Inception

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Yeah, the children not aging throughout the whole thing bothered me a bit as well.
 
I didn't find it ambiguous. Nolan held that shot just long enough to make you feel unsettled, but I don't think it was truly meant to be open-ended.
 
"In the opening moments you get a glimpse of Leo's hand. Specifically, he's wearing his wedding ring. Now, if you follow the rest of the movie keeping an eye out for this you will notice that he only has the ring on when he's in the dream world. At the end of the movie he isn't wearing the ring." If the ring only appears when he's in a dream and he's not wearing at the end of the film, that could be confirmation that in fact, the top does stop spinning after the credits and Cobb is at last in the real world."
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CocoRollsEyes.gif




Arghhhh...somebody keep an eye out for this if they see Inception again...
 
I don't think it's even necessary to do that.
You hear a slight wobble in the spin right before it cuts to black, and that's all I need to know.
 
The fact that he actually gets to see the kids' faces (regardless of age and attire) and the noticeable faltering of the top are enough to convince me it wasn't a dream. That wedding ring deal is just the icing on the cake.
 
Imperor said:
The fact that he actually gets to see the kids' faces (regardless of age and attire) and the noticeable faltering of the top are enough to convince me it wasn't a dream. That wedding ring deal is just the icing on the cake.
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It's been pointed out that the kids look exactly like they have in his dreams, but I'd argue that (a) it's not stated how long he's been away from them, and that (b) we could be seeing them from his subjective standpoint, which I don't think is a cheat at all.


Is Lance seeing this over the weekend?
 
I really enjoyed the hell out of this, but have to wonder...why/how is this a mind-fuck? I thought the movie was shamelessly predictable. Again, that didn't bother me. I wasn't going in and demanding that the film confound me. Have I just seen way, way, way too many films, or is the "WTF??????????" sector simply louder than it is sizable?
 
The rules of the world are actually pretty easy to grasp. It's far from a mindfuck, but sometimes folks can mistake intricacy for WTFness.
 
True enough, yeah. Not even talking about the rules, so much. I've just heard and read a lot of talk about how the film just kept coming with the buck wild left turns, and so forth. Cannot relate. But, again, I didn't care. Knowing for two hours what was going to happen didn't really bother me until the 200th cutaway to the falling-in-slomo van (at that point, I was like, "Look, let's go, already. Stop delaying the inevitable, already, you fucker."). Other than that, I enjoyed watching the film expertly hit the right notes, again and again and again.
 
I understand what you're getting at on the predictability front. Hell, I even guessed what the final shot would probably involve by the midway point. But what saved it for me is just how imaginative the story was. No degree of predictability was going to stop me from getting sucked into a world so unique and captivating.
 
Meh.

There was a lot that I liked about it, individual moments or images, but overall the thing fell flat for me. I don't think the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. Often during the 1 hour + long sequence while they were inside Fischer's head, I found myself, frankly, bored. Some of (what was supposed to be) the thrilling and climactic action didn't work. The jokes didn't work. For me. I rolled my eyes at many, many lines of dialogue. I think we've all filled our lifetime quotas of hearing the words "subconscious" and "projection." I was sick of waiting for that god damned van to hit the water. And I was sick of looking at JGL floating so gingerly through the air trying to cram his buddies into the elevator.

But, like I said, I didn't dislike everything and won't be completely negative here:

Loved the ending. The last 10 minutes or so. Very strong ending to a movie that I wasn't particularly enjoying - that doesn't happen all that often. Was very glad that the team "won" and were successful in their mission to incept the Scarecrow. The scene at the baggage claim where they're all giving each other knowing and contented "we did it" smiles was very nice, and was reminiscent of moments from LOST. And then the big ol’ happy ending - Leo gets to reunite with his kids! That was great and is easily my favorite moment of the whole film. He got to see their faces. And they were cute as hell! It would have been funny if they turned around and were ugly. And, yes, his totem fell. That was just Nolan fucking with people.

And I liked a lot of the stuff involving Cotillard. The scene where Ellen Page is riding up and down the elevator of memories and hits the button for the basement and she's walking into the trashed hotel room - that had a very good creepy, scary vibe.

Ultimately what this movie did is make me appreciate the first Matrix more than I ever have. Yes, a lot of folks are using that comparison, and it seems a bit wrong to compare the two - they are completely different stories by completely different filmmakers. But, if people are calling Inception a masterpiece and one of the most entertaining and thrilling movies in a long time? Jesus Christ. Go back and watch the first Matrix. That shit did it soooooooo much better. For me. And I know it's impossible to go back and watch the first Matrix again with a completely open mind, forgetting the bitter taste left from the sequels, etc. But if we're talking about a futuristic and slick action movie with a story about people entering a completely different world full of new rules and possibilities - the Matrix makes this thing look weak in comparison.
 
lazarus said:
It's been pointed out that the kids look exactly like they have in his dreams, but I'd argue that (a) it's not stated how long he's been away from them, and that (b) we could be seeing them from his subjective standpoint, which I don't think is a cheat at all.


Is Lance seeing this over the weekend?
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Should be seeing it Tuesday once I get some time off.
 
The Matrix was fun but totally derivative and pretty fucking empty in the thematics/intelligence department.

Not even close to this film.
 
