Is Chris Nolan On Track To Becoming The Best Director Ever?

[Blackhole]

I prefer Tim Burton's Batman to The Dark Knight

 

[RoboDad]

Yeah but if he hadn't done all those projects you say were amateur and student projects then he would not have learned from his experiences and might not be the legend that he is today, Nolan's student projects are award winning or Oscar nominees.

Ummm... No. This is why these fanboy-generated threads are so frustrating and pointless. You want to compare Nolan's early body of work to Spielberg's? More power to ya. It's a totally clueless comparison, but you are free to make it.

 

[wofford29]

I have to admit I like it when people call Nolan one of the best directors ever, because it tells me right away the person I'm talking is probably clueless about cinematic history and thus probably not worth taking too seriously in a discussion about the best directors ever.

The really telling part in my opinion is that his most vocal supporters appear incapable of explaining why. What has he added to the language of cinema? How has he used the language of cinema? Hands up everyone who's even seen Doodlebug or Following or the original version of Insomnia, which most critics said was far better than his remake?

I think really we're looking at three properties here:

• Memento, which was solid but remarkable more for its narrative gimmick than anything else, and certainly not remarkable from a directing standpoint.

• The Prestige, which is more or less a repeat of the strengths and flaws of Memento and which usually gets acclaim for its titular revelation than direction.

• Batman, which again is more noted for its approach to the story (the mooted "realistic" take) than its actual direction, which unfortunately contains significant editing errors and - egregiously for an action movie - some dreadful fight direction.

I remember when The Matrix was considered the second coming of cinema among geeks who weren't actually familiar with cinematic history. Now it's just collecting dust on the DVD shelf. The Dark Knight is a good movie but it's nothing without Heath Ledger, and in five years it'll be sitting next to The Matrix collecting dust. Nolan's biggest skill is tricking his audience into thinking the movie they're watching is a film.

You keep arguing this, but you've yet to post any original thought of your own as to why he's not a talented director. You argue you've never met anyone versed in film who thinks he's anything but decent, which is a "my world" opinion that can easily be reversed the other way. In fact I've never met anyone versed in film that thought he was merely a mediocre director. I'm versed in film and open minded in the world of art and think it's foolish to suggest anyone is the best at anything. This whole arguement is ludicrous and is eerily simliar to Roman Polanski's early days in Hollywood when he became the toast of the town. You'll always have detractors of those that recieve immediate success and acclaim from the industry, critics, and audiences. No matter how outspoken about it and what little niche you guys hang out in you'll always be in the overwhelming minority. There's nothing wrong with that, but when you state opinion like it's truth it gets to be old and cumbersome. I think all 3 Spiderman films are absolute garbage, but I'm not naive enough to think I'm somehow the only one right in a world that would prove me completely wrong. Nolan's career is young, he's talented, he's successful and is one of a handful of young directors that has yet to make a bad film. You don't have to reinvent the wheel with every picture to be accomplished. Best ever absolutely not...20 years down the road perhaps, no, but does he need to be? Is it not acceptable to speculate he may one day be considered among the greats? It'll always be a subjective arguement that's better served without all the pomposity.

p.s. Yes I've seen Doodlebug, the Following and I've seen the original Insomnia which is great, but Nolan's remake is much fresher IMO and I've not seen a majority of any critical circle hail the original over his take. You may be thinking of the minority again.

 

[Sonic The MadHOG]

Ummm... No. This is why these fanboy-generated threads are so frustrating and pointless. You want to compare Nolan's early body of work to Spielberg's? More power to ya. It's a totally clueless comparison, but you are free to make it.

What I meant was Nolan didn't have any experience when he made his first movie & Spielberg did.

 

[Sonic The MadHOG]

You keep arguing this, but you've yet to post any original thought of your own as to why he's not a talented director. You argue you've never met anyone versed in film who thinks he's anything but decent, which is a "my world" opinion that can easily be reversed the other way. In fact I've never met anyone versed in film that thought he was merely a mediocre director. I'm versed in film and open minded in the world of art and think it's foolish to suggest anyone is the best at anything. This whole arguement is ludicrous and is eerily simliar to Roman Polanski's early days in Hollywood when he became the toast of the town. You'll always have detractors of those that recieve immediate success and acclaim from the industry, critics, and audiences. No matter how outspoken about it and what little niche you guys hang out in you'll always be in the overwhelming minority. There's nothing wrong with that, but when you state opinion like it's truth it gets to be old and cumbersome. I think all 3 Spiderman films are absolute garbage, but I'm not naive enough to think I'm somehow the only one right in a world that would prove me completely wrong. Nolan's career is young, he's talented, he's successful and is one of a handful of young directors that has yet to make a bad film. You don't have to reinvent the wheel with every picture to be accomplished. Best ever absolutely not...20 years down the road perhaps, no, but does he need to be? Is it not acceptable to speculate he may one day be considered among the greats? It'll always be a subjective arguement that's better served without all the pomposity.

p.s. Yes I've seen Doodlebug, the Following and I've seen the original Insomnia which is great, but Nolan's remake is much fresher IMO and I've not seen a majority of any critical circle hail the original over his take. You may be thinking of the minority again.

 

[RoboDad]

What I meant was Nolan didn't have any experience when he made his first movie & Spielberg did.

Incorrect again. Nolan had plenty of experience making student films while a member of the college film society at University College London.

