Christopher Nolan is one of the most important directors of his time, and may even be the preeminent filmmaker of his generation. But there's an element to the British director's style that, at times, can make his films seem a little too functional and cold. As Richard Brody wrote in his New Yorker review of "Oppenheimer," "Nolan cuts his scenes to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, and details that don't fit — contradictions, subtleties, even little random peculiarities — get left out [...] What remains is a movie to be solved rather than lived."

With 2014's "Interstellar," however, the director proved he could balance his functional "jigsaw puzzle" style with real emotional heft. As such, "Interstellar" remains Nolan's emotional masterpiece, and is for many his best film. What makes it a true marvel is that Nolan managed to create a truly moving emotional drama that also happens to be a spectacular sci-fi...