tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post4458154046023212629..comments2023-11-27T00:05:29.054-05:00Comments on Medfly Quarantine: In Nolan's DreamsRyan Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18054550377681273142noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post-24036415130772603222010-10-26T22:13:09.819-04:002010-10-26T22:13:09.819-04:00Didn't go see this movie, but I did watch the ...Didn't go see this movie, but I did watch the South Park episode. <br /><br /><br />"Give a hoot, don't pollute."Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12179796086153099632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post-16735904040812556032010-07-27T20:46:32.759-04:002010-07-27T20:46:32.759-04:00I don't think it makes sense in the logical wa...I don't think it makes sense in the logical way Nolan means for it to, and that's because there are gigantic leaps in logic, as there were in <i>The Dark Knight</i>. It wouldn't be such a glaring flaw if Nolan didn't want it to be so 'realistic'. <br /><br />I too thought Murphy was quite good, in fact thought he gave the best performance in the film, and Leo continues to show depth as an actor, though some of the intensity in his performance seems forced. It's just that no one, Gordon-Levitt and Cotillard especially, has much to do, because Nolan's writing is all lifeless exposition.Ryan Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18054550377681273142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post-14780065287066426892010-07-27T11:34:00.292-04:002010-07-27T11:34:00.292-04:00Ryan, I actually feel that Inception makes perfect...Ryan, I actually feel that Inception makes perfect sense, and it tries way too hard to ensure that every step of the way. Why bother tossing your audience into an ocean of purportedly incredible ideas if you're going to strangle them with arm floaties the whole friggin' time? Murphy is very good in the film, and I'm also partial to Gordon-Levitt (even though he has very little to do this time around).rob humanickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03393593631883026810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post-36149699236465772402010-07-23T23:48:01.165-04:002010-07-23T23:48:01.165-04:00Why thank ya!Why thank ya!Ryan Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18054550377681273142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post-15047006676783542902010-07-23T16:09:58.709-04:002010-07-23T16:09:58.709-04:00I just realized the title now after reading the pi...I just realized the title now after reading the piece: GENIOUS! And fuckin hysterical! <br /><br />BANGIN ending sentence! "Nolan stealing our dreams." Sums up his entire pitfall. Beautiful.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post-41334122541703251852010-07-20T18:59:40.139-04:002010-07-20T18:59:40.139-04:00Pat, the film does have the critical community div...Pat, the film does have the critical community divided, in a way <i>The Dark Knight</i> did not (there were dissenters, but not a whole lot, at least it didn't feel that way) oddly enough, it seems to be audiences who are embracing it and, like you, I'm not exactly sure why. It's long, it doesn't make much sense, it's not particularly fun and, despite the fact that it tries to convince you otherwise, it's not particularly meaningful.Ryan Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18054550377681273142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post-3620634401636988562010-07-20T10:32:28.274-04:002010-07-20T10:32:28.274-04:00Ryan -
You get an resoudning "Amen, brother!...Ryan -<br /><br />You get an resoudning "Amen, brother!" from this corner. I can't for the life of me figure out what all the fuss is about. (Love your girlfriend's comment about the cheesburger vs. the whole cow!)<br /><br />A film like "Incerption" would be better left to Terry Gilliam, a director with real imagination and an inate understanding of how to present a dreamscape,Patricia Perryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15394997608325540950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post-31116429901241348952010-07-20T09:42:11.749-04:002010-07-20T09:42:11.749-04:00Tony, I saw Faraci's piece linked in your own ...Tony, I saw Faraci's piece linked in your own excellent piece, but I must say that interpretation doesn't endear the movie to me any more - in fact, it seems to highlight the lack of an imaginative approach to dreamscapes even further. There's just no passion in his portrait of the subconscious, which admittedly wouldn't bother me so much if I was entertained by the movie.<br /><br />I'm not saying that it needed more blatantly surreal things like driving strawberries, but for all the prattling on Nolan does about "projections of the subconscious", these just look like normal people walking around a normal city, and even the things he includes to make the sequences 'dreamy' feel bizarrely normal and commonplace. I wasn't necessarily expecting Lynch or Bunuel, but I was expecting a world that feels different from the one we inhabit. I just felt like the use of dreams was just a way for Nolan to continue his practice of making up the rules for his cinematic world as he goes along.<br /><br />And, yeah, the comparisons to Kubrick are sheer lunacy. As our pal Craig Simpson said on twitter a while back, comparing Nolan to Kubrick is like comparing Dan Brown to Faulkner. Being clearly influenced by him and being the heir to his cinematic legacy are not one and the same.Ryan Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18054550377681273142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post-17267497879928797892010-07-20T09:36:20.164-04:002010-07-20T09:36:20.164-04:00Adam, I agree that it's hard work to write abo...Adam, I agree that it's hard work to write about this movie. I hit dead ends several times while watching this. Like I said in the review, I can't remember the last time I was so bored in a movie theater, and the film's constant desire to impress is probably part of what took me out of it. Nolan seems incapable of making even remotely enjoyable films, even when he's using genre tropes and every action movie cliche in the book. Just because you treat something like it's profound and meaningful doesn't mean it's actually profound and meaningful.