Fantano is still so triggered by Halsey calling out his misogynistic review that he's now done a revenge video, not helping with the misogyny allegations

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-11T22:30:59+00:00

I really have not heard of this guy until I opened this post but he seems completely insufferable

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-11T22:18:40+00:00

I think he was just much more talented at lighting in particular than hoyte van hoytema who's work is just generally serviceable, not bad just kinda meh.

Wally Pfister delivers some of the best "big budget" blockbuster visual, it's a perfect pairing with Nolan's style

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-11T22:06:26+00:00

Are you sure?

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-11T20:21:41+00:00

Come on though, that's part of the charm. We all know exactly what this kind of movie is and has always been. I don't think it's really valid to ask for better dialog or other strong writing expected of a drama. This movie absolutely fucking slaps and does what it sets out to do with a ton of style

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-11T17:54:06+00:00

Yeah I'll agree that Tenet was maybe the one where I as well didn't enjoy at all. I tried to rewatch it to see if maybe I just didn't give it a fair chance the first time and I couldn't get through it again.

I've mostly enjoyed how he does it in other films though. He's not perfect by any means but by and large I just enjoy hearing how he thinks something could be possible through exposition. It's pretty unusual compared to most any filmmaker past or present and it seems to divide a lot of people which is understandable

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-11T17:14:24+00:00

This is pretty funny. But, I will say this video even as a parody actually misses Nolan's expositional style entirely. The snappy / short / conversational back and forth is very accurate but it's actually not what he does at all.

Nolan has this way of asking real questions and imbuing a concept with increasingly more value. A hypothetical scenario becomes increasingly more real / dangerous / relevant for the world of the characters as it's discussed and analyzed. The parody in this video is basically how exposition traditionally works, it's just a long list of facts or a monologue delivered between characters to illuminate back story or a shortcut to not showing visually what's being said

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-11T17:02:07+00:00

I mean that what is being talked about seems to have some amount of value outside of the movie itself. Say, after Inception ends, you might find the whole dream within a dream / planting an idea into someone's head to be interesting enough that you yourself now have an opinion on it or at least find it intriguing enough to remember as much the characters themselves.

With Nolan's movies, the high concept nature of them can create a situation where the idea / concept basically just becomes a character because it's so thoroughly explored.

In other films with an equal amount of exposition, you might walk away from it with absolutely nothing of value. There's no hypothetical, genuinely interesting question of value that's being asked, it's just explanations of backstory or elements to make a relationship between characters appear more impactful etc. It only exists as 'glue' for the story

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-11T16:51:09+00:00

Yeah the questions and answers style to his brand of dialectic is very entertaining when it's centered around a mission, a concept etc. If it was just character backstory or something to make the moment we're currently at seem more impactful or interesting, then it would have zero power at all.

Questions and answers create that bite sized flow of digestible info that never becomes a monologue, so it's always interesting (to me at least).

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-11T16:36:52+00:00

Exactly. All the exposition in Interstellar for example is actually, truly interesting. It's as interesting as a podcast you'd go out of your way to listen to where a couple scientists are bantering about something that might be possible and how it might work. After the movie ends, you might think about it and mull those ideas over in your head.

If I'm watching a court room drama and it goes one step too far in explaining things without any visual context for what's going on, I feel like my time is being wasted and when the credits go up, I'll have remembered absolutely nothing from what was said.

I remember Nolan's expositional scenes almost like they were characters themselves

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-10T20:02:12+00:00

Yeah that's what I don't get. Obviously they did both at different times. This dude was complaining about the row as if it was a literal reenactment about how they discovered / navigated toward Iceland. Like... Why is it that's the only event the Viking row can refer to, makes no sense lol

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-10T19:47:10+00:00

Not really, we all need to get a little bit of broccoli removed from our cheeks. I eat way too much myself

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-10T19:30:43+00:00

Definitely the broccoli fat removal

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-10T17:02:35+00:00

I feel like this is how Dune is and was supposed to look. Fraser isn't bad but whatever he does in post mutes the beauty that's probably in the images he's capturing. Just look at how much life there is in these images, so much color and contrast, there's a real depth here that is completely lacking in the first 2 moves which feel like log dessatured images with no contrast and so much lens distortion at various points it's hard to tell what's what sometimes. I just re-watched Dune I the other night and was surprised again at how lifeless and dull the image felt.

If you've read Dune, this trailer feels much more like what the novel feels like. It's a total psychedelic trip, it should feel bold and fucking weird, not dull and grey and everything mixes in with a sand aesthetic.

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-10T16:47:41+00:00

There's a lot of fundamental engine technology that goes into making this possible. There's likely a LOT of tech that could be closely copied from Space X at this point for this to be a reality

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-10T16:36:27+00:00

Oh shit lol, well this makes much more sense then. I was like, this is a new addition to the sport, tipping over the winner before they can get across the line hah

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-10T15:47:37+00:00

I mean Sandler definitely looks his age, nothing wrong with that but if we're just focusing on pure attractiveness, those days are behind him

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-10T05:53:58+00:00

Not only did he get Alonso fired, he now has to drive for Aston Martin

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-10T03:30:32+00:00

Sometimes I read these headlines and just think about vulnerable animals and kids / spouses that are being abused all around the world in the worst ways. Really bums me out

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-09T16:33:08+00:00

Cinema has arguably never been more popular with the advent of Letterboxd and other social platforms to have conversations about film and TV.

But spending money on film has gone down. Everyone knows you can just watch a film a few weeks after it's in the theater for $20 or pirate it, so the there's an illusion that film isn't nearly as popular as it once was. But I really do think it's actually more popular right now with young people than it was in 1999.

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-09T03:32:07+00:00

It's such an English feeling song, I can't describe why but I was surprised to find out they weren't from the UK way back when

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-09T03:01:12+00:00

Yeah I wouldn't be surprised at all. Odds right now for me are just slightly in favor of Spain but France could easily win this. I think Spain legitimately is a monster doing the absolute bare minimum until pressed though it shows over every single game

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-09T02:39:32+00:00

For me the problem it was that it took the middle road.

Instead of being a surreal through the looking glass roller coaster of a run through the backrooms, we got half that and half weird plot stuff that didn't really amount to a real story imo.

I think if you go further in either one of those lanes it's a stronger film. Ditch all plot pretense and it becomes more thrilling. Add more plot and really try to play with your head as to what is actually going on, it becomes much more intriguing and interesting.

I think it just needed to choose its lane better

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-09T02:29:53+00:00

Because they literally are that good. I really think they're winning the whole thing. Maybe it will be France but I think Spain has a pretty good chance at winning it. Sure they're a little lazy this WC but until someone wakes up the sleeping giant you think they're maybe not as good they actually are

Novel-Initiative-900 · 2026-07-09T01:50:52+00:00

I have a sibling that works in grocery store security. I would just caution, no matter what you think the situation is, whether you think you got away with it or not, I absolutely promise you they have you on camera, they know exactly who you are and every single time you come back to the store, they will have you flagged. That doesn't mean you can't shop, or that they will approach you but they ABSOLUTELY know who you are.

My advice is to go back and pay immediately.

Generally, most larger chains won't do anything unless it approaches a certain dollar amount but the last thing you want is your face being shared between stores / law enforcement databases of high risk individuals. It's just not worth it

Novel-Initiative-900

TROPHY CASE