotlighting his career.

But one doesn’t stop by Christopher Nolan’s office to simply shoot the breeze. After geeking out, John David Washington sat down to read the Tenet script, and he described the experience thusly:

John David Washington starred in Tenet as The Protagonist, a CIA agent who's recruited to help prevent an attack on the world from the future by learning how to control the flow of time. Christopher Nolan has never been one to shy away from exploring time in his movies, but needless to say that Tenet took that aspect of his filmmaking to a whole new level. Washington was joined by Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kenneth Branagh and Michael Caine, among others.

Tenet was the first tentpole picture to open after the COVID-19 pandemic initially shut movie theaters down. While Christopher Nolan’s newest feature earned a fair amount of positive reception, it understandably didn’t commercially perform as well as it would have during normal times, making only a little over $363 million worldwide off a reported $200 million budget. Tenet arrived on home media last December, and it’ll hit HBO Max on May 1, so make sure you’re subscribed to the streaming service if you want to catch the movie’s streaming debut.

As for John David Washington, his most recent movie, Malcom & Marie, is playing on Netflix, and he’ll next appear in the thriller Beckett and David O. Russell’s yet-to-be-titled film. Don’t forget to learn what other movies are coming out this year with our upcoming 2021 movies guide.

Anytime there is a young British actor who has achieved a certain level of popularity and success, they will almost certainly be linked to the iconic role of James Bond, particularly when a new Bond is expected to be announcement. Robert Pattinson is no exception, being -- in my opinion -- a no-brainer as a candidate to take over the mantle of 007. But what would that look like? New art has an idea.

In many ways, Robert Pattinson fits the mold of James Bond. He is British, handsome, and could believably pull off the charm fans expect from their James Bond. If you needed any more convincing, check out this Barrett Digital art of Robert Pattinson as 007:

The artwork via barrett.digital, gives fans an idea of what Robert Pattinson would like as James Bond in one of 007’s signature poses inspired by his role in Tenet. The art really drives home that Pattinson might be a perfect fit to take over the Bond franchise after Daniel Craig hangs up his tuxedo after its No Time To Die finally hits theaters.

Robert Pattinson has basically already auditioned to play James Bond via Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, which is a big-budget spy thriller with big set pieces not unlike a James Bond film. The mysterious nature of Pattinson's Tenet character, Neil, lends itself to the twist-heavy and mind-bending narrative and showcases the charm and physicality of someone who can play James Bond.

Robert Pattinson has already landed the role as a young Bruce Wayne, and from the looks of the trailer, he is embodying Batman’s dark and brooding nature to a tee. Pattinson is proven as a performer and is steadily racking up the experience needed to potentially be that James Bond front-runner.

Fans of Tenet (and its complex ending) already witnessed what the next James Bond could be like with Robert Pattinson as 007. Here’s to hoping Robert Pattinson gets a chance to play the part he’s perfect for, though there's definitely some competition on that horizon.

Tenet was supposed to be the movie that heralded the grand return of cinema during a hellish year that saw the traditional summer blockbuster season pretty much cancelled. Sadly, that wasn’t the case, as the Christopher Nolan-directed mindbender pulled in disappointing box office returns. However, the reopening of theaters in New York and Los Angeles has led to Tenet making some big money on IMAX screens in recent weeks, leading to a newly extended run.

In an announcement made by IMAX, Tenet has officially extended its large format run in those still-limited metropolitan markets, with new showings added up until March 30th. Thanks to “more than 30 sold out shows” in those recently opened markets, the would-be blockbuster is playing quite well months after its original theatrical release ended. Considering Tenet is widely available on home video, rental platforms, and even Game Boy Advance cartridges at this very moment, it’s even more of an indication that fans are flocking to the theatrical experience where available. Just as Christopher Nolan had hoped.

Part of the novelty in heading to see Tenet in IMAX is, of course, the fact that both New York and Los Angeles are showing the film in exclusive 70mm format showings. Movie fans that love the feel of the warm and crisp celluloid picture that Nolan films deliver in such a format are obviously indulging in that option. But even those who are merely able to see the film in digital IMAX are still in for a treat, thanks to Christopher Nolan formatting his time inverted adventure for that very theatrical option.

It’ll take a lot more than IMAX auditoriums in New York and Los Angeles opening to put Tenet into the same rarified air as previous Christopher Nolan hits like Interstellar, or even Dunkirk. And that March 30th deadline isn’t a coincidence either, as Warner Bros is rolling out their next potential hit, Godzilla vs. Kong, into as many formats as possible. But at the very least, Tenet’s current IMAX exhibition will allow for the film to grab as much cash as it can between now and next week.

Perhaps this twist of fate related to Tenet’s complicated theatrical history will be something that helps mellow out tensions between Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. When the huge decision was made to drop the studio’s entire 2021 slate on HBO Max and in theaters simultaneously, Nolan was one of the filmmakers that felt rather insulted by the decision. This has led to a lot of people wondering if the studio that’s given him such creative freedom will ever work with him again.

Tenet will probably see itself sinking back into the background after this new theatrical release finishes its course. But even though it took John David Washington and Robert Pattinson’s spy-fi antics a longer than usual time to hit New York and Los Angeles’ screens, it looks like that effort was worth every penny. So if you’re keen on getting to see Tenet the way that Christopher Nolan intended, you’d better keep an eye on your local theater’s listings. Reduced capacity is, unquestionably, helping sell out auditoriums, and you’re not going to want to miss out!

Movie theaters were almost entirely closed for the better part of a year, and while they occasionally reopened in a few places, people in major parts of the country, like New York and Los Angeles, had no option to visit theaters even if they wanted to do so. Even now, many theaters are still closed. However, it does appear that, however slowly, things are beginning to finally reopen in a way that might be permanent. It's still going to be months, if not another year, before things are back to normal, but being able, and willing, to go to the movies again finally seems like a real possibility.

For the most part, we're now looking at a 2021 release calendar that looks an awful lot like the 2020 release calendar. Most studios held off on releasing their big tentpole movies until such time as they might be able to actually bring in significant box office dollars again. However, a handful of movies, both big and small, did come out in 2020, either during a time when no theaters were open or theaters were unavailable to many parts of the nation. Now that this is finally starting to change, here are the movies that could really use a theatrical release since they never really got one the first time around.

Hamilton

While it was not necessarily that shocking to see a number of planned 2020 releases make the jump to streaming platforms and VOD, one movie that nobody was expecting to see on Disney+ in 2020 was Hamilton. The filmed production of the stage musical had been set for a theatrical release in 2021, and while we were seeing the theatrical release calendar get a significant shakeup that included 2021 and beyond, nobody was expecting to see a movie planned that far out come that soon. Although it's great that we got to see it last summer, it would still be nice to see it in theaters. Not everybody watches movies at home with a great sound system, and being able to experience Hamilton with theater quality audio would make it worth spending the money for a movie ticket.

Soul

Several of Disney's planned 2020 releases ended up on Disney+, but perhaps the biggest of them all was Pixar's Soul. It was, without question, the most popular of this group with both fans and critics. And while Soul doesn't have a plot or a story that screams "big screen," Pixar animation is always a visual feast and best when seen in a theater. For many, Soul was a movie that brought them optimism and hope during a year where there was little of that going around. Being able to return to theaters by seeing Soul the way it was meant to be seen feels fitting. Hearing that impressive jazz soundtrack and Oscar nominated score on a theater sound system would give many fans an experience they simply could not have with the movie at home.

Bill and Ted Face the Music

Bill and Ted Face the Music was never going to be a box office heavyweight; that's just not the sort of franchise this is. But the first two Bill and Ted movies got theatrical releases, so it's only fair that the end of the trilogy gets the same treatment. Technically Bill and Ted Face the Music was released in theaters, but not really. It came out at a time that your best chance of seeing it was at the drive-in, assuming you have one of those in your neighborhood. For those of us that saw Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey in theaters, we were looking forward to completing the trilogy the same way, and without that experience, it feels like something is missing.

