Christopher Nolan's Interstellar

aaagh! get that meatwad's opinions (that's all they are) outta my face!

Can we all just talk about how awful The Dark Knight Rises was, for just one second?

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Sure. But first, we have to resolve this hostage situation, where Nolan's apparently forcing you to talk about him at gunpoint. That has to take priority.

But, The Prestige.

Nolan's work is probably just a little bit intelligent for you, thats all.

Perhaps you should seek out the great works of Adam Sandler, or Rob Schneider perhaps.

So, you want to argue, but arguing's too much work?

That's not a good reaction, in my opinion.

I thought Nolan's Transformers flicks were especially good. Also his Bad Boys 2.

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Did someone just call Nolan's films.... a little bit intelligent?


Wait. What does that even mean? Especially in regards to TDKR.


Nobody is arguing here, what?

Yeah, that's the point: there's no argument. Just meaningless contradiction. What's the purpose of that, particularly when stated more than once? You can rest easy, bro: your anti-Nolan verdict has now been recorded for posterity.

There are really only two possibilities here. Either you're trying to make a case for something, in which case you should be making an argument of some kind. Or you just really wanted us all to know you don't like him, in which case I'd say you've succeeded. Your work's all done here.

I meant to type memento instead of inception.

Nolan should have taken on Star Wars...

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Indeed.


Now I'm just waiting on the verdict of Nolan's work being a little bit intelligent. I assume he meant to add in a "too" somewhere in that statement, so that makes me even more curious. Especially since I find that Nolan's films are easy to unravel within the first hour or so, and are never really a surprise when his trademark plot twists are forced in there. This is even more curious when basically the bulk of Nolan's films are Batman movies. You might as well say Jon Favreau's Iron Man movies are too intelligent for me to handle. Gandalf, if you wanted to best me for coming in here and spewing my dislike for Nolan on the most basic of levels, sinking to my level wasn't the best way to approach it. I mean, if you struggled while watching these movies, then I suppose I could understand.

Anyways, Inception is annoying because it presents itself in this overly grandiose intellectual manner, but the whole idea isn't a difficult one to grasp. The soundtrack doesn't help in this case honestly, because it's always there as a constant reminder to the audience that this scene or that scene is supposed to be intense, and in general, it just slams you in the face over and over and over. Honestly, it's sad when you go to imdb and the FAQ section has like 50+ questions in it, but when you read through them, multiple questions have the same, or similar, answer. People put Inception on this intellectual pedestal it seems.

Minus the soundtrack in the Batman movies, my biggest gripe is how Nolan wants you take these films as serious movies, and not comic book movies, but in the end, that's all they feel like; Another comic book superhero film with darker tones and a larger than life soundtrack constantly blasting away. And Christian Bale. And unnecessary runtime with sometimes very silly fillers. I don't hate Batman Begins or The Dark Knight, but I don't like them either. TDK lost my interest when the Two Face shenanigans were rushed in, and then just as quickly rushed out, which is disappointing because the character of Harvey Dent wasn't terrible to watch. In the case of The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan juggles with chainsaws and drops them all before the credits even roll, and even chops off a limb or two in the process. TDKR is full of characters that he fails to develop, leaving the audience with nobody to really care about or root for, except maybe Michael Caine's Alfred. Not to mention there were no performances worth a damn, unlike TDK which at least had Heath Ledger doing his damnest to add an interesting dimension to Nolan's movie. Also, TDKR had a plot twist worse than The Prestige. All in all, TDKR was a snoozefest galore, and really doesn't even compare to its two predecessors. I also don't think there is any flow from one film into the next, and certainly feel like he ended the trilogy very poorly.

Nolan would have more success with subtlety. Memento is a decent example of that. I don't love Memento, but it is definitely his best work. It's not a super complicated idea, and doesn't present itself as such. I always feel like Nolan has a knack for trying to overwhelm his audience, and succeeds in doing such with the average viewer. I can't help but think that Nolan is always just trying to impress, for he never seems to be trying to send his audience a message to dwell upon. He never has anything to say with his films. There is never any meaning.

I guess that I could consider Nolan a little bit intelligent version of M. Night Shyamalan. Or something like that. Ultimately, Yoda is correct in assuming I had come in here just to voice my disdain for Christopher Nolan, and as he said, I succeeded in such with my silly posts.

I don't think Inception actually has this pretentious intellectualism you are slating it with. (a complaint I've seen about a million times) If anything it's needlessly convoluted, but the heart of the story is with Cobb and his willingness to do anything to get back to his kids, and the temptation of refusing the real world. Nolan's films are very intelligent in that he tackles them in a very classical film-making sense. There's a lot of spectacle, explosions, stunts, special effects, booming music, but the reason he's gathered so much acclaim is because they're about people.

