A juvenile film from Nolan's mid-life crisis that feels like a cheap gimmick the longer the childish narrative continues.
I fault the editing and sound mix for creating an atmosphere where there is absolutely no breathing room for the audience to reset, which I assume is a pitch to kids who Nolan thinks have the shortest attention spans in the world and need constant motion and noise, in a desperate attempt to feel relevant with "the youth". The whole film feels like a cheap experience, further proved by the Fortnite advertising, Travis Scott's credits song, terrible one-liners, and a predictable, flat plot.
Nolan creates a world where there are no rules, so there are no stakes. Nothing makes sense. The Protagonist never has a low point. No character is worth caring about. Forced chemistry, and a poorly written woman...writing has never been Nolan's strong-suit.
Ludwig did alright with the score, but the editing makes it near impossible to settle into a track for more than a short while. Certain cues were strangely energetic for no reason, and others were intrusive into the dialogue.
Overall, this film's "important" moments come across as comical more often than dramatic (car speeding erratically in reverse from the distance, seagulls flying backwards, cheesy screams, awful one liners...). The opening scene was the high-point of the movie. Nothing else is memorable.
The Safdie Brothers know that effective, tasteful, anxiety-inducing cinema is 2 engaging things happening on screen at once, not 50. Every performance is great in this with Sandler making a convincing Best Actor pitch. After watching, it's clear that this movie thinks no good comes from vanity or the jewelry industry - it's built on deception and shaky moral ground in the first place.
More optimistic than I expected. Sane people are hurt the most by a divorce system that rewards cruelty. A simple story told with passion, contempt, and love. Entertaining watch with some charming off-kilter moments and direct, painful conversations. Careful watching with significant others...
A cut-and-dry progression of characters through increasingly difficult video-game-esque war levels, which can be distracting, though it gets easier to enjoy the spectacle of it all. Some moments are goofier than intended, though extremely entertaining nonetheless. A handful of shots and music cues make this movie stand out from other war epics - the atmosphere is dream-like and unrelenting thanks to Deakins and Newman, but it feels too much like its own bubble. I just wish the stakes of this movie felt higher.
This film's energy feels like if The Running of the Bulls took place in a sewer tunnel. The characters don't seem to care much about what's stampeding towards them, and when they do, it's a filthy, beautiful mess. I love it.
