The Decade That Was: He's more than just 'Batman'
Posted Friday, December 18, 2009 at 4:41 PM Central
Last updated Friday, December 18, 2009 at 4:48 PM Central
by John Couture
My colleague Tim and I got into a rather interesting discussion earlier this week. We were talking about this recurring feature and one of the things we started chatting about was how it seems that certain directors just own particular decades.
Woody Allen defined the '70s. Steven Spielberg and John Hughes owned the '80s. And the '90s were all about the indies led by Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith.
So, with that in mind, naturally we turned our attention to this past decade and immediately one man stood above all others for me. Sadly, he's most likely going to be known for eternity as the man who brought back Batman from the dead, but Christopher Nolan is much more than a one trick pony. Of course you wouldn't know that by looking at the poster for his next flick, Inception (below).
Nolan shouldn't be saddled with the moniker "The Director of The Dark Knight" forever, he's far more talented than that. Of course, I would spend the entire piece talking about Nolan, but Tim, in his infinite wisdom, reminding me of another director that really left his mark on the '00s.
Steven Soderbergh hit the decade running with his breakout hit Traffic and never looked back. His distinctive style in the Ocean's movies set the standard for crime thrillers. He was also one of the most prolific directors in the decade directing a whopping 12 movies.
But for me, the '00s were all about Nolan. The Prestige is one of my favorite movies of the last 25 years and he changed the way stories were told with Memento. Of course, the true test is one of time and perhaps we can revisit this in a few years.