I personally haven't enjoyed a Christopher Nolan film since The Prestige.
I found The Dark Knight to be devoid of real stakes (curiously empty streets, curiously empty tunnels - isn't Gotham city supposed to be a thriving metropolis?), devoid of any tension (which Zimmer tries to make up for in bombast), and devoid of thematic and narrative development (Heath Ledger was fantastic though). Likewise, I found Inception to be completely unemotionally engaging despite the premise of spousal grief and parental regret, thematically confused (who knew a film about the subconscious would be so literal in its depictions), any sense of story-craft undone by the constant exposition of its characters (that is, after all, the whole reason Ellen Page's character exists I'm guessing), and an empty climax in which I cared not a whit for Leonardo DiCapro's character's future, despite having sat through 148 minutes of his story. And the film that was supposed to be about parental connection and sacrifice, Interstellar, turned out to be mawkish, overly sentimental and downright embarrassing in its narrative contrivance (a cosmic bookcase, really?) in using theoretical physics and a black hole to allow a father to tell his daughter he loves her. Let's not even talk about The Dark Knight Rises.
That Nolan is unquestionably a filmmaker who understands the power of the frame and its ability to convey spectacle is a given. That his characters are undeveloped and his stories rely on self-reflexive contrivances unfortunately hasn't encouraged me to buy a ticket. That the reviews are off the chain suggests either that this is the best movie of the year so far, that I'm very much out of step with contemporary cinema, or both. I mean, I liked Personal Shopper, so what would I know?
As an aside, my favourite war films are (in no particular order):
The Thin Red Line
Inglorious Basterds
Apocalypse Now
Dr. Strangelove
Downfall
The Pianist
Jarhead
The Hurt Locker
Three Kings
Restrepo*
Standard Operating Procedure*
Best,
853guy
*Documentary