The World of Christopher Nolan Part 4-Batman Begins

"Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up."

Batman Begins....I don't even quite know where to start when I want to talk about this movie. It is just amazing in so many aspects. Although, many people would say that I have a bias because Christian Bale has been my favorite actor since I was a little kid. I remember hearing that Bale would be playing the iconic Batman, and becoming super excited. For me this was going to show everyone what an amazing actor Bale is and finally make him the household name he always deserved to be. (Even if he never really liked the attention. It doesn't mean that he doesn't deserve it.)

When Warner Brothers began to look into restarting the Batman franchise, there really could not have been anyone better than Nolan to take this task on. Batman has always been one of the more fascinating super heroes. He has always been so much darker than all of the others, and when one really stops to think  about it, he doesn't have any "super powers." (My super hero knowledge is not that extensive, but I would like to say that I believe he is one of the only ones...please correct me if I a wrong!) The driving force behind Batman has always been his own metal state. (I don't mean crazy, I mean his thoughts and feelings) Being that Nolan seems to really be interested in the metal state of people, and how it effects them and the events that occur around them, what better person then to explore this character. I really loved that Nolan decided to focus on the idea of fear.

Fear is what made Batman who he is in every way. Bruce Wayne blames himself for the death of his parents, and he attributes that to his own developed fear of bats from when he fell down into a hole. Fear is what Bruce uses to train, and it is what he ultimately uses to create this symbol of Batman. To strike fear into the heart of his enemies. It is also what the villain uses to try to destroy Gotham City, a toxin to create fear and panic. Again he uses such a simple human emotion, a simple human reaction, and was able to rebuild an entire franchise around it.

As with everything though, a great script (and one of this magnitude) is nothing without a strong cast to support it. I really thought that Bale did a wonderful job as Bruce Wayne. He has always had this uncanny ability to really portray those darker and deeper characters. His Batman is where many people are divided. I did not think that his Batman was bad at all. I actually loved his Batman, especially in this movie. One really has to remember that this was the creation of Batman. He was still finding himself. Not only as an actor finding a character, but Bruce Wayne was still trying to discover WHO and WHAT Batman was himself. Just as this was a new character for Bale, this was a new character for Bruce. And if the only thing that you have to complain to be about is the voice. I am going to say right now....get over it. You are really just looking for something if that is all you have to say about the performance. Because re-watching the movie today, it really wasn't as bad as everyone really makes it out to be.

Now I know that Bale was not the only star in this movie, there are just so many to talk about. I really loved the choice of Gary Oldman for Gordon. I thought he was perfect for the role, and it was nice to see him in a role that is not quite what I am used to him playing. Cillian Murphy did a wonderful job as the creepy scarecrow, but he always does those roles justice. I also love seeing Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman and they were a nice balance to the sometimes impulsive Bruce Wayne. And of course it would be terrible to not mention the amazing Liam Nielson when discussing this movie, because everything is just ever better when he is around. Katie Holmes would be the only one that I really have any complaints about. I felt like everything seemed a bit forced with her, not very natural and honest, but that is just me. If that is my only complaint great movie! Nothing more to say.

Watch it right now....and get ready...because in less then 12 hours...the Dark Knight is going to rise for the last time with Nolan and Bale behind the wheel.

"Its' not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you."



The World of Christopher Nolan Part 3-Insomnia

"Just let me sleep..."

Insomnia....we have all had it at some point in our lives. Those annoying nights where you just can't get yourself to sleep no matter how hard you try. Whatever it may be, an uncomfortable bed, light streaming from a window, or just to much on your mind, it keeps you up to the wee hours of the morning and the next thing you know it is time to get started with your day. A crazy fact that I learned in one of my psychology classes back when I was in college, is that if you are up for a period of 24 hours straight you begin to exhibit the reflexes and characteristics of someone who has had a little to much to drink. Now take this little annoyance thing called insomnia, apply it to a place in the world where there is constant light for 6 months, and mix these two things together- you get Christopher Nolan's 3rd directorial movie- Insomnia (2002).

One of the first things that I noticed when I was doing a little research into Insomnia (2002) was that this particular movie was just directed by Nolan. He did not have anything to do with the screen play at all. The screen play was written by Hilary Seitz and was based off of a Norwegian film. Nolan did not receive any official writing credit, but according to IMDB, he did have final say on the script.

