Movies you've recently watched

[Aazealh]

1. Memento
2. Prestige — probably Nolan's "actual best movie"
3. Tenet
4. Inception — full disclosure: I'd place this lower, but I value my life
5. Interstellar
6. Oppenheimer — a spectacle, but still limited by the trappings of being a biopic
7. Dunkirk
8. Insomnia — I should revisit this one. I really didn't like it at the time because I'd already seen the Norwegian original, which felt dramatically superior.
9. Dark Knight Trilogy — ill always rank costumed superhero movies lower than original movies
10. The Odyssey Trailer

Not particularly a Nolan fan and I haven't seen Dunkirk nor Oppenheimer. I'm not a fan of rankings either but just to drive discussion, and without thinking too much about it, mine would probably look like this.

• Interstellar
• Inception
• Memento
• The Prestige
• The Dark Knight Trilogy
• Insomnia
• Tenet

 

[scaler26]

• Interstellar
• Inception
• Memento
• The Prestige
• The Dark Knight Trilogy
• Insomnia
• Tenet

While we're at it:

1. Interstellar
2. Oppenheimer
3. The Prestige
4. Memento
5. The Dark Knight
6. Inception
7. Dunkirk
8. Batman Begins
9. Insomnia
10. The Dark Knight Rises
11. Tenet (I don't get it)

Haven't watched Following, and I've only watched Tenet once, back when it came out in theaters, I'd probably have a better experience upon a rewatch. Happy to see I'm not the only person on the planet who has Interstellar as his favorite Nolan movie, people rip on that film way too much for really superficial reasons, but I personally adore it. It's the most emotional movie in his filmography, so that might be why it really resonates with me the most. The fact that it's hard science fiction is the icing on top

 

[Aazealh]

Happy to see I'm not the only person on the planet who has Interstellar as his favorite Nolan movie, people rip on that film way too much for really superficial reasons, but I personally adore it. It's the most emotional movie in his filmography, so that might be why it really resonates with me the most. The fact that it's hard science fiction is the icing on top

Well to be honest I understand the criticism, or at least I specifically think the bridging of the "broken family life" and the "space exploration" aspects is clumsily done. It feels very 1960s sci-fi and would probably work better in written form than visually. It basically breaks the suspension of disbelief because to have him floating inside of a black hole and knocking on the back of a bookcase crosses over from sci-fi into fantasy territory. But even so, it's a great movie with top notch performances, awesome visual effects and even a bit of a message about the environment, self-sacrifice for the greater good and all that.

 

[lelouch-was-zero]

1. Interstellar
2. Oppenheimer
3. The Prestige
4. Memento
5. The Dark Knight
6. Inception
7. Dunkirk
8. Batman Begins
9. Insomnia
10. The Dark Knight Rises
11. Tenet (I don't get it)

Personally, Oppenheimer is such a strange movie. It's a mess in my opinion. There's genuine positives but it is incredibly odd(?) with its storytelling choices and also pretty pretentious ngl...

I think my major problem is how Oppenheimer is portrayed. A lot of genuine depth to his character is reduced to his guilt and the Manhattan project which makes him less of a human.

But am curious to know what you think of, considering you seem to rate the movie high.

 

[scaler26]

Personally, Oppenheimer is such a strange movie. It's a mess in my opinion. There's genuine positives but it is incredibly odd(?) with its storytelling choices and also pretty pretentious ngl...

Not sure what you mean by pretentious...

I don't usually care for biographic movies/ books, but I thoroughly enjoyed Oppenheimer. The way it kept changing perspectives between him and Strauss was really cool, it painted a contrasting picture of the person in a way I hadn't seen before in a film like this. Can't say I'm well read on Oppenheimer's life and personality, but I thought they illustrated his struggles in a really compelling way, there was a clear divide before and after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I haven't read it, but as far as I know, the movie is based on the book American Prometheus, maybe your issues with Oppenheimer's portrayal have more to do with that than the film's actual faults?

 

[Walter]

also pretty pretentious ngl...

All his movies are pretentious. He’s like the pretentious Superman. That’s part of the price of admission. What’s special about Oppenheimer in that regard…?

I think my favorite part of that movie is the soundtrack. And yeah Murphy’s performance was the standout.

FWIW: My most memorable moment in Oppenheimer was getting sneezed on in a crowded IMAX theater at its opening weekend and contracting the worst cold of my life.

 

[mathstruggler]

Going to a Nolan flick and being surprised at the pretentiousness is like going to the strip club and covering your eyes when you see titties!

1. Oppenheimer
2. Interstellar
3. The Dark Knight

All favorites.

 

[lelouch-was-zero]

Not sure what you mean by pretentious...

Apologies for late reply! Had some stuff to do. But pretentious, I think his dialogue is way too "flowery". I feel Oppenheimer in this regard , the dialogue feels like it will explore its themes much more but it really ended up not tackling them with same depth as I would have liked.

I haven't read it, but as far as I know, the movie is based on the book American Prometheus, maybe your issues with Oppenheimer's portrayal have more to do with that than the film's actual faults?

Mostly yes. I feel, even the actual "fault" of the film, it is at times, quite unfocused with every 10-15 minutes the sequence is usually Oppenheimer is meeting a new scientist or new discussion over discussion. And Oppenheimer personal life is just badly written and explored imo. I agree with @Walter. I think the best part of Oppenheimer is Murphy's acting and the soundtrack(the soundtrack is just too good).

Also, just remembered. The explosion scene was just so underwhelming, after all the prior hype they had created and the news cum rumour of Nolan apparently using "real explosives".

 

[Walter]

Watched the new Mario movie with my kids last weekend. I enjoyed it a lot more than the first movie, partially because it felt like there was more going on than piling on more hollow references (remember that one?!). I do think watching it with kids is pretty much a requirement. I wouldn't touch this thing if it were just me. The kids also liked it way more than the first movie.

