Christopher Nolan Vs. Darren Aronofsky

First off, I want to say I very much respect Prestige's opinion. He's valid in his own right as am I. We are discussing subjectivity here, and nothing more. So there should be no ruffled feathers. The films I enjoy, as you made clear, are those that experiment with film form, and I find few in film who share this same opinion.

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Not at all, mate. In fact, I acknowledged that I actually like Aronofsky and that his latest films have definitely made a little bit of fan out of me for him. I was just trying to argue that in comparison to Nolan's work, I don't find he 'does it' for me, except I went the long way about it. Like Dog Man said above, it's all subjectivity and in the end it's all a bit of fun. I've actually enjoyed this debate and despite the fact that I am clearly opposed to Dog's views on Nolan v Aronofsky, I too respect his opinion and felt he made some interesting points.

He still needs to come to a better conclusion of The Prestige, though

Nolan. His films will be remembered more.

I'd say Nolan for sure. Both directors convey deep meaning and ideas in their films, but Nolan manages to make his films more entertaining and intelligent.

That being said, I love The Fountain. It reminds me of Solaris & Blade Runner of being a meaningful sci-fi film, that packs a lot of emotion and as I said above, interesting ideas. Also, Hugh Jackman at his finest. Very underrated and deceptively simple.

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I wouldn't say that Nolan is overrated, I just don't enjoy his films as much as most other people seem to do. All his films try so hard to be clever and are so filled with tricks and twists and turns in a way that makes me think of The Da Vinci Code (the book), which I hated. During the climax of Inception I was actually quite bored. Was I the only one who felt that I was watching a computer game rather than a film? Memento was brilliant though.

Darren Aronofsky is one of the most interesting American directors right now, to me (haven't seen The Fountain though). Pi is a favorite of mine, a great directorial debut. I really like Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler a lot and I thought The Black Swan was absolutely marvelous.

A math genius suffering from severe headaches, chased by stock brokers and ultra orthodox jewish numerologists. A really graphic and horrible tale about drug addiction. A movie about a pro wrestler - with a glorious Mickey Rourke in the lead role. A movie about ballet - in 2010 - with its respectful nod to Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes while at the same time doing something entirely unique and original.

I wonder what Darren Aronofsky's next film will be about - I can't hardly wait.

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.

By coincidence, I received a copy of The Fountain from my dvd rent-by-mail thingy the other day and saw it last night. I was amazed how "Nolanish" it was. In fact, if anyone had told me that Nolan, not Aronofsky, directed The Fountain I would've believed it in a second. The saga/mystery/adventure/romance/sci-fi cocktail - it was very much Inception-esque to me.

That said, I thought it was a decent film. Probably my least favorite of Aronofsky's films although I think it's unfair to call it a flop or a failure on his behalf. It is interesting though how much it differs from all his other films, and thus qualifies as the typical Aronofsky film, I suppose.

I believe Darren to be today's most overrated film-maker. He's sloppy, incoherent, and even pretentious, but sometimes I forget that today, we call that "experimental".

I disagree, but have yet to see The Black Swan. HIs films have more heart than Nolan's though. His style is not sloppy at all, which I'm not even sure what that means.

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Uhh, except The Fountain was released several years before Insheeption and I found the movies to be nothing alike.

Explain what is sloppy and incoherent. And "even pretentious"

You're of course entitled to your own subjective opinion on whether Aronofsky's overrated or not. Incoherent I can understand (although I disagree, of course) since his films differ quite a lot thematically and in terms of style. What you call pretentious, I would label ambitious. He does not seem to be doing anything half-heartedly which, I guess, some would call a feature of pretentiousness. Not me though.

What I can't understand is how you can find him sloppy and experimental. That is, if you mean experimental as in abstract or using unconventional methods. To me he is pretty straight forward although all his films have dreamlike or surrealist scenarios in them. I used the phrase "psychologically charged" in some other thread, I think, and I could use that term about Aronofsky's films as well in many cases (certainly about The Black Swan).

And sloppy.... I fail to appreciate what you mean with that. What's sloppy about his films?

I know it was and okay then our opinions differ.

I think both directors are great but perfer Nolan. I just like his films better. I loved Black Swan and believe it to be Aronofsky's best but I find Memento and Inception to be much better films. People give much praise to Requiem for a Dream but I find Trainspotting a much better film about drug addiction.

I would like to go with the cristopher Nolan. He is just so awesome

I was big fan of Nolan when i first got into film, Memento is really what got me into it. The prestige and insomnia were awesome. When i saw Inception i fell asleep in theaters, and didin't like it at all. to me it felt like Nolan's goal in this film, was mostly to boggle the audiences mind, which he did a fantastic job of, but that's not enough for me, he seems to do that with most of his films. Now Aronofsky! i love this man, I really appreciate what he does with his films. His films however all seem to have the same pattern, but it's still early on in both of their careers. My vote goes to Aronofsky, simply because i think he's more daring in his technique and his films linger in my mind weeks after i see them. and he's adapting the story of Noah's Ark! and not the G version.

What exactly makes Aronofsky a more 'daring' director than Nolan??? What's more daring about the techniques used in Requiem For A Dream as opposed to the ones used in Memento?

Nolan is willing to try more new things in film where as Darren as much as I respect him, deals with more psychological stories.

Everything in film is psychological, your argument is void

Memento appears to look great but if it was shot in chronological order, the story is bland.

Oh, i voted for Aronofsky btw.

I didn't care for Memento, and i'm a huge Nolan fan. Haven't seen any Aronofsky films though.

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