Mulan

When theaters shut down a year ago, Mulan was one of those movies that we thought would be among the first big blockbusters available to watch when they returned. However, while some studios continued to push back films, Disney eventually relented and released the live-action version of Mulan as the first Premium Access title for Disney+, but at a premium price. Mulan, to be blunt, isn't the best movie. It has issues from a story perspective that keep it from really being something special. However, the movie is visually stunning, and as such, it could really use theatrical exhibition to show off the gorgeous cinematography on hand. Even watching Mulan in 4K on Disney+, it feels small. The movie was clearly shot with theatrical exhibition in mind, and it would be nice to see it that way given the chance.

Tenet

The other big movie besides Mulan that would hold out in an attempt to be the film marking a triumphant return to theaters was Christopher Nolan's Tenet. The movie would technically get a theatrical release, just like the director wanted, but it was during a time when movie theaters were still largely unavailable to most, and many of those who might have capable of visiting theaters were less sure about doing so. Christopher Nolan is a supporter of theatrical exhibition and there's no reason that his movie shouldn't get the release he wanted to see it get. There absolutely is value in that experience, and it would be nice for those who wanted to see Tenet in theaters, but never really had the chance, to finally be able to do so.

To be sure, getting theatrical releases now are unlikely to turn any of these movies into massive blockbusters. With all of them already available at home, many people that might have bought tickets before won't do so now. But for those who really appreciate theaters and everything they represent, and everything they're capable of providing that can't be replicated at home, the chance to see these movies, and others, on the big screen would be appreciated and enjoyed by a lot of fans. Hopefully, at some point, we can see some of these movies impacted by the pandemic given special theatrical engagements for those that would absolutely go back to the theater to experience them in a brand-new way.

For Los Angeles residents, moviegoers had to wait almost exactly a year before seeing some of their local theaters open to the public again. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Hollywood hard, especially since L.A. county has dealt with the highest volume of cases in the U.S, but finally this week the region can open its indoor theaters in anticipation for big 2021 movies like Godzilla vs. Kong and Mortal Kombat. Christopher Nolan was among the first in line.

The Tenet filmmaker has been vocal over the past year about his support for the theatrical experience and preserving the exhibitor/studio relationship amidst the circumstances brought on by the pandemic. Los Angeles theaters returning to the fold on Monday is a big step forward for the industry, and Christopher Nolan took part in a showing at an AMC theater in the area on its first day back in business on Monday. One fellow cinephile spotted the writer/director in a theater elevator:

Christopher Nolan was all dressed up (as per usual) to go see a movie in Burbank, California when one Twitter user caught a selfie with him. We’re not sure what movie Nolan went out to see in celebration of Los Angeles’ theater reopening, but his options included Raya and the Last Dragon, Tom & Jerry, Chaos Walking, Boogie, Judas and the Black Messiah, Nomadland, Wonder Woman 1984 and Promising Young Woman. Perhaps he was catching up with one of his fellow Oscar nominees?

Los Angeles’ theater openings were announced just last week as the county moved up from the red to purple tier. Not all local theaters are opening right away, but they have permission to return to business with COVID-19 health guidelines in place, and theater capacity is restricted to 25 percent. L.A. followed in the footsteps of New York City, which also gave theaters the greenlight the two weeks prior for the first time since the pandemic.

Last year, Christopher Nolan’s name became a key name in the ongoing conversation about how theaters will be affected moving forward when his movie Tenet was caught in the crosshairs over the summer. Tenet was originally going to come out in July, but due to skyrocketing case numbers, the movie was delayed a few times, ultimately landing on a theatrical date in September.

Christopher Nolan's Tenet came with a huge price tag, as the film’s production budget was reportedly $200 million. That made it the kind of movie that needed a theatrical run to be worth the studio’s money. Instead of the movie being delayed a year like many big movies did, such as Marvel’s tentpole Black Widow (coming this May) or Fast & the Furious 9 (which has now been moved twice, now to summer 2022), Tenet stuck out its 2020 opening and made just $363 million worldwide.

This Christopher Nolan spotting is on brand for the filmmaker. Of course, he’s supporting Los Angeles theaters… now if only he could invert time and see Tenet when the city had showtimes available for the action flick!

It goes without saying that we want to congratulate everyone who woke up to the news that they are Academy Award nominees this morning. This has been, and continues to be, a bizarre awards season, but the films that are represented across the board do adequately reflect the best and brightest that found its way in front of an audience in 2020. We ended up with eight Best Picture nominees ranging from Minari and Mank to The Trial of the Chicago 7. We’ll discuss the odds of the favorites as we get closer to the show.

This morning, we focus on the folks who didn’t get the call, the Snubs that held Oscar hopes, only to have them dashed in the wee hours of the morning, Pacific Coast Time. These are movies, actors, directors and craftsmen who had been told at various stages of the race that this would be their year. For some, it could have been career-altering. For others, it’s a blip on an already seasoned stint in the business. So, who was left on the outside of the Oscar bubble, looking in?

Da 5 Bloods

Such an egregious snub, the movie gets its own category at the top of this list. Simply put, the Academy didn’t care for Spike Lee’s searing examination of post-war PTSD, the Trump effect on our nation’s psyche, the power and urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the stirring treasure-hunt thriller that Lee rolled into one devastating package. While the film’s lone Oscar nomination went to Terence Blanchard’s heroic film score, thet means that the Academy snubbed Da 5 Bloods in Best Picture, Best Director for Spike Lee, Best Actor for Delroy Lindo (an absolute crime), and Best Supporting Actor for the late Chadwick Boseman. One has to wonder if Oscar voters even bothered to watch their Netflix screener?

One Night in Miami

Regina King’s stirring and provocative One Night in Miami is another film that probably expected a lot more love on Oscars morning, and woke up holding a half-empty bag. The movie did collect a few key nominations, with Kemp Powers landing a Best Adapted Screenplay nod for his words and ideas, and Leslie Odom Jr. getting into the Best Supporting Actor race. But that excluded his co-stars, all of whom were integral to One Night in Miami working as well as it did. Choosing one performance over the others is very difficult. While Picture seemed in play, it didn’t happen, but what I really regret is that Regina King isn’t joining Chloe Zhao and Emerald Fennell in the Best Director category, because she deserved to be there after juggling the issues and performances at the heart of this film.

Zendaya, Best Actress

The Best Actress category this year might be the most stacked of all the races. Four extremely talented and worth nominees are going to go home empty-handed, and we will live in a world where Viola Davis or Carey Mulligan might not win for their amazing performances in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom or Promising Young Woman just because Frances McDormand is THAT good in Nomadland. Zendaya, though, didn’t even get into the conversation, and she belonged there. Her work opposite John David Washington in the contentious Malcolm & Marie showed a soul-baring side to the actress that many are still waking up to (watch Euphoria, people), and a nomination would have pushed her further into the spotlight of respect.

Jared Leto, Best Supporting Actor, The Little Things

The thing about Jared Leto is that he’s extremely popular. And he takes big, bold risks with his performances. This allows him to get nominated and actually win for Dallas Buyers Club. It also makes him a lightning rod for controversy when he tries something like The Joker. His turn as a menacing weirdo in The Little Things for early awards buzz, picking up nominations the HFPA and the Screen Actors Guild (a big deal). An Oscar nomination seemed possible, but Leto’s turn proved a tad too elusive for Academy members to fully embrace.

Palm Springs, Original Screenplay

As streaming services generate far more Oscar-worthy films, Hulu found itself in the race for a number of deserving movies this year. Palm Springs should have been one of the them, and I’m more than a little shocked that it didn’t find its way into the Best Original Screenplay category. This was the year, because of the bizarre nature of film distribution, that the Academy could have shone a brighter light on mainstream fare that connected with audiences while still elevating the craft of filmmaking. Palm Springs is clever, hysterical, heartfelt and fun. When Borat 2 got a nod, I got hopeful, only to have those hopes dashed.

Soul, Best Picture

As long as the Best Animated Feature category exists, no animated feature will ever win Best Picture at the Oscars. The Academy basically considers that category to be “enough,” as evidenced by Disney Pixar’s Soul not even getting into the Best Picture race, which is a crime. Pete Docter’s fascinating exploration of the afterlife and our purpose here on this planet plumbed emotional and spiritual depths not seen in any of the live-action films in the Best Picture category. Soul also breached difficult conversations about depression and anxiety, as well as the freeing power of music and musical composition. It’s an endlessly rewarding film that’s as vibrant and beautiful as it is funny and sad. But it’s animated, so it never really had a shot at the category in which it belongs, did it?

