Nice post, mate. I'm glad you too realise that Memento is a masterpiece. It saddens me a bit when you say that The Prestige was just "interesting". It's a four star quality film that has a lot more to say than just magic.
The film works as the best metaphor for the differences between auteurs and directors. Showmanship vs genuine gifts, y'know. It's a big filmmakers commentary, to say the least. How about watching it enough time. I just dont' except anybody calling the film interesting.
And I don't see where Nolan making only 6 films doesn't put him up with the big guns...after all, David Fincher AND Quentin Tarantino have made about the same amount in over 15 years of their career, perhaps they shouldn't be up there with the "biggies" too, eh? Nolan has done it in less than 10 years, mate.
Oh, and guess what, mate? THREE of Nolan's 6 films have made it onto the imdb's Top 100 list, namely Memento, The Prestige, and Batman Begins.
You also might want to look at Total Film's (The most reliable film magazine in the UK according to most) Top 100 Directors of all time...the man who "only made 6 feature films" made it to number 32, beating super heavyweights such as:
Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) ,
Roman Polanski (Chinatown),
Francois Truffaut (The 400 Blows),
andDavid Lean (Lawrence Of Arabia).
That is no mean feat, beating these legendary auteurs, and Total Film isn't a joke magazine. They happen to be highly regarded amongst filmmakers, actors and producers. Hell, even the folks at Sight and Sound consider Total Film to be a strong rival, so you have to start taking Christopher Nolan seriously. More importantly, you have to start NOW.
In addition to being the finest director, Nolan happens to be a gifted writer as well. His screenplay for Memento earned him an oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. Now, i'm not a fan of the oscars, but they did well there by acknowledging how beautiful the screenplay to this outstanding film was. But how could it not be acknowledged? Memento is the definition of a five-star film.
Since you have not seen Following, I must say that you are in for a treat. It's a fascinating debut and a great introduction into Nolan's world. As a film by itself, it's actually ***1/2. As a debut, however, it's **** quality. It's somewhat inspired by Hitchcocks earlier works, with a little bit of Taxi Driver thrown into the mix. Interesting movie that works really well. Gives new meaning to the phrase, "do what you know". Go and order it off Amazon NOW, mate.
His filmography speaks for itself:
Following ****
Memento *****
Insomnia ***
Batman Begins ****
The Prestige ****
The Dark Knight - this film has the potential to be four stars, and given the skill of the director...it will be
The film works as the best metaphor for the differences between auteurs and directors. Showmanship vs genuine gifts, y'know. It's a big filmmakers commentary, to say the least. How about watching it enough time. I just dont' except anybody calling the film interesting.
And I don't see where Nolan making only 6 films doesn't put him up with the big guns...after all, David Fincher AND Quentin Tarantino have made about the same amount in over 15 years of their career, perhaps they shouldn't be up there with the "biggies" too, eh? Nolan has done it in less than 10 years, mate.
Oh, and guess what, mate? THREE of Nolan's 6 films have made it onto the imdb's Top 100 list, namely Memento, The Prestige, and Batman Begins.
You also might want to look at Total Film's (The most reliable film magazine in the UK according to most) Top 100 Directors of all time...the man who "only made 6 feature films" made it to number 32, beating super heavyweights such as:
Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) ,
Roman Polanski (Chinatown),
Francois Truffaut (The 400 Blows),
andDavid Lean (Lawrence Of Arabia).
That is no mean feat, beating these legendary auteurs, and Total Film isn't a joke magazine. They happen to be highly regarded amongst filmmakers, actors and producers. Hell, even the folks at Sight and Sound consider Total Film to be a strong rival, so you have to start taking Christopher Nolan seriously. More importantly, you have to start NOW.
In addition to being the finest director, Nolan happens to be a gifted writer as well. His screenplay for Memento earned him an oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. Now, i'm not a fan of the oscars, but they did well there by acknowledging how beautiful the screenplay to this outstanding film was. But how could it not be acknowledged? Memento is the definition of a five-star film.
Since you have not seen Following, I must say that you are in for a treat. It's a fascinating debut and a great introduction into Nolan's world. As a film by itself, it's actually ***1/2. As a debut, however, it's **** quality. It's somewhat inspired by Hitchcocks earlier works, with a little bit of Taxi Driver thrown into the mix. Interesting movie that works really well. Gives new meaning to the phrase, "do what you know". Go and order it off Amazon NOW, mate.
His filmography speaks for itself:
Following ****
Memento *****
Insomnia ***
Batman Begins ****
The Prestige ****
The Dark Knight - this film has the potential to be four stars, and given the skill of the director...it will be
When we take Nolan out of your posts, i find your threads to be some of the most interesting on the site but your absolute blind love for Nolan has to stop! Don't take this as an attack because i do respect your opinion but your ratings of his films you seem to put across as definitive and not your opinion (even though i'd probably rate his films much the same). Anyway, i've never really thought that much of Total Film, preferred Empire but only really read Sight And Sound. I am totally lost for words on that poll, Polanski, i mean Chinatown beats Memento hands down in terms of everything, formal and analytical. And on the subject, IMDB isn't what i'd call a reliable ranking system, friggin' Episode 3 has 7.9! The things with Fincher and Tarantino is they have a distinct style, both are definitely auteurs, more so than Nolan and they're ranked so highly probably because of their penetration into popular culture and subsequent influence.
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