Memento

liah

Am I the only person in the world who thought Memento was seriously overhyped and predictable...?

Everyone talked about it for so long, said it was fantastic, etc. I watched it a couple years ago and I was entirely wholly unimpressed and figured out the "super amazing twist" near the beginning.

What the hell is so special about it that I'm missing? I thought it was crap.

Magic Eight Ball

liah wrote: »

Am I the only person in the world who thought Memento was seriously overhyped and predictable...?

Yes!

Now if you want to talk about a rubbish over hyped movie it’s The Dark Knight we should be discussing.

Samurai

really enjoyed memento! The dark knight was just alright

liah

Trevor Coulahan wrote: »

Now if you want to talk about a rubbish over hyped movie it’s The Dark Knight we should be discussing.

Definitely not going to argue that one.

Otis Driftwood

Personally I love Memento.Total head fcuk of a movie.

On the 3 disc release of it you can watch the movie chronologically,ie it starts with the credits and finishes with the title screen.

Have never actually it that way,must dig it out.

Karl Hungus

Learn to filter out the hype, take what other people say with a pinch of salt. You can only judge a film on it's own merits, not from what other people say, and if you bring certain expectations to a film you can very often be dissapointed.

I had the absolute pleasure of seeing Memento without really hearing anything about it, and I loved it.

Karl Hungus

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I had the absolute pleasure of seeing Memento without really hearing anything about it, and I loved it.

Ditto! Thought it was great although I do know how everyone hyping a film before you watch it can ruin it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZcfJu4cWZ4

L31mr0d

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I had the absolute pleasure of seeing Memento without really hearing anything about it, and I loved it.

Yeah same here. I watched it knowing nothing about it and thought it was excellent. Knowing nothing about it or what to expect made it more enjoyable. If I had known how it was edited before seeing it, it would of ruined the movie for me.

I avoid reviews like the plague until after I've seen the movie.

liah

Nobody told me anything about the plot or the way it was filmed. They just told me it was good, had a great twist, and I should watch it, I really didn't know anything about it going in.

Still found it quite boring and predictable though.

Greyfox

I thought the film was absolutely amazing and the most original film of the last decade at least...totally blown away by it!

SaintHubbins

It was definitely over-hyped. The idea was good but I found the backwards story-telling a bit gimmicky (Seinfeld had done it a few years before!) and the whole film just felt very small and not in a good way. I find Christopher Nolan films in general to be very cold and uninvolving (much like Bryan Singer). His Batman movies were so drab and depressing - they are comic-book characters for christ's sake, not biblical figures! Lighten up a bit. And the biggest joke is that they got so many Oscar nominations for it (although when have the oscars been a mark of quality in recent times). Also the prestige could have been a lot more fun but again his vampiric sensibilities drained the life from it.

Driver 8

Have to say I've liked all of Nolan's films, and most of Singers (sans Superman Returns and Valkyrie to an extent). If you want cold and uninvolving, I believe Charlie Kaufman's latest is still in cinemas.

Fysh

SaintHubbins wrote: »

His Batman movies were so drab and depressing - they are comic-book characters for christ's sake, not biblical figures! Lighten up a bit. And the biggest joke is that they got so many Oscar nominations for it (although when have the oscars been a mark of quality in recent times). Also the prestige could have been a lot more fun but again his vampiric sensibilities drained the life from it.

Well, if you wanted the Schumacher-nipples Batman movies, perhaps you should've just bought Batman Forever or Batman & Robin on DVD and watched those instead? I don't see the harm in having films based on comics that aren't based on the Batman TV series version of comics that people who know little or nothing about comics seem to think all comics are like. But then again, I'm probably biased.

I wouldn't say Memento was a life-changing experience, but I was lucky enough to see it without hearing anything much about it and definitely enjoyed it. While the story is nothing amazing, precious few films do have an amazing story - in this case it was more about the execution. The direction had flair, the script was good, and there were some nice touches - the humour, the almost instructinal-video feel of the scenes where Leonard discusses his condition over the phone.

Of course, this could just be one of those "your mileage may vary" things where one person enjoys something, and another doesn't.

tony1kenobi

I had heard nothing about Memento, to the point that I was 20 minutes in the cinema not knowing what the fcuk was going on. Once I realized how it was playing out I concentrated on the story and it all came together in my head about a day after the film finished.

Then I went to see it again because I didn't think it could be as good as I made it in my head.

It was better.

missingtime

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I had the absolute pleasure of seeing Memento without really hearing anything about it, and I loved it.

Yup me too. Same with The Matrix.

I do love the viral marketing stuff i.e. Cloverfield but its nice when something comes along to **** your sh!t up!