Ludwig Goransson, Score, Tenet

A score can complete a movie. It can serve as a character, an audio propulsion that comes around exactly when the story needs it. This is what Ludwig Goransson achieves with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, a time-twisty thriller that plays forwards and backwards but gets anchored by the musical cues provided by Goransson. The composer already has a track record with the Academy, having picked up an Oscar for his work on Black Panther. His work on The Mandalorian was brilliant, and could have contributed to the Academy just giving Goransson the nod for his body of work. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

Mank, Original Screenplay

Personally, I don’t think that Mank deserved a nomination in this category. I fear that David Fincher’s Old Hollywood homage is the least interesting story in the brilliant filmmaker’s filmography. But what IS interesting is the story behind Mank, where Fincher’s late father, Jack Fincher, had a script that delved into the making of Hollywood’s greatest drama -- Citizen Kane -- but gets lost in the exploration of the battle between screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (Oscar nominated Gary Oldman) and media tycoon William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance). I thought that maybe the story of Mank would get the screenplay a nomination, but no dice.

Jodie Foster, Best Supporting Actress, The Mauritanian

Because of the unusual nature of this year’s Oscar race, we saw a handful of films that were released in 2021 connect with the different critics groups that can be bellweathers for the direction that the Academy is going to go. And that turned out to be the case for Judas and the Black Messiah, which earned six Oscar nominations, but not so much for The Mauritanian. While that drama played well for the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes (where Jodie Foster won over Glenn Close, Olivia Colman and Amanda Seyfried, the Oscars weren’t having it, and the Foster slot likely went to Maria Bakalova for Borat 2 instead. No real complaints here!

When theaters had to close down in the spring of 2020, one of the big movies that the industry had its eye on was Christopher Nolan's Tenet. The director is a strong proponent of the theatrical experience and during a period when many movies simply skipped theaters and went to VOD, Tenet held firm by planning for a theatrical release or bust. Nolan felt that seeing the movie on the big screen, or even better an IMAX screen, was the only way to really experience it. And so, somebody decided to put the movie on a Game Boy Advance, just out of pure spite.

If Christopher Nolan really would rather people only watch his movies in theaters, one can imagine how he'd feel about seeing all that hard work on the small screen of a handheld video game console, which is exactly why a YouTuber named Wulff Den did exactly that.

The Game Boy Advance was released in 2001 and was the follow-up to the original Nintendo GameBoy and its immediate successor the GameBoy Color. It was a fairly simple system and it's certainly dated by modern video game standards, but that's exactly why it was a great choice for an experiment like this. The GBA is capable of producing color video, so you can put Tenet on the system even if it is the lowest quality way to possibly do so. And somehow the audio and video is technically watchable.

The movie actually takes up five GBA cartridges, as you can only get about 30 minutes of video one one at a quality level that is still watchable. And from the video above, the video is only just watchable. It's certainly pixelated, but not so much that you can't tell what's going on. And even to get that, the GBA had to be pushed to its limit as each cartridge takes up about double the memory that a normal ROM did.

What's actually worse than the video, however, is actually the audio. Because of Tenet's unique audio mix, a lot of the sound doesn't play great through a speaker that was never designed to give you cinema quality audio. Apparently some of the quieter moments are so quiet you literally can't hear them watching the movie this way.

If there's a lesson to be taken here, I suppose it's that there's worse places to watch a movie than on an HD TV. To be fair, nobody is arguing that watching Tenet on a Game Boy Advance is just as good. It's not. And now that the movie is available on Blu-ray and on VOD, you can watch it at home in a way that, if not as good as the theater, is certainly better than some other options.

The following story gets into spoilers for Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, so if you still haven’t seen the film, and want to avoid details, bail out now.

There’s a tremendous reveal in the middle of Tenet, the time-twisty thriller from revolutionary storyteller Christopher Nolan, where the audience learns that the man John David Washington’s character was fighting in a hallway at an earlier point of the movie… was John David Washington’s character. I told you it was time-twisty. Washington’s lead, known only as The Protagonist, is working his way back through the movie, and encounters himself from an earlier scene. We watched that scene, but didn’t know who the man was fighting at the time. Viewing it is nuts. Filming it, as it turns out, was even more crazy for all the people involved.

CinemaBlend’s ReelBlend podcast had John David Washington back on the show to talk about his new Netflix drama Malcolm & Marie, where he costars opposite Zendaya. But we couldn’t resist asking him a few Tenet questions, especially about specifics now that the movie has been out and he can peel back the curtain a tad. Listen to the clip above for him to tell the story about filming the hallway fight sequence, and how challenging it was, mentally as well as physically.

Speaking of physically, in the conversation above, ReelBlend co-host Kevin McCarthy mentions behind-the-scenes photographs that he saw of John David Washington filming the hallway fight scene from Tenet, and seeing cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema hauling a massive IMAX camera on his shoulders to capture the action. Hoytema got so close to the action that he received a swift kick from Washington. As he puts it:

Actors and craftspeople go to extreme lengths to bring Christopher Nolan’s visions to the big screen. Behind the scenes stories like this are such a joy to listen to, because talent usually loves collaborating with Nolan, but they can’t elaborate on the process because he keeps stuff so close to the vest. After the fact, though, when they can open up about their experiences, you get the enthusiasm that you see in John David Washington above.

Here’s the latest episode of ReelBlend, for the full interview with John David Washington:

And make sure that you check his performance out in Sam Levinson’s Malcolm & Marie, a relationship drama that’s generating all sorts of conversations how that audiences are able to see it for themselves. It’s streaming on Netflix as we speak. For the full video interview with John David Washington, check out ReelBlend's YT channel, then hit like and subscribe.

Warner Bros and Christopher Nolan have been a hot Hollywood item for nearly two decades now, as all of the filmmaker’s movies since Insomnia have been distributed by the studio. However, 2020 marked some notable turmoil in this professional relationship, as not only did the COVID-19 pandemic result in Tenet’s release being shaken up, but Nolan was displeased by WB’s decision to release all its 2021 movies on HBO Max at the same time they premiered in theaters. Well, as we’re still early in 2021, word’s come in that Nolan and WB are calling it quits.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Christopher Nolan is “unlikely” to work with Warner Bros again following WarnerMedia implementing this day-and-date release plan. Publicly, it hadn’t been announced yet if Nolan had a post-Tenet project in the works at the studio, but considering how important the director has been to WB over the years, with most of his movies being critical and/or commercial powerhouses, it goes without saying that him leaving would be a huge blow.

Going into 2020, it looked like Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros were on firm ground, with Tenet, his first movie since 2017’s Dunkirk, slated for a July 2020 release. Of course, like so many entertainment projects, Tenet found itself being affected by the health crisis and pushed back several times, before finally settling on an August 26 international release, followed by coming out in select U.S. cities on September 3, with a wider domestic rollout following. Nolan, a big fan of the theatrical experience, was adamant that Tenet not be sent to VOD, but with so many movie theaters still closed down during its big screen run, needless to say the movie’s commercial performance wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been during the Before Times.

Then came December 2020, where things got really heated between Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. After WarnerMedia announced that WB’s 2021 movies would be available on HBO Max for a one-month period starting the same day each respective movie premiered in theaters, Nolan not only expressed disappointment that WB did not inform its filmmakers ahead of time about this release plan, but also simply criticized the plan in general, saying it was a poor economic move. He even went so far as to call HBO Max “the worst streaming service.”

Taking all this into account, it’s understandable why Christopher Nolan is reportedly cutting ties with Warner Bros. Assuming he does indeed decide to set up shop elsewhere, this is arguably the biggest filmmaker/distributor breakup since Quentin Tarantino ended his relationship with Harvey and Bob Weinstein and moved his latest movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, to Sony Pictures Releasing, as all his movies up to that point had involved either Miramax or The Weinstein Company. Obviously that breakup was due to significantly different circumstances, but in any case, Nolan and WB have gone together like peanut butter and chocolate for so long, and it’ll be weird not having that flavor combination anymore.

