Saturday, November 8, 2014

What's Your Favorite Scene in a Christopher Nolan Movie?

Please say it's anything with Matthew Modine.

Interstellar is out in theaters this weekend. Maybe it has your new favorite scene from a Christopher Nolan movie. Also, maybe it doesn't. But rather than talk about what our favorite Christopher Nolan movies are -- he doesn't yet have enough films for that to be a very interesting conversation -- let's pick a favorite scene or moment. Even if you're not a fan, you should be able to at least choose that much.

So let's have them! Dig deep into your obsessive memory and incept the answer.

32 comments:

  1. Probably still the "I'm chasing this guy...nope, he's chasing me" bit from Memento. That's a movie packed with great moments, but for some reason that's the first one that popped in my head so I'm running with it. It may be tied with the "pencil trick" (taaaa-daaaa) from The Dark Knight.

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  2. I just love how Christian Bale says the line "Abracadabra" at the end of The Prestige. So much fear and sadness in just that one word.

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  3. "honey, it's time for my shot…" that scene chilled me to the core.

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  4. As obvious as it may seem, spinning hallway fight still gives me chills every time.

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    1. Yeah, I think I agree. I gotta go with that or the "4th level" dream (snow part) in Inception. I'm re-watching The Prestige tonight. I loved it but haven't revisited it since it came out and my wife hasn't seen it.

      This was an interesting question because Nolan is known for these huge, visual set pieces but when I started thinking about his films and what sticks out, none of them really jumped out at me. It was mostly the quality of performances he gets from the actors and not specific scenes.

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    2. Although I do love Guy Pierce in Memento going "Who the fuck is Dodd?!"

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    3. Totally agree. Though these two cinema moments are very different, that scene always makes me think of when Fred Astaire danced in a rotating set. Respect!

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  5. "You went half way around the world....you spent a fortune. And you did terrible things Robert, really terrible things."

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    1. Btw, anyone else bothered by Interstellar ripping off Event Horizon?

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  6. The log chase scene in Insomnia. Just beautifully shot.

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  7. I know it is over played for other reasons, but I hadn't read about it all when I first saw it, so I freaked out when I saw the Batman logo in The Following (which I saw really late because I heard about it and didn't know it existed) way after I was enjoying his Batman products.
    Anyway....
    "Never answer the phone."

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  8. The first scene that jumped to my mind(may not be the most inspired choice) is the opening bank robbery scene in The Dark Knight… Loved the pacing

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  9. I love the dynamic between Mal, Cobb and Ariadne in Inception. When I thought about this question the first scenes that came to me were the scene where Ariadne goes into Cobb's personal dreams and she goes into the basement. Also how we find out what happened in that room. Her on that ledge is something that really stuck with me. As well as when we see him meet her again as more of the story between them is developed. I think Leo's and Marion's acting perfomances just make it so raw and beautiful. I love Ariadane's strength, rooted by Ellen I think, she is able to help him realise what he has trapped with him is just a fragement of his wife, with all of her perfections and imperfections, she is only a shade of the real person she was when she was alive. This sets him free but also her spirit is more honoured in that way. I really love that chatacter depth that roots the film.

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    1. Hey Gabby, that was my other choice! The Inception scene in "the room" is phenomenal. It has such a haunting, dreamlike (no pun, c'mon now) feel to it.

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    2. Love the scene you picked as well, high five.

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  10. The opening scene of the Dark Knight is pretty great. Nolan has a way of making even the small, understated scenes feel like big, dramatic set pieces.

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  11. Probably the interrogation scene between Joker and Batman in The Dark Knight. I still get intensely wound up every time I see it.

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  12. I really wanted to pick something from The Prestige, but it's tough because that movie is so chopped up and out of order that you can barely pin down a "scene." I guess I'll go with the first "dream training" sequence from Inception. It establishes a lot of the rules for the rest of the movie, and also hits us with some of the first outstanding and mindbending images. There's also the great reveal moment when DiCaprio tells her they're already dreaming, which subtly sparks our awareness that it might be hard to tell the difference.

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  13. SPOILERS FOR INTERSTELLAR

    While I really love the interrogation scene in The Dark Knight, the fifth dimension in Interstellar might take the cake. The visuals were really chilling.

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    1. MORE SPOILERS FOR INTERSTELLAR

      When Mahogany enters the black hole; I watched it in a packed IMAX theater, and I'm positive the crowd was on the same pins and needles I was; it was so tense, the crowd was so quiet, and it felt like everyone was holding their breath. The whole scene was one of the few times I ever sat forward to be closer to the screen at a movie theater. That experience on Friday told me how powerful that scene was.

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    2. God I loved this movie. It's so enjoyable with an audience.

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  14. I love the Joker. Especially the " magic trick. Making the pencil disappear scene" its so tense and played perfectly

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  15. I struggle with Bane as a character. For some reason I cant get past the mumbling voice problem. I like the scene you like but I dont love the film

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  16. I think TDK is a very good movie, with a very cool climax in the ferries dilemma (though in real life, let alone as supposedly corrupt city as Gotham, both groups would be pushing those buttons as fast and hard as possible). And the Inception hallway fight is pretty great.

    But the honest truth is that the greatest Nolan-related happiness I've yet experienced is College Humor's "Badman" skits. ("On my planet, this symbol means 'hope'." "HOPE starts with an H, stupid!") Just gold. :D

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  17. Interstellar is full of the most visually spectacular Christopher Nolan scenes, but the spinning hallway in Inception makes my jaw drop every single time.

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  18. Batman Begins.

    Gordon : 'I never said thank you.'
    Batman: 'And you'll never have to'

    Perfect.

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  19. The chase scene between Batman and the Joker in "The Dark Knight" is fantastic. The semi-truck flip still astounds me.

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  20. Such a great exercise.

    [Spoilers for Insomnia (2002)]
    The telephone conversation between Pacino and William in Insomnia has always stuck with me. In the midst of blackmailing Pacino's Will Dormer, Williams' Walter Finch rationalizes murdering a young woman and manages to makes himself out as the victim of her cruelty. It is the way in which Finch ostensibly seeks understanding from Dormer, sounding wistfully reflective about that whole unfortunate incident, that is so chilling.

    Williams' performance is incredibly nuanced: he makes it clear that Finch is consciously donning a human mask over the monster while also playing 'human' really, really well. It is a bit like the difference between an actor trying to act 'funny' and an actor playing a ridiculous character in a ridiculous situation utterly seriously.

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  21. People always say that Nolan struggles with the emotional stuff, but the sequence between Dom and Mal at the end of Inception gets me every time.

    Mal: "You said you dreamt that we'd grow old together"
    Dom: "But we did. We did, but you don't remember." [cut to them walking in Limbo but as an elderly couple]

    I

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  22. Ledger's Joker blowing up the hospital in Dark Knight. The moment where the terror feels real and the Joker character starts to work more for me.

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  23. The moment Alfred sees Bruce Wayne at the end of TDKR is just the most beautiful moment, in fact, the last 45 minutes of that film is ridiculous.
    Watching Inception at the BFI in London, which was the first time watching a movie in imax, and seeing the rotating corridor fight was mindblowing!
    It's a tie!

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