Who Won the Movie?
Christopher Nolan (2 of 3 attributed ballots; a further unattributed pick for the movie-going audience in 228-230)
In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:34Read transcript
- Candidates: Christopher Nolan, for arguably one of his two great movies, Leo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, whose movie stardom is called a good thing.
- Nolan is a huge win because anyone can make money with Batman, space or war movies but a profitable movie about dreams is hard; it certified him as bigger than comic books and showed studios a risk on him pays back, as Dunkirk did this year as the second biggest success story, even though much of the film is pure poppycock to this host. — Sean Fennessey
- Another voice sums up the argument as Nolan being the Spielberg of our time, and the master-of-invention title he started getting is noted.
- Tom Hardy is the pick for another host: he is extremely dashing, it is the last time we are allowed to see how handsome he is, his line readings are perfect, he is the center of every scene, his play with JGL is charming, and his Mombasa scene is a great character intro. — Andrew Gruttadaro
- Nolan is also the pick for a second host, for the reasons already given, with the added observation that this is a Leonardo DiCaprio movie people think of as a Christopher Nolan movie, because the debate over its logic is what has sustained its place in the culture. — Mallory Rubin
- Zooming out, one voice says the audience won, since an ambitious non-IP summer blockbuster about dreams that made a lot of money may never happen again; the reply is that it is also a fairly conventional movie, a heist, a noir, a love story and a tragedy with gunfights and a villain, keenly integrating classic storytelling into an absurd premise.
- Asked to name Nolan's other good movie, one host says Dunkirk and another The Dark Knight, a flawed film that sweeps you up; The Prestige and Memento are called very good but not the height of his talent; Dunkirk is praised as a 2017 war movie about the good guys being afraid, with bravery coming from citizens rather than soldiers.