Posts Tagged ‘Christopher Nolan’
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Jun17
A PERFECTIONIST WITH ACCESS TO THE NECRONOMICON
June 17th, 2005 |
(7 votes, average: 8.71 out of 10)
When people go to see Batman Begins this weekend, there will be rave reviews of how the undead Laurence Olivier knocked it out of the park with his cameo appearance. Mark my words.
Quick note: Be sure to place your bids on the auction I’m having for an original piece of artwork over on eBay. There are only 2 days left, so be sure you don’t miss out on the action. I was really pleased with how this piece turned out and hopefully it will make one of you very happy to own it.
Now, onto the comic!
Is it relatively clear that the angry director in today’s strip is Christopher Nolan? I’m always a little paranoid when it comes to my celebrity caricatures. Especially when it comes to celebrities people aren’t very familiar with. EVEN MORE ESPECIALLY when it’s a director with only 3 films under his belt.
That’s why I’ve included this handy picture for reference. That, kids… is Christopher Nolan, director of Batman Begins. See? We learn something new every day!
It’s insane the level of talent Nolan has attracted to his relaunch of the Batman franchise. Who cares if Morgan Freeman admitted to taking the role strictly for the money? This film has Oscar winners and nominees littered all over the place like used bubble gum.
I suppose Nolan’s pedigree directing and writing the extremely intelligent Memento and his confident handling of the remake of Insomnia would inspire some confidence. But wouldn’t David S. Goyer’s name on the script raise a few eyebrows of suspicion? Let’s face it – Blade: Trinity was not Bridge of the River Kwai.
Of course Goyer brought us good films like Dark City, but I would say that was more a success for director Alex Proyas, whose amazing visuals sold that film to me lock, stock and barrel. Meanwhile, Goyer’s credits are more bad than good. After all, this was the man who penned the Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV movie starring… wait for it… David Hasselhoff. So Goyer has some sins to answer for.
Still, from the sound of things, his Batman Begins script is very strong. All the feedback I’ve been hearing since it opened to $15 million on Wednesday has been positive. MORE than positive, actually. “Enthusiastic” would be more like it.
This has been pure torture for me, though. Because I am trying to stay away from spoilers. I accidentally read a preview that gave away the ending shot between Gary Oldman’s Detective Gordon and Christian Bale’s Batman – naturally setting the stage for the sequel. But even with that nugget of information, I’m far more interested in the unfolding of the mythology – just to see if they get it right.
The reason I haven’t seen the movie yet is because Cami is pursuing her MBA and started her summer semester this week. She’s taking a condensed course that will rocket her through her workload in something like 7 classes. The bad news is, she’s been out of the house most of this week. An evening class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 5PM until 10PM, plus an ALL DAY class from 8AM to 5PM tomorrow, then back to the evening class routine next week and she’ll be done.
In the meantime, she’s too exhausted to go out and see movies. Understandably so! So I am left patiently waiting from her to come down from her education O.D.
She’s told me to go ahead and see the movie without her. And even though I will probably see Batman Begins multiple times, I don’t roll like that. I’ll wait. For me this isn’t a movie that it would be nice for her to see. I think it’s a movie she SHOULD see. If it’s as good as everyone says it is, maybe it’ll open the door a little wider for her to understand my adolescent admiration of these characters.
And a little understanding between husband and wife never hurts, right? ;D
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I think the reason Inception went over so well this weekend (to the tune of $61 million) is because it works on multiple levels. And if you’ve seen the movie, no – that is not a pun.
Inception has both visceral and intellectual thrills. I think you can figure out that comic-Tom is probably responding to the former rather than the latter. But for real-life Tom, I found myself thoroughly engrossed by all of the film’s many facets.
Inception is the rare Hollywood blockbuster that rewards you for having an attention span longer than 5 minutes. There’s a lot going on in this movie – some high-concept stuff. But it never treats the audience like idiots and leaves a pretty clear trail of breadcrumbs for you to follow as it establishes the rules at play in its universe.
At it’s core, Inception is a heist movie and I love how they gave each of the players a specific role – The Point Man, The Chemist, The Architect, etc. Everyone is sharply dressed in elegant suits and form-fitting vests as they trot around the globe on personal jets for high-profile and dangerous clients.
Incidentally, Christopher Nolan has expressed an interest in directing a James Bond movie. After watching Inception, I say LET HIM!
A few things that crossed my mind while watching Inception:
- The weightless fight sequence in the hotel hallway succinctly and authoritatively spit in the eye of Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski and everything they accomplished with The Matrix.
- The physical prowess Joseph Gordon-Levitt displays in that sequence puts his Donald O’Connor homage from hosting Saturday Night Live last year in a completely different context. If I could find a clip right now, I’d be sharing it.
- Between Inception and Shutter Island, Leonard DiCaprio (or “Leo-Dio,” as I like to call him) has delivered two fascinating portraits of broken family men wrestling with their subconscious. Maybe it was the suits, but for some reason, I kept thinking of Jimmy Stewart’s performance in Vertigo while watching DiCaprio in Inception. I think when The Academy puts together his inevitable lifetime achievement reel, people are going to look back to this time as the height of his power.
- Lastly, I don’t want to say too much about the ending. But I have to share it was probably one of the best audience reactions I’ve heard in theater in a long time.
So, what about you guys? Did you see Inception over the weekend? What did you think? Leave your comments below and let’s see if we can untangle the Christmas lights this movie left behind in our brains, shall we?
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The internet is ON FIRE right now due to the press release sent by Warner Bros. announcing that Anne Hathaway has been added to the cast of The Dark Knight Rises as Selina Kyle – otherwise known at Catwoman.
