Movie Recommendations

Will do hope to go at weekend so will let you know.

 

the Andrei Tarkovsky film Stalker

 

New Sherlock

 

That would be brill, thanks for that!

 

Inception was a total waste of a good idea. So many avenues left unexplored, so many aspects of sleep, dreams and the human subconscious left to one side. When I heard this film was about dreams, the human subconscious and was supposed to be 'really weird' I was sold instantly.
But as it turns out, there was nothing remotely weird about this film at all, and I was totally disappointed by its excrutiatingly bland visual portrayal of dreams (if my dreams were as formulaic and structured as that I would probably read books written in binary, wear a tweed suit and eat nothing but dry bread every day) and complete underuse of an enormous number of ideas that are related to sleep, dreams and sleep patterns which could have made for some real suspense.

 

i thought that's what you did

i agree though it was a wasted opportunity,one of the biggest let downs i've seen.

 

Well true but still...

 

Went in thinking it would be a steaming pile of. Left thinking it was one of the best films of the year.

 

I bought that film when it came out but still haven't watched it. I never seem to be in the right mood for some reason, probably because of all the comments like yours that i've heard about it.

 

If forced, I'd probably rate it about 6/10. It's not terrible, it's quite watchable and has a handful of interesting moments but you have to leave a lot of your brain out in the hallway before pressing play.

I'm not the biggest Christopher Nolan fan anyway; as far as I'm concerned his best film is Insomnia because it is probably the only film he's made where he isn't really obviously attempting some sort of large, bold statement with regards to plot and directorial style. He keeps his directorial touches subtle and understated, works with a great performance from Pacino and lets the plot unfold without overcomplicating everything and getting lost in a huge web of his own making.

 

Inception was piss poor to say the least.

 

How to train a dragon.

 

That is weird actually because I didn't like Insomnia very much because I preferred the Norwegian original (i'm not a fan of re-makes as you've probably already noticed) but generally like Nolan's films, Memento, Dark Knight etc.

Will admit that Pacino was good though ... lets face it he usually is.

 

I've never seen the original - which probably explains why I don't have any issue with Insomnia. I'm very rarely one for remakes too, especially when they're simply remakes for a bigger budget and audience too lazy to read subtitles. I'll take your mention of it as a recommendation though, and look to watching it soon.

Memento irritates me, and I'd probably end up ranting if I explained why . The Dark Knight was pretty good I found, though overrated. The hype around that picture had me thinking I was going to see an absolute masterpiece.

 

I dislike remakes for the same reason. Especially where they are foreign films remade for the English speaking world.

Rant away re Memento ... should be fun I actually like it primarily because of the reverse order concept, but I agree that whilst very good DK was very over hyped.

 

I'll keep it as short as possible, because I actually would be here all day . Granted it's been a few years since I saw it too, but it just seemed an incredibly one dimensional film which relies entirely on the reverse order idea. If you have a film relying solely on one main idea then to me it becomes gimmicky. Moments of true suspense I found to be few and far between and again, rather one dimensional. For me, some of the greatest moments of suspense in film come from a string of complex situations that have culminated and intertwined into one moment, and I feel that a recurring theme in the plots of Nolan's suspense films is that they too often rely on one simple factor. "Oh no, he might get caught." "Oh no, he might die." "Oh no, he might miss the bus." If you get my drift anyway.

 

I agree totally with the bit in bold. I'd go further to say that it has been a very long time since I saw a film which has managed suspense well and I blame the overuse of special effects for that. They get used at the expense of plot, dialogue and quiet threat. Which is why I increasingly am being drawn back to black and white films and Hitchcock because they made suspense without explosions, car chases and flying bullets all of which now bore the **** out of me.

My favourite film is Twelve Angry Men. Totally simple concept, only four locations, just a couple of minor scuffles and no action or special effects and yet has more suspense and drama in it than any ten action films I can think of made in the last twenty years.

I fully understand what you mean about Nolan's single concept failing. His films aren't multi-layered and whilst still one of the better modern directors he falls into the same pitfalls.

 

Twelve Angry Men is one of my absolute favourite films too! You're spot on in bringing it up as an example that beautifully counteracts the overstated, special effects laden messes that you get so often today. Far too many films are now forgetting to keep things simple. Most of my favourite films have few sets, a limited cast and an overtly simple plot that becomes more complex and self reliant as you progress through the film. You get a great claustrophobic sensation from films like that which works supremely well in suspense.

Are you fond of any Aronofsky films? He's one modern director who I feel has found a really sweet balance of intriguing camera use and special effects that compliment the plots very nicely.

 

Only seen three; Pi, the Wrestler and the Fighter. Love all three of them. The Wrestler in particular just leaves me speechless everytime I watch it (and not just because of Rourke and Tomei's performances). One thing I have noticed from these 3 is that he gets great things from his actors and I think that is mostly down to the complex characters he gives them to work with. Like you say he makes real films not action laden messes.

I'm aware that there are a few i'm missing ... Below, the Fountain, Black Swan and Requim for a Dream (have I missed any?).

Would you recommend the ones I haven't seen?

 

Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan, definitely. I'll not give the plots away but a basic outline would be: Requiem for a Dream is pretty depressing stuff, covers different forms and levels of addiction and the psychological effects on people who the addictions hold. Black Swan is just an outright psychological thriller about a ballet dancer who, while training for both Black & White Swan parts in a production of Swan Lake, starts to lose grip a bit and discovers things about her own identity.

My personal favourites of his are Pi, Requiem For a Dream & Black Swan so yep, I'd definitely recommend those two! I think he may have only written the screenplay for 'Below' too rather than directed it - and I wasn't overly keen on that despite it being better than most modern horror films.