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Off-Topic (Movies, TV & Other Media) Post about movies, TV shows, video games, and other media. |
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2011.11.18, 08:45 PM | #331 | |
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I think that Nolan knows perfectly well the type of film he wants to make when it comes to his big blockbusters - it's just that the demographic at large that see and enjoy his films are male adolescents (actually that could pretty much be said about ANY type of film that Hollywood tries to produce). I don't think Nolan has to answer his critics at all but if he were to do so, I think it would be best if he went back to making smaller films like Memento and Following. |
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2011.11.19, 06:15 AM | #332 | |
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If someone asked me what my favourite movie was, I'd defintiely say Memento. I simply don't care how much people pick apart anything he does, in the end he is still the one who can fascinate, amaze and surprise me more than anyone else. And that's all that counts for me.
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2011.11.19, 06:35 AM | #333 |
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You can thank Nolan's DP, Wally Pfister for that. Great cinematographer who is as important in creating the dark, gritty Batman universe as much as Nolan or anybody else.
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2011.11.19, 07:13 AM | #334 |
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I think that that Nolan's sets out to put "(sm)art film" and "blockbuster" together. To do that, he needs to water down the intellectual ideas so that they can be more accessible. Because they still have everything that a blockbuster needs (attractive actors, explosive action, quotable lines), they succeed as blockbusters. But, as "(sm)art films", they fail, because the ideas are watered down too much, and they usually feel a little thrown together. So people see his films and feel smart because they think they saw something smart/artistic, but what they really saw was a blockbuster. He tries to have it both ways, and I don't think ANY director can, so it just ends up falling short.
Think about it this way: with Inception, he couldn't get too deep into Freudian Psychology and Dream Theory, because it would have alienated the blockbuster audience. The same is for Authoritarian/Fascist Theory and Anarchism for The Dark Knight. He's stuck in a very difficult place. BTW, comic books can be sophisticated pieces of contemporary thought. |
2011.11.19, 07:58 AM | #335 |
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I don't think he is ever watering down anything. He uses interesting concepts ONLY to have even more interesting storylines.
He does not make movies to express something, or discuss or interpret it, only to tell it. He is a storyteller. He couldn't get too deep into Freudian Psychology and Dream Theory, because that would have made the storyline a lot less engaging. It's a construct made to make the story more suspenseful. I don't think he ever thinks about making smart movies, only about making everything so unusual that you never know what's going to happen next. I have NEVER in my whole life seen an audience so on it's edge as in Inception. When it cut to the credits, literally the whole cinema gasped. Smart movies can be as smart as they want, I still prefer the work of a storyteller than that of an "artist". And what Nolan creates simply has more impact than any on those would have on their own. I don't think the has to water down anything, I think the sum he creates is greater than the parts he uses.
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2011.11.19, 09:50 AM | #336 |
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Would you say that Nolan is like Hitchcock, then? That he makes movies based on theories of audience psychology, elements of suspense, etc.? He is definitely a manipulator on a grand scale, not preaching anything but building these huge wind-up contraptions.
I think there's something to that, but if we compare him to Hitchcock, he seems less adult....that's what I meant by "adolescent." His films are devoid of sex...even hostile to sex, in some ways. I'm curious what people get from Nolan's films on an emotional level. Is it the pleasure of seeing a big puzzle movie? I can go with that. |
2011.11.19, 10:13 AM | #337 | |
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But his avoidance of sex is one thing I haven't noticed so far, probably because I myself think of it as mostly completely irrelevant. For me on an emotianal level it is simply Fascination. He always builds completely artificial settings and worlds, filled with ideas and there are so many that you can't tell which is is gonna be a plot device or how. So it's like a puzzle, but not one you are meant to solve, rather one you enjoy being solved.
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2011.11.19, 10:15 AM | #338 |
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I still think that a lot of Nolan's appeal is in faux-intellectual egotism. Audience feels smart after watching movies, even if they aren't.
Hitchock mostly dealt with suspense, not action, like Nolan. I wouldn't say Nolan's movies are especially suspenseful or full of tension. Like you said, they're definitely puzzle movies, but when I watch his movies I'm not really on the edge of my seat going "what's going to happen!?" it's more like, I'm watching it, and then a twist happens and I go "Oh! That happened!". There isn't a type of expectancy, more a type of inventiveness. "How interesting!" as apposed to "What's going to happen next!". I'm not articulating this well, sorry. "So it's like a puzzle, but not one you are meant to solve, rather one you enjoy being solved." Yes! That is what I was trying to say! The audience is there for the ride, they aren't supposed to be as involved in the movie. |
2011.11.19, 11:07 AM | #339 | |
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But why some people think that he is making smart movies is probably because he constructs the storyline on overly complicated settings. Thing is he does not go beyond that because it would get in the way of the ride, but it still is important because those settings are more than unique for the kind of movie he is presenting. And that includes merging concept and storyline until you can't distinguish them.
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2011.11.19, 04:11 PM | #340 |
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People that say things like this obviously suffer from it themselves
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