If/when it’s confirmed that Christopher Nolan is stepping away from Warner Bros, we’ll be sure to let you know. For now, you’re welcome to watch Tenet on Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, DVD or on digital platforms, and feel free to scan through our 2021 release schedule to discover what movies are arriving later this year.

Box office isn’t something we pay that much attention to nowadays. When is the last time that you went to a movie theater to see a film on opening weekend? We’re still figuring out how to get crowds back into multiplexes safely, and major blockbusters are experimenting with new avenues to get features in front of audiences. Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 is one such example, a sequel that endured numerous delays before becoming one of the first Warner Bros. films to try an experimental day-and-date release in theaters, as well as on HBO Max. So, after a month, how is Wonder Woman 1984 doing at the box office?

This past weekend was the first since opening that Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 didn’t get the number one slot on the box office charts, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Liam Neeson’s new film The Marksman earned an estimated $3.7 million over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day frame, good enough to knock the Wonder Woman sequel from the perch. Wonder Woman 1984 earned $2.6 million over the same four-day span, good for a third place finish behind the animated The Croods: The New Age.

But Wonder Woman 1984 has enjoyed a veritable lack of competition at the theaters for this past month. Tom Hanks released the throwback Western News of the World with director Paukl Greengrass, and Carey Mulligan’s Promising Young Woman has been capitalizing on its awards buzz to pull in crowds. Neither made that much of a dent on the figures that Gal Gadot’s sequel was pulling at the box office, even though the DC Films feature also was available on HBO Max to those who have subscribed.

In the grand scheme, we are still talking peanuts. The total gross earned by Wonder Woman 1984 sits at $35.8 million domestically since the film’s launch on Christmas Day. Under normal circumstances, a Wonder Woman sequel would have been expected to earn that amount in one day. In fact, Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman did earn $38.2 million domestically on its opening day of June 2, 2017. The original earned more in one day than the sequel has earned to date.

Granted, we’re in the midst of a pandemic. But those totals can tell a studio how long they have to budget out to earn back monies spent in the time of limited-capacity and audience uncertainty regarding a return to the theater to see a blockbuster. This data can tell a studio how many audience members are content to watch a new comic-book adaptation at home on the HBO Max streaming service, and how many are willing to go out and see a film on the big screen.

I have argued that Wonder Woman 1984 is a clearer indication of audience interest than Christopher Nolan’s Tenet was. Nolan’s twisty thriller was a tough sell even in perfect conditions. A Wonder Woman sequel appeals to virtually everyone. To compare, though, Tenet opened to $20.2 million domestically, and eventually topped out at $57.9 million domestically and $305 million worldwide. Wonder Woman 1984 would need to stay in theaters for months to attain those levels.

So far, Wonder Woman 1984 has performed better overseas, adding an additional $105 million to its gross for a worldwide cume of $141.7 million. Not great, by normal industry standards, but in a time of disarray in the world’s movie theaters and studious trying to find a way forward, those totals at least send the message that some audiences do want to get back to seeing films on the big screen, so long as we all can figure out a way to do it safely.

Warning: SPOILERS for Tenet are in play. If you haven’t seen the film yet, use the turnstile to invert yourself out of this article until you’ve caught up.

With the release of Tenet in 2020, Christopher Nolan has once again proved himself to be quite the fan of the James Bond franchise. Though he’s never been formally asked to direct an installment, Nolan is not only a fan of the 007 franchise, but he’s also had talks with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson over the years. Nolan knows his stuff when it comes to making a Bond-style movie with a more outrageous sci-fi angle, and Tenet is the latest proof of such mind-bending.

However, there are also classic elements from the James Bond series that this blockbuster has imitated beyond the point of flattery. In fact, in a handful of instances in Tenet, Christopher Nolan has beaten the Bond films at their own game. Here are some examples of what happens when the student becomes the master, turning classic staples into fresh new enterprises.

Tenet’s Cold Open Poses Competition For Top Tier Bond

A good James Bond movie knows how to grab the audience from the first moments and never let go. In the history of 007’s exploits, we’ve seen everything from supposedly eliminating the elite agent himself to gigantic feats of stuntwork opening many films in the series. However, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet opening manages to be so tense and packed full of action that it actually surpasses anything we’ve seen in the history of Bond.

Christopher Nolan’s had a lot of practice with cold opens for his more action-packed films, as we’ve seen with movies like The Dark Knight and even Dunkirk. But with Tenet, the Opera House siege that introduces us to The Protagonist (John David Washington) takes what could have been a standard exposition dump and turns it into pure dynamite. Major points have to be awarded to composer Ludwig Göransson in this case as well, as Nolan’s impressive action set-piece is only amplified by Goransson’s absolutely taut track “Rainy Day In Talinn.” The best Bond cold opens are the ones you could watch over and over again, for when is in the mood for a quick hit of 007 action, and Tenet absolutely delivers that sort of adrenaline rush in merely its opening moments.

The Humor In Tenet Is More Organic And Funnier

Humor in the James Bond series has always been a touchy subject, especially when it comes to the balance and tone of such jokes. On one end, you have the cheeky antics of Roger Moore that heavily banked on charm, wit and many a double entendre. But at the other end of the pool, the cutting wit of Sean Connery and Daniel Craig has acted as more reserved, but very pointed humor that gets the job done without veering into hugely comedic territory. No matter which side of that coin you prefer, you have to admit that Tenet’s handle on humor in the midst of the mission is pretty well played. That’s right folks, Tenet isn’t the humorless bore that some have been known to label the film as.

Most of that comes from the fact that John David Washington’s Protagonist is a smart-assed secret agent who lands right in the middle of the Moore/Craig spectrum. However, The Protagonist doesn’t fall too far towards the silliness of Moore, nor does he act with too much of the self-serious nature that has been attributed to Daniel Craig. You believe that The Protagonist can kick ass just as easily as he can tell you he ordered his hot sauce an hour ago, and that gag doesn’t make the cheese grater to some random Tenet henchman’s face hurt any less.

Tenet Has The Franchise Tease Mastered

In the current era of James Bond, there’s been a continuity of action that has linked each of Daniel Craig’s adventures with expert timing. Showing the development of Bond’s trigger finger, as well as his personal psyche, the path has always been open-ended, but full of potential. Still, while we’re left wanting more after each 007 film, we don’t know exactly where the road is leading to. There’s still unanswered questions lingering about, but none strong enough that we’d be wondering what exactly is coming down the road. Tenet, naturally, leaves us with so many questions that, even though there’s no word on if this is meant to be a franchise starter or a standalone film, we’d obviously prefer a continuation to be in the works.

The story of The Protagonist’s future and Neil’s past is the engine that drives the ending of Tenet, as their divergent paths are supposed to meet again in the future. Much as River Song and The Doctor share a history that flows differently depending on which viewpoint you’re looking at, the end of this potential origin story sees Neil heading to the end of his path and The Protagonist towards his beginnings as the head of Tenet’s temporal protection agents.

In Tenet, The Hero Is The Focus, Not The Villain

When looking forward to the 007 franchise’s continuation, we’re normally more invested in what villain is going to be coming around, because that’s usually the x-factor. Except for gigantic shifts in how the James Bond character has been portrayed through various actors, the biggest question we’ve ever had is about how Bond will survive the trials of heroism thrown his way in the next adventure. In Tenet's case, it's set the audience up to not only wonder what’s coming next, but how The Protagonist is going to change in the process.

Maybe it’s because the world of Tenet is still so new to audiences, but the potential changes to The Protagonist’s character in the future are just as important as who he’ll be facing off against. While the Bond series has gotten better at that sort of intrigue during the Daniel Craig era of films, Christopher Nolan understands that merely waiting for the villain of the week to come around only goes so far. So the potential for growth in the hero has been built into Tenet’s core story, with a finale that has us questioning just where, when and if we’ll see The Protagonist again, and what state he’ll be in should that moment come.

