3. Skyfall - Sam Mendes
Skyfall was brilliant and stylishly made by Sam Mendes, whom had created the most important Bond film to date. Why? Because it was the first to highlight just why Bond endures so much; for his queen and country; for "M" - the mother he never had, and also why he his still going so strong after half a century on the big screen. Skyfall also fully embraced modernity whilst still managing to recognise some idiosyncratic elements of Bond's heritage and pulled them wonderfully along for the ride. Whilst Ian Fleming might have a problem recognising his creation by now, Bond has now moved away from the superficiality of the past. Whether you agree with a James Bond film being this real that is up to you but Skyfall, at a glance, might have been mistaken for Nolan's The Dark Knight, and that is truly a great thing.
2. The Dark Knight Rises - Christopher Nolan
Nolan's finale to his Batman series was superb yet also not without flaws. Its narrative scope was slightly too complex and illogical at times for its own good but it was still absolutely epic in every sense and it succeeded majorly due to Nolan's visionary persistence in realism concerning set pieces and, most importantly, his insistence in telling a compellingly affective story with relevant thematics to our times. It all made for truly a fitting end to the legend even if it did fall slightly short of its predecessor. The Dark Knight Rises stands as a firm reminder to other superhero film franchises that they all have to eventually end. Whether they can end better than this opens a separate debate, but The Dark Knight Rises topped off a superb trilogy by the Nolan brothers.