My attempting to kill two birds with one stone backfired. It was my friend's birthday yesterday. Thinking he'd want to go see this, I said, "Let's catch a movie tomorrow, your pick, my treat for the b-day". I'll be seeing Predators tonight....

Luckily I have other friends with better taste, and I'll be seeing it tomorrow.
 
Well, this one doesn't hold up any better to ten seconds of genuine scrutiny. Enjoyed it a good deal more than The Matrix, though. Some of the issues that GAF discussed are very similar to issues which sink the fuck out of The Matrix, on subsequent viewings, and this one'll likely be no different. That "boring" stretch he discussed, regardless of how much I personally enjoyed it, is going to feel interminable, in a few years. Just like The Matrix.
 
Can't agree on the "boring" part--I can't remember the last time I've been that sucked in for that long. I thought the tension was modulated just about perfectly.

As for the shots of the van, you know the guy's trying to juggle
FOUR different levels of reality
, so I don't blame him for those cutaways to remind us of the time differential. There's talking down to your audience and then there's making sure ALL the people know what's going on, and I don't think it was a case of the former.

Also, when I say "mindfuck", I don't know what your criteria is, but when someone is doing that aforementioned plate-spinning trick I consider it a pretty big deal.
 
Diff'rent strokes, I guess. But I'm with you--thought it was too telegraphed, but was nevertheless totally engrossed.
 
Well, one IMAX screen, not one but TWO flat tires inside of a canyon, two hours for AAA to find me and a two hour wait at the tire place later, I'm back from Inception.
 
How about all those little homoerotic moments between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy's characters?
 
It was not quite what I expected, after skimming some initial reactions/reviews, but I quite enjoyed it.

Obviously, things like this are subjective but I don't really understand anyone finding the aforementioned stretch boring, now or upon subsequent viewings. I found myself enjoying it more and more, and was openly grinning at one point just due to the sheer balancing act of it all.

I thought there wasn't a weak performance in the bunch, but, I did feel like Page was a little out of her league here. She wasn't grating as she usually is, but she just doesn't have the chops to hang with some of the actors she was on screen with. Didn't hurt the film for me, just kind of an obvious circumstance. Marion Cotillard's English, thankfully, keeps improving. She's a notch up from Page, and, apropos of nothing I'll say that she is disarmingly and distractingly gorgeous.

Also, it's interesting to see Leo kind of shed, and I mean this from a physical perspective, whatever is left of his youthfulness. I'm a big fan of his and have been for a while but he always seemed almost too youthful for some of his roles, but I think that's done between this and Shutter Island.

Hardy, as you said, Laz, was fantastic, but there's another cat I've liked in the few things I've seen him in so this was not surprising. There was more Ken Watanabe than I expected, and less Caine, but that was fine.

So, anyway, yeah, I really liked it, but as I was telling your son it was a can't miss for me. I like Nolan a lot, I like the cast, I like explorations of the mind, even as done by Hollywood, and I fucking LOVE heist films so, really, this was in my wheelhouse. Toss in that balancing act that kept raising the stakes and the tension and you've entertained the shit out of me for 2.5 hours.

Looking forward to seeing it again.
 
Is this probably the worst possible time to reiterate how much I adore The Matrix Reloaded?

Probably.

Carry on.
 
No spoken words said:
It was not quite what I expected, after skimming some initial reactions/reviews, but I quite enjoyed it.

Obviously, things like this are subjective but I don't really understand anyone finding the aforementioned stretch boring, now or upon subsequent viewings. I found myself enjoying it more and more, and was openly grinning at one point just due to the sheer balancing act of it all.

I thought there wasn't a weak performance in the bunch, but, I did feel like Page was a little out of her league here. She wasn't grating as she usually is, but she just doesn't have the chops to hang with some of the actors she was on screen with. Didn't hurt the film for me, just kind of an obvious circumstance. Marion Cotillard's English, thankfully, keeps improving. She's a notch up from Page, and, apropos of nothing I'll say that she is disarmingly and distractingly gorgeous.

Also, it's interesting to see Leo kind of shed, and I mean this from a physical perspective, whatever is left of his youthfulness. I'm a big fan of his and have been for a while but he always seemed almost too youthful for some of his roles, but I think that's done between this and Shutter Island.

Hardy, as you said, Laz, was fantastic, but there's another cat I've liked in the few things I've seen him in so this was not surprising. There was more Ken Watanabe than I expected, and less Caine, but that was fine.

So, anyway, yeah, I really liked it, but as I was telling your son it was a can't miss for me. I like Nolan a lot, I like the cast, I like explorations of the mind, even as done by Hollywood, and I fucking LOVE heist films so, really, this was in my wheelhouse. Toss in that balancing act that kept raising the stakes and the tension and you've entertained the shit out of me for 2.5 hours.

Looking forward to seeing it again.
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Good to read. I had the same shit-eating grin on my face as well for most of the second half.

Sorry, GAF. THE CLICK! has spoken. Your only hope now is that you'll have Lance for company on the neg side.
 
You know I'm with you on that film.......but as you know, I simply look at it as an action film and not a lot more....and on those merits, for me, it kicks ass, especially during the last hour or so.

But this is the worst possible time to mention that, Lance, so shut the fuck up.
 
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