 

[lelouch-was-zero]

Just watched the horror movie 'Obsession'. A really great film! And oh man, its really creepy and scary. I will recommend everyone who's into horror to give this movie a try! Just a really good film and it's the cinematic debut by the director, Curry Barker.

 

[mathstruggler]

Got those Odyssey tickets...

 

[Oburi]

A few weeks back I jokingly said in chat that Tenet was a bad movie and that I enjoyed it like I enjoy watching The Room. That was true! I laughed my way through it the first time, and I did actually enjoy it for that reason.

But since then I've drunk-watched Tenet twice, and I think I actually like it, not just ironically. I laughed at the fumbling tumble fight in the hallway, but now I think it's cool.


Aazealh asked me what changed. Well, instead of trying to sort out in my brain what's happening on screen, I just let it wash over me. And once you've seen it a few times, you're less focused on the causation, so it naturally becomes a more enjoyable experience. I also think I initially took for granted the challenge level of trying to portray action that's forwards and backwards simultaneously. So now i appreciate its execution more, even if it often looks a little goofy.

Naturally, I still have issues. I feel like Nolan had a cool concept that he tried to figure out on screen, and the story and words came later. As a result, the dialogue is still bad. John David Washington was miscast, and pretty much shits the bed as the lead. The backwards driving car that's chasing them... that still looks and feels dumb. But the movie is good enough that it can absorb these hits.

Memento has remained one of my favorite movies in part because I feel it gets better the more times you've seen it. Once you're attuned to the structure, you realize it's been telling you all sorts of things if you'd been paying attention. This is a big factor in what I love about Gene Wolfe's books. You can enjoy them on the first reading, but the second and third offers you new perspectives, once you've been on the journey before. It's pretty rare for stories to have that much to say.

Anyway, that change of heart had me rethinking how I felt about Nolan, since prior to this, Tenet was just one more piece of evidence that latter-day Nolan wasn't for me. So here are my personal rankings:

1. Memento
2. Prestige — probably Nolan's "actual best movie"
3. Tenet
4. Inception — full disclosure: I'd place this lower, but I value my life
5. Interstellar
6. Oppenheimer — a spectacle, but still limited by the trappings of being a biopic
7. Dunkirk
8. Insomnia — I should revisit this one. I really didn't like it at the time because I'd already seen the Norwegian original, which felt dramatically superior.
9. Dark Knight Trilogy — ill always rank costumed superhero movies lower than original movies
10. The Odyssey Trailer

Have you seen Following? It's actually really good! I'd probably rank it after Memento and Prestige. My ranking is probably close to yours, although I haven't seen Oppenheimer (really not a fan of biopics) or Insomnia. I will be seeing the Odyssey though. More out of curiosity than eagerness. The cast raises an eyebrow. But I've been wrong before so who knows

 

[Walter]

I saw Backrooms last night, and I was honestly pretty disappointed. It didn’t feel like a horror movie to me. It’s more a surreal movie with a few jump scares. I was probably supposed to be weirded out by the never-ending backrooms structure, but that concept is just so old to me. Probably just not for me right?

I think the fundamental issue is that the concept itself is quite thin. It isn’t rich enough to maintain interest through a whole movie. As a result, I had expected curveballs that never came. And it never did what great sci-fi does—lull you into a state of understanding, but then throw you off balance by expanding the scope and introducing new puzzles that you can’t immediately solve, leaving you to wonder between every scene before the resolution falls into place. I love that feeling! But I was following along just fine with what was happening on the screen, and I had my own guesses, which played out predictably by the end.

I don’t know… the whole thing just felt like a waste of my time. Maybe I should have just seen Obsession?

 

[maceonik]

I saw Backrooms last night, and I was honestly pretty disappointed.

It definitively felt like a 5 min yt short stretched into a movie.

 

[Aazealh]

I saw Backrooms last night, and I was honestly pretty disappointed. It didn’t feel like a horror movie to me. It’s more a surreal movie with a few jump scares. I was probably supposed to be weirded out by the never-ending backrooms structure, but that concept is just so old to me. Probably just not for me right?

Man that's a real bummer because the trailer had made it feel like there'd be something to it.

 

[TheItCrow]

I don’t know… the whole thing just felt like a waste of my time. Maybe I should have just seen Obsession?

I share your sentiment with that movie. When I said "I totally didn't get it" I meant exactly that: What and why did I just watch?

 

[maceonik]

Since I'd already seen Obsession and there isn't much else playing in theaters (I'm not going to subject myself to watching Toy Story 5 when it should have ended with 2 or 3), I watched Supergirl. The best part was the air conditioning. It’s not bad enough to justify the absolute flop and the online hate (it is bad, just not that bad), but aside from having a small target audience from the moment they decided to make a movie about Supergirl, they made every possible decision to further narrow that audience. It’s too “kid-friendly” for people who like their capeshit darker, but it’s too dark & off-putting to families to be appealing to the general audience. For example. On the one hand, the villains are alien slave-trading pedophiles that want Kara's Ellie... I mean, Luara... I mean, whatever her name was to help "repopulate their planet" and a little girl is murdered on screen; on the other hand, the fight scenes are the usual: weightless CGI, no blood. And the themes aren’t really explored. The flashbacks to Kara’s time on Krypton before its destruction are almost effective… almost… and then her landing consists of her wondering why Superman is wearing his underwear over his clothes while Superman rambles on because they don’t speak the same language.

It has zero clue what it wants to be.

 

[Vampire_Hunter_Bob]

I don’t know… the whole thing just felt like a waste of my time. Maybe I should have just seen Obsession?

I saw Obsession. I loved it. My wife hated it.