For someone who has yet to make a James Bond movie himself, Christopher Nolan understands the franchise so well that he’s proven time and again that he should at least get an invite to play in that particular sandbox. After showing his keen work with action in Tenet, and kicking things up a notch with the espionage plot featured in the film, it feels like the timing might be better than ever to try and land his innovative touches for the kick off to the next era of James Bond. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see if that opportunity ever lands. We’ll be able to watch Tenet in the meantime, as you can currently rent or buy the picture on Digital HD, 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD.

Were there any good movie released this past year? For months at a time, it seemed like no movies were being released at all, as we hunkered down in our homes and dealt with the new reality of differing ways to consume entertainment. But Hollywood did figure out how to get new movies in front of audiences (though a heavily balance of streaming, and the occasional branch out into safe-as-possible theatrical distribution), and a handful of them were truly great.

My Top 10 list for 2020 feels so very unusual, which is an accurate representation of the year, itself. There are traditional storytelling powers, major studio fare, some indie darlings, and the best films that I saw on streaming services. But because this year was so nontraditional, I couldn’t think of any other way to capture, via snapshot in time, the bizarre year we just lived through. Looking back on 2020, these are the ten films that moved me, inspired me, spoke to where I was as a person, and entertained at a time when we were all desperate for distractions. These are the 10 best movies I saw this year.

10. Uncorked

I’m a sucker for “chase your dreams” fables. Heck, I write about movies full time, so clearly I had some lofty dreams that I’ve been lucky enough to fulfill. Then, as writer-director Prentice Penny’s inspirational Uncorked unfurled, it pushed every personal button for me as an audience member, and just as a person in general. Obsessed with wine, Elijah (Mamoudou Athie) aspires to be a top-ranked Master Sommelier. His father (the always wonderful Courtney B. Vance) instead wants Elijah to take over the family’s barbecue business. You had me at “wine,” Uncorked! You have to go and throw “BBQ” into the mix?

Even if you think you know where Uncorked is going, the steps along the journey delight and inform. I learned a ton about wine. I invested in the dramatic squabbles of the family. I rooted for Elijah, and connected with every obstacle. Open up a bottle of red and settle in for Uncorked if you haven’t yet seen it. It’s a warm-blanket of a movie that I’ll revisit often.

9. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

No one thought we actually needed a sequel to Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat until we finally saw Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. As it turns out, this was exactly the type of controversial, envelope-pushing, boundary-tearing exercise in social and political lunacy that 2020 deserved. It’s the first movie I can recall watching in 2020 that I immediately wanted to start over as soon as it was done because I couldn’t fully process what I had watched. Did that abortion clinic scene really happen? Did Cohen really disrupt Mike Pence’s rally? What was Rudy Giuliani really doing in that hotel room?!

Above all else, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is outrageously funny. Like, “grab your sides and scream out loud” funny. You laugh, but remain in shock at the ridiculous things Borat convinces people to do, with very little prodding. The sequel lands on my Best list, though, for the enormous amount of heart that it also brings, courtesy of the relationship between Sacha Baron Cohen and newcomer Maria Bakalova, playing Borat’s daughter. She’s 2020’s comedic MVP, and if she found her way into the Oscar conversation, I wouldn’t be mad.

8. The Trial of the Chicago 7

An Aaron Sorkin courtroom drama has a damn good chance of making it onto my list just by simply existing, but the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind The Social Network, Moneyball, TV’s The West Wing and the masterpiece A Few Good Men backed up the promise of The Trial of the Chicago 7 with a star-studded historical drama that landed numerous punches aimed at the events of our own time. It was surreal watching America’s streets being clogged with police protests in the Summer of 2020 as Sorkin spun this true-life story about the fallout from police-brutality protests in 1968. Everything old is new again.

Restaging a tense trial is one thing. Sorkin’s movie stands out for the compelling ways that he weaves us into the lives of everyone participating in the circus, from the warring attorneys (Joseph Gordon Levitt and Mark Rylance) to the irascible judge (Frank Langella) to the colorful political voices whose lives and reputations were on the line. Good luck picking the best performance in this stunning ensemble, but I do want to note Sacha Baron Cohen for playing both Borat and Abbie Hoffman, and doing it so well that both movies made my Top 10.

7. One Night in Miami

Here’s the continuation of a trend for 2020: Movies set in the past that say just as much about our present as they do about the time in which they take place. The four icons speaking their truths in One Night in Miami -- Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) -- wrestle with the cultural and civil issues of 1964. But the conversations strike chords in 2020, and it’s the connections made by screenwriter Kemp Powers and director Regina King that force One Night in Miami to linger in our conscience.

Also, hot damn Regina King. The Oscar-winning actress has directed television episodes prior to this feature-film debut. She arrives for One Night in Miami with confidence and swagger, keeping Powers’ stage play from feeling like a stage adaptation. She divides her focus between all four men, and is just as comfortable in a boxing ring following Clay as she is in the hotel room where the action is largely set. Miami is a knockout, a calling-card film that declares King as a storyteller to watch for years to come.

6. Da 5 Bloods

The aforementioned trend of 2020 continues with Spike Lee’s latest masterpiece, a thrilling tightrope walk through history that feels like the movie Lee has been preparing to make his entire career. The Brooklyn legend loves shining a spotlight on our nation’s past indiscretions, this time going all-in on the Vietnam conflict, and the toll it takes on African-American soldiers shipped overseas to die.

Lee’s entry into the commentary this time, though, also works as an exciting treasure hunt that has close friends and former war colleagues returning to Ho Chi Minh City to unearth gold they’d buried back during the fight. Lee recruits a murderer’s row of talent for Da 5 Bloods, unleashing Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr., the late Chadwick Boseman and the devastating Delroy Lindo on a brilliant screenplay that connects racial injustice of the 1960s to the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020. This is Spike Lee at his most important, and that’s saying something.

5. Promising Young Woman

I can’t remember the last time a movie grabbed me by the collar and just shook me as hard as Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman. The writer-director serves up a vicious anti-date-rape PSA that’s cloaked in a pitch-black comedy, made all the more depressing that lessons included in Promising Young Woman have to be repeated at all in 2020.

Not that Fennell is preaching at her audience. Quite the opposite. She merely turns the keys over to her ingenious lead, Carey Mulligan, and lets the versatile Oscar-nominee dance vividly through the uncomfortable realities included in this eye-opening story, right up until the very last twist. Mulligan has been turning heads with performances like this for years. I’m amazed that this is Fennell’s feature-film directorial debut, and will be curious to see if this was her passion project, or if she’ll bring the same wit, style, bravado and sass to future stories, because damn, this one packs a wallop.

4. The Kid Detective

Too many people slept on Evan Morgan’s brilliant, unpredictable The Kid Detective, even though the films that it resembles -- The Nice Guys, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Brick -- are routinely celebrated as underappreciated comedic film noirs. Hopefully like those films, The Kid Detective builds its audience over time, because it’s fantastic.

Evan Morgan essentially has made a grown-up Encyclopedia Brown movie, casting Adam Brody as a once-beloved child crime solver who has outgrown his gimmick but still seeks to unravel mysteries. Kid Detective creates one of those worlds that you simply want to inhabit, soaking in the quirky details and spending more time with the colorful array of weirdo characters. I had such a blast with this movie, and didn’t see the conclusion coming, which helped to make this one of the best movie experiences I had in 2020.

3. News of the World

We spent so much time in 2020 debating whether or not movies could play on the big screen, where they belong. Paul Greengrass’s News of the World, to me, was the only one that fully deserved to be witnessed on the biggest screen possible. The United 93 director re-teamed with his Captain Phillips star, Tom Hanks, to rejuvenate the classic Western, and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski uses every tool in his kit to capture the vast expanse of the American frontier.

What took Hanks so long to make a Western? The history buff seamlessly transitions into the mood and tone of this timeless genre, and Greengrass matches his energy to make a vintage frontier tale about heroism, compassion, trustworthiness in our news providers, and the hope that comes from the bonds of friendship (or newfound family). News of the World is top-notch filmmaking from every contributor, leading to one of the most exhilarating, entrancing and rewarding features released this year.

