for those fans of Glengarry and of writer David Mamet, you should also check out another great movie that he wrote: House of Games 

The Deer Hunter was a great film. Surreal, without being dreamily surreal(gritty surrealism perhaps?). Pretty unforgettable experience for me. I could only watch it once, since it made such a vivid impact on me.

A have problems with Schindler's list. I recently watched it again and changed my opinion on it completely. In short, I don't like Spielberg. He seems to have made a film about the holocaust that I found to be disturbingly manipulative. It's such a serious subject, yet this film is really only a talent show for Spielberg. That made me uncomfortable.

Isaac is a baseball fan, so we always kick off the season by watching For Love of the Game. It grows on you the more times you watch it.

"The Passion of the Christ" is the only movie I have intentionally not seen. I've heard it's based on a true story. 

A few people I've known said it changed their lives. They seem about the same to me.

Last night I watched Memento (2000), starring Carrie-Anne Moss, aka Trinity, Joe Pantoliano, aka Cypher, and some guy I've forgotten.  ;)

This is one of those screenplays/novels/short stories (it's based on a short story) that makes me envious I didn't write, dammit. >:-(  Brilliantly conceived screenplay.  Damn.

That was amazing. I think I understood more each time I saw it but continued to puzzle and ponder.

My massage therapist invited me to her church, which was a start-up located in a stadium seating movie theatre, when the church showed The Passion of Christ, complete with lit candles and incense below the screen.

I'm not religious, but I gotta admit, that was powerful.

Judging by the stunned weeping around me, I can see how the movie might change people, internally at least, particularly if they were believers in the first place.

Memento and The Usual Suspects are fun, but they're just writing tricks, right?  Nolan is one of the most literal directors around, actually.  The guy has no feel for the subtleties of cinematic language.

I believe the puzzlement is deliberate.  The ambiguous and confusing form of the storyline follows from the ambiguity and confusion of lost memories.

If you were supposed to arrive at a definite conclusion about, say, his past, it would destroy the entire premise of the movie.

Sorry if you already knew that.  lol

The "literary trick" in The Usual Suspects isn't even a literary trick.  The director intentionally lies to the audience.  Kinda' like in that terrible movie Fight Club where they show outsiders interacting with both the Norton and Pitt characters.

I'm not sure how you can write Memento without being literal.  The audience has to be able grab onto something, or else the point of the movie is lost.  It works for Memento.  His other films, I haven't seen, so it sounds like he has room to grow in his writing. 

I'm not talking about writing, I'm talking about directing.

Ah, lol, you're talking to a writer who took you too literally.  ;)

Curious, I'm not sure I follow, basically because I'm stupid in all other aspects of filmography.  Can you give an example in Memento of the literalism you're referring to and maybe a different way Nolan could have directed that example in a more subtle way?

....you want me to furnish detailed visual analysis of a movie I last saw six years ago?

if you remember anything, no pun intended.  if not, no biggie.

maybe an example from another movie?  i remember the Usual Suspects fairly well, if that helps.  :)

Oh, it's just the way he films everything; it's constant shot/counter-shot/counter-counter-shot.  Actually, there was a great blog post on this apropos Inception.  Let's see if I can find it...

http://bigother.com/2010/08/08/seventeen-ways-of-criticizing-inception/

Yes, I can.

Only 17 ways?  :)

I didn't know Nolan directed Inception.  Oy.  Thanks for the link.  I'd seen The Ghost Writer, where there's an embedded vid to show the difference between Nolan and Polanski, and I understand your criticism far far better now.  lol

Yes, Nolan's, um, still learning his craft....

He's learned his craft entirely, he's just not very good at it.  The Dark Knight was awful, awful, awful, at least when Heath Ledger wasn't around.

 No I'M Spartacus!

I liked Moon (2009 i think) - low budget sci-fi ,  sam rockwell & kevin spacey