• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Christopher Nolan to direct WWII film "Dunkirk", shot in IMAX 65mm

Status
Not open for further replies.

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
'Bad action scenes'

I don't even. Like he's clearly not the best, but some of you guys clearly demonstrate no knowledge of truly bad action sequences. Like the chase between Blade and Drake in Blade 3.

I loved every movie Nolan has done but he's pretty bad at action.
 

Firemind

Member
It was less about the French surrender and more about the incompetence of the German High Command. If they had decided to move on Dunkirk instead of consolidating their forces they would have captured hundreds of thousands of Allied troops and probably gotten a surrender out of Britain.
Yeah, but it's not like the French and British forces were just going to surrender at Dunkirk. Though I suppose the German mobile divisions could have used that time to advance to Dunkirk and cut off their main route of escape. /armchair general
 

JABEE

Member
My only fear is that this movie will have some hackneyed Sci-Fi twist, because that is what people expect.

Nolan should make a great genre film, not a Nolan film.
 
Surprised the part about Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, and Mark Rylance being in talks to join the movie were left out of the OP.
 

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
My only fear is that this movie will have some hackneyed Sci-Fi twist, because that is what people expect.

Nolan should make a great genre film, not a Nolan film.

The fact that this is getting released in the summer blockbuster season makes me feel like there's a big element we're not aware of yet.

Not saying sci-fi necessarily but...
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Pirates 5 (7th July) - Action blockbuster for teenagers and some millenials.

Planet of the Apes (14th July) - Thinking man's action blockbuster for old people and young people alike.

Pitch Perfect 3 (21st Juy) - Targeted to female audiences.
Dunkirk (21st July) - Thinking man's drama for Nolan's fans, adults, people sick of comic book movies, people sick of four straight months of action blockbusters, people sick of sequels, people sick of prequels, people sick of reboots...

Spiderman (28th July) - Targeted to comic book fans.

Nice release date

FTFY,

Besides, Nolan always makes him film relatively cheap, and in under two years and almost always under budget. Interstellar 'only' made $56 million in its opening weekend and was still profitable. This movie will run through out the summer and slowly make its money back and then some.

It will be huge in Europe.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I love Joe Wright, but that scene is honestly kind of empty outside of the fact it was done in one take. It's an incredibly impressive visual and technical feat that draws attention to itself and away from the film at hand.

I'm going to start a firestorm with this, but I hate this shot. Okay, hate is strong, but this shot is, in my opinion, the quintessential example of a shot that takes you out of the movie. The shot has no meaning, no importance to the film. It's not enhancing what's going on on screen, it's not important to build a mood, it's simply there to be impressive. You end up being impressed by the shot rather than being drawn further into the story.

Comparatively, the tracking shot in the first season of True Detective perfectly enhances the chaos on screen as they rush through house after house. In the opening of Touch of Evil, a bomb is planted under a car, and the lack of cuts focuses tension since we're acutely aware of the passage of time.

There are tons of other examples, of course (Gravity, Nostalghia, Children of Men), but the important point is that in every case, the shot is saying something about what's happening in the story. Here, it's just saying "look what a cool shot this is!"

I agree with you both actually. I have grown to dislike one shot takes because they take me out of the movie. But I still admire the technical wizardry and the ambition required to make this happen.

I wish there was more to this scene than just James MaCovoy walking around the beach. The horse scene killed me though.
 

Joni

Member
My only fear is that this movie will have some hackneyed Sci-Fi twist, because that is what people expect.

Nolan should make a great genre film, not a Nolan film.

It is basically Memento and Insomnia versus Inception and Interstellar with The Prestige somewhere in the middle, as it has a hackneyed sci-fi twist which isn't the important twist. So that is three great genre films.
 
FTFY,

Besides, Nolan always makes him film relatively cheap, and in under two years and almost always under budget. Interstellar 'only' made $56 million in its opening weekend and was still profitable. This movie will run through out the summer and slowly make its money back and then some.

It will be huge in Europe.

"Thinking man's drama for Nolan's fans, adults" better be the OT title.
 

TeddyBoy

Member
Really now. I thought its signifcance was debated among historians. There's no doubt a loss of 300,000 men would have been tremendous, but I thought the Allies already evacuated a high number of personnel before the French surrendered.

The significance in pure military terms is certainly up to debate. Despite the Allies saving a very large number of men they had lost almost all their military equipment for these soldiers. All tanks/artillery and other armour had to be left in France which was actually much harder to replace than mere men.

The evacuation became significant because the British press badly needed some good PR at the time since the Nazi's had still overrun the entirety of France and had the defeat of Norway and Denmark was only a few months prior.

It was less about the French surrender and more about the incompetence of the German High Command. If they had decided to move on Dunkirk instead of consolidating their forces they would have captured hundreds of thousands of Allied troops and probably gotten a surrender out of Britain.

Thankfully the Nazi's were afraid they didn't have the supplies to directly attack Dunkirk (they were pretty much out of fuel at this point) and Goering overestimated the Luftwaffe's ability in the field so they just bombed Dunkirk whilst the city itself was surrounded.

