Drive and War Horse are my masterpieces for that year. It will still take another 10 years or so though for most to realize War Horse is a masterpiece.

Off topic from the main discussion, but I just want to stress:

The Prestige is Christopher Nolan's best film. It amazes me how I can watch one scene from it and still get so much from it. I really need to watch it again and analyze it more.

Bacon wrote:Off topic from the main discussion, but I just want to stress:

The Prestige is Christopher Nolan's best film. It amazes me how I can watch one scene from it and still get so much from it. I really need to watch it again and analyze it more.

I'm surprised that its your favorite since its a pretty nihilistic film. Angier's cloning binge implies theres no soul and him and Bordon both have nihilistic monologues. Bordon tells Angier that the only way to escape the misery of existence is to devote oneself entirely to his craft. When they're watching the Chinaman fake his condition he applauds him and says "thats the only way to escape all of this" and then he taps his fist against a solid wall. This materialistic angst is touched on again when Angier says as he's dying "the audience knows the truth, the world is simple, miserable, solid all the way through". The last line of the film is "you want to be fooled" meaning you'd rather not know that truth.

It is a tad strange for my favorite film of his is the most depressing and hopeless, yes. But that's not why it's my favorite. It's my favorite because it's his best. Everything is at its best in terms of quality in all categories. And it's all brilliant.

It's a legitimately a perfect film. And it IS Nolan. Everything he'll ever explore is in it. Essentially, if his filmography is a big interlocking tesseract, all of his films are connected at the middle with The Prestige. His central thesis of his filmography is a materialistic one. Everything can be explained. But he's devoted to explaining the wonders of a materialistic world. REAL magic does exist, but it's advanced science. A dream (or film) is as valid as reality. After a parent dies they may just go to another dimension beyond ours (imo Interstellar nearly tops The Prestige).

Angier rephrases his statement of "Man's reach exceeds his grasp" to "Man's reach exceeds his imagination" because he realizes that the problem with the world is not that it is simple but that people lack the imagination to see the complexity of the world. This is more or less what Nolan says with all of his films.

I've never seen a perfect movie

ChristNolan wrote:I've never seen a perfect movie

Then actually get to watching the film we're talking about, bub.

Sky007 wrote:It's a legitimately a perfect film. And it IS Nolan. Everything he'll ever explore is in it. Essentially, if his filmography is a big interlocking tesseract, all of his films are connected at the middle with The Prestige. His central thesis of his filmography is a materialistic one. Everything can be explained. But he's devoted to explaining the wonders of a materialistic world. REAL magic does exist, but it's advanced science. A dream (or film) is as valid as reality. After a parent dies they may just go to another dimension beyond ours (imo Interstellar nearly tops The Prestige).

Angier rephrases his statement of "Man's reach exceeds his grasp" to "Man's reach exceeds his imagination" because he realizes that the problem with the world is not that it is simple but that people lack the imagination to see the complexity of the world. This is more or less what Nolan says with all of his films.

Bacon wrote:

ChristNolan wrote:I've never seen a perfect movie

Then actually get to watching the film we're talking about, bub.

Perfect it ain't

shauner111 wrote:I liked Warrior but it's a bit predictable and I didn't think it was as good as The Fighter, or Creed or Rocky 1 & 2, or Raging Bull.

I love The Fighter, and Russell's work generally, but that one just didn't resonate with me the same. Creed was very enjoyable, and finally, when he tells us his motivation, I felt emotionally invested in him. Solid flick. I love Raging Bull and Rocky 2 but I'll still take Warrior.

Warrior is paced so well, and I love how PURELY BADASS Tom Hardy is. Most fighting movies will have the very talented up-and-comer get one real good challenge on his way up the ranks, but Tom Hardy's character didn't have a single challenge until he fought his brother, and I love it. Nick Nolte was fabulous. The wife was smoking hot. And the last 5 minutes is just beautiful.

As for 2011, I'll agree. Solid year. I like Drive a lot (too violent for my tastes though...), despite it's slow pacing. That was a film where I really felt fucked over by the marketing. I should know to never trust marketing, but I wasn't expecting such a quiet and somber film. It works for it, but it threw me off on my first viewing.

Dragon Tattoo is a quality movie. I don't see why people hate on it. That being said, it get's lost in the blur of GREAT films made by Fincher.