Kip Stephen Thorne (born June 1, 1940) is an American theoretical physicist, known for his prolific contributions in gravitation physics and astrophysics and for having trained a generation of scientists. A longtime friend and colleague of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan, he was the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) until 2009[1] and one of the world’s leading experts on the astrophysical implications of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. He continues to do scientific research and is also writing a film. <----yea that's who Nolan is consulting for this next film. I'd say it will be intelligent.

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I came here to do two things, drink some beer and kick some ass, looks like we are almost outta beer - Dazed and Confused

101 Favorite Movies (2019)

Interesting. Seems we're dealing with a slightly more sophisticated troll than usual. Nice one, mate. You were doing pretty well too up until you comparison with the Iron Man films. I would have been a bit more subtle and compared it to, say, Bryan Singer's X-Men films, perhaps.

Now, if i'm wrong (it does happen) and you are not the trolling kind, then I think you need to get over this thing where you think all Nolan is trying to do is trick you all the time and actually pay attention to his recurring themes and use of unreliable narrators and anti-heros.

I think you don't understand his point. He is saying that Nolan's films aren't that intelligent, because they are completely superficial (just like the Iron Man films for example). You saw the movie and there's nothing else to discuss after it. You can't have a long, intelligent conversation about a Nolan film. It doesn't challenge someone's intelligence. The only thing you can talk about for a few minutes is some twist in the story, but that's it. There doesn't seem to be much behind it.

I personally think his films are very enjoyable, but indeed sometimes a little bit overrated. I think he doesn't handle emotions very well for example. He isn't subtle in showing them (see Inception, Batman series, The Prestige, etc.). He makes Batman a recluse for eight years just because his girl got killed? That was just plain ridiculous.

I still like his films, though, as I don't always need these underlying meanings or deep characters to enjoy a film and I'm really looking forward to his next picture! He's a very good filmmaker.

Sure ya' can.

I'm not going to defend everything the guy's done, particularly in the last Batman film. I have problems with some of the plotting. But the one thing I don't think someone can seriously say about Nolan's films is that they don't have themes or topics worth discussing. That's the one think they most obviously have, at least in my opinion.

I don't want to speculate too much about other people's state of mind, but I do think part of the problem here is self-reinforcing. Once you decide someone doesn't have a lot to show you, you stop looking for these things. Just as surely, if you respect a filmmaker's work, you might be liable to find meaning where there isn't. Anyone can find meaning if they want to, or ignore it if they don't. I think a pretty large element of choice goes into these things, often before the film even starts.

If you're going to get butthurt, at least do it correctly and not completely misinterpret everything.

Too bad his recurring themes (?) suck (and it's funny how you say recurring, how original of Nolan) and his use of unreliable narrators and anti-heros is nothing new or exciting, especially when it's done poorly or average at best.

This, and said better than I probably could have.

What themes do you think are worth talking about? I'm not taking the piss, I'm legitimately curious. I don't find anything worth discussing in any of his films because I don't find that there are any underlying meanings and themes. They are all right on the surface if anything, and convoluted to give the appearance of complication and deeper meaning. What exactly are the underlying themes of Inception? The Prestige? Or how about the Batman movies? Honestly, I even fail to find any true meaning under the skin of Memento. Now I'm sure there might be some pretty basic human nature ones there, no doubt, but they are weak at best, and not really worth discussing, at least to me. Topics? Perhaps. I can agree with that much.

I agree with your second paragraph as well.

Correctly get butthurt, lol. Ok.

I haven't misinterpreted anything you've said. You've stated that you don't feel Nolan's films are intelligent and don't have any meaning beyond entertainment. I am disagreeing with you. I don't think that the themes and character's in Memento or The Prestige were presented poorly at all. The Prestige's metaphor of The filmmaker as The Magician was brilliantly conveyed, imo. If you look at how that film presents obsessed auteurs as sacrificing artists who cherish the secret behind the trick, you get an understanding for Nolan's commentary on the state of filmmaking today. If you find that boring or uninteresting or whatever, then I guess I can't help you.



Again, I understood his point fine, I just find it weak. You mean to tell me, hand on heart, you didn't find ANYTHING worth talking about with somebody after you saw Memento?? The entire deconstruction of time, space and memory escaped the both of you? You didn't feel it 'intelligent' enough to even discuss how noir conventions were turned on it's head in Memento andInsomnia??

I could go on, but then i'd just repeating myself. Again.

You don't like the bloke, I get it. But to suggested that his films don't spark thought provoking dicussions is, frankly, absurd. I've read at least 3 different film study books dedicated to Memento. Each one had something new to say. That alone negates what you've said about his films being superficial.