Christopher Nolan

MoeDantes

I'd honestly say Del Toro is a good director. Granted, I hated Pan's Labyrinth, but not for any problems with his direction but just because I thought the story was stupid.

I was interested in the upcoming The Hobbit movie until I heard he stepped down.

Ah.

Well, as you wish.

I kind of had to cut myself off earlier (appointment) but anyway, besides Nolan's own directoral problems (I really HATE the constant jump-cuts) his Batman movies are afflicted with something very similar to the new Doctor Who--he's a fanboy who is too in love with the source material and his movies come off as basically fanfics that got filmed. And neither of them are as good as that story I wrote where I played up Batman as a mysterious figure.

Malkavian

Vivi: Obviously, Del Toro. Raimi isn't really considered one of the 'greats' but he always comes to great reviews. There's also Peter Jackson (who was actually going to head the Nightmare remake, grumble grumble) Edgar Wright certainly counts too, even if he's yet to do anything 'heavy'.

Vivi

Yeah, Wright hasn't really done anything "heavy", but of his movies I've seen, I've loved.

Malkavian

He did Hot Fuzz and Shaun of The Dead. He has my love.

Vivi

He did Scott Pilgrim and Paul. He has mine.

MillerCross

Where are these "new era" directors coming from?

I never went to film school; I went to films. --- Quentin Tarantino. 

(What? I love that quote)

MillerCross

He did Hot Fuzz and Shaun of The Dead. He has my love.

I honestly think that Shaun Pegg and Nick Frost had more intervention in the sucess of those than Edgar Wright. 

Vivi

Thank you for showing me that quote Juan. I'm going to write it down right now. I keep a list of director and writer quotes that inspire me.

DonZabu

IJBM: The way people blame Inception itself for the "OMGCOMPLICATEDMINDBLOWN"* reaction, rather than blaming the audience that had that reaction.

*I don't believe the actual reaction was anywhere close to that.

Malkavian

^^^They're a great comedy duo and the certainly lifted the film, but I really have a hard time seeing Wright as not being completely involved in the project.

^Agreed, though I'll say from first-hand experience there were people like that.

Of course they probably thought The Matrix was earth-shattering too... >_>

MillerCross

Agreed, DonZabu. 

@Malkavian: Not saying that Edgar Wright didn't have anything to do with it. I just think that for all the visual tricks and cues Wright added to the films, it was their script (Penned by Pegg and Wright with added jokes by Frost) what made them rock. And I fel that Pegg is the one that makes them work.

Basically, I think Scott Pilgrim is shit. There ya go, long rambling short.

Vivi

I'll admit, the first time I watched Inception, I wasn't really watching it...

MillerCross

--whistles innocently--

Malkavian

One thing that Nolan also really gets is new-age marketing. The dude is knows exactly how to due viral marketing and he did it perfectly for both The Dark Knight and Inception.

Wicked223

Was Nolan the one who handled the marketing? That seems weird...

MillerCross

I think that's more her wife's job, wasn't it?

Wicked: From what I know, she wasn't. 

Malkavian

^^He was involved at least somewhat. Obviously he didn't design the games or anything, but he did talk to marketing and such.

Vivi

I'd like to learn how he does that. It would be immensely helpful.

Malkavian

\

Not aimed at anyone in particular. I just wanted to post that.

MillerCross

Saved.

mathias

I like Nolan's movies, but I don't love them. He is certainly a competent director and his movies are generally either interesting (Inception/Memento/Prestige) or entertaining (Dark Knight/Inception), but I wouldn't put him alongside the great names of cinematic history, at least not on the strength of his current output. While it's good it just lacks that extra something. I guess a big problem I have with most of his movies, which I admit might be a personal problem, is that while I find the concept/story interesting, the actual characters kind of bore me and the execution at times leaves quite a bit to be desired. This is despite the characters being interesting on paper and having lots of emotionally investing development, so I can only assume that it's something about the directing or the acting that kind of leaves me cold. On that note, while I did say that I find the concepts interesting, they are also much simpler than a lot of people make them out to be and in some cases the story is really kind of one-note, IE Memento when you get used to the backwards order. I mean, until I see something on the level of say Ikiru or A Clockwork Orange from him, I'd hesitate to put him anywhere near the list of great directors.

MillerCross

While Memento is definetly a movie based on a gimmick which I found to be a bit too tied to it, I'd never call it one note.

Also, I should say, I've found that he gets incredibly better at writing characters as he goes along.

mathias

One-note might have been the wrong word to use, I guess that what I meant is that once you get past "the gimmick" the story doesn't stand out all that much, though that's not to say that it's bad. I guess the "too tied to the gimmick" description was pretty much what I was trying to go for and failing at.

It is actually a good point about the character thing, I certainly found that the characters of Inception felt more like real humans and were better executed than those of The Prestige. With time he might get there, but right now he just isn't, in my opinion. And he might never be. But here's to hoping, because more great directors can only be a good thing. Of course immediately going to Kurosawa and Kubrick for comparison might not have been entirely fair either. But as for an example of a currently living director whom I prefer to Nolan: Terry Gilliam (though his last really great movie was Tideland, Doctor Parnassus was merely OK).