My Own Little World

I wanted to see The Walk  ever since it was announced. I love the story of Philippe Petit's high wire crossing of the span between the Twin Towers, and I love Robert Zemeckis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's respective talents. Yet, I never expected the film that I got. I expected a somewhat standard biopic with a slightly more serious tone. Instead, I got what felt like a fast-paced heist film. That is why The Walk  is one of the best films I've seen so far this year: it can deftly balance between the more expository narrative of Petit's life and the intense high wire sequences that drive the film's heart. Zemeckis as a filmmaker excels at this. He has proven in two of his previous films, Forrest Gump  and Flight , that he can bounce back and forth between two distinct tones and make an amazing film out of them. In Forrest Gump , it was between romance, drama, and war; in Flight , between dark comedy, thriller, and courtroom drama. In The Walk , we get some ver...

I'm going to be starting another new series on my blog: My Favorites. These are simply some of my favorite films. First up (and definitely not-so-simply): Christopher Nolan's 2010 heist thriller Inception .  My number one reason for liking Inception  might seem fanboyish, but I'll say it anyway: it's a Christopher Nolan film.  Now, my reasons for liking Nolan's films are too numerous to count, but I'll say this: he is one of the very few directors who makes artistic, thoughtful films on a blockbuster budget. Starting out as an indie director with Memento , Nolan really hit his stride when he inherited the Batman franchise and made his Dark Knight  trilogy (which I will cover later in this series). However, he always had a knack for taking original content such as the magician-focused novel The Prestige  or creating his own original ideas. This is where Inception  comes in. How many films can you say have been made about the subconscious of the ...