MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Anyone not like Christopher Nolan films?

Anyone not like Christopher Nolan films?

posted 4 years ago by MovieBuff224 (5053)
38 replies | jump to latest

I will NEVER understand the praise that man gets. Aside from Memento and The Prestige, all of his movies are jumbled messes. Corny, forced dialogue, incoherent erratic storytelling, choppy action sequences and often poor acting.

The only thing I can say for him is he has good production values, but that’s not saying much considering the enormous budgets and creative freedom he is afforded as if he is some sort of auteuristic legend. I just don’t get it. Especially his Batman films, they got widespread praise but were just bad films all around. They have probably aged horribly.

[–] CoreyHaimFan (1031) 4 years ago

I really like Interstellar but not too fond of any of his other films.

[–] MovieBuff224 (5053) 4 years ago

Interstellar did nothing for me either, just another empty self indulgent attempt at seeming deep and profound.

[–] CoreyHaimFan (1031) 4 years ago

I just find wormholes fascinating, which is probably why I liked it. There were definitely some pretentious moments but I still liked the accelerated time concept in the movie.

[–] Stratego (29209) 4 years ago

Not a fan at all. Even Memento was just meh to me.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

I think I gave up on the third time he woke up and had to rediscover everything. I could find no reason to sit through it.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

i don't think he's made anything close to a bad film. even his substandard ones - the 3rd batman, maybe interstellar - are still daring & adventurous & ambitious.

at a time when there's an enormous void of original films in theatres, he's one of the few directors creating original, ambitious films on a large scale that reliably make their money back, & i think that's something to be applauded.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

^ This and ALL THIS.

100% agree.

[–] Kowalski (57475) 4 years ago

YES...WELL SAID...DUDE MAKES QUALITY PICTURES...SOMETHING LIKE INTERSTELLAR,WHILE I DONT LOVE IT...HUGE CHUNKS OF THAT MOVIE ARE AMAZING AND STICK WITH ME.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

interstellar is definitely messy & baggy & probably misses the mark in some ways. but it is absolutely chock full of terrific moments and things.

i'm about to say great a lot, so pardon me for that.

it has some truly great images that I thought were as good as any I’ve ever seen in a movie & that need to be seen on the biggest screen available, and a great score with gigantic, pounding organs (that did drown out the dialogue at some points) that ought to be heard on the best sound system.

it has a great robot that simultaneously references 2001 & yet is also pretty original.

and it is ambitious & epic & sprawling, & I think (despite some of the flaws brought up by people like phil plait - there are always flaws) it has a respect for science & scientists.

it’s a frustrating movie in many ways, but i’d say it has far more to admire in it than to fault, and the things that were admirable in it were truly great, & that makes it a movie that deserves to be watched.

[–] dmac8 (5050) 4 years ago

wrong actor in the lead role

[–] CoreyHaimFan (1031) 4 years ago

Your assessment of Interstellar is spot on sir.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

That's true and yet I still don't like his films. It's much better than having cinemas full of remakes and superhero movies, I admit.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Insomnia is my favorite of his.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Insomnia is excellent and very underrated, you hardly hear it mentioned these days but it's my favourite film of Al Pacino's and second favourite Robin Williams film after One Hour Photo.

It doesn't quite reach the artistic highs of Memento for me, but it's still a classic.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

it's great stuff.

have you ever seen the norwegian original?

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Not sure if that question is for me or hownos, but I haven't seen the original. I've always wanted to though. Would you recommend it?

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

absolutely - it's really good. it's been a few years since i've seen either of them, so don't hold me to this if it's not completely accurate, but i recall plot-wise the films were basically identical - almost nothing got changed. but it has some stylistic differences & a few things that nolan emphasized that weren't in the original. if you like nolan's version, the original makes for a fun comparison watch.

[–] rudeboymurray (3241) 4 years ago

I don’t dislike any of his films (the exception being Interstellar, which bored me to tears) but I haven’t given most of them a second thought since seeing them. He’s a highly proficient filmmaker but his movies seldom grab me on an emotional level.

I did enjoy Memento and Insomnia quite a lot, and to a lesser degree the second two Batman movies, Inception and Dunkirk, but nothing I’d have listed among the best of its year.

[–] kukuxu (5409) 4 years ago

It's a matter of taste.

Modern movies are extremely emotional. It's all about emotional drama and black and white moral characters. Good characters are clearly good; villains are clearly evil. And in case you have doubts, the movie will be an emotional roller-coaster so it's clear who are the characters you should support and the ones you should hate.

In Nolan movies, on the contrary, emotions are restrained, characters are cerebral and moral is a grey area. In Inception, you walk with the main characters, but they're just a team playing for one side in a corporate war. The movie doesn't portray the villains doing very evil things so you're allowed to feel that walking with the main characters is morally fine. In Batman Begins, you walk with Wayne, but... what if Liam Neeson's character was right? who would have been the real villain then? what if Bane was right in the third movie? In every movie, Batman makes a choice, but nothing guarantees he made the right choice. There's no moral safety net.

And that's not everybody's cup of tea.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

"emotions are restrained, characters are cerebral and moral is a grey area"

No. These are popcorn movies and don't come close to complexity or artistic depth. If you find Nolan's films deep, there's an amazing world of cinema out there that will just floor you.

[–] kukuxu (5409) 4 years ago

If you find Nolan's films deep, there's an amazing world of cinema out there that will just floor you.

This is not what I said. You're assigning me words and then beating your particular straw-man.

I said exactly what I said, not what you assigned to me.

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And let me disagree with that amazing world of cinema out there, meaning (I guess) 'deep'. If we're talking about movies until 10-15 years ago, that's fine. Movies in the last 10-15 that could be considered 'deep', you could count them on the fingers of one hand.

[–] KvlhokVjequs (286) 4 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Wint3rFir3 (6911) 4 years ago

I'd say all of his films are well directed and well made, but I don't enjoy most of them. They're not fun.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

That's exactly it. They take themselves too seriously, when we're really taking about a man in a rubber suit or a heist inside a dream.

[–] Wint3rFir3 (6911) 4 years ago

Yeah, agree with that.