The basic storyline of Insomnia follows two LA detectives that arrive in as small Alaskan town to assist in the investigation of the recent murder of a 17 year old girl. Detective Dormer (Al Pacino) and his partner, Detective Hap arrive in Alaska and are at odds about an investigation that is happening in their department back at home. Hap tells Dormer that he is going to talk to the investigators and Dormer becomes upset because he believes that this is going to taint his entire life's work as a detective. You are not quite sure exactly what Hap is talking about or why Dormer is upset, but it is clear something is not right. Dormer cannot sleep the first night because of the constant light that is streaming into his room.

The next day the crew goes out on a tip about the murderer. It is already apparent that the one nights lack of sleep is slightly affecting Dormer. While pursuing the criminal, Dormer ends up shooting his partner in the fog. This is the first domino is a series of events that begins to link Dormer and the murderer that he is seeking. As the movie progresses and as each day passes without Dormer sleeping... you begin to see just how bad lack of sleep can become.

I loved to see Dormer's downward spiral throughout the film. It was apparent early on that Dormer was really on top of everything. Not a single detail was over looked and he knew just what to do when things began to go wrong. As each day passed you could see that he became slower and slower, and his lack of judgement became seriously compromised.

Just as Nolan always does, he did an amazing job of painting the picture of one person's psychy and using it to drive a story, without the audience knowing exactly what is that driving force until he wants you to. What I am noticing about Nolan is that there is always something there, that one thing that he uses as his push. What the entire story is based around, and any times it is something so small, yet it is the one thing that starts the dominoes to fall. He gives you the piece, but you never quite know what it is until he wants you to. The first shot in every Nolan film I have reviewed so far (I know it is only 3 but this is in all three) has been significant to each film and its conclusion. In this case, the simple white fabric with some blood. I am curious to re watch his last 4 movies and see if this is the case with them as well.

The acting in this movie was fantastic. Al Pacino did a wonderful job as the strung out, sleep lacking, Detective Dormer. Hilary Swank also did a nice job as the ambitious Alaskan detective. But my favorite actor throughout the entire film had to be Robin Williams. This was the first time I had ever seen Williams play a bad guy, and I thought that he did such an amazing job. After viewing this role, I feel that he has truly been underrated all of these years, and he should have been given the chance to try other roles besides his comedic ones. (One Hour Photo is also amazing) My favorite scene in this movie is when Williams calls up Pacino on the phone and talks to him so calmly about what has happened. So matter of fact. It is one of the creepiest scenes, and one of my favorite scenes of all time.

I am sure that I am sounding very redundant in my Nolan reviews here, but I really don't have anything bad to say about any of them...not yet anyway. What I have noticed about his movies is that he seems to really be interested in the motivations of people. Why they do the things that they do. All of his movies seem be driven by one character's motivations. This drives the story and then has a way of really bringing everything together. Taking this approach to story telling can be dangerous, and if a director or screen writer does the same thing all the time, it can seem to become boring and predictable after awhile. Not with Nolan....he is always looking for new ways and new approaches to telling his story that keeps it fresh and interesting.

If you can't sleep and are looking for something to do....Watch Insomnia and drink an extra cup of coffee in the morning!

The World Of Chrisopher Nolan Part 2- Memento

"Remember Sammy Jankis"

I continue my trip through the world of Christopher Nolan with his second feature film Memento (2000). This is probably my favorite of all of his movies (As much as I want to say Batman, but for other reasons, Christian Bale :oP) Memento was produced 2 years after Nolan completed Following and contains many of the same film making elements that Nolan appeared to be experimenting with in his first film. Memento is actually based on a short story that his brother Johnathan wrote, but it was not published until after the movie was released.

The basic story follows Leonard Shelby, who was attacked in his home when trying to protect his wife from two men who entered his home and raped her. They hit him on his head and caused him to no longer be able to produce any new memories. The last thing that Leonard says he remembers is his wife dying. He makes it his mission to locate and kill the man who murdered his wife and took away his memory. Since he is unable to produce any new memories Leonard must relay on the notes and pictures that he takes. He also tattoos the most important things on his body. He cannot remember things for more than a few minutes at a time....making the search for his wife's killer a bit challenging.

This story is enough to make an interesting movie, but Nolan takes it one step further in the WAY he tells the story. Much like he did with Following, Nolan starts at the end of the story and works his way backwards. He takes the beginning of the movie, the end of the movie, and shows snips of both until they finally come together full circle back to the opening sequence. (which is actually played backwards) Confusing you say??? How will I know what is the beginning of the movie and what is the end?? All valid questions, and there is a simple answer. Nolan uses black and white to help distinguish between the different sequences of events. One of my favorite moments in the movie is when the two sequences finally come together and it changes over from black and white to color. As in Following, much to what Leonard is experiencing, much like Billy, is not everything that is appears to be.