Fysh

missingtime wrote: »

Yup me too. Same with The Matrix.

I do love the viral marketing stuff i.e. Cloverfield but its nice when something comes along to **** your sh!t up!

I don't think I'd heard anything much about the Matrix (except maybe one trailer) when I saw it first, and as a result it blew me away. I'd heard about ten times as much as I'd any interest in about Cloverfield before it came out (not to mention that they were clumsy enough to let their ARG cross over with another ARG for some videogame launch), which meant that between the excess hype and the crappiness of the film itself, I was sorely disappointed.

The rule of thumb is, the more you know about it in advance, the more likely you'll be disappointed or underwhelmed.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

about cloverfield.. it was a really really awful movie, but Odette Yustman is just so god damn hot I didn't mind watching it that much.

Earthhorse

Memento is one of the few movies I watched after hearing all the hype and still really enjoyed. Great little movie.

liah wrote: »

Nobody told me anything about the plot or the way it was filmed. They just told me it was good, had a great twist, and I should watch it, I really didn't know anything about it going in.

I don't think the twist is all that great to be honest. It's Guy Pearce's performance and the way the whole thing unfolds.

Fysh wrote: »

While the story is nothing amazing, precious few films do have an amazing story - in this case it was more about the execution. The direction had flair, the script was good, and there were some nice touches - the humour, the almost instructinal-video feel of the scenes where Leonard discusses his condition over the phone.

That's a pretty good summary of the strong points of the movie.

big_show

Shocked by the amount of negative vibes towards Memento, thought this was going to be a praise thread! really enjoyed it and is one of my most rewatched films, really like the prestige as well even if the end got a bit crazy, but its the suspense up until then that really works for it. Big fan of Nolan thought he done a great job on the batman franchise and would also go to a film purely for the fact that he was at the helm

missingtime

Fysh wrote: »

....I'd heard about ten times as much as I'd any interest in awhich meant that between the excess hype and the crappiness of the film itself, I was sorely disappointed.

Captain Mords Spiced Bum wrote: »

about cloverfield.. it was a really really awful movie, but Odette Yustman is just so god damn hot I didn't mind watching it that much.

I quite liked Cloverfield. OK so the story was bit sappy but....you know monsters and cool special forces guys.

seanybiker

I enjoyed it.
Wouldnt call it excellent or anything.

cabrwab

Loved momento,
Watched it when it first came out on DVD, only saw the empire review which was a couple of lines in comparison to other reviews.
Loved it, such a mind f*ck at the first viewing knew very little about the story before i watched it.

The matrix was the same i knew very little about about the story and it blew me away.

After that the Hype kicks in and people's expectations grow.
Then the inevitable fail.
I like the darkness that was brought to some comic book movies lately, comics are generally dark and what nolan has done for the "entire" comic book movie revolutions is great in my eyes.
He's an interesting director he has his flaws but he's a good story teller. I do agree with a previous poster that i never feel "involved" with the characters.

But memento is never the movie that will do that for you.

I've watched the movie in the chronological order, feels like watching some cheap soap!

Fysh

missingtime wrote: »

I quite liked Cloverfield. OK so the story was bit sappy but....you know monsters and cool special forces guys.

I was hoping I'd enjoy it, but the combination of shakycam and "imagine a bunch of annoying Manhattan dimwits as your core cast, coupled with a really crap framing device" angle ruined a film that should've been the American cinema's response to The Host.

homerun_homer

I love Memento, saw it when it came out and before it's popularity spread through word of mouth and the internet and cheap DVD sales.

In terms of watching it Chronoligically, Chris Nolan says it is something he'd not want fans to do as that's not the way it's intended, but as a curious watch and for people wanting to see how well the continuity holds up it can be interesting.

Can anyone tell me what the alternate endings were on the 3 disc DVD?

I thought it was fantastic m'self. Nolan's a great director and Guy Pearce is one of the best actors around.

In fact ... yes ... I think I'll watch it again tonight

Looking forward to his next offering Inception ... a sci-fi action flick "set within the architecture of the mind" ... :eek:

tok9

Brilliant film imo... Spotted the 3 disc special edition for only €6 in hmv a few months ago.. only heard a bit about it and knew it got good reviews so i gambled.. I wasn't disappointed!! Cloverfield wasn't that bad either.. took a while to get into though

Vinny-Chase

Really like Memento. Started a bit of a love affair with Christopher Nolan, look forward to any thing he puts out now.

TheWealth

If you want a movie thats opposite to Memento, as in totally under rated but still within the same boarder lines...check out Primer

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390384/

And look at what the director / production team did before and after