Posted on 07/06/2019 4:40:36 PM PDT by Bratch
Surprisingly, there's only one film that both qualifies as a film noir and deals with the trauma of 9/11 -- The Dark Knight.
Watch our video and find out how the Christopher Nolan superhero film manages to capture its times.
The soundtrack was compelling. I ended up seeing that movie three times in theaters due to loved ones and friends all wanting to go see it.
But I find Christopher Nolan’s stories shallow and wanting. ‘Full of sound and fury yet signifying nothing.’ I left each showing feeling uninspired.
The Dark Knight is great just for Heath Ledge’rs portrayal of the Joker. Nolan’s other two Batman movies were lousy.
Speaking of Joker, there’s a Joker movie starring Joaquin Phoenix coming up soon. I may even splurge to buy a ticket to buy that one.
I meant buy a ticket to SEE that one. Lack of sleep is starting to show now.
I think about non-noir movies which have stood the test of time, think...Frank Capra’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ starring Jimmy Stewart.
The film can touch on heavy subject matter (Great Depression/World War II) without having to be indulgently cynical as it were. The central character is an anti-hero about to end his own life, yet he becomes heroic in his common-ness and mere willingness to live to see another day in his otherwise imperfect reality.
It affirms our lives, affirms our inherent purpose for existing. The older I get, the more the movie strikes a chord with me as I realize the depth and substance of the writing.
Not saying noir is indulgent, I guess I’m referring to Nolan’s flicks in particular...I just don’t see the point. I feel no sympathy for the characters so how can I be drawn in or forced to care what happens?
And regarding societal statements: it’s just too easy to curse the darkness. A timeless film forces you to leave the theater better for having watched it. Not just able to see the darkness out in the ‘real world’ more clearly, but to be that flicker of light in the situation.
“A timeless film forces you to leave the theater better for having watched it. Not just able to see the darkness out in the ‘real world’ more clearly, but to be that flicker of light in the situation.”
Criterion Channel had a section called COLUMBIA NOIR and one of the selected films was “My Name is Julia Ross” (1945). For a noir type film with a dark theme it finished surprisingly hopefully. They pack a lot into the 1hr5min run time. It left Criterion Channel but I found it here on YouTube...
Joker’s creepy theme music in The Dark Knight was made by gliding straight razor blades over piano strings. Thought that was pretty clever.
**But I find Christopher Nolan’s stories shallow and wanting. ‘Full of sound and fury yet signifying nothing.’ I left each showing feeling uninspired.**
How can anybody find those movies inspiring? They are far fetched ‘escapism’ adventures that do not live in reality.
The whole superhero theme is silliness obscured by escapism.
At the end of the movies, the cemeteries still have graves. Superman couldn’t give eternal life to the mortals.
What little I have seen (clips of the superhero movies), show mere mortals, like ‘ironman’, getting slammed around so violently that their brains should be turned into soup.
The old batman tv show was funny, because that’s the reality: far fetched and absurd.
To each his own.
I collected Detective and Batman as a boy - had about 500 issues. Nicholson was much truer to the character. Ledger was a psycho, but not the Joker.
(I don’t generally even like Nicholson.)
“I collected Detective and Batman as a boy - had about 500 issues”
That’s quite a collection for just Batman comics. I have more than 20,000 comics, most of them Marvel. I collected them until I was in my early 40’s. I’m a big fan of Frank Miller’s take on Batman.
Sometimes I think you really don’t grow up until you have kids. I don’t have any kids.
Maybe you should relax a little and don’t take everything so seriously. Super hero movies are fun to go and I don’t think it is any more complicated than that.
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