Memento (2000) - Nolan's overrated amnesia mindfuck

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Polaroids of polaroids of polaroids of pola ... on this iconic poster for Christopher Nolan's Memento

A man with 'anterograde amnesia', a condition that lets him remember only fifteen minutes at a time, attempts to avenge his murdered wife through an elaborate system involving Polaroids and tattoos.

Memento is written and directed by English master filmmaker Christopher Nolan (Following (1998)), from a story developed by his brother Jonathan Nolan (Westworld (2016-21)).
Memento is a much hyped psychological drama-thriller that's best the first time around, as its highly mystifying structure impresses considerably. (It is made up of chronologically B/W sequences and chronologically backwards revolving color sequences.)
Guy Pearce (In Her Skin (2009)) is not really that good in Memento, disastrous for a film that also has rather weak first and last half hours, leaving about 50 minutes of a good film in the middle.
Memento delights in its own cognitive veils and invites many interpretations. The unique condition of the protagonist, his tattoos and the editing ploys are what make the film worthwhile.

Related posts:

Christopher Nolan: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2017 in films - according to Film Excess 
Dunkirk (2017) - Nolan champions cinema with masterful war movie  
Interstellar (2014) - Nolan heads to space in opulent, exciting epic
2014 in films - according to Film Excess
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) or, Batman and the Storm, Darkness, Anarchy, Evil, Depression
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
Inception (2010) - Nolan's best is a grand piece of action sci-fi, perfectly awesome nonsense  
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
The Dark Knight (2008) - Nolan's best Batman  
Batman Begins (2005) or, Modern, Dark, Smooth Batman    
Following (1998) - Nolan's ineffectual debut 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 9 mil. $
Box office: 39.7 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 4.41 times its cost)
[Memento premiered 5 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 113 minutes. Jonathan Nolan's story idea also turned into his short story Memento Mori (2001). Christopher Nolan was given an initial budget of 4.5 mil. $. Brad Pitt was initially slated to play the protagonist. Shooting took 25 days from September - October 1999 in California, including Los Angeles, and in Las Vegas, Nevada. American distributors were reluctant to bet on the film, despite festival raves, but as production company Newmarket distributed it themselves and found that they had a hit, Miramax's Harvey Weinstein attempted to buy the film away from them, without luck. The film opened #27 to a 235k $ first weekend in 11 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #8 and in 531 theaters, grossing 25.5 mil. $ (64.2 % of the total gross). The foreign market sheet for the film on Box Office Mojo is regrettably incomplete. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: It lost Best Original Screenplay to Julian Fellowes for Gosford Park and Editing to Black Hawk Down. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won 1/3 AFI award nominations, 4/5 Independent Spirit award nominations, a National Board of Review award, an award in Sundance and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #55 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Apocalypse Now (1979) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Nolan returned with Insomnia (2002). Pearce returned in The Count of Monte Cristo (2002); Carrie-Anne Moss (Snow Cake (2006)) in Red Planet (2000); and Joe Pantoliano (Waterfront (2006, TV-series)) in A Better Way to Die (2000). Memento is certified fresh at 93 % with an 8.29/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Memento?

Disturbia (2007) or, Good Nightia

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The lurid poster for D. J. Caruso's Disturbia trades on its theme of voyeurism

QUICK REVIEW:

Our young hero loses his father in a meaningless - and very mysterious - car accident. He then screws up and gets a house arrest sentence. He becomes obsessed with monitoring his suburban neighborhood, falls in love with the girl next door, - and sees the other neighbor commit murder!?!

Disturbia begins well, and Shia LaBeouf (Nymphomaniac (2013)) is very enthusiastic and well-playing, but the film is derailed by the innocuous teen romance, and it never manages to get our interest back. It mixes too many genres (teen romance/comedy/thriller) to shallow effect. It winds up with with an uninteresting thriller plot with David Morse (Drive Angry (2011)) as the suspicious neighbor, and it doesn't help that the climax plays out in almost complete darkness.
The obvious comparison with Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece Rear Window (1954), which Disturbia is clearly influenced by, only helps it to look even more hapless and dull.
Carl Ellsworth (Red Dawn (2012)) and Christopher Landon (Scout's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)) wrote the screenplay, and great Connecticut filmmaker  D. J. Caruso (Eagle Eye (2008)) directed the film. Disturbia is, in short, Hollywood shite. 

Related posts:

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

In lieu of a trailer for the film, not currently on Youtube, here's an interview with LaBeouf about the movie

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 117.8 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Disturbia was released April 13 and runs 105 minutes. The film is based on a script written in the 1990s. Steven Spielberg suggested LaBeouf. Filming took place in Whittier and Pasadena, California January - April 2006. Disturbia opened #1 in North America with a 22.2 mil. $ opening weekend, and it, amazingly, remained #1 for 3 consecutive weekends before being yanked down by Spider-Man 3. It grossed 80.2 mil. $ (68.1 % of the total gross) in North America, and the 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were South Korea with 4 mil. $ (3.4 %) and Australia with 3.9 mil. $ (3.3 %). A lawsuit was filed in 2008 over a possible copyright clash with the 1942 short story which was the basis of Rear Window, but the claim was rejected. Disturbia is fresh at 69 % with a 6.2 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Disturbia?

Chocolat (2000) - Delicious pairing in spite of Hallström's ghastly taste

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Eating you, eating me ... the poster for Lasse Hallström's Chocolat

QUICK REVIEW:

Vianne and her daughter are traveling chocolate-sellers in post-war Europe, as they decide to settle in a little French town that savor tranquility above all else. And as an apostle of life's sensuousness, Vianne now slowly salvages their rigidly pinned down Catholic society.

Juliette Binoche (Three Colours: Blue/Trois Coleurs: Bleu (1993)) and Johnny Depp (The Rum Diary (2011)) are irresistible in Chocolat, a film which, if ingested with lavish amounts of succulent hot cocoa, may seem erotic, despite its almost complete lack of carnality.
Most of Chocolat is as predictable as a ride to the bus station, and what's left is criminally banal and silly bleeding heart liberalism. - Frankly, most Disney movies are more complex than Chocolat.
It is (of course...) directed by Swedish champ of twaddle Lasse Hallström (What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)), who does sometimes, - fair is fair, - hit the mark. - Chocolat, unfortunately, isn't even on the board.

 Watch the sugary trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 152.6 mil. $
= Big hit
[Chocolat was, incredibly, very popular among many audiences, (women particularly), and even critics stood up for it. The guilty pleasure even got so far as 5 Oscar-nominations, including Best Film. - Unbelievable...]

What do you think of Chocolat?
If you are one of the film's defenders, - please, defend it!