J
Jetfire
Guest
I don't watch alot of movies and if I do they either star Rita Hayworth or Téa Leoni or Chris Tucker.
Or Superman related stuff. 
Serious I don't watch alot of movies.
Rate the full-length Christopher Nolan movies
- Thread starter Elemental
- Start date
I don't watch alot of movies and if I do they either star Rita Hayworth or Téa Leoni or Chris Tucker.
Or Superman related stuff. Serious I don't watch alot of movies.
Thank you for that.
I guess I should answer;
The Dark Knight
Inception
The Prestige
Batman Begins
Memento
Insomnia
...and I haven't seen The Following.
I saw Memento twice, really paying attention the second time, and I still couldn't follow everything.
I haven't seen Following or Memento.
So, with those out of the way, I'd rank 'em like this -
The Dark Knight
- saw it at the IMAX, bought it on DVD & watched it twice that same day
Batman Begins
- saw it twice in theaters & both times I wanted the sequel right then, bought it the week it came out on DVD
Inception
- only seen it once so far, but I will be gettin' the blu ray
The Prestige
- saw it once in theaters, but as soon as it was over, I wanted to watch it again
Insomnia
- saw it once in theaters, want to get the new blu ray release later this week
So, with those out of the way, I'd rank 'em like this -
The Dark Knight
- saw it at the IMAX, bought it on DVD & watched it twice that same day
Batman Begins
- saw it twice in theaters & both times I wanted the sequel right then, bought it the week it came out on DVD
Inception
- only seen it once so far, but I will be gettin' the blu ray
The Prestige
- saw it once in theaters, but as soon as it was over, I wanted to watch it again
Insomnia
- saw it once in theaters, want to get the new blu ray release later this week
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Rii
Rear Admiral
There's a version of the film in reverse out there which might help in that respect.
Memento
Batman Begins
Inception
Insomnia
The Dark Knight
Didn't see The Prestige
Batman Begins
Inception
Insomnia
The Dark Knight
Didn't see The Prestige
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
I can't sit still long enough to watch the others, however, I do want to see Inception.
The Dark Knight
I can't sit still long enough to watch the others, however, I do want to see Inception.
I heard about it but never looked into it. I wouldn't mind checking something like that out.
There's a version of the film in reverse out there which might help in that respect.
Inception is above average. It has many of Nolan's characteristic infelicities but it is remarkably original. There is a bravura action sequence set in free fall. There is even a moment that engages the emotions, thanks to Cillian Murphy.
Insomnia has the seemingly inevitable lapses in Nolan work. There is a scene where Al Pacino cannot darken a hotel room which is physically impossible, but is still poorly visualized. Nolan's trademark penchant for ambiguity this time is focused on motives. Since this is a genuinely meaningful ambiguity for once it serves the movie well. There is a scene set in fog which is done very well indeed. The hysterical notion that calling a lying detective to account will set villains free is exceeded in foolishness in not realizing that testilying is unfortunately common. And there is a certain meanness in the treatment of non-cop characters. The killer gets more respect! Coming early in his career, it showed promise. Unfortunately, Nolan has learned very little since. As beginners' work, I thought it above average.
The Prestige was very tightly plotted. Christopher Priest, the author of the novel it was taken from, thought it was a good adaptation I gather. But, then, I thought Priest screwed up a fascinating novel by dragging in an absurd SF twist with a fictional Nikola Tesla. (Much of the novel was in the form of Borden's journal, which was riveting.) Nolan added an absurdly melodramatic twist with the rival magicians being friends but one being held responsible for the death of the the other's wife. But then he still ended up having the rivalry center upon "prestige," which drops from an understandable motive to a self-centered one. And we have to believe that anyone can be sure to be selected from the audience when it's convenient for the plot. Average, at best.
Batman Begins started with the premise that naturally an unstable, obsessed billionaire would start by infiltrating criminal gangs. Personally I think billionaire heirs would be carefully cultivated for their money. Absolutely nothing about this rang true. The action sequences mostly confusing, but preposterous when they weren't. As a result they were dull. Batman off camera must leap like a hybrid of cricket and kangaroo but on screen lumbers like a zombi. Really quite dull. It really is kind of poor.
The Dark Knight continues the badness, except that Batman and Bruce Wayne are even less interesting. Some weird hysterical vision of the Joker as some nineteenth century ranting nihilist (see The Assassination Bureau for a sendup of the tired cliche) is inflicted upon us. For some inexplicable reason it was regarded as deep. There was a nice bank heist sequence, which didn't have anything really to do with the rest of the movie. There was a confrontation between Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart which almost seemed to be about something. You could sit through it, but by the end the temptation to laugh at the movie was nearly overwhelming. At the time I was so relieved that it was at least tolerable I overrated it but really it is below average.
Memento I haven't seen.
