Spielberg is seasoned while Nolan is not. Give him a few more years and I'm sure he'll do a better job. He's only in the business for about a decade.

How can Memento for one possesses bad editing and cameraworks?

Well I guess there can only be one Spielberg then but Nolan does have the talent, i believe he'll do wonders in the future.

I also think it has gotta do with the technical team. Nolan so far has not assembled a strong team with him and that probably contributes to your question. I'm happy with Nolan's works so far, all of em', including Insomnia and Following.

It's weird now cz it's like a Spielberg vs Nolan thread

too abstract for me to comprehend. but I dont feel anything watching them.

I agree with the Leone comment. His films has a very clear, distinct visual feel to it, much like Stanley Kubrick.

Also agree with Nolan being an average action director, but what he did with Batman Begins I feel has done the superhero genre justice considering the craps like Spiderman, Hulk, etc...

No i dun really agree with your point there BurgaFlippinMan.Cuz if u really see the budget of the movies between both directors theres a wide margin between them. Except for the Batman movies most of the films created by Chris Nolan is what can be term as a small budget flick which also include great movies such as Memento and The Prestige. As for the action sequences in Batman, i guess that is not where he wanted to go with the movie. Even in the The Dark Knight Year One, where Begins is mostly being based on lacks the action as there are more spy works for Batman. But i have to agree maybe on the cinematography as that is where i think he lacks.U can compare the prestige and the illusionist. Illusionist will definitely wins on visual beauty but as for story and editing, hands down Nolan is a master.
Just my 2 cents

I actually like The Prestige very much. The entire trickery/illusion/cheat whatever you may call, it was superb. You could see a twist coming but it still gets you.

rules, i never get this. on imdb people rant for pages about this cheat, that it never followed the rules but i dont remember theres a set of written rules for it.

LOTR: Return of the king, the undead just came and like put a full stop to the whole battle of pelennor. theres not even enough time to grasp at the un dead and the battle finishes.

star wars. a moon sized battle station gets owned by two photon torpedo's? force or not if these things can be soo hard to shoot with the computer yet they can auto pilot down the long shaft to the core?

and be patient do give him time, comparing him to the likes of Spielberg further tells you what potential he has. he might have not made his spree of magnum opus just yet, he has just started his career and simply comparing one director to another on the basis of time frame would be unfair. who knows he might be a late bloomer, and shower us with tons of cinema magik in his later years.

He thinks the movie's twist is a cop-out because the movie seems to set out a strictly logic-based path and then resorts to sci-fi

Nolan is one of the most refreshing director that has appeared in a long time. Surely it will be unfair to compair him Spielberg, Coppola, Lucas (students of Kurosawa I might add, or rather John Ford since Kurosawa was inspired by John Ford and Spielberg, Coppola, Lucas, and even Scorcese were inspired by Kurosawa.

Nolan is not one to follow the conventional studio methods of making movies.

He is first and foremost postmodern. In his movies, he explores fragmentation of time, perception, explores how decisions made and how incidents can change someone, and features very real characters with very real (albeit dark) emotion in seemingly impossible situation.

To the casual viewers, his movies can be confusing and also at the same time looks badly edited.

To film students, his work is great for study and discussion and meant for repeated viewing.

I mean, when I first watched Memento, I could not quite get it.  I understood the ending but still it feels like I am missing alot there. The second and third viewing it just gets better and better because you start to fill in the gaps.

With Prestige it is amazing how you will start off rooting for one person and by the time the movie ends, you would have switch sides for a few times because as you get into the movie, you start to see the characters for who they really are.

I mean, his movies aren't for everyone. The themes are dark, his characters are dark and not easy for everyone to relate. I mean we all have our dark side but how many are actually willing to explore that side in all of us? Most will just push it aside because we prefer to look at the world full of sunshine and happiness and all the sugar and spice and all things nice.