Tom Hardy (who we already knew was involved in production) was also confirmed to play Bane – the villain who let loose all of the prisoners in Arkham Asylum before wearing down Batman’s defenses and breaking his back in the Knightfall story arc from the early 90s.
If you’re not familiar with the comics, Bane was also the goofy looking muscle-bound goon from 1997’s Batman & Robin and was previously played by professional wrestler Jeep Swenson.
The online consensus seems to be largely positive surrounding these announcements. Although I most closely associate Hardy with his reedy, sniveling performance as Praetor Shinzon in the much-loathed Star Trek: Nemesis, if you’ve seen him in Bronson or Warrior, you know that he’s capable to bulking up. I’m not worried about him.
It’s Anne Hathaway I’m scratching my head about.
The appeal of Catwoman has always been a strong mix between her street smarts and pin-up sultriness – neither of which Hathaway possess.
Don’t get my wrong. I like Anne Hathaway as an actress. I think she’s affable and makes good choices. I’m just not sure if she’s the right fit for Catwoman. She’s too “girl-next-door” to me. She’s not aggressive enough in my eyes to do the character justice.
I guess I don’t know who I would have cast from the current crop of Hollywood starlets for the role. Gina Gershon from about 10 years ago would have been good. Too old now.
Truthfully, Maggie Gyllenhaal would have been a good choice if she hadn’t already been cast (and killed) in The Dark Knight. She seems resilient and the product of an urban upbringing. And if you’ve seen Secretary, you KNOW she can do sultry.
Alas, it’s not to be.
More than anything, I guess I’m confused by the choices director Christopher Nolan is making for his villains. Catwoman and Bane? I mean, if you played them right, both characters could be seen as emotionally manipulating Batman. The original draft of Bane in the comics had him paired as a strategic equal to The Dark Knight. But over time, his cunning has been buried under a mountain of muscle that other writers have handcuffed him to.
I would think that a filmmaker as cerebral as Nolan would have had a field day with The Riddler or Hugo Strange. And by the way… what happened to those rumors?
I don’t know. I guess if Nolan sees something in the capability of these actors, then I have to trust him. But my gut is telling me this is a misfire.
What’s your take? Leave your comments below!
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As promised, here are the nominees for the 2011 Academy Awards.
Scroll down for knee-jerk, armchair analysis below.
| BEST PICTURE 127 Hours Black Swan The Fighter Inception The Kids Are All Right The King’s Speech The Social Network Toy Story 3 True Grit Winter’s Bone BEST ACTOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR BEST ACTRESS BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS BEST DIRECTOR BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY BEST SCORE BEST SONG BEST ANIMATED FILM BEST VISUAL EFFECTS |
BEST ART DIRECTION Alice in Wonderland, Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara Happy Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1, Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan Inception, Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Doug Mowat The King’s Speech, Eve Stewart, Judy Farr True Grit, Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY BEST COSTUME DESIGN BEST DOCUMENTARY BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT BEST EDITING BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM BEST MAKEUP BEST ANIMATED SHORT BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT BEST SOUND EDITING BEST SOUND MIXING |
Okay… so looking at these nominations, what am I most struck by?
Well, I was certainly pleased to see Toy Story 3 among the Best Picture nominees. Are they trying to round out the category to meet the 10-nominee criteria the Academy set forth last year? Maybe, but I don’t care.
Up was similarly nominated last yet, but it wasn’t coming into the category from a position of strength like Toy Story 3 is.
Toy Story 3 was the best reviewed, highest grossing film last year. It’ll be interesting to me to see if that colors the opinion of Academy voters.
Also, I think this is the only “threequel” to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar since The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King. Will the Academy give Pixar a “gold watch” Oscar for their achievement in animation for the last 15 years? Hear’s hoping!
The King’s Speech leads the pack this year with 12 nominations, which kind of surprised me after The Social Network scooped up so many awards at the Golden Globes last week. I’m not upset about it because I happen to think The King’s Speech is the better film – stronger performances and more entertaining. I think The Social Network is very much a film of the moment and notable for that reason. But The King’s Speech is more old-school Hollywood entertainment and is much more satisfying.
I’m kicking myself now that I didn’t write a review of the film after seeing it. If you haven’t checked it out yet, do yourself a favor and get caught up!
Aside from that, my strongest reaction is reserved for the Best Director nominations. It is absolutely CRIMINAL that Christopher Nolan wasn’t nominated for Inception. A richly layered, technically complex and nuanced narrative WRITTEN BY Nolan… and he isn’t recognized. That’s a sin, man. The worst Oscar snub in years.
Apparently the Academy has some kind of axe to grind with Nolan because they locked Nolan out of Best Director a few years ago for The Dark Knight.
Both Inception and The Dark Knight have been nominated in several technical categories. But apparently the Academy thinks of Nolan like some kind of James Cameron figure – an effects hog that dresses up his direction with technology.
I can think of nothing further from the truth.
Here’s my reasoning behind why this was such an egregious snub: Among the directors nominated, David Fincher and MAYBE Darren Aronofsky have the chops to direct a film as complicated as Inception. But Nolan would have no problem directing films like Black Swan, True Grit, The Social Network, The King’s Speech or The Fighter – all films nominated for direction. Nolan could direct those films with one hand tied behind his back.
Nolan was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. If the Academy doesn’t give him AT LEAST that, it would be a damn shame.
The Academy is setting themselves up for another Scorsese-level bout of public humiliation for not recognizing Nolan’s talent sooner. It’s disgusting.
Alright, now that I got that out of my system, what’s your take on these nominations? Was there anything I left out that you wanted to discuss? Leave your comments below!
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