Nolan Fans

Dunno how many times I've watched this scene, but probably more than a hundred

Lars von Trier's MELANCHOLIA

I usually hate this man's work but this film left me in awe.

I wouldn't even hesitate in calling it a masterpiece.

Return of the Jedi

Watched this with friends because we were showing one of our friends Star Wars for the first time. He loved all three of the original trilogy which led us to...

The Force Awakens

I was really excited to watch this directly after VI and I was surprised at how well this holds up next to the originals. Nothing really felt formulaic or rehashed (even if some similarities are), and I still love this movie and it's new characters so much. JJ rose to the occasion. My friend (who was going in completely blind watching them for the first time), would jump or get really excited at all the right moments when old characters would come in or the twists happened. To me, it looked like he was almost coming to tears over the thing and he watched 4 and 5 just a month ago. It was a pretty great time.

The Breakfast Club

Our friend hadn't seen this film either so we watched it.

RIFA wrote:Inception is the worst for me.

I just can't get through 60+ minutes of hard exposition after repeated viewings. It gives me a headache.

Hard exposition would be if Nolan literally walked in front of the camera and spelled out what's going on.

By that logic, The Matrix (a clear source of inspiration) also had headache inducing hard exposition.

It's not nearly that bad, especially when the "exposition" part is not only intended to be entertaining, but also carries emotional and psychological meaning. It's also integral to understanding the rules of the universe (which are subsequently broken as the film progresses for thematic and narrative reasons). Cobb is teaching and guiding Ariadne through the second act, and then that dynamic is turned on its head as Ariadne begins to truly understand the depth of Cobb's psychosis. It's the whole basis for both the unreliable narrator and traitorous mentor tropes Nolan uses in his films.

The exposition scenes are there not only to explain the rules, but also have the audience subconsciously place their trust in Cobb until that's used against them as the film goes on.

Cilogy wrote:

RIFA wrote:Inception is the worst for me.

I just can't get through 60+ minutes of hard exposition after repeated viewings. It gives me a headache.

Hard exposition would be if Nolan literally walked in front of the camera and spelled out what's going on.

By that logic, The Matrix (a clear source of inspiration) also had headache inducing hard exposition.

It's not nearly that bad, especially when the "exposition" part is not only intended to be entertaining, but also carries emotional and psychological meaning. It's also integral to understanding the rules of the universe (which are subsequently broken as the film progresses for thematic and narrative reasons). Cobb is teaching and guiding Ariadne through the second act, and then that dynamic is turned on its head as Ariadne begins to truly understand the depth of Cobb's psychosis. It's the whole basis for both the unreliable narrator and traitorous mentor tropes Nolan uses in his films.

The exposition scenes are there not only to explain the rules, but also have the audience subconsciously place their trust in Cobb until that's used against them as the film goes on.

£

Cilogy wrote:

RIFA wrote:Inception is the worst for me.

I just can't get through 60+ minutes of hard exposition after repeated viewings. It gives me a headache.

Hard exposition would be if Nolan literally walked in front of the camera and spelled out what's going on.

By that logic, The Matrix (a clear source of inspiration) also had headache inducing hard exposition.

It's not nearly that bad, especially when the "exposition" part is not only intended to be entertaining, but also carries emotional and psychological meaning. It's also integral to understanding the rules of the universe (which are subsequently broken as the film progresses for thematic and narrative reasons). Cobb is teaching and guiding Ariadne through the second act, and then that dynamic is turned on its head as Ariadne begins to truly understand the depth of Cobb's psychosis. It's the whole basis for both the unreliable narrator and traitorous mentor tropes Nolan uses in his films.

The exposition scenes are there not only to explain the rules, but also have the audience subconsciously place their trust in Cobb until that's used against them as the film goes on.

Not only that, but the so called "exposition" scenes are entirely about exploring the limits of creativity and consciousness. These scenes work on quite a few levels, the "exposition" aspect is the least of it. Not to mention the cold open is cinematic storytelling at its finest.


-Vader

I have a feeling you guys won't have much else to say once we hit Nolan peaks in dedicated thread but oh well... Apropos exposition I'm fine with it until Mendelsohn says: 'A clean slate... You mean the program that wipes away your criminal record blah-blah' (paraphrasing), god I hate that part every time even if it's necessary.

m4st4 wrote:I have a feeling you guys won't have much else to say once we hit Nolan peaks in dedicated thread but oh well... Apropos exposition I'm fine with it until Mendelsohn says: 'A clean slate... You mean the program that wipes away your criminal record blah-blah' (paraphrasing), god I hate that part every time even if it's necessary.

We're talking about Inception, not TDKR.

TDKR and Stellar are by far his messiest movies and I doubt anyone here disagrees.


-Vader

I actually have a theory to very conveniently justify shit like that in TDKR, which I'll save for the viewing party.

Cilogy wrote:I actually have a theory to very conveniently justify shit like that in TDKR, which I'll save for the viewing party.

Thanks! Pace yourselves boys, we have nine weeks to fill that thread with gems (Pedal faster! Exposition maestro! How did Bruce sneak past Bane's guards in TDKR etc. etc)