For those brave enough to explore that part of us, it is easy to relate to his characters because reality is, the world is not always sunshine and happiness and by the time we die, we will very likely have experience or witness more horrors and sadness than we would like to admit.

I think it is wrong to view batman as a superhero movie. The intention was never to make a traditional superhero movie. The approach is more akin to Casino Royale, taking a popular franchise that is running the risk of self parodying and bring it back to basics and Batman Begins did just that.

There is no place for flashy action scenes and big explosions. The action sequence in Batman Begins works for what it is, realistic and straight to the point.

Anything more would have spoilt the realistic approach they are going for.

I mean Spielberg is a great director but he is also a very safe director. He definitely has the ability to tackle of very dark and 'unsafe' subjects but most of the time, he rather take on the mantle of the family movie director and that's how most of his movies are, very family oriented. Flashy, happy, and very likeable and heroic protagonist.

I mean, he did make Schindler's List, Minority Report, and Munich.

My favourite work of his is Minority Report and even though most would say that is his darkest movie, the story is much tone down from the original source material.

So yes, Spielberg is definitely a great director and I will watch his movies but always with the knowledge that he will neatly wrap things up for me and the ending will never be too sad.

With Nolan, I can always expect the unexpected and the ending will make me want to walk into the cinema and watch the movie again and again.

I predict Nolan with change the industry soon, like how Orsan Welles changed the industry with Citizen Kane.

ps-it will be also be crazy to Nolan to Spielberg and Welles success relative to their age because the industry just doesn't work that way anymore today.

For the few movies (six so far) that Nolan has made so far, he is definitely showing tremendous improvement each time.

so somehow a sudden miracle is ok? just that they dont break the internal logic?

personally i dont see the problem with it, its a good twist to me. but i do get your point, the thing is prestige did it in a very very mellow sense. unless you look hard and pick at it you wont notice the logic issue

regardless of what you say, comparing norlan v Spielberg is kinda wrong. one cant expect all directors to follow a time frame of another, norlans career is well, just starting. and to expect him to churn out movies the exact time frame of another director would be kinda unfair. maybe after he has had a career for sometime until we have seen a lot of what he is capable of then we can come to some justification. simply put you are comparing a potential rookie to a legend.

Actually the sci-fi element was already introduced beforehand when we got to know Tesla and his teleportation device, so you can't say the 'sci-fi'ness of it was too sudden.

But we have really gone off topic. I still dont get how nolan's visuals dont' flow' right.

me too, like batman. ok the fight scenes were off beat (wont that be due to the action choreographer?)

well how you put it, the undead ended the battle very abruptly.

all the people you took into consideration have got a long career or like erm passed away d.

man you are one dude thats just hard to please    music next? god. you might even come to the extent of arguing that norlan is not as good cause his actors look one direction a little too often. 

easily pleased but have to find fault with norlan?

The movie may have started out strictly rooted in reality, but there is one scene which I think is pivotal in this discussion. The scene where Sarah takes Borden up to her apartment, says he cant come inside, and we see Borden walking down the stairs, and the next thing we see is Borden magically appearing inside the apartment. What went through your mind right after that scene? Because it was that scene that made me second guess the nature of the film... There couldn't be anything that could make him appear in there. It was impossible. Yet the thought of him having a twin never once flashed in my mind. The movie basically gives it to you right here, and we somehow dont take it.

Yes, the teleportation device turned out, unintentionally, to be a duplication machine, but you didnt know Bale sent him on a wild goose chase.

The 'cheat' you refer to is actually Angier cheating in the context of the film, and we see the horror he inflicted upon himself (killing a duplicate in every performance).

Cop out spotted. 

j/k

you know, that is not being eaasy to please. its like everyone you have something ti go against

dude, relax and enjoy the movie

You guys are so sad, it's a public holiday and and you all are perpetually reloading this page at least I have a test tomorrow

I envy you who have so much time

this topic still going on eh?