I'm quite curious as to how this battle will translate to film following the perspective of a single soldier since not many will be directly attacking the Nazis.
 
I'm still recovering and picking myself up off of the floor after the shock of a WW2 film being made that isn't centred around the Americans.

I love stuff about the war, so I'm excited.
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
I wonder if WB gave Nolan their prime summer spot before finding out what the hell it was.


"You want it? YOU GOT IT! PLS NOLAN."

*3 months later*

"...it's a time travel sequence, right?"

I see you have read those books as well. Interesting to see on the big screen and with a decent budget.
 

Aurongel

Member
Knowing Nolan and the types of themes he likes to direct, I thought for sure his next project would be AI related.

This is a pleasant surprise though, I feel like Nolan deserves some respect for at least attempting to add some depth and genuine artistry to standard blockbuster fare. I'll be interested to see what the narrative perspective for Dunkirk is.

Though I already see people in this thread brining up the long take from Atonement. My question to those people is: did you watch the movie that comes before and after that scene? Atonement may be impressive on a photographic level but the rest of that movie is a hot, hot mess.
 
Knowing Nolan and the types of themes he likes to direct, I thought for sure his next project would be AI related.

This is a pleasant surprise though, I feel like Nolan deserves some respect for at least attempting to add some depth and genuine artistry to standard blockbuster fare. I'll be interested to see what the narrative perspective for Dunkirk is.

Though I already see people in this thread brining up the long take from Atonement. My question to those people is: did you watch the movie that comes before and after that scene? Atonement may be impressive on a photographic level but the rest of that movie is a hot, hot mess.
Atonement is pretty great, actually. But its biggest strengths do indeed lie in its visuals and score. Dario Marianelli's score on that film is amazing.
 

obear

Banned
In my opinion Nolan is batting 100. I haven't seen his very first movie. But everything else he does is gold. I would watch a movie about a turds journey down the toilet if he wrote and directed
 
Noooooooo.. Another WWII movie. I know they haven't made many of them recently, but it's the one genre where I'm completely burned out on. Saying that it's Nolan. So I have to go and see it.

200.gif
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Knowing Nolan and the types of themes he likes to direct, I thought for sure his next project would be AI related.

This is a pleasant surprise though, I feel like Nolan deserves some respect for at least attempting to add some depth and genuine artistry to standard blockbuster fare. I'll be interested to see what the narrative perspective for Dunkirk is.

Though I already see people in this thread brining up the long take from Atonement. My question to those people is: did you watch the movie that comes before and after that scene? Atonement may be impressive on a photographic level but the rest of that movie is a hot, hot mess.
Maybe I was influenced by the amazing soundtrack and visuals, but I really didnt think the movie was a mess. I thought the acting was phenomenal and the story had some gut wrenching moments. Some of it felt a bit unearned towards the end, but man that movie had an effect on me.

P.S being vague because dont want to ruin any surprises for people who havent seen it.
 

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
now I'm sad because I want a Montgomery movie directed by Nolan instead of this

bombs flying and he sipping some tea
 
Nolan could direct him fucking my GF and I'd watch it. Teach us, Christ Nolan. We are not worthy:

H1yCNVn.jpg


Just need a confirmation that Zimmer is doing the score and Fassbender is attached as well. Then you have my permission to freeze me in.
nicolas-cage-laughing.gif


hahaha oh wow

Cagey said:
The long shot of the beach at Dunkirk in Atonement will be far better than this movie.
We need a tip your fedora icon for all the edgy posts like this one.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
What?
Except Prestige every fucking Nolan movie from the last 10 years has a $150M+ budget.

I did say 'relatively' cheap.

Also this.
Paramount and Warner Bros., which backed “Interstellar,” were prepared to spend close to $200 million to make the movie, according to a person with knowledge of the plans. Mr. Nolan responded that he didn’t need that much money, despite the picture’s extensive use of digital and physical effects to create robots, dust storms, and mile-high waves.

And in contrast to the frantic last-minute reshoots of so many big-budget movies, Mr. Nolan’s work is reliable. He delivers films that are remarkably close to what he originally pitched to his backers. They come in ahead of schedule and under budget. Last April, a time when many summer releases were still far from complete, studio executives saw Mr. Nolan’s first cut of “Interstellar”—nearly identical to the one hitting theaters now.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-hollywood-loves-interstellar-director-christopher-nolan-1414677657
 

Branduil

Member
In my opinion Nolan is batting 100. I haven't seen his very first movie. But everything else he does is gold. I would watch a movie about a turds journey down the toilet if he wrote and directed

Batting .100 would actually be really bad.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
lol relatively cheap. Relative to what? You do know that most films aren't actually $200m+ tentpoles.

Relative to Summer Action blockbuster movies that Nolan makes.

Interstellar is a three hour movie that was made on a $165 million budget. Thor freaking 2 was made for $170. You look at pretty much every comic book summer blockbuster nowadays and they cost over $200 mil.

Anyway, the article says it right there. he comes in under budget and ahead of schedule. That saves the studio money.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom