This thread will contain spoilers about Nolan's works, including the most recent Interstellar
I just don't get why people love Nolan so much. I just feel like he always misses the mark for one reason or another.
Now, I haven't seen Following, but I've seen everything else, despite not remembering much of Insomnia (I will probably rewatch this eventually).
I can't fathom why people put him on this pedestal. All of his movies, save for Inception, have some colossal screw up.
Memento
This one isn't so bad. It is low budget and acted pretty well. It is a nice "who done it", but with an interesting caveat: the main character is investigating something he can't remember. Sadly, that caveat also is the crux of why the movie makes no sense. Why not, after figuring everything out, leave a note giving more clues other than the police officer is someone he should inevitably kill as the second attacker. What happens after that? His life is then completely in shambles. No further purpose other than to do what exactly? Not a major issue, but certainly not something that elevates this movie to amazing.
Batman Begins
This is a decent Batman movie. It gives a good origin story and has what you'd expect from an early Batman. He isn't particularly stealthy or amazing, yet. I actually don't have a huge problem with this movie, except Batman wouldn't "not save" someone.
The Prestige
This movie had a great idea and an even better twist. However, Nolan decided to add some idiotic actual magic to the movie (Tesla's machine) and completely ruin it. The idea that Bordan was actually 2 people so dedicated to magic they lived as one is a great idea and makes for an even better twist. But, of course, we need some "technology" fake magic crap to ruin it.
The Dark Knight
Now, this is a decent movie, but not a wonderful Batman movie. Batman has abandoned his stealth persona altogether and instead is a guy with super expensive toys. How nobody could deduce the only "boy" billionaire able to perform the feats Batman did and have the money to pull it off was Bruce Wayne is a bit dumb. Overall though, it was decent. Heath Ledger (and this is probably blasphemy) had the look and demeanor of the Joker, but was just wasn't THE Joker of the Batman series. He was less goofy crazy and more just gangster anarchist.
Inception
This is the only Nolan film I think was executed near flawlessly. The acting was great, the story was good enough to be carried by the visuals and concepts, and the ending was ambiguously phenomenal. Nolan deserves praise for this one, for sure.
The Dark Knight Rises
Where to start with this piece of garbage? Nolan completely took all of Batman out of Batman. How would a guy who started his crusade because he lost his parents quit after losing his GF? And, what kind of revenge plan involves taking a shot in the mouth by who you are getting revenge on? Unless you have full blown AIDS, sleeping with your worst enemy is beyond dumb. "Oh! Got ya Batman! Sure, I had to take it up the pooper from you, but I got you good!" Plenty of other stupid things fill this movie as well: an organization with enough money to get onto the board of Wayne Enterprises couldn't buy a dirty bomb? Being dropped off in a prison hole across the world with a broken back only requires a punch, a hop, skip and a jump to get out? And then you can travel, without money, from said "ancient part of the world" back to Gotham, then sneak into the city undetected? Batman now speaks in riddles? I get why he used the silly voice: to further conceal his identity. But, why not just be like, in his regular voice, "Commish Gordon, it's me Bruce!" Nope, he has to give him a fucking riddle to solve... Not only is this a terrible Batman movie, Nolan is a terrible person for making it.
Interstellar
This movie had so much promise up until the last like half hour. It was so good up until Cooper entered the black hole's singularity. Science aside, him manipulating gravity in all time to help his daughter figure out how to save earth is stupid. Coding the data in Morse Code to a wrist watch, equally stupid. Everything else in this movie was absolutely perfect. The acting was great, the emotions given after Cooper has to hear 23 years of messages, a wild Matt Damon appearing and being an asshole, hell, even the ending would have been fine minus the "ghost" part. Had they simply found Cooper floating and said "oh, we got a transmission with the data from the black hole and your daughter figured it out!", I would have ranked this as one of the best movies I've seen. But, nope, Nolan goes wish something incredibly dumb to screw up whole movie.
Maybe, I'm wrong though. Btw, I left off movies he had small parts in, but didn't write / direct himself (Man of Steel, Transcendence, etc).
What do you guys think? Why do you, if you do, consider Nolan in such high regard? Am I giving this guy a hard time for no reason?