2. Tenet

I’ve only seen Christopher Nolan’s Tenet once. That’s a crime, as I know that the structure of this mind puzzle will only be rewarded by repeat viewings. Knowing where the story is going and understanding how/why things play out will make more sense the number of times that you return to this riveting spy thriller, but you shouldn’t HAVE to watch a movie more than once to have it work.

Thankfully, even on the first pass, Nolan’s Tenet is groundbreaking visual and mental storytelling, asking the audience to perform acrobatic leaps to reach jaw-dropping conclusions, while the director executes mind-blowing action set pieces that literally other directors aren’t even capable of dreaming up. John David Washington cements himself as a badass but sophisticated leading man. Kenneth Branagh hams it up as an old-school Bond villain. Tenet will be remembered as the movie that pushed the theatrical conversation to the forefront, but I think that overshadows the mastery of Nolan’s accomplishments in this film. It’s astounding.

1. Soul

By now, we should expect this from Pixar. Especially from director Pete Docter, who has used the animation art form to explore such beautifully human topics as grief (Up), loneliness (Inside Out) and fear (Monsters Inc.), still running them through the family-friendly Pixar lens. Those were appetizers for Docter. Soul is the main course, and it’s nothing short of life-changing.

It starts with death. Joe (Jamie Foxx) dies at the worst possible time… as if there’s ever a good time to die. But Joe was just about to achieve his life dream. However his trip through The Great Before teaches him that his “life dream” might have been the wrong quest, which will have all of us wondering if we’ve used our time on this Earth wisely. Soul swings for the fences, and connects over and over. It’s a glorious exploration of expectations, both those that we have in some things, and those that people have in us. It’s creative, emotional, hilarious and heartfelt. It’s the best movie that I saw in 2020.

Christopher Nolan has his Dark Knight trilogy, and I guess I have my trilogy of articles where I complain about Tenet starring Robert Pattinson and John David Washington. I recently saw the director’s latest film now that it finally came home, and while I understand why some people, like our own Sean O’ Connell, adored the movie, I can equally understand why some people can’t stand it. And I especially understand since I can’t stand it.

I can certainly admire how Christopher Nolan has pretty much created the most expensive cerebral movie in history, but I also feel that said cerebral movie should actually be enjoyable. And I did not enjoy Tenet. Like, at all. I am happy that it’s finally streaming so that more people can form an opinion on it, but my opinion is that it wasn’t worth the wait. There are a number of reasons why I feel this way, but here are the five biggest issues that I had with the film. Feel free to tell me in the comments section below that I “just didn’t get it” once you finish reading the article. Oh, and there will be spoilers up ahead. Just so you know.

I Didn’t Care About A Single Character In This Movie. Not A One

I love Robert Pattinson. I love Kenneth Branagh. And I’m excited to see where BlacKkKlansman’s John David Washington’s career goes next. But I did not care one iota about any of their characters in this movie. I think it’s because none of them have any interesting motivations for why they do the things that they do.

Take John David Washington’s character, The Protagonist (Oh, brother) for instance. I like the whole “ignorance is our ammunition” stuff where his character ends up creating Tenet in the future without realizing it in the present, but I also don’t care. And it’s mainly because his character isn’t given any sort of backstory to latch onto. I know this is intentional, but it also kind of sucks. Or what about Robert Pattinson’s character, Neil? What’s his deal? You know what? I have no idea. Christopher Nolan didn’t seem to think it was important to fill us in, so why should I care? I mean, even Elizabeth Debicki’s character, Kat, whose sole motivation is to protect her son, doesn’t really resonate with me since she barely interacts with him, so again, why should I care? The answer is, I don’t, which is a huge problem.

The Sound Quality Is Really As Bad As People Say

Since I have kids, I typically watch movies with subtitles. This is because I watch flicks late at night, and I don’t want to wake them up, so I typically have the sound really low and just read my movies. But being that this was the holidays, I actually had time to watch a movie during the day time. So, I wanted to experience Tenet as if I was at the movie theater, which means no subtitles. Well, I tried that, and after about 20 minutes, I said, “I have no idea what the hell is going on,” and went back to the beginning of the movie with the subtitles turned on.

A lot of my confusion was because this movie is just so loud, and people are sometimes talking during these loud moments. This is a huge problem since this is a film that DEMANDS you understand everything that’s going on as the time inversion concept is this movie’s biggest selling point. But gee golly whiz, I would have been pissed if I saw this movie in the theater since I wouldn’t even know half of what’s going on. At home, I can thankfully just rewind. But for Nolan to demand that this get a theatrical release, well, the least he could have done is made sure that every line is audible. Because I literally had to rewind several times just to digest some of the concepts in this movie, and that was with subtitles. I couldn’t even imagine watching this film without them.

Exposition, Exposition… And More Exposition

You know what movie I love? Inception. It’s super deep but I could explain the plot in a couple sentences. Here goes: “These dream thieves usually go inside people’s heads to steal ideas, but now, they’re going inside somebody’s head to plant an idea. Pretty cool right?” But how the hell do I explain Tenet? “Well, it’s about time, but not time travel. It’s more like time inversion. What’s that? Well, it deals with entropy. And this guy can go into the past, but he can’t see himself in the present because…and yeah.” The plot is a bit more complex than Inception.

But instead of making it digestible for audiences through action sequences and story beats, Christopher Nolan has instead just put together several sequences where the characters are just talking about time inversion. In the literary world, we call this an info dump. And while the occasional info dump is okay, Tenet goes way overboard with it, and none of these scenes are even remotely interesting. In fact, they bog down the whole movie, which brings me to my next point.

Tenet Is Way Too Long

Tenet is 2 hours and 30 minutes long, and it feels every second of it. From the very first scene, I was bored. I don’t know why, since the opera house scene should have been exciting, but it just wasn’t. It makes me think back to that great intro in The Dark Knight with the bank robbery, or that phenomenal intro in The Dark Knight Rises with the plane hijacking. Both beginnings were thoroughly engaging.

And this intro had all the hallmarks of greatness. But what followed was just a slog. I was never invested in anything that followed, and the movie isn’t quick enough to at least make me feel like I wasn’t wasting my time watching it. Instead, I kept wondering when it would ever end. And that’s probably because of my final point.

The Concept Gets In The Way Of Storytelling

Here’s the thing about Tenet. If you don’t buy into its concept, then the movie is completely lost on you. And while I didn’t understand all of it, I don’t think that was the issue. For instance, I love medical dramas, but I only know a fraction of what the characters are talking about. I don’t really need to know medical jargon to enjoy a medical drama since it’s all about character interactions. Not the medicine. But with Tenet, it’s all about time inversion, and I don’t care about time inversion. It just doesn’t interest me.

And that’s a shame, too, since I enjoy time travel stories. I love Primer, which is also quite complex, and I even love loosey-goosey time travel stories, like The Terminator. But I don’t like Tenet, and it’s because the storytelling (character interaction, plot, etc) takes a backseat to the concept of time inversion, and it shouldn’t. The storytelling should always come first, and it doesn’t with Tenet, which is why it ultimately fails.

But what do you think? I know Tenet has its fans, and I wanted to be one of them. But I don’t like this movie, and no, I don’t want to watch it again. It should have piqued my interest the first time around. I’d love to hear your opinions in the poll or in the comments section, though. And if you didn’t like this article, well, all I can say is, “Don’t try to understand it. Feel it.” See? I was paying attention. Just because I hated it doesn’t mean I wasn’t listening.

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2020 was a year with a lot of promise when it came to science fiction movies this year. Unfortunately, due to global pandemic that we had only previously seen in movies, the year largely didn't turn out that way. Some of the biggest sci-fi movies that we were looking forward to seeing this year, like the new adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune, will have to wait until 2021. However, while 2020 might not have been quite the year we were looking for, there were still some great sci-fi stories produced for the screen.

While the line between what "counts" as science fiction can certainly get fuzzy, for the most part, we've tried to limit this list to films that deal with classic sci-fi elements, including advanced technology, aliens and space travel. This is why some popular movies, like Wonder Woman 1984, aren't on the list. While that's certainly a great film, it's fantastic elements are more magic than science, so it doesn't quite count. With that in mind, let's go over the best sci-fi movies 2020 had to offer.

