Interpreting movies

Post Reply New Topic

I always look at the wikipedia page of a movie after I watch it so I understand what was going on.

I think it depends on what my special interest is at the time. If it happens to be how movies are made,i notice different techniques they used to get certain points across, or how the lighting effects help the mood, continuity errors, etc. if it is the basic form of stories, I.e. plot, character development, climax, conclusion- I canusually figure out what is going to happen, since all movies basically follow the same rules. When I get into a big psychology mood is when I don't really "get it"because I'm too focused on what disorders they might have, or what they are thinking in order to justify their actions without really looking at the big picture

Inception is confusing and messy because its creator isn't as nearly as deep, intelligent or educated as he thinks he is. It's one of those movies that take itself way to seriously, offering regular Joes (who don't really know anything about philosophy or other "deep" subjects) something to think about and to talk about in order to feel intelligent and deep.

Similarly, Paolo Coelho's books are "instant philosophy" for those who don't know anything about philosophy and who aren't educated enough. These books are for these people to feel intelligent and deep.

In reality, since Nolan isn't particularly educated himself, some of the Inception's "secrets" were blatantly obvious (like the way he named his characters... For example, Ellen Page's character name reveals a lot about the plot)

The only good thing about Inception is Cillian Murphy (well, not the only good thing, but I really like him as an actor).

I liked some Nolan's movies, though. Memento was ok. So was Prestige. But Inception just takes itself way too seriously.

(Rant end. Sorry for being off topic here).

^ Nolan's pretentious, pseudo-philosophical BS is the main reason he's been disappointing me since Insomnia. But for some reason, I was more entertained by Inception than any of his movies since that one. If I had to speculate about why, I could maybe say that it's put together with better skill, but I don't know. It's just as full of sh*t as The Dark Knight, but I know which movie I would rather watch again.

Glad to know I'm not the only one here who thinks The Dark Knight was overrated. Then again, Gary Oldman is my favourite actor so I can watch any of his movies without complaining.

And yes, I do think Nolan is pretentious. He might not be a bad guy and he's talented, but I think Inception shows what happens when you have a budget so huge you get a pass even if you fail to deliver a good story.

Cillian Murphy was in Inception? Oh man, I like Cillian Murphy and I didn't even recognize him. I agree with what people are saying about Inception being overrated, though.

Speaking to what Apple_in_my_eye said, when I first saw Star Wars, I also wondered what all the buttons on Darth Vader's chest did. The whole thing was a disconnected series of special effects involving lasers and robots and laser swords and explosions. I also kept confusing Han Solo and Luke Skywalker for each other.

I am better at perceiving film plots but I think I'm still missing things other people get - when people hate movies for particular reasons, I usually do not get why, or maybe my priorities are just different. I didn't hate the Matrix sequels and enjoyed the fight sequences and special effects, which is what the Matrix movies are to me. When people start talking about flaws in the film they're talking about stuff that doesn't seem to register with me when I see them.

Yeah, I always wondered what would happen if someone pressed all those buttons on Darth Vader. And I always wondered why the weak spot on the Death Star was a little teeny hole, of all places. And why Han Solo could use a blaster but not a machine gun.

He was the victim of the Inception. They were going inside his head (dreams).

He didn't really look like himself, though.

This is a page about his character in Inception: http://inception.wikia.com/wiki/Robert_Fischer

As for noticing "irrelevant details", I do notice all sorts of details. It usually doesn't prevent me from enjoying the film. However, it's very annoying when I ask somebody to tell me about a film and I start asking all sorts of questions about the things people find irrelevant.

Yeah, I have a tendency to say "I wonder what was up with this character/event/object" and people are like why do you even notice and care about these things?

Like I love noticing reused props - there's one I recall from Airplane 2 (Shatner stops and asks what it does) and The Last Starfighter, for example. It was an SF tech looking thing with long lighted tubes.

Cillian Murphy looks the same to me in every movie:



As for Star Wars, I always wondered why everyone looked human and spoke English, if this was a galaxy far, far away.

Edit: Jesus, what the hell did MS Paint do to my image? It gang raped that red text.

Doesn't look the same to me, but it's easier to see it's the same person lined up like that.

Also, you left out Breakfast on Pluto.

You're telling me that if the guy on the top left talked to you on Monday, and the guy in the bottom right talked to you on Tuesday, you wouldn't recognize him?

That depends. Is he talking to me at the same place both times? And is it someplace I expect to see him?

The hair is different.

I mean, okay:

My youngest niece just dyed her hair black. When I first saw her today, I thought she was actually one of my other nieces until I connected other cues (like her hamster on her shoulder). I see her every day in the same place.

Breakfast on Pluto is my favourite Cillian movie.





I disagree he looks the same. He has very distinctive looks, that's why he's so striking, I guess. But he's quite versatile as an actor. Definitely one of the best of his generation.

wow... okay, I never would have thought male-C and female-C were the same person... maybe unless they spoke in the same voice...

My hardest thing with movies is recognizing the characters... My husband LOVES movies (like, I thought I could be obsessive about things... this dude has like 9 large storage tubs of movies... and that's not counting the 3 shelving units of movies, the ones he has in my movie shelving unit, or the ones stacked in our bedroom or the living room... this dude knows his movies) and when we're watching, he helps me keep the characters straight (which is a major plus)...

When I was in 9th grade, I developed this fascination with Trainspotting (to the point that I imported green-edition from Canada) ... I cannot tell you how many times I've seen this movie... the only movie I've probably seen more times is SW:ESB and that's only because I watched it every night before bed for 2 years... Sometime last year while watching it, I noticed that the dude who gives Renton the heroin suppositories is actually in the movie twice... and he's wearing the same freaking outfit and I never made the connection that it was the same dude till I was over 10 years into watching the movie... (I'm 28, I was 14 when I started to watch Trainspotting)

When I was younger, I would only want to watch movies with certain people and it was most-likely due to the fact that I could then pick out the main character which made it possible to watch a movie. My ability to recognize famous people has slightly increased since spending the last 4 years with my husband and his movie collection. it helps that he understands that I can't recognize the characters and that sometimes I miss obvious sub-text.

Although I sometimes have trouble understanding things, recognizing people, or remembering names, I think I generally do okay figuring out movies and television shows, in spite of all that. My mistakes are pretty funny, though. But the main thing that gets me is how hard it is to get the dialogue when people talk during it. There are lots of places where characters pause in their speech long enough to make a comment. My father taught me to wait for these moments when I was a kid. It's easier for me to find those pauses in a scripted performance than in a real conversation I'm in. But NTs seem not to be able to find the movie dialogue pauses - or they just don't care about them - so they talk right through them. Then I lose track of what's going on. How can they get (and understand the importance of) the pauses on the fly, in real life conversation, but not in movie and television dialogue? I don't get it. And it hurts my brain when they do that.