See, this is the thing. Nolan is a good director. He's not a hack, but he's also not the greatest director ever, and he has shown no signs (yet) of ever becoming such. But trying to build him up into something he obviously isn't is only making you look more zealous in your devotion to him.

 

[Dr.Mirakle32]

Is he a very good director? Yes. Is he the greatest? HELL NO. Making a couple of decent Batman movies doesn't put you on your way to being the greatest director ever.

 

[wofford29]

Like any other director, Nolan won't be considered truly A list and elite until he wins an Oscar.

That means he has to get bigger starpower ( who require more pay, which increases the budget, which increases interference over artistic license) and have to make the typical Oscar staple films

A) Someone with some kind of handicap overcoming the odds

B) A holocaust film of some kind

C) Fills his films with Oscar voters favorites such as Clint Eastwood or Daniel Day Lewis

GG

I'd have to disagree. Triple 6 Mafia won an Oscar before Martin Scorsese.

 

[barbelith]

You keep arguing this, but you've yet to post any original thought of your own as to why he's not a talented director.

Nice shift of the goal post there. I didn't say he's untalented. I dispute he's one of the best directors ever and I don't think The Dark Knight is a masterpiece of film. I'm also going to use this handy cartoon to illustrate the flaw with your rhetorical approach here:

https://juanfont.eu/logica.html

And I notice you've written a few hundred words in this diatribe and not a single one is an attempt to describe why Nolan is anything other than an adequate director. No surprise.

 

[wofford29]

Nice shift of the goal post there. I didn't say he's untalented. I dispute he's one of the best directors ever and I don't think The Dark Knight is a masterpiece of film. I'm also going to use this handy cartoon to illustrate the flaw with your rhetorical approach here:

https://juanfont.eu/logica.html

And I notice you've written a few hundred words in this diatribe and not a single one is an attempt to describe why Nolan is anything other than an adequate director. No surprise.

Still a one trick pony I see. Michael Moore?

 

[barbelith]

Still a one trick pony I see. Michael Moore?

I don't think Moore is one of the best directors ever, either.

 

[Sonic The MadHOG]

Incorrect again. Nolan had plenty of experience making student films while a member of the college film society at University College London.

See, this is the thing. Nolan is a good director. He's not a hack, but he's also not the greatest director ever, and he has shown no signs (yet) of ever becoming such. But trying to build him up into something he obviously isn't is only making you look more zealous in your devotion to him.

Compared to the experience Spielberg had before his first film Nolan's is simple child's play which doesn't prepare you for making a feature where someone is paying good money for you to get it right.

 

[wofford29]

I don't think Moore is one of the best directors ever, either.

Color me surprised. I was asking if that was who you are. You two have a very similar method of ask, preach, and don't answer.

 

[Shai]

Barbelith speaks the truth....DK fans just can't handle it.

 

[RoboDad]

Compared to the experience Spielberg had before his first film Nolan's is simple child's play which doesn't prepare you for making a feature where someone is paying good money for you to get it right.

You keep shifting your logic in an apparently desperate attempt to keep showing Nolan in a positive light. It's impossible to reason with that kind of behavior.

So, have fun in your devotional thread. But don't be too disappointed if you continue to be unsuccessful in convincing anyone other than the already-faithful that Nolan is anything more than a good director, not unlike many other directors in Hollywood.

 

[Sonic The MadHOG]

Barbelith speaks the truth....DK fans just can't handle it.

I can handle it, I'm sure there's a movie you love that I hate. That's why I like this forum, opinions are so different, if we all agreed it would be pretty boring.

 

[cerealkeller]

Barbelith speaks the truth....DK fans just can't handle it.

Handle WHAT? That we personally love TDK? That one's opinion is greater than another? Did we ever say TDK is the greatest motion picture of all time?

I personally think Christopher Nolan is one of the most talented directors working today. I think TDK is one of the best films I've seen in the last decade. If I'm to tell you that Iron Man was fun but ultimately a mindless experience does that make you wrong? Is my opinion right and you just can't handle it?

I'm honestly not trying to get in any kind of p@#sing match here but to say we can't handle that TDK isn't a great film because YOU THINK SO is just a ridiculous point.

Nobody gives any reason why it's a bad movie, just that it is and we're wrong and can't accept that. Geez, the egos around here.

 

[Sonic The MadHOG]

You keep shifting your logic in an apparently desperate attempt to keep showing Nolan in a positive light. It's impossible to reason with that kind of behavior.

So, have fun in your devotional thread. But don't be too disappointed if you continue to be unsuccessful in convincing anyone other than the already-faithful that Nolan is anything more than a good director, not unlike many other directors in Hollywood.

I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything. All I want is opinions, my opinion is he's a good director heading for greatness & yours is different, boo hoo. There's no point starting a thread if all you want is people saying similar things.

 

[barbelith]

Did we ever say TDK is the greatest motion picture of all time?

I think people are referring to the thread title.

 

[cerealkeller]

I think people are referring to the thread title.

The thing about that is it's "on track" in the title. If we look at his body of work he sure could be "on track" to being one of the greatest filmmakers ever. But who knows, he may slip from now on and make total rubbish. I doubt that but you never know.

I think he's on track to being remembered as one of our finest filmmakers ever because his films are not only shot great(he knows who to work with for lighting) but his stories are layered where you get out of them what thought you put into them. He also gets the best out of actors in their performances. I could go on but those are just my opinions and that's not to say I'm right and you're wrong.