David Fincher vs. Christopher Nolan

[Ichinisan]

edit: I just noticed Fincher has a propensity to use Brad Pitt and for Nolan... Christian Bale & Michael Caine.

Coen Bros also like to work with the same actors repeatedly.

Putting this here:

...[op]...

Did some work for you:

David Fincher
IMDB Wikipedia


Alien 3
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

Se7en
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

The Game
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

Fight Club
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

Panic Room
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

Zodiak
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

Benjamin Button
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

The Social Network
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes




Christopher Nolan
IMDB Wikipedia


Following
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

Memento
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

Insomnia
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

Batman Begins
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

The Prestige
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

The Dark Knight
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

Inception
IMDB Rotten Tomatoes

Untitled Batman Project
IMDB

 

[Arkaign]

Cool Ichi, that adds to the convenience of this thread.

Really looking forward to a GOOD Superman film for a change. I think only the first film was decent (a la burton's original Batman until Nolan came along), but it's extremely dated. Superman Returns was a horrendous attempt to re-do the 1970s classic feel, and it was torturously overlong and unexciting.

 

[Ichinisan]

1. Fight Club
2. Batman Begins
3. The Prestige
4. Se7en
5. The Dark Knight
6. Inception
7. The Game
8. Panic Room (didn't like)
9. Memento (didn't like)
10. Benjamin Button (didn't like)


Haven't seen / can't rank:

Alien 3
Zodiak
The Social Network
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Following
Insomnia
Untitled Batman Project

 

[Arkaign]

Hmm, after looking at the details, we should probably take 'Superman : Man of Steel" off of the list.

Nolan is listed as a co-writer only at this point (along with his brother and Goyer), along with probable co-producer duties, but the scheduling is almost certain to conflict with something he most certainly IS directing, the 2012 batman/riddler film. Perhaps he will direct a later Batman w/ Superman film, but as yet the Superman reboot looks like it's in need of a great director. I don't know who comes to mind here. Fincher is obviously busy, and I have no idea if Nolan and him even get along. God please help us and not let McG or Bay get this.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Leaning toward Fincher, simply because I haven't seen half of these movies. I have watched:

Alien3
Fight Club
Seven
Memento
Dark Knight
Inception

I have Insomnia but I haven't watched it yet. Need to watch The Game, Social Network, Benjamin Button.

From the ones I've seen, Fight Club is my favourite.

Probably helps that I also think Brad Pitt is the shiz (Snatch is another favourite).

 

[Arkaign]

Leaning toward Fincher, simply because I haven't seen half of these movies. I have watched:

Alien3
Fight Club
Seven
Memento
Dark Knight
Inception

I have Insomnia but I haven't watched it yet. Need to watch The Game, Social Network, Benjamin Button.

From the ones I've seen, Fight Club is my favourite.

Probably helps that I also think Brad Pitt is the shiz (Snatch is another favourite).

Fight Club is a modern masterpiece. I think I was the only one in the theatre who immediately recognized the genius of it, it was marketed in trailers that really got the wrong idea across (it wasn't about fighting, or soap for that matter), and the film was a failure at the box office, earning only about a third of the production/marketing costs. I bet it's been paid back by now though with licensing, dvd, bluray, etc.

Insomnia and Button are lesser efforts, I do recommend The Game though, even if it's not a masterpiece. Best experience would be to watch it with a good sound system and big screen with all of the lights off at night.

EDIT : Fight Club didn't even make it to the top 50 in 1999 box office.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly...&view2=domestic&sort=gross&order=DESC&&p=.htm

Not many films from that list really hold up, I would pick :

The Sixth Sense (good, even if MNS hasn't ever equalled it)
Toy Story 2
The Matrix (the following films actually lessened the legacy of what should have been a classic)
American Beauty
Three Kings
Cider House Rules

as the only really solid films that I wouldn't mind watching again today. Although there are some decent throwaways like Galaxy Quest and Payback that I might watch a bit if they came on cable, and I don't regret paying $5 or whatever it was to see them in the theatre back then.

 

[Ichinisan]

Fight Club is a modern masterpiece. I think I was the only one in the theatre who immediately recognized the genius of it, it was marketed in trailers that really got the wrong idea across (it wasn't about fighting, or soap for that matter), and the film was a failure at the box office, earning only about a third of the production/marketing costs. I bet it's been paid back by now though with licensing, dvd, bluray, etc.

