Critics Club 09: Nolan

[Guts]

@Decider-VT, you're previous statement contained " . . when there's so much money behind it all."

I think what me and Guts are saying is that he was allowed the make a "ham fisted job" because whatever he was doing was bringing in the major bucks for Warner bros so they were getting a major return on their investment. This is what the vast majority of films need to do above all else for better or for worse. I happen to think worse but not in the case of TDK trilogy.

Yeah, this is pretty much my point. The studios only care about money and the DK trilogy made massive amounts of it, so naturally Nolan could do pretty much what he wanted with the films.

[Decider-VT]

Did he have final cut? Because if not, then I'm not sure of how he managed to get away with some of the utter stupidity in those films without somebody stepping in an saying so. TDK might have made the money for investors but I'd hope that one of Nolan's creative team would've pointed out some of the obvious problems before the final edit. Still, that's probably the risk incurred when the director and his brother are writing the script. Then again, the absurd hype off of the back of TDK probably ensured that he could've had Adam West as Batman and there'd still be enough bums on seats to see a return on investments. I suppose he gave the world Tom Hardy's comedy Bane though, so there's always a silver lining.

[bash]

Wow, you really dont like those movies, I really feel sorry that you cant enjoy them. I appreciate they're a little dumb in parts but I dont know if you forgot that . . . .





THEY'RE COMIC BOOK MOVIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Decider-VT]

Apparently Christopher Nolan forgot that.

Begins works because he cribs so heavily from Year One but I was really expecting more from the sequels. QC's post nails how I feel about them... give me Gotham, not Chicago. They felt like they were slavishly adhering to some approximation of reality or plausibility that just wasn't necessary, beyond being a reactive measure to distance them from Schumacher's interpretations. It's interesting to see how the Marvel films took such outlandish characters, translated them to the screen and inexplicably made them all work together really well. If you think about what Nolan could have achieved with Batman it seems like he wasted the opportunity. Just imagine something with the feel of '89 and the effects/budget available today, along with respect for the source material instead of a fear of its more fantastical elements.

Anyway, I can still derive some degree of pleasure from watching TDK and TDKR but I've never understood the hype beyond Ledger's performance. I watch the trilogy from time to time but I'm glad that it's over and I don't think that time will be especially kind to them.

[Deuteros]

I can't choose between Memento and The Prestige, they're two of my favourite movies.

Which director is next in line for discussion? Aronofsky would be interesting.

[gunrock]

I voted for The Prestige because whilst Memento was a masterpiece, it was also a bit of a gimmick, in my view. The Prestige was flawed but I enjoyed it and the twist, plus where else can you see Batman and Wolverine ham it up with ridiculous British accents?

['Press Start']

plus where else can you see Batman and Wolverine ham it up with ridiculous British accents?

Bale is Welsh isn't he?

Inception for me. Memento was very nearly my choice but based on pure enjoyment Inception just stole it.

[Kieran76]

Insomnia stuck with me for weeks after seeing it at the cinema so it gets my vote.

[PaTaito]

Inception closely followed by the prestige.

[gunrock]

Bale is Welsh isn't he?

His accent is still vaguely ridiculous in The Prestige, IMO.