I just don't get why people love Nolan so much. I just feel like he always misses the mark for one reason or another.
Now, I haven't seen Following, but I've seen everything else, despite not remembering much of Insomnia (I will probably rewatch this eventually).
I can't fathom why people put him on this pedestal. All of his movies, save for Inception, have some colossal screw up.
Memento
This one isn't so bad. It is low budget and acted pretty well. It is a nice "who done it", but with an interesting caveat: the main character is investigating something he can't remember. Sadly, that caveat also is the crux of why the movie makes no sense. Why not, after figuring everything out, leave a note giving more clues other than the police officer is someone he should inevitably kill as the second attacker. What happens after that? His life is then completely in shambles. No further purpose other than to do what exactly? Not a major issue, but certainly not something that elevates this movie to amazing.
Batman Begins
This is a decent Batman movie. It gives a good origin story and has what you'd expect from an early Batman. He isn't particularly stealthy or amazing, yet. I actually don't have a huge problem with this movie, except Batman wouldn't "not save" someone.
The Prestige
This movie had a great idea and an even better twist. However, Nolan decided to add some idiotic actual magic to the movie (Tesla's machine) and completely ruin it. The idea that Bordan was actually 2 people so dedicated to magic they lived as one is a great idea and makes for an even better twist. But, of course, we need some "technology" fake magic crap to ruin it.
The Dark Knight
Now, this is a decent movie, but not a wonderful Batman movie. Batman has abandoned his stealth persona altogether and instead is a guy with super expensive toys. How nobody could deduce the only "boy" billionaire able to perform the feats Batman did and have the money to pull it off was Bruce Wayne is a bit dumb. Overall though, it was decent. Heath Ledger (and this is probably blasphemy) had the look and demeanor of the Joker, but was just wasn't THE Joker of the Batman series. He was less goofy crazy and more just gangster anarchist.
Inception
This is the only Nolan film I think was executed near flawlessly. The acting was great, the story was good enough to be carried by the visuals and concepts, and the ending was ambiguously phenomenal. Nolan deserves praise for this one, for sure.
The Dark Knight Rises
Where to start with this piece of garbage? Nolan completely took all of Batman out of Batman. How would a guy who started his crusade because he lost his parents quit after losing his GF? And, what kind of revenge plan involves taking a shot in the mouth by who you are getting revenge on? Unless you have full blown AIDS, sleeping with your worst enemy is beyond dumb. "Oh! Got ya Batman! Sure, I had to take it up the pooper from you, but I got you good!" Plenty of other stupid things fill this movie as well: an organization with enough money to get onto the board of Wayne Enterprises couldn't buy a dirty bomb? Being dropped off in a prison hole across the world with a broken back only requires a punch, a hop, skip and a jump to get out? And then you can travel, without money, from said "ancient part of the world" back to Gotham, then sneak into the city undetected? Batman now speaks in riddles? I get why he used the silly voice: to further conceal his identity. But, why not just be like, in his regular voice, "Commish Gordon, it's me Bruce!" Nope, he has to give him a fucking riddle to solve... Not only is this a terrible Batman movie, Nolan is a terrible person for making it.
Interstellar
This movie had so much promise up until the last like half hour. It was so good up until Cooper entered the black hole's singularity. Science aside, him manipulating gravity in all time to help his daughter figure out how to save earth is stupid. Coding the data in Morse Code to a wrist watch, equally stupid. Everything else in this movie was absolutely perfect. The acting was great, the emotions given after Cooper has to hear 23 years of messages, a wild Matt Damon appearing and being an asshole, hell, even the ending would have been fine minus the "ghost" part. Had they simply found Cooper floating and said "oh, we got a transmission with the data from the black hole and your daughter figured it out!", I would have ranked this as one of the best movies I've seen. But, nope, Nolan goes wish something incredibly dumb to screw up whole movie.
Maybe, I'm wrong though. Btw, I left off movies he had small parts in, but didn't write / direct himself (Man of Steel, Transcendence, etc).
What do you guys think? Why do you, if you do, consider Nolan in such high regard? Am I giving this guy a hard time for no reason?
Facebook
Twitter