Rival11

Yeah, that's the biggest problems with his flicks.......there's like no soul to them or something - always feels like something major is missing. Dunkirk was damn good though.

milo bloom

More than that, the really interesting thing is it how it left virtually no cultural impact. There's no memes, no cosplays, no fanfics to speak of. It's this giant thing that everybody watched and then never bothered with again.
It couldn't have less of a presence in society if you intentionally scrubbed it from the internet and everybody's collective consciousness.

It's simply, not there.

rocket1312

Hey look at that! You shared your opinion on Nolan in an appropriate way in a relevant thread! We knew you could do it!

IBJoel

I feel that they've all been relatively low stakes, "argue amongst ourselves, but then come together as a disparate 'family' and then go get the thing and/or stop the bad guy" plots. I feel that there are enough people locked in that they can start to get really weird, subversive, and not so formulaic. I remember all the plots because I'm a huge comic fan and they stick in my brain, but I have zero emotional attachment to them. They also fail to truly engage or challenge the audience much, which is fine, but makes them the cinematic equivalent of Fruit Stripe Gum to me.

IBJoel

I think Avatar's greatest sin is that it was about 8-10 years too early with its ecological message (for general audiences. obviously most people educated in the subject have understood what's going for decades) and it was a very technically impressive film where most memery and YouTube film criticism focuses on more surface-level aspects like plot (which was pretty standard in Avatar's case, white savior issues aside).

fujishig

I don't know, do you think the ecological message would ring truer/be more memorable today?

If it flopped it would've just been remembered as an expensive sci fi movie that was a landmark in CGI film making, but I think the fact that it made so much money and yet made so little lasting impact, along with the fact that Cameron still hasn't made a sequel, makes it a confusing cultural thing. Like hardly anyone remembers Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow as anything more than a special effects landmark.

One of the most forgettable recent blockbusters to me is Ready Player One. It's got nostalgia and fanservice to kind of make you remember the movie itself, but besides having a Gundam, Akira's bike and the Iron Giant, I can't really tell you much about what happened or why.

DJariya

Speaking of Avatar, at the time I saw it in the theatre, I did enjoy it and then when the special edition BD came out 6 months later, I did buy. But honestly, I haven't seen the movie probably since my 1 view in the theatre. I have not watched my BD in the 10 years that I've owned it.

Mike86

I enjoyed Ready Player One when I saw it, but yeah it is pretty much just a nostalgia eye candy movie.

IBJoel

Yes I do. As Gen Z is more inclined to demand climate action, them growing up with the film (as opposed to it coming when the oldest of them were 7-9 years old while not really being marketed towards that age group) likely would have held it in higher regard than "tech demo" that most people do.

100% agree with Ready Player One, which I actually DID forget exists haha. I actually thought it had some cool ideas, like a Super Internet, which is then simply used as a canvas on which to draw Trapper Keeper pictures like a 7th grader.

fujishig

Ha, I guess it's because I barely remember the ecological part of the movie and it's not like I was unaware of climate change at the time. But I guess Gen Z (or maybe their kids depending on how long it takes) will get to grow up with the sequels. Heck, I was surprised they made a Disney ride out of it, but that will also help kids remember it.

Oh, I do remember one other thing about Ready Player One: the emphasis on how hideous the female lead had to be in real life and it turns out she looks like a young Rose Byrne with a birthmark. And it wasn't even played up for irony or anything.

PhantomStranger

WB got spooked by the reaction to Batman v Superman and neutered Snyder's film, trying to fit the property into Marvel's playbook. The problem is that Snyder had already established a much different tone with DC's heroes. Whedon isn't a magician and JL feels like a studio-executive-dictated movie made by a committee. The only good scene in Justice League is Superman facing off against the entire team, reportedly Snyder's big contribution remaining in Whedon's final cut.

devilshalo

23 years later and those teenaged girls that went crazy over Jack and Rose in Titanic have outgrown it. Replaced by the Twilight series 11 years later when the new wave of teen girls at the time have done the same. I don't think there was a a film/film series that made teen girls feel the same in the past 5 years.

Mabuse

I still watch Titanic. Great movie.

Regarding Avatar, I don’t recall that film being about climate change. It’s about displacing natives and stealing their land and resources akin to America’s western expansion.

fujishig

Twilight I can understand, but were teenaged girls really the primary audience that made Titanic such a hit?

RichC2

Yep: https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/23/m...t-growing.html

Mabuse

The brilliance of titanic is that it’s a universal story that taps into every demographic. The story of the sinking had already been the subject of several hit movies. It was a perennial favorite. It had also been incredibly popular as a documentary subject, especially since its rediscovery in the 1980’s.

All of that appeals to general audiences, then you add in the romance melodrama and that attracts girls, the promise of peril and adventure brings in the teen boys. It had something for everyone.

IBJoel

Yes, it's in general about the issues caused by corporate greed and resource exploitation, including war, displacement, and environmental destruction. And then the planet itself wipes out the humans. It doesn't explicitly address anthropogenic climate change, but it does say "humans are messing with the planet and it's going to get them killed" in a more fantastical way.

orangerunner

For me, Titanic still holds-up well after 20+ years. I remember it was originally scheduled to be released in the summer of '97 and then was pushed back to December '97. Hollywood definition; This film tested badly and needs to be re-worked.

I went to it on opening weekend which also the grand opening of the very first stadium-style theatre in town. Expectations were rather ho-hum for this film but it really was one of the best movie-going experiences I have had. As word-of-mouth spread and the film became a huge hit, won Best Picture, Celine Dion was heard everywhere etc. it diminished the initial reaction I had.

In a sense I'm glad films like Goodfellas and Pulp Fiction didn't win Best Picture awards as they probably would have received the same "over-rated crap" backlash that seems to come with any success these days.

Jaymole

I hated Titanic when i saw it years ago. One of the reasons is that when i saw it, all these 12 and 13 year old girls would start screaming & crying whenever Leonardo was on the screen. It got so annoying that I finally kicked them out of my apartment.

Mabuse

For those too young to remember, this received heavy play on radio.

BrewCrew

Pretty much any disaster movie from the 90's that made a bunch of money. Take your pick, Twister/Armageddon/Deep Impact. Also 90's Julia Roberts romantic comedies that made a boatload of cash but left no impression like Notting Hill/My Best Friend's Wedding/Runaway Bride.

Shannon Nutt

The book is SO much better. I blame Spielberg for this one.

brayzie

I'm glad you liked Titanic. I think I was in high school when it came out. I just couldn't get into it then or now.
DiCaprio still looked like a kid compared to Kate Winslet. Billy Zane was a stereotypical, rich, evil movie villain. Then there was the gun play going on at the same time this historic catastrophe is taking place on a boat. DiCaprio's character is tied up by the film's villains. It felt very juvenile for a drama.

Wow, and I remember My Best Friend's Wedding vividly. Definitely one of my more memorable movie-going experiences. Runaway Bride felt it was trying to duplicate the success of MBFW and Pretty Woman. It was okay, but I thought the co-stars second pairing was definitely lacking chemistry this time. Film's like Notting Hill felt like watered down Hugh Grant comedies. I prefer the stuff with an all British cast, then and now.

I need to get this book.

PatD

I agree with that EXCEPT The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight has plenty of soul. The ending still gets to me.

For me it's the phenomenon of what I call, "one and done sci fi films". I'm talking about sterile sci-fi films like Interstellar, Gravity, The Martian, ect. They have forgettable characters, no sense of awe and no lasting power. I've never felt the need to revisit any of them.

Bluelitespecial

The love for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies makes no sense to me.