5. The Phineas and Ferb Movie: Candace Against The Universe

Being a science fiction movie does not mean that a movie can't also be silly or animated, or both. While Phineas and Ferb: Candace Against the Universe, doesn't deal with serious questions about the human condition or our place in the universe, as much of the genre generally does, it does have aliens and spaceships. Really, isn't that all we need from our sci-fi? When Phineas and Ferb's sister is abducted by aliens, they race off to rescue her, and the normal shenanigans and songs ensue. Candance Against the Universe is a true" family movie," in that it has elements that will appeal to any member of a family. The jokes come so fast that if one doesn't land, it hardly matters because the next one will be along in short order. It's by far the most fun movie on this list. If you haven't seen it, I know what you're going to do today.

4. Bill and Ted Face the Music

While movies that play with time are, by and large, science fiction, Bill and Ted Face the Music's specific method is based in (completely unexplained) future technology. So while there's little science in this science fiction, it still counts. Bill and Ted Face the Music was a film decades in the making. For fans, it was one final visit with some old friends, and somehow the film was largely able to live up to those expectations. It concludes the story of Bill and Ted in a way that is most excellent, humorous and heartfelt. It's a love letter to the fans that made these two slackers heroes in the first place. It's not the best movie in the trilogy and it may not even be the second best, but it was everything it needed to be. Like its predecessors, it used its time travel mechanics in ways that were as creative as the more serious time travel movies.

3. Tenet

Speaking of messing with time in movies. Christopher Nolan's Tenet is, without question, the "biggest" movie on this year's list simply by virtue of it being one of the biggest movies that came out in 2020. Fans had been excited for the newest entry in the "Christopher Nolan drop kicks you in the brain" franchise, and while the movie may not have received the box office results it had once hoped for, it certainly succeeded in everything else. Tenet received mixed reviews upon release. Many see it as more Christopher Nolan brilliance, while others saw it as something of a mess. What's clear is that the time-bending plot will likely require multiple views to completely unravel. Whether that's a bug or a feature is another question entirely, but by the end, you'll see that Tenet is an accomplishment of filmmaking.

2. The Invisible Man

While the movie shares its name with one of the classic movie monsters of all-time, The Invisible Man is, without question, a science fiction movie. And it's not only one of the best science fiction movies of the year, but likely one of 2020's best horror movies as well. Here, the science fiction is little more than the catalyst for the rest of the story, but the rest of that story, and Elisabeth Moss' performance as a woman losing her grip on reality, is so compelling, that whatever you call it, the movie deserves all the credit in the world. This would have been one of the best major releases of the year even if most of the theatrical slate hadn't collapsed.

1. The Vast Of Night

A movie set in 1950s New Mexico that might be dealing with an alien invasion, with a dose of Cold War paranoia thrown in for good measure? If there was a textbook for making science fiction movies, this would be in chapter one. The Vast of Night isn't an exception to the rule, but it is part of the reason the rule was made. A radio signal of unknown origin leads a couple of teens to discover what it means. Just when you think you have things figured out, the story will throw a curveball to make you question what you know. Whether The Vast of Night is actually a science fiction story at all isn't even entirely clear until the end. The Vast of Night is the best of science fiction not only because of its classic elements, but because of the way it uses the genre to say something about the world being reflected in its story.

From the sillier side of science fiction to the most serious corners, there were still some great stories of aliens, technology and time travel to keep fans entertained in 2020. 2021 will leave us largely in the same place we were a year ago, looking forward to some of the great sci-fi stories that we thought we would have seen by now. One certainly hopes that they'll be as good as we have hoped, and that many of them will earn a place on a list like this one next December.

In a year where many people may have spent more time indoors than they're accustomed used to, the world needed action now more than ever. Unfortunately, there were some big-ticket items on the docket for action that were sidelined due to the pandemic, so audiences were tasked with seeking out things that could deliver at least the punch of James Bond, if not the class and high-quality suits.

Fortunately, 2020 still had a relatively good year in action, and there are certainly more than a few released that will stand the test of time as quality movies that will be revisited for generations to come. The following is a list of the best 10 films, ranked from good to greatest, with a bit of additional commentary on what made these movies such fun rides from start to finish.

10. Mulan

Even if 2020 wouldn't have happened, it's hard to believe Mulan wouldn't have delivered some of the best martial arts fight scenes we'd see all year. It's not often that Disney goes this hard on the action and, while in a normal year this film may have not made the list due to other offerings, I absolutely think it deserves a spot on the list of top action films of 2020. I could probably watch Liu Yifei kick objects at people all day, so it's a good thing this movie gives us plenty of it.

9. Honest Thief

Honest Thief is a movie that, to be completely honest, may be familiar with some viewers. Liam Neeson is the aged action hero in a plot that revolves around him being a badass and dealing out justice where needed. It won't win an Oscar but, at its heart, it's exactly what a classic action film is. It doesn't have to be great, it just has to deliver action in spades, and this movie certainly does that. Go in with the right expectations, and this is certainly a film worthy of a spot on the list.

8. Jiu Jitsu

Jiu Jitsu is the definitive movie for anyone who is a super fan of Nicolas Cage. I guess if there were one thing I could say to sell you on this movie, it's that there's a scene where Cage respectfully bows to a murderous alien Predator-type, and then the two proceed to have an epic katana fight. That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the zany off-the-wall action in this movie, all of which seems to be at least somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

7. Project Power

I can't say Project Power was the best superhero movie I saw in 2020 (not many will), but I will say it was one of the better action movies I saw. The high-intensity action mixed with superpowers made for some especially entertaining sequences, with the fire in the apartment being one of the highlights that had me on the edge of my seat. I also liked the idea that everyone only had their powers on a temporary basis, which forced the movie not to just shower viewers with CGI heavy scenes but to rely on some good old close-quarters combat to keep the action rolling.

6. The Old Guard

The Old Guard was one of the most hyped Netflix releases of the year, and with good reason. The world got to see Charlize Theron bringing her badass energy to an action film yet again, in a Highlander-esque ensemble that really went for it with the gun battles. It was great, and it will be even greater if Netflix is able to get a sequel going, especially after that teasy post-credits scene.

5. Tenet

Christopher Nolan's Tenet was obviously going to make the list, and the action that happens in it is great. With that being said, I mentioned earlier that story isn't always important when it comes to a likable action film and, in this case, the plot did seem to get in the way of some people's enjoyment in the movie. For that reason, it's definitely a Top 5 contender for the best action film of 2020, but I can't in good conscience give it any higher than that.

4. Birds Of Prey

Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn) certainly ranks on the higher end of this list and features some of the most brutal action scenes we saw in 2020. I don't think I'll ever be able to rest my legs on anything where there's a space in between my ankles and thighs for fear of someone jumping down and snapping them in half.

3. Bad Boys For Life

It took damn near two decades for Bad Boys to get another movie, but it finally happened and was well worth the wait. The action was top-notch, the tension between Mike and Marcus was a nice touch and overall, it was like the franchise hadn't lost a step in its time away. I guess if there's one complaint I can lodge, it's that I didn't like the main song from the soundtrack nearly as much as "Shake Ya Tailfeather." But hey, not everything is perfect.

2. Extraction

When I saw a kid get thrown off a roof in Extraction, I knew shit was going to get intense. In terms of balls-out action, this movie does not disappoint in the slightest, though I did have beef with it killing off so many characters that I would've loved to seen make a return in the sequel. I also thought it was a bit crazy how Chris Hemsworth's Tyler Rake managed to survive that whole ordeal at all, but I guess if John Wick can keep on ticking after three movies, he can, too.

1. Wonder Woman 1984

2020 was a downer year for film, but even one of the worst years on record managed to save its best or last. In Wonder Woman 1984, Gal Gadot is kicking ass, taking names, and reminding us along the way that movies are coming back in a big way in 2021, even if the future of theaters may still be up in the air. Even so, this one is definitely the newest on the list but without question, the best bang for your buck when it comes to superhero action.

Any picks you think were left off the list? Feel free to throw them into the comments below, and continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more on the best of 2020, and everything ahead in movies and television.