Insomnia and Button are lesser efforts, I do recommend The Game though, even if it's not a masterpiece. Best experience would be to watch it with a good sound system and big screen with all of the lights off at night.

I scoffed when a co-worker suggested that I should watch Fight Club. The trailers and marketing were definitely WAY off! My expectations were completely wrong and it's one of my favorite movies now.

 

[Ichinisan]

Totally. Sean Penn was awesome in that! :awe:

KT

Sean Penn was awesome in Team America: World Police.

 

[Arkaign]

Sean Penn was awesome in Team America: World Police.

His personality and politics are somewhat divisive to say the least, but I don't think it's objectively possible to say the man isn't without a lot of talent. Have you seen 'Into the Wild'? It's a fantastic, measured, textured rendering of the outstanding novel, complete with a raw and emotional soundtrack by Vedder (his best work in many years as well). Great direction by Penn, and he obviously had a lot of healthy respect for the material, adamantly filming in as many actual locations as possible.

 

[Ichinisan]

You should add an option to the poll:

"Wait. Which one made Harold & Kumar?"

 

[KeithTalent]

His personality and politics are somewhat divisive to say the least, but I don't think it's objectively possible to say the man isn't without a lot of talent. Have you seen 'Into the Wild'? It's a fantastic, measured, textured rendering of the outstanding novel, complete with a raw and emotional soundtrack by Vedder (his best work in many years as well). Great direction by Penn, and he obviously had a lot of healthy respect for the material, adamantly filming in as many actual locations as possible.

Into The Wild is good, but I freaking despise Emile Hirsch; I can't recall anything he's been in where he did not annoy me, even in Milk I found his stupid hair and face annoying.

KT

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Fincher by a hair. Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac, Panic Room.
Inception could be the best movie I've seen in a long time.

 

[torpid]

Fincher is inconsistent. Some of his movies suck, some are great. I am much more likely to want to see a movie if I know Nolan directed it, whereas I would be, at best, cautiously optimistic about the movie if Fincher directed.

Therefore Nolan wins.

That said, "Se7en" is one of my all time favorites.

 

[Arkaign]

Into The Wild is good, but I freaking despise Emile Hirsch; I can't recall anything he's been in where he did not annoy me, even in Milk I found his stupid hair and face annoying.

KT

Hmm. I know what you mean, certain actors just bug me. Sometimes I get over it and like some of their work (Mark Ruffalo comes to mind, he's grown on me a lot since the earlier days), and sometimes I just can't get past it. I'm sorry he lessened the film for you.

It's interesting how completely non-technical 'feelings' like that can make or break films in some cases for some people like us. Just having them walk on screen can jar me out of the experience and seriously detract from it for me. Michelle Rodriquez popping up on Lost as her typical over-angsty bitchy glaring whore almost ruined it for me. I think I actually lol'd when she got shot in the series And then came Machete where I actually thought she was decent.

 

[KeithTalent]

Hmm. I know what you mean, certain actors just bug me. Sometimes I get over it and like some of their work (Mark Ruffalo comes to mind, he's grown on me a lot since the earlier days), and sometimes I just can't get past it. I'm sorry he lessened the film for you.

It's interesting how completely non-technical 'feelings' like that can make or break films in some cases for some people like us. Just having them walk on screen can jar me out of the experience and seriously detract from it for me. Michelle Rodriquez popping up on Lost as her typical over-angsty bitchy glaring whore almost ruined it for me. I think I actually lol'd when she got shot in the series And then came Machete where I actually thought she was decent.

Heh, yep, I feel/felt exactly the same way about Rodriguez, I always winced whenever she came on screen, but I really like her in Machete (bloody hot too!). Maybe it was just the roles she had been taking all this time. :hmm:

KT

 

[HardcoreRobot]

thats a ridiculously hard comparison.
gotta go with fincher for fight club, tho overall i think i prefer nolans work

 

[Ichinisan]

Hmm. I know what you mean, certain actors just bug me. Sometimes I get over it and like some of their work (Mark Ruffalo comes to mind

BRENDAN FRASER.

