The first Christopher Nolan movie I saw was the incredible Memento. I’ve watched it many times since, and I always manage to catch something new. It’s a great movie the first and tenth time you watch it. It’s well-written – with some help from his brother Jonathan, who has helped out on other films since – and the attention to detail is incredible.

I think Nolan caught the attention of most of the movie-going public for his reboot of the Batman franchise. Batman Begins is one of the best comic book translations, outdone only by its sequel, The Dark Knight. Nolan wisely decided to take breaks between Batman films to make other films that he was interested in. He managed to pull this off because of his own production company, Syncopy Films, and his success as a director. As a result we’ve got two great films so far: The Prestige and Inception.

I love that Nolan has focused on other projects that he’s passionate about to avoid creating anything “stale” or boring. I think there’s a larger lesson there that most people can take away. Sometimes you can make something better by not giving it attention.

If Nolan’s “interstitial” movies keep improving at the same rate, we’re in for a treat in 2014.