Nolan Fans

Sky007 wrote: The problem with that though is you cannot make a high concept complex blockbuster without allowing the average audience members to tag along. I'd love it if he just made it for us and we wouldn't have exposition for the concepts but it simply wouldn't get made. Inception and Interstellar need the exposition. The Prestige, and The Dark Knight have the best dialogue of his films. So it really comes down to him reconciling all of these elements as you say. I think it could be done with something in between the size of The Dark Knight and Interstellar. I have no doubt that he'll perfect all of this together eventually. He's only been making movies for 15 years…. INSANE.

i agree that it's a tremendous challenge, but far from impossible. arguably his biggest influence for Interstellar - 2001 - has next to no exposition (even dialogue is hard enough to come by). and the little exposition it does have is much more about establishing characters than the ideas of the film, unlike Interstellar and Inception. that's not to say Nolan spells everything out, but he spells out quite a bit. he doesn't have to.

wouldn't you love to see what he can do in ten minutes of silence? no dialogue, only the necessary diegetic sound and atmospheric non-diegetic. to clumsily use a quote from Lisa Simpson, "you have to listen to the notes she's not playing."

I'm a John G wrote:

Sky007 wrote: The problem with that though is you cannot make a high concept complex blockbuster without allowing the average audience members to tag along. I'd love it if he just made it for us and we wouldn't have exposition for the concepts but it simply wouldn't get made. Inception and Interstellar need the exposition. The Prestige, and The Dark Knight have the best dialogue of his films. So it really comes down to him reconciling all of these elements as you say. I think it could be done with something in between the size of The Dark Knight and Interstellar. I have no doubt that he'll perfect all of this together eventually. He's only been making movies for 15 years…. INSANE.

i agree that it's a tremendous challenge, but far from impossible. arguably his biggest influence for Interstellar - 2001 - has next to no exposition (even dialogue is hard enough to come by). and the little exposition it does have is much more about establishing characters than the ideas of the film, unlike Interstellar and Inception. that's not to say Nolan spells everything out, but he spells out quite a bit. he doesn't have to.

wouldn't you love to see what he can do in ten minutes of silence? no dialogue, only the necessary diegetic sound and atmospheric non-diegetic. to clumsily use a quote from Lisa Simpson, "you have to listen to the notes she's not playing."

Oh I'd love to see Nolan try less dialogue. I think The Prestige does the best "show don't tell" of his films. I love hearing his characters talk though so I'm not really bothered by it. It's for that reason Interstellar engages me more than 2001, which I also love. A Cooper that didn't talk would sadden me. I loved hearing him talk about the world. And I still think there is a ton of shit people don't see in his films. I still maintain that The Prestige and Inception and now Interstellar go over 90% of people's heads. Nolan's greatest innovation are in his narrative structure and his tying together of form, character, and themes. Hitchcock said "Don't tell, show". Well Nolan says "Don't tell. Don't show. Experience." With each film you can see him furthering part of his craft. Soon he'll put it all together and I cannot wait to see it.

I'd say The Dark Knight is still his magnum opus.

Oh, It's The Dark Knight for sure for me. Inception is a little overrated in my opinion because it's bogged down by its dialogue - the repetetive nature of it and the constant and relentless explanation. And while still an amazing action film with many original visuals, they never capitalised on the power of dreams and its limitless possibilities.

The Dark Knight on the other side is a masterpiece of the crime genre, it's like Michael Mann's Heat but with Batman and Joker. The only gripe that I can find with this film is that PG-13 is noticable at times (lack of blood). Other than that it has an amazing score, fantastic acting (not only Ledger but also Eckhardt and even Bale, although he's actually much better in TDKR), great cinematography, terrific story and memorable writing. And it's just a kicki-ass action movie with a real political and sociological message with characters that feel real thrown into the mix. All the pieces work together perfectly.

To me his films go like this:
1) The Dark Knight
2) Memento
3) Interstellar
4) The Dark Knight Rises
5) The Prestige
6) Batman Begins
7) Inception
8) Insomnia
9) Following

I'm a John G wrote:

Sky007 wrote: The problem with that though is you cannot make a high concept complex blockbuster without allowing the average audience members to tag along. I'd love it if he just made it for us and we wouldn't have exposition for the concepts but it simply wouldn't get made. Inception and Interstellar need the exposition. The Prestige, and The Dark Knight have the best dialogue of his films. So it really comes down to him reconciling all of these elements as you say. I think it could be done with something in between the size of The Dark Knight and Interstellar. I have no doubt that he'll perfect all of this together eventually. He's only been making movies for 15 years…. INSANE.

i agree that it's a tremendous challenge, but far from impossible. arguably his biggest influence for Interstellar - 2001 - has next to no exposition (even dialogue is hard enough to come by). and the little exposition it does have is much more about establishing characters than the ideas of the film, unlike Interstellar and Inception. that's not to say Nolan spells everything out, but he spells out quite a bit. he doesn't have to.

wouldn't you love to see what he can do in ten minutes of silence? no dialogue, only the necessary diegetic sound and atmospheric non-diegetic. to clumsily use a quote from Lisa Simpson, "you have to listen to the notes she's not playing."

Nolans magum opus is Inception and it's not even close.This was bogged down massively by the incompetent Lead actor bale

SHOW, Mr. Nolan. don't TELL.

Telling the audience instead of showing works greatly to his adventage when he approaches plot with subjective vs. objective. And he still doesn't explain anything substantial. In TDK, when Harvey and Rachel are kidnapped, you think that scene would've worked better if Nolan filmed the actual kidnapping of them and showed it us beforehand? No, it would've killed all the suspense. It's better to leave an open question and then have the character tell us what has happened, so that we would have more things left to our imagination, instead of showing us what has happened, thus no visual ambiguity to us. And that approach is constant throughout his films. He gives dialogue for you to create your own image of the events instead of actually showing the events. Nolan studied literature. He's a bookworm. That's why he approaches his movies as books. Books give you an explanation of the image, and then you create image in your head, and each person has a different image.

Hi guys first time poster here. Just wanted to say Dark Knight is easily Nolan's masterpiece, and my favorite film of his. Few film in my lifetime have blown me away in the same way this did. I just find it interesting how well this film has aged. In many ways it's more relevant now than it was in 2008.

Yep, TDK is the best one although I must say I really enjoyed Dunkirk, which I prefer to Inception.