Christopher Nolan and John David Washington famously collaborated this year on Tenet, the movie theater release that didn’t ultimately get seen by everyone on the biggest screens in the world given the constrictions of the global health event this year. However, many people who saw Tenet did enjoy what John David Washington did on the big screen, which has prompted people to ask if the newcomer big budget actor could do another collaboration, perhaps with the likes of Christopher Nolan and his famous dad Denzel Washington.

Anyone who watched the final season of Schitt’s Creek this year should know that father-son collaborations can work very well, so perhaps the real question is: Would Christopher Nolan be interested? Thankfully, Extra asked both John David Washington and Nolan about a possibly collaboration with his famous pops. Here’s what they said:

The reporter also clarifies he does know that John David Washington actually appeared on-screen with his dad when he was a kid, with the younger Washington appearing in Malcolm X and Devil in a Blue Dress. However, now they are both fully grown movie stars -- and Washington is sporting that well-groomed beard -- the prospect is a whole lot more enticing. That would be particularly true if you were to add in the possibility of Christopher Nolan being the mind behind the movie project.

John David Washington is on a bit of a roll in his career right now. The actor starred in Tenet this year after a run in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman. He has a movie he filmed during quarantine with other hot name in Hollywood Zendaya coming up. Then, he’ll star opposite Alicia Vikander in Born to be Murdered and has also reportedly commanded a role in David O’ Russell’s next film.

So, he’s busy, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t squeeze in a role with his famous father somewhere. Meanwhile, it at least seems as if he still sees dad Denzel on the regular. Earlier during the pandemic, John David Washington admitted to Samuel L. Jackson that he lived at home for a while during quarantine. If they can live together, I’m guessing they could star in a movie together.

All I can say is, if you want to talk about Christmas gifts, this would be a pretty good one for a lot of fans. I’m just saying! Meanwhile, if you haven’t caught Tenet yet, the movie has officially made the transition from the big screen onto Blu-ray and DVD, so you can catch it any way you’d like.

There’s no way to sugar coat this: 2020 was the strangest year for cinema that we can recall seeing. It’s not every year, after all, that we have to see our beloved industry shutter multiplex doors in order to protect large crowds from congregating, and possibly spreading a deadly disease that continues to plague our planet.

Remarkably, the industry found ways to survive, exploring a mix of theatrical releases and stronger streaming-release models that will continue to be perfected as we roll into 2021. But looking back over this unusual year, there are seven movies that speak to who we were as a movie-going audience (or a movie stay-at-home audience), and that had themes which resonate strongly for calendar year 2020. If you wanted to put together a playlist of bizarre titles that were On Brand for 2020, these are the movies I’d suggest you screen, and why.

Palm Springs

Thanks to quarantine, every day in 2020 had a real sameness to it, a “stuck in time” vibe where it never quite felt like we were making any progress. A popular running joke made by people stuck at home for our own safety is that the only way we could break up our day was by changing from our daytime pajamas into our evening pajamas. It was a year-long Groundhog Day, and we’re desperate to break the cycle.

We weren’t stuck in a time loop the way that Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti are in Hulu’s Palm Springs. That explains why it appears they are having way more fun that we ever had this year. Forced to relive the same day over and over, Nyles (Samberg) and Sarah (Milioti) make the most of their recycled time, while also avoiding a vengeful wedding guest played to perfection by JK Simmons. Palm Springs would be a hit in any year, but the way that it spoke to our endless cycle of repeat sameness elevated it in 2020.

The New Mutants

Pretty much every movie you were excited to see in 2020 faced one of two disappointing fates. Either it was delayed or it was unceremoniously dumped onto a streaming service/VOD or a compromised theatrical window in an effort to get it off the books.

The New Mutants captures both of those tragic ends. Josh Boone’s adaptation of the offbeat Marvel mutants book was delayed so many times, it became comical. Then, instead of promoting it safely on the streaming service Disney+, the poor superhero story was released in theaters at a time when few felt safe returning to multiplexes, leading to a dismal showing. Regardless of what you think about the movie’s content, no film better represents the sheer uncertainty and confusion of the 2020 theatrical release shuffle than The New Mutants.

Unhinged

This year had a special ability to make us feel like bad news was going out of its way to hunt us down. Not, like, as a global community. Like, individually. That the personification of “Bad News” was literally hunting us down on a daily basis to remind us of how terrible life could be, and no matter how fast we ran or how hard we dodged, “Bad News” always was lurking in our rearview mirrors, waiting to sap away any sort of goodwill that we mustered in 2020.

If that’s the case, then Russell Crowe basically played “Bad News” personified in the relentless and gloriously mean Unhinged, a vengeance drama that held fast to its theatrical release pattern, giving some cautious theatergoers a night out at the cinema when they needed it most. Crowe’s basically an upset guy who wants to vent his problems to the lady in front of him in traffic (played by Caren Pistorius). But where most of us would have let our road rage subside by the next traffic exit, Crowe stays unhinged, leading to some violent acts that feel year-appropriate in 2020.

Alone

I’m trying to do this without sounding overwhelmingly depressing, but 2020 likely will be remembered as the year we grew sick and tired of staring at the same walls in our homes. Heading outside was deemed “nonessential” in this difficult time period, and if you happened to live on your own, you might have found yourself going kinda stir crazy without the ability to safely go out and meet up with family and friends.

Now you better understand how Tyler Posey’s character felt in the zombie thriller Alone. After an undead infestation breaks out in the streets, citizens are forced to barricade their doors and stay in their apartments for safety. Only, in time, they slowly begin to go insane from the isolation as they also run out of crucial supplies. Sound familiar for anyone in 2020? Posey eventually takes up weapons and fights back against the zombies that are making life a living hell. If we could swing a bat and take out COVID, I’m sure all of us would have been grabbing our Louisville Sluggers months ago.

Songbird

Adam Mason’s Songbird should go down in history as the first official movie released during the pandemic that is ABOUT the pandemic. An impressive cast -- including Craig Robinson, Bradley Whitford, Alexandra Daddario, Peter Stormare and Demi Moore -- live in isolation in the year 2024 as COVID-23 rages in our streets and communities. Things are far more aggressive in this future. Soldiers actually drag people from their homes to put them in quarantine camps. Let’s hope we never get to that point.

Just because Songbird is the first movie to directly address the pandemic doesn’t automatically make it good. In fact, our own Mike Reyes reports that the movie “falls flat in its execution.” But when we look back on COVID and think of a movie that speaks directly to it, Songbird likely will be the answer to the offbeat trivia question five years down the road.

Tenet

No matter what happens in the film industry moving forward, 2020 will be remembered as the year where we wrestled over and fought for the soul of the theatrical experience, even as we realized how circumstances were out of our hands thanks to COVID. Studios debated when it was safe to release major films into multiplexes. Certain directors used what little leverage that they have to ensure a theatrical release. And the film at the heart of the debate for the bulk of its run was Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, a time-manipulating puzzle that played theaters where possible and tried to meet an impossible box-office standard.

Whether Tenet succeeded or failed depends on what point you wanted to prove. The movie holds a 70% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes (not great), and it banked $359 million worldwide during a global pandemic. Impressive. But for many, Tenet has been labeled as the movie that asked audiences to risk their health to help restore an industry Nolan wholeheartedly believes in… and it might have cost Nolan his relationship with Warner Bros. in the process.

Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm

While we are not a political site, we need to acknowledge that a presidential election took place in 2020, and the quarantine associated with the COVID-19 outbreak affected how many across the country participated in our democratic process. Leave it to Sacha Baron Cohen, then, to find a way to inject himself into the middle of the various controversies by creating a comedy in which is character Borat needs to deliver his daughter (the brilliant Maria Bakalova) to Mike Pence as an “I’m sorry” gift for the first Borat movie.

It’s every bit as weird and hilarious as it sounds, with Borat turning a mirror back on our own society to see how far we have come since the last film. Or, how far behind we have fallen. And it’s not reaching too far to say that the Borat Subsequent Moviefilm scene with Rudy Giuliani might have swung a few votes away from the Republican ticket. Honestly, who had that on their 2020 Bingo Card of disasters?

Which of the above most felt most On Brand for 2020 to you? Let us know in the poll below, or head to the comments section to share a different movie.

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