'nuff sedd

 

[Arkaign]

BRENDAN FRASER.

'nuff sedd

lmao. Just imagining him in several roles gives me chills. He's a likeable guy, but yeesh he's been in some stinkers and he's not very versatile.

Imagine :

Brendan Fraser as Leo's character in The Departed. Fail.
Brendan Fraser as the Joker in TDK. Fail.
Brendan Fraser as Brad Pitt's character in Inglorious Basterds. Fail.

Perhaps that's not fair, but yeah, Brendan is best in kid's flicks imho.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Fight Club is a modern masterpiece. I think I was the only one in the theatre who immediately recognized the genius of it, it was marketed in trailers that really got the wrong idea across (it wasn't about fighting, or soap for that matter), and the film was a failure at the box office, earning only about a third of the production/marketing costs. I bet it's been paid back by now though with licensing, dvd, bluray, etc.

Insomnia and Button are lesser efforts, I do recommend The Game though, even if it's not a masterpiece. Best experience would be to watch it with a good sound system and big screen with all of the lights off at night.

EDIT : Fight Club didn't even make it to the top 50 in 1999 box office.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly...&view2=domestic&sort=gross&order=DESC&&p=.htm

Not many films from that list really hold up, I would pick :

The Sixth Sense (good, even if MNS hasn't ever equalled it)
Toy Story 2
The Matrix (the following films actually lessened the legacy of what should have been a classic)
American Beauty
Three Kings
Cider House Rules

as the only really solid films that I wouldn't mind watching again today. Although there are some decent throwaways like Galaxy Quest and Payback that I might watch a bit if they came on cable, and I don't regret paying $5 or whatever it was to see them in the theatre back then.

Agreed about Fight Club - few recognized it for its true brilliance.

I'll look for The Game as my next rental, and I may as well watch Button and Insomnia.

Good list for 99, but you forgot one of the best movies of that year, despite its release right at the end of the year: Magnolia.

 

[zinfamous]

you just made my day by alerting to me that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is going to be directed by Fincher. REALLY looking forward to that.

Yeah, apparently Daniel Craig is going to play Blomkvist and Christopher Plummer will be the old dude. :thumbsup:

KT

someone has already done a version that I tried watching on Netflix instant some time ago. it was late...I fell asleep. Surprised that there would already be multiple versions...isn't it a rather recent book? maybe it's just the same character.

 

[KeithTalent]

someone has already done a version that I tried watching on Netflix instant some time ago. it was late...I fell asleep. Surprised that there would already be multiple versions...isn't it a rather recent book? maybe it's just the same character.

The Swedish films have been out in Sweden for quite a while now. We've only gotten the first two films here so far and the final one comes out in October I believe.

KT

 

[Arkaign]

Agreed about Fight Club - few recognized it for its true brilliance.

I'll look for The Game as my next rental, and I may as well watch Button and Insomnia.

Good list for 99, but you forgot one of the best movies of that year, despite its release right at the end of the year: Magnolia.

Ah yes, I did forget about that one. Great performances in there, and I dug the soundtrack as well. Tom Cruise was hilarious and moving, one of my favorite performances of his even if it was somewhat brief. It's long, I tried to get my GF to watch it but she couldn't get through it. I think it's more tailored for real cinemaphiles. I noticed a lot of similarities to Boogie Nights, another exceptional ensemble by the same director IIRC. PT Anderson went on to make Punch Drunk Love, which I didn't love as much, and then the impeccable character study of There Will Be Blood, which is probably his most focused work, and a vivid testament to the blazing presence of DDL. Up next for him is 'The Master', which looks REALLY promising based on the premise, the cast, and the director's track record.

Good call, can't believe I missed that in my 99 list.

 

[zerocool84]

I loved Batman Begins and I think it's far better than The Dark Knight.

Yup Begins was infinitely better than Dark Knight but I do enjoy both directors. Se7en was a great movie but so was Memento but so was Fight Club. It's really hard to decide between the two.

 

[SP33Demon]

As far as their best piece of work, Fight Club vs Inception... I'd have to go with Fight Club for its sheer brilliance at the time by a hair over Inception which was similar to the matrix but with more depth and execution.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Saw Social Network last night and it definitely raises Fincher's stock. Wow what a movie.