I’m rushing out to see the movie !. On balance I will have had a vaccination, having worn masks when I was allowed reopen I feel comfortable managing risk and will choose a time / place where it is less likely to be busy.
I really want to see it on a massive screen, I’m prepared to wear a mask during the proposed 19 hour run time ( according to the Daily Mail)
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I already have the day booked off from work (for the third, fourth, fifth time - I’ve lost count now). Based on the government timeline, I’ll have had my first jab by then, and maybe even the second, so I’ll feel completely comfortable sitting in a screening and finally seeing this damn movie on the big screen.
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I will go to see the film depending on theaters being open and the transmission rate and new cases in New York City.
I have had both shots, but the news coming out of Brazil and other places about how the virus mutates has me cautious.
As for spoilers: reading the rich commentary here by those who see the film before me will only enhance the experience. All goes back to someone telling me Rosebud was the sled before I saw CITIZEN KANE.
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Same. As soon as the movie is out I’m waiting at the front of the line.
It’s my nature to know everything, but after waiting so long I’m going to try and resist spoilers. There’s a ton of footage we haven’t seen and I’d like that to be a treat - the light at the end of the tunnel. Not knowing is the element of excitement that can help override the disappointment of waiting for something I should’ve already seen more than a year ago.
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I miss the days when there was no such thing as “spoilers” for a Bond film anyway, so I’ll probably read whatever reviews or comments interest me.
In hindsight if I’d known the “brilliant” plot twists of Spectre ahead of time, maybe I’d have been less disappointed when they unspooled on screen. Or maybe I’d have just skipped the film. Either way, I benefit.
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Spoilers - Because we all know it’s impossible to enjoy Psycho now…
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To that point: my parents used to tell me how when they were growing up, people would enter and leave movies at any time. With PSYCHO, Hitchcock gave us the practice of starting times.
One of the joys of seeing movies in Chinatown years ago (which was the only way to see the latest in Asian cinema back then) was to be suddenly immersed in a film (usually part of a double bill) at a random point, and also to experience the comings and goings of patrons.
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Well, there are spoilers and spoilers. Watching THE SIXTH SENSE for a second time - or with knowledge about its ending - is no doubt a different experience. It’s of course a question of preference and taste whether a single punchline at the end of two hours of film really improves the entire work. One might argue that’s a bit like a single-use product, not really what a film ought to be.
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You both make brilliant points - but it does emphasise that it’s now on the film-makers to make films that live beyond their twists. Hitchcock did it long before it was needed, M Night Shyamalan did it once then never did it again, despite many attempts. Edgar Wright, Rian Johnson and Matthew Vaughn understand that and discreetly display it with comedy. Christopher Nolan uses it on a purely dramatic level, potentially to much judgement*
*see the Tenet thread
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Shyamalan’s problem is that once he’d done it once, it was expected of him. The first time, our reaction was, “WHOA! I was watching a different movie than I thought!” and every time after that it was, “Okay, what’s the twist this time?” If you’re looking for it, it’ll never work as well, and you’re too distracted to enjoy the story being told.
I’m 99% sure we won’t be talking about THAT kind of spoiler with NTTD, anyway. There are numerous questions about who some character “really” is, or what happens to the double-oh number, or what’s up with the Madeleine relationship, all of which have pretty much been answered already for anyone curious enough to think it through. What’s left is really just does anything “final” happen to Bond either in the mortal or marital sense and either way, it’s a moot point because the series will go on after Craig and whatever’s “final” for Craig Bond can and likely will be quickly ret-conned away for Mk. 7.
In a franchise film about all you can hope for is an “Empire Strikes Back” moment, and that’s the one that’s often held up as the “don’t ruin it for everyone if you’ve seen it” example. But I have to say that moment meant nothing to me at the time because I assumed Vader was lying. After all, that’s what bad guys do, right? It wasn’t until the next film I realized, “Wait, they were SERIOUS?” and it struck me then, as now, as a dumb twist that torpedoed the entire saga. But it went over big, so now everyone wants to be “clever.”
Although in retrospect it was still leagues better than, “James, I am your sort-of half-brother.”
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Reading this a question popped into mind: does the fact that Nolan uses twists on a “purely dramatic level” give rise to that directors who do so with wit and/or comedy do not face? As an example, think of the twist of Hitchcock’s THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY.
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As in its easier to make a discreet joke where the punchline was given long before the set up,
Summary
“With all due respect, sir, you can’t just make people disappear!” “Yes I can, I’m the chief inspector”
thus allowing a joke to work on second viewing, than it is to that with a dramatic storyline
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As Nolan did with The Prestige and Tenet, where what you know from the ending changes the film, particularly in regards to the performances of Christian Bale and Robert Pattinson, respectively, where the role they play in the narrative changes
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In my opinion yes, as an example, I enjoyed both Memento and The Prestige on first viewing. Once the dramatic twist was known, the subsequent viewings have been less enjoyable each time. I’ve never not enjoyed a viewing of The Trouble With Harry. Perhaps it is the wit, perhaps it’s maturity, the twist isn’t the McGuffin, there’s a confidence in having the twist as part of the tapestry of the film.
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For me, it´s just another form of enjoyment to know the ending of a story. Sure, the surprise cannot happen again once I know what it is. But if I reduce a story to its “shock effect” or, as in the case of a comedy, of the first effect of a joke, every story will be like a paper handkerchief: only usable once.
A good story (well told), however, will reveal more of its elements whenever I listen to/watch/read it.
Heck, why do I still watch the Bond movies? They don’t even have surprise endings! But they are constructed in a way that is enjoyable for me, and I can follow their stories without the need to be surprised.
It´s kind of like my favorite songs - I want to experience them again and again. And sometimes I even sing along with them 
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Interesting what you say about Memento. I’ve never not watched it and come up with a new variant on my own opinion. Then again, the very first time I saw it in the cinema I was completely lost (enjoyably lost, but still lost).
Perhaps my affection for the cast, or its rough-and-ready indie-film sheen lend me to be more forgiving. And that it was Nolan’s 2nd film almost makes it a “braver” effort. The Prestige on the other hand is very much a one-trick pony, and unlike its predecessor its A-list cast and major studio values work against its longevity.
It isn’t, Bale’s performances make it a joy to rewatch as you can now tell when it’s Alfred and when it’s Freddy. Bale knocked it out of the park in making an obvious difference in performance unseeable until you know to look for it.
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You’re right, “one-trick” was inaccurately applied to the whole thing. But to apply the same standard to Memento (I’ve always loved Pearce and I struggle to imagine anyone else - maybe Bale - in that role) I do feel that, to quote another Pierce (ta-dum) - it has more onions to peel.
Or something like that…(this is a Bond forum, after all…) 
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I get you. To go on a slight tangent, Guy Pearce is a hugely underrated actor. He keeps making utter monsters people you root for!
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I’m a huge fan, even that prison in space B-picture he did!!! I think he’s in a similar mould to an Antipodean predecessor - Sam Neill, another actor I’ve always been a fan of. And who, like Pearce, I can easily fantasize as 007 too.
Both talented actors with undersized public personas that allow them to easily inhabit roles, something that can be difficult for bigger “stars.” Regardless of his performance, a Tom Cruise film is invariably “a Tom Cruise film”, rather than “blimey, wasn’t Cruise good in that?!” (honorable exception “Magnolia.” - which is of course a Paul Thomas Anderson film…!)
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