Inception - July 16, 2010

[Earende]

Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction; stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible: inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810099246/trailer

[Earende]

The official website: http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com/

[Felicia]

I really wish Nolan were capable (or willing to) of writing complex, fleshed out female characters. He is a tremendously talented writer, but his female characters are always an afterthought. With his talent to create taut, gripping plots, would love for him to write a film that revolves around a woman…

[Zen Elipsys]

Very interesting point. I’d never though of that before…but, you’re right. The women are always set pieces in his films. Dig everything else about them, though.
Have to say I'm psyched about Joseph Gordon-Levitt being in it.

[Earende]

Good points.

I'm just glad that it's not in 3D. Mainly because Nolan knows a gimmick when he sees one. There's just no need to see it in anything other than IMAX.

[Assassin]

For some reason the film is reminding me of “Dark City”. Check it out. Filmed at Sydney’s Fox Studios before Star Wars & the Matrix, it’s very underrated.

[Horace]

The scenes from this movie are wild! DiCaprio has always been entertaining (tho' some peeps did not like Shutter Island, I did!).

Never seen or heard of Dark City. May rent that one this weekend!

[Maxim Oleksyn]

I like the different posters for this movie--kind of explains who's who and what's what--for example--DiCaprio is the Extractor; Cotillard, 'the Shade; Gordon-Levitt is the Pointman; Page is the Architect; Murphy, the Mark; Watanabe, the Tourist; Hardy's the Forger.

You have got to love it.

Has anyone read the novel?

[Jose Chan]

This will seems nuts but I have it, and never read it.

[Snagg]

My most anticipated movie this year, hands down. Anybody else here think that Nolan is approaching Kubrickian levels of expecting his audience to have a brain and to puzzle things out for themselves?

[Maxim Oleksyn]

So far he has met that level. It's seems that most film makers have given up on letting the audience think...so that short sight you...insult your senses to the point that when something like this comes along, it feels like some sort of reset.

Make sense?

Probably not---my mind has become comfortably numb...

[Earende]

It’s been three days since I saw Inception, and I am still marveling at what Christopher Nolan was able to accomplish. Whenever a writer can construct a totally new world — with its own set of rules, its own fundamental logic — I am in awe. The way Nolan created and deeply understood every inch of his urban, surprisingly un-surrealistic dream world reminded me of J.R.R. Tolkien’s complete knowledge of Middle Earth . You might call him the architect of Inception. Making brilliant use of his talented cast, fascinating script, and $175 million budget, Nolan dreamt up a number of truly breathtaking scenes, each of which contributed to the movie’s grand, epic tone. Three particular scenes have been on my mind (or is it my subconscious?) since I saw the film, and each impressed me for totally different reasons: The spinning hallway fight in shifting gravity; The simultaneous kicks back to the “real” world, and Cobb and Mal’s final conversation/confrontation.

I won't go into anymore detail than that because I do not want to cause any spoilers. But this one is, as you all would say, for the collection!

[Rigor]

The movie starts out with scenes building up nicely. Everything is worked up well from the intensity and purpose up through the visuals. By the time you see the scenes you've seen in the trailers landscapes with buildings arching into the sky, you realize you're in for solid characters, very well told story, and nice visuals to boot.

Unfortunately dreams are actually pretty controlled affairs. From an imagination stand point, these dreams are really pretty subdued, even when dreams venture into the unstable. The whole dreams within dreams is explained very well, but in execution, proves to wear long on patience.

The notion of dream world teetering on visual nightmare doesn't happen - well if rolling weightlessness is your thing, then maybe. The story is what carries the movie and its unfortunate that the gun play and visual effects (I'm shocked to admit) end up bolting unnecessary minutes to the films run time. Someone somewhere should have sent this back for editing. Some sequences took far way too long to play out.

DiCaprio's performance is the best. If you liked him in Shutter Island, he puts up another great performance as a tortured soul here. In the end, the film tries to close with meaning, which it does, but its at the price of patience.

By the final scenes, I really got the impression this was a short story expanded with FX to make a big movie and that felt unfortunate.