Insomnia has the seemingly inevitable lapses in Nolan work. There is a scene where Al Pacino cannot darken a hotel room which is physically impossible, but is still poorly visualized. Nolan's trademark penchant for ambiguity this time is focused on motives. Since this is a genuinely meaningful ambiguity for once it serves the movie well. There is a scene set in fog which is done very well indeed. The hysterical notion that calling a lying detective to account will set villains free is exceeded in foolishness in not realizing that testilying is unfortunately common. And there is a certain meanness in the treatment of non-cop characters. The killer gets more respect! Coming early in his career, it showed promise. Unfortunately, Nolan has learned very little since. As beginners' work, I thought it above average.
The Prestige was very tightly plotted. Christopher Priest, the author of the novel it was taken from, thought it was a good adaptation I gather. But, then, I thought Priest screwed up a fascinating novel by dragging in an absurd SF twist with a fictional Nikola Tesla. (Much of the novel was in the form of Borden's journal, which was riveting.) Nolan added an absurdly melodramatic twist with the rival magicians being friends but one being held responsible for the death of the the other's wife. But then he still ended up having the rivalry center upon "prestige," which drops from an understandable motive to a self-centered one. And we have to believe that anyone can be sure to be selected from the audience when it's convenient for the plot. Average, at best.
Batman Begins started with the premise that naturally an unstable, obsessed billionaire would start by infiltrating criminal gangs. Personally I think billionaire heirs would be carefully cultivated for their money. Absolutely nothing about this rang true. The action sequences mostly confusing, but preposterous when they weren't. As a result they were dull. Batman off camera must leap like a hybrid of cricket and kangaroo but on screen lumbers like a zombi. Really quite dull. It really is kind of poor.
The Dark Knight continues the badness, except that Batman and Bruce Wayne are even less interesting. Some weird hysterical vision of the Joker as some nineteenth century ranting nihilist (see The Assassination Bureau for a sendup of the tired cliche) is inflicted upon us. For some inexplicable reason it was regarded as deep. There was a nice bank heist sequence, which didn't have anything really to do with the rest of the movie. There was a confrontation between Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart which almost seemed to be about something. You could sit through it, but by the end the temptation to laugh at the movie was nearly overwhelming. At the time I was so relieved that it was at least tolerable I overrated it but really it is below average.
Memento I haven't seen.
The Prestige
Memento
Insomnia
Batman Begins
Haven't seen TDK or Inception.
Memento
Insomnia
Batman Begins
Haven't seen TDK or Inception.
Just saw Inception today and i rank that at the top of the list.
The Prestige: One of my all time favorite movies.
Memento: Pretty friggin' awesome.
Batman Begins/Dark Knight: I think i like them equally.
Insomnia: Not on my list of favorites.
The Prestige: One of my all time favorite movies.
Memento: Pretty friggin' awesome.
Batman Begins/Dark Knight: I think i like them equally.
Insomnia: Not on my list of favorites.
I've seen all of his movies. The only one I didn't really like was "Following". I thought it had a really original and interesting premise, but it was one of those movies that just left me with a feeling of, THAT'S IT?. I liked all of them, can't say I loved any of them other than "Memento" and "The Dark Knight", but some story elements of "The Dark Knight" pissed me off...mostly that it was needlessly convoluted and the sonar thing was stupid as the whole scene where he used it was an incoherent, ludicrous waste of time.
"Insomnia" was cool, but didn't leave much of an impression. I liked one funny line of dialog (the thumbs bit), Robin Williams had some good scenes, the fog chase was well done, and the shootout at the end was great, but I can't remember a lot about the movie. And as usual, Hilary Swank annoyed the hell out of me.
"The Prestige" was fun, I don't understand why the ending bothers so many people, I thought it was neat-o. The best thing about this movie for me was the look. The atmosphere was terrific, and I thought Bale's relationship with his wife was the most fascinating element. "Inception" commits the same sins as "The Dark Knight", but even worse - WAY too much exposition. I also thought its action scenes were boring and generic, aside from the one in the hotel hallway, but otherwise I appreciated that it was entertaining visually and its emotional moments got to me. I loved the ending too.
I loved everything about "Memento" from the structure, to the performances, to the intrigue in every scene. It's alternately funny, scary, exciting, cruel, and sad, with an ending that hit me like a punch in the face. It's probably made me a Guy Pearce fan for life. I get excited every time I see him in a movie because of my affection for that flick and his performance in it.
Perfect:
1. "Memento"
Very good:
2. "The Dark Knight"
3. "The Prestige"
4. "Batman Begins"
5. "Inception"
Decent:
6. "Insomnia"
7. "Following"
"Insomnia" was cool, but didn't leave much of an impression. I liked one funny line of dialog (the thumbs bit), Robin Williams had some good scenes, the fog chase was well done, and the shootout at the end was great, but I can't remember a lot about the movie. And as usual, Hilary Swank annoyed the hell out of me.
"The Prestige" was fun, I don't understand why the ending bothers so many people, I thought it was neat-o. The best thing about this movie for me was the look. The atmosphere was terrific, and I thought Bale's relationship with his wife was the most fascinating element. "Inception" commits the same sins as "The Dark Knight", but even worse - WAY too much exposition. I also thought its action scenes were boring and generic, aside from the one in the hotel hallway, but otherwise I appreciated that it was entertaining visually and its emotional moments got to me. I loved the ending too.