The acting in this movie was also very good. Guy Pierce did a great job as Leonard. I found it very interesting that he was not the first choice for the roll. Carrie-Ann Moss and Joe Pantoliano, both fresh off The Matrix, also did amazing jobs with their rolls. These seemed to really be difficult parts to really get down, yet each actor seemed so comfortable and so perfect in each of their rolls.

This is such a hard movie to talk about without giving to much away, and I don't want to do that at all. I will say that this is one of the movies that a person really needs to watch at least twice. You pick up so many different things the second time around, that you wish you had noticed the first time. This is truly a must for all Nolan fans, and fans of cinema in general. I really felt like this was the movie that he was trying to make with Following. That was his practice, his stepping stone, and without making that movie I don't believe Memento would have be the amazing movie that it is.

So I say...Watch it....watch it again....and then make a decision, but I can promise you that for those 113 minutes, you will not be bored. Confused....maybe....bored....not at all.

"Just because I don't remember, doesn't make my actions meaningless. The world doesn't disappear just because I close my eyes." 

The World of Christopher Nolan Part 1- Following

"Everyone has a box."

In honor of the release of The Dark Knight Rises this week, I decided to go back and review all of Christopher Nolan's films. He is one of my favorite directors of all time, and it is never a bad thing to watch a Nolan film, and I always have something to say about everything, so what better place than my own movie blog. (and it's a great way to pass some time while in the hospital :oP ) I thought it fitting to watch his movies in order of their release. It is always interesting to watch a director's progression and growth. So, I started with his 1998, black and white movie, Following.
Following appears a first to have a very simple story line, a young struggling writer, Bill, follows people in order to help inspire his writing. One of his marks notices him one day and approaches him. This man, Cobb, turns out to be a thief. (Fun fact: also the last name of DiCaprio's character in Inception) Cobb begins to teach him the ropes of breaking and entering. Seemingly basic storyline correct? Nothing is ever basic with Nolan, and that is why is his amazing.

This movie is categorized as being a film nor, which is a fancy word for a stylish crime drama. I found that this particular film really reminded me of some of Hitchcock's (my favorite director ever, he stands above everyone else) This movie, much like his second film Memento, does not start at the complete beginning of the film. It goes back and forth from the beginning of the story, the end of the story, and even at times the middle of the story. Being that this was his first full-length feature, this could easily be a disaster for an experienced director, let alone a brand new one. He did a wonderful job though. He has such a way with reveling little things piece by piece, without giving to much away, but making you think that you have everything figured out. Then he hits you again with something new. What is great about this, is that it is never something to far fetched that it is unbelievable, it is just something that you probably didn't think about, even though all of the pieces were there for you to figure it out yourself if you looked close enough. This has been a talent of his throughout all of his films. I thought that the cuts in between the scenes could have been a bit smoother, but this is a directorial and debut, and a very low budgeted film, so I can't complain to much.

Another thing that I loved about the film is that it was filmed in black and white. Many people now a days are a bit turned off by black and white movies (my cousin's boyfriend being one of them :op). I feel that black and white movies force us to focus on the important aspects of the movie, the story. This generation of movie goers are so used to the special effects and how big the expectations are, but what they are forgetting is what is at the heart of every movie-The Story. I thought that this was a great choice for this particular film. There was nothing that was lost without color. You focused on the story and the characters.
What also amazed be about this movie was the focus of this idea of voyeurism. This movie was made in 1998, a few years before the Internet boom, and the insane blow up of social media. Cobb talks to Bill about how all people have a box that contains all of these intimate items, and that knowing someone has taken a look into this box, excites them a little. They don't really take much of anything, but they are observing and peaking....they are making judgements based on the things that they see displayed in their homes. I didn't think that this was very far off of what we all do in all of our social media outlets. I thought that aspect of the movie was the most interesting.  
All in all this was a great start for Nolan's career. You can see different things that he was playing around tired to perfect with his later films. Memento has many of the story telling tricks that he used in this one. If you are a Christopher Nolan fan at all, this is a must see. The acting is nothing special, but for me it really didn't need to be. If you appreciate Alfred Hitchcock at all, this is also a must see. I think that is definitely has many remnants of his film style as well. Watch it from a distance, quietly at first, and then feel yourself become lost in a world you never intended to be in.