Tag: kennethbranagh

Dunkirk

~ Mark

Dunkirk. It is tremendous. Couldn’t look away for even a sliver of a moment. Out of all of Christopher Nolan movies I’ve seen, I’d rank this at the top. One thing that did him a favor is that the dialogue is so minimal. A trim, direct story so he can focus on the construction. I love the layered stories – the boat scenes being my favorites – that are racing to meet at the end, which we know with hindsight is only a beginning.

I haven’t updated my Christopher Nolan power rankings in a while, so…

  1. Dunkirk
  2. Interstellar
  3. Memento
  4. The Prestige
  5. The Dark Knight
  6. The Dark Knight Rises
  7. Batman Begins
  8. Insomnia
  9. Following
  10. Inception

That feels right for now.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

~ Mark

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Eeehhhhhhhh. Too many of these people have too many skills, so it all feels overstuffed and much less tense than how I remember the Baldwin/Ford movies. I did enjoy seeing the covert meetings in barren movie theaters, emptied office buildings at night, and lonely forest roads. Some pretty solid Nokia product placement. If I see one more movie where a (heavy finger quotes) “trained assassin” doesn’t know his bullet count… One of my notes while watching this movie:

intense typing

When it comes to rebooted properties featuring Chris Pine, this one ranks behind the first and second Star Trek movies.

Thor

~ Mark

Thor. Funny to compare this to my experience watching The Dark Knight Rises. While just as gee-whiz/fun/bad, this one was much less ambitious and much less exasperating. A lesson in expectations. I expect Captain America to remain my favorite of the Marvel series, followed by the first Iron Man, then Thor, then Iron Man II. I guess that leaves The Incredible Hulk and The Avengers on my to-watch list.