I loved everything about "Memento" from the structure, to the performances, to the intrigue in every scene. It's alternately funny, scary, exciting, cruel, and sad, with an ending that hit me like a punch in the face. It's probably made me a Guy Pearce fan for life. I get excited every time I see him in a movie because of my affection for that flick and his performance in it.
Perfect:
1. "Memento"
Very good:
2. "The Dark Knight"
3. "The Prestige"
4. "Batman Begins"
5. "Inception"
Decent:
6. "Insomnia"
7. "Following"
Memento is still the only one that really appealed to me. But after seeing Inception, I know what it was that I disliked about The Prestige: that it lets you see the arbitrary machinery working, and that destroys the smooth illusion of a seamless movie that exists organically. Inception has the same problem, but more blaringly obvious. (Still, I liked Inception more than The Prestige, maybe because the subject matter is more fun, the actors are more engaging, or something.)
Inception
Batman Begins
Memento
The Dark Knight
... haven't seen all of the other ones.
Batman Begins
Memento
The Dark Knight
... haven't seen all of the other ones.
The Dark Knight
The Prestige
Batman Begins
Still need to see the other ones.
The Prestige
Batman Begins
Still need to see the other ones.
I've only seen three so far. I'd rank them as follows:
- Batman Begins: I just adore the atmosphere, the feeling and the pace of this film. I think ti does a wonderful job of telling Bruce Wayne's story and showing Batman become a reality. I also like the way Nolan manages to strike a good balance between action sequences and quieter moments, a balance that makes the movie as a whole much strong, I think. I also love the music as well as the look of the film. It's one I've seen quite often and always look forward to seeing again.
- Inception: Although the movie didn't blow me out of my socks, so to speak, I did enjoy it quite a bit. It's certainly a welcome change from most Hollywood blockbusters and toys with some interesting ideas quite effectively. It looks and sounds great, there's great performances all around, and it certainly managed to keep me thinking about it after I left the theater. The idea of 'Inception' certainly is intriguing and nicely connects with the question of how any idea is born in the first place. If there was one thing I didn't like too much it was the whole snow fortress dream level. I just didn't like the overall look and feel (plus the 'holodeck' was really weird), and I found the action was somewhat drawn out there (and simply not as interesting as the fight in the hotel, for example). I definitely need to see this again and it's quite possible this might rank differently after that.
- The Dark Knight: This is a film I admire for how closely it sticks to its concept and communicates this to its audience. Throughout the entire movie, the Joker has Batman on the run. He's relentless and merciless, constantly keeping Batman on the defensive, constantly pounding on him. And that's exactly what I felt I was getting as a viewer as well, in a sense sharing that pressure Batman was feeling. The problem I had with that was that although I admired the movie from a conceptual point of view, I found it to be a somewhat unsatisfying viewing experience or one might even say an unpleasant viewing experience. That may be the point to some extent but in the end I simply much prefer watching Batman Begins because it affords me some time to breathe, come to terms with what I've seen, breathe in the atmosphere and be ready for the next intense sequences. I don't have that opportunity here.
- Batman Begins: I just adore the atmosphere, the feeling and the pace of this film. I think ti does a wonderful job of telling Bruce Wayne's story and showing Batman become a reality. I also like the way Nolan manages to strike a good balance between action sequences and quieter moments, a balance that makes the movie as a whole much strong, I think. I also love the music as well as the look of the film. It's one I've seen quite often and always look forward to seeing again.
- Inception: Although the movie didn't blow me out of my socks, so to speak, I did enjoy it quite a bit. It's certainly a welcome change from most Hollywood blockbusters and toys with some interesting ideas quite effectively. It looks and sounds great, there's great performances all around, and it certainly managed to keep me thinking about it after I left the theater. The idea of 'Inception' certainly is intriguing and nicely connects with the question of how any idea is born in the first place. If there was one thing I didn't like too much it was the whole snow fortress dream level. I just didn't like the overall look and feel (plus the 'holodeck' was really weird), and I found the action was somewhat drawn out there (and simply not as interesting as the fight in the hotel, for example). I definitely need to see this again and it's quite possible this might rank differently after that.
- The Dark Knight: This is a film I admire for how closely it sticks to its concept and communicates this to its audience. Throughout the entire movie, the Joker has Batman on the run. He's relentless and merciless, constantly keeping Batman on the defensive, constantly pounding on him. And that's exactly what I felt I was getting as a viewer as well, in a sense sharing that pressure Batman was feeling. The problem I had with that was that although I admired the movie from a conceptual point of view, I found it to be a somewhat unsatisfying viewing experience or one might even say an unpleasant viewing experience. That may be the point to some extent but in the end I simply much prefer watching Batman Begins because it affords me some time to breathe, come to terms with what I've seen, breathe in the atmosphere and be ready for the next intense sequences. I don't have that opportunity here.