<br /><br />I actually disagree on Cillian Murphy, who I thought gave the best performance in the movie, but I've been fond of him for a few years now. He really is extremely talented, and he's capable of playing more than 'the creepy guy'. But, like everyone else in the movie, he's not given much to work with (I felt the worst for poor Marion Cotillard).<br /><br />And another point I'm sad to agree with you on is Zimmer's scores for Nolan's movies - why are they so atonal, so loud and thunderous, deliberately un-melodic? Zimmer's score for <i>Sherlock Holmes</i> was all kinds of genius, unconventional but not as overbearing as his scores for Nolan's films.<br /><br />It's not in my top five of the year, either. It's the worst movie I've seen in a theater in a long time.Ryan Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18054550377681273142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post-82440049956342731142010-07-20T09:26:14.238-04:002010-07-20T09:26:14.238-04:00He certainly isn't the next Kubrick as his che...He certainly isn't the next Kubrick as his cheerleaders contend. But I found INCEPTION to be decent summer action flick. I didn't get up on his stylization of dreams, because believe it or not, not everyone dreams of driving giant-size strawberries to work. Besides, I'm not sure he was really going for the type of surreal dream consciousness you'd see in a Lynch movie, for instance. The movie does work fairly well as an allegory for mounting a film production as Devin Faraci interprets in <a href="http://chud.com/articles/articles/24477/1/NEVER-WAKE-UP-THE-MEANING-AND-SECRET-OF-INCEPTION/Page1.html" rel="nofollow">his great post over at CHUD</a>.Tony Dayoubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04632329277519635858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post-85046229054219789952010-07-20T04:21:55.833-04:002010-07-20T04:21:55.833-04:00It's making my head hurt just thinking about t...It's making my head hurt just thinking about this movie. Even writing about it (i.e. <i>commenting</i> about it) is hard work. I saw <i>Inception</i> about three hours ago and when it was over, I was initially pretty fond of it... but man, is that feeling starting to wear off. It's a chore for me to even try remembering what it was about, and who was what character, etc. Yeah, this movie's probably not going to endure for me in the years to come.<br /><br />We disagreed on <i>Avatar</i> and <i>Toy Story 3</i>, but now you and I are in the same boat, Ryan. Like Carson, I think I sympathize with everything you say here. As I was watching the movie, I kept asking myself, "Well, my dreams are definitely not this ordinary and routine." Who has dreams about business corruption and heist plots to steal the contents of a safe that only matters to maybe a few of the principal characters? Love how you complained of the film's lack of surrealism, too; that immediately occurred to me. Joseph Ruben's <i>Dreamscape</i>, by comparison, is a much more simpler film and yet it's infinitely more surreal. I'll take Dennis Quaid decapitating the Snake-Man (!) over the crumbling Asian palaces of <i>Inception</i> any day.<br /><br />I've already complained about other problems with the movie, like the overbearing Hans Zimmer music and, as you've mentioned here, the droning, incomprehensible dialogue. But I have another axe to grind towards the film's human elements--not just in its cardboard characterization, but in its strange miscasting. Why would you cast Cillian Murphy (who's something of a Jack Nicholson/Christopher Walken type) as the whiny, cowardly young billionaire? In that scene where he's sobbing at Pete Psthlewaite's deathbed, all I could think was: man, Nolan blew a true emotional opportunity here. This scene could have been affecting, and instead it just makes my eyes roll. "I was disappointed because... you <i>tried</i>!" Blah blah blah.<br /><br />The only area in which I differ with you and Carson is in regarding which parts of the movie's structure were most effective. You and Carson enjoyed the beginning, which bored me to tears. I got a "kick" (hehe) out of the 007-type action climax at the ice fortress, which you guys despised. So I guess it's the bravado action sequences that kept me from actually hating the movie. It'll be amusing to see what I think after <i>Inception</i> has aged a bit. Whatever the case, I know one thing's for sure: it's not even in my top five of year.Adam Zanziehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14524618281515322239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post-4670536627750903912010-07-19T23:19:42.424-04:002010-07-19T23:19:42.424-04:00Thank you for the kind words, Carson. I must say I...Thank you for the kind words, Carson. I must say I lost interest in the film pretty quickly, as I did with <i>The Dark Knight</i>, though I think both films have strong openings. I could just see exactly where it was going, and it struck me as exacerbating everything that I've perceived as flaws in his last few movies. I think Nolan has vision and ideas, but his execution leaves something to be desired, which makes his movies incredibly frustrating.Ryan Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18054550377681273142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7569705696893575981.post-12744942221156308232010-07-19T22:58:41.446-04:002010-07-19T22:58:41.446-04:00I definitely agree with you here Ryan. I just summ...I definitely agree with you here Ryan. I just summed up <a href="http://arethehillsgoingtomarchoff.blogspot.com/2010/07/inception-2010-film-by-christopher.html" rel="nofollow">my thoughts</a> today, which were almost as overwhelmingly negative. "Mechanical" is a word I used too; it just does not seem like fitting territory for a filmmaker like Nolan. I don't think I was quite as "profoundly bored" as you, for it took me at least an hour to lose interest in the film, and, hell, it <i>was</i> on an Imax screen, but the very fact that it was on the most immersive 2D surface in the world and still became dull and insipid is a testament to its failure. Nice writeup.Carson Lundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10164962777812861110noreply@blogger.com