Inception

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lazarus said:
Not sure what "vintage" means since his best performance (and the greatest ever filmed by anyone) in Last Tango in Paris, and his most iconic performance in The Godfather were both from 1972. But even after that you have these varied and masterful pieces of acting:

The Formula
The Missouri Breaks
Apocalypse Now
A Dry White Season
The Freshman
Don Juan DeMarco (a mundane role where he still manages to steal every scene from a showboating Johnny Depp, and while reading his lines off cue cards, no less)
The Island of Dr. Moreau
The Score

None of these are alike, all are nuanced and captivating.
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Have to disagree with the last three on the list, especially Moreau. But to each their own.
 
lazarus said:
Well as far as the direction of an ensemble is concerned, I have to disagree again. I thought Nolan got career-best work out of Jackman, managed to prevent Johansson and Perabo from embarrassing themselves, and Rebecca Hall put in what is easily the best performance by a woman in any of his films. Caine was also very, very good, as was Bale.

And of course, THE BOW!
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In addition to coaxing performances with Inception I was talking about the sheer balancing acting of character interactions he reigned in as well, and it does have a larger amount of pivotal characters/performances than The Prestige. I don't agree with your negative attitude towards Scarlett Johansson, and I don't dislike the Prestige, other than the ending which wasn't so much a cop-out for me as it was a genre-switch.

I will admit Caine's performance in Thie Prstige was superior to his in Inception.
 
Also, re: Insomnia and Following. There's no doubt that Nolank exhibited evidence of potential as a unique filmmaker with Following, but I guess it just wasn't my kind of film, creepy and not in a 'I can't look away' kind of way like other films, so I have only watched it the once years ago. Maybe sometime I'll go back and revisit it. The Insomnia remake is quite strong, of course it has toned down Americanized violence compared with the original, but I think Nolan's atmosphere is more crushing and depressing, and while it would be hard to choose between Both incredible lead performances by Skaarsgard and Pacino (the last good theatrical movie he was in), the supporting performances in Nolan's wins for me. Necessary?? Probably not, but it is my favorite foreign remake, though I own both and enjoy both.
 
I Move in Mysterious Ways said:
Have to disagree with the last three on the list, especially Moreau. But to each their own.
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I know they're not very popular performances. But I think his work in Moreau is batshit-crazy, and compulsively watchable. It's a distinct variation on the Kurtz-type character. The Score is a situation where he took a smaller, less-important role and added some flair to it. It's also worth considering that most of his performance was improvised.

As for DeMarco, this is a great overlooked piece of acting in somewhat of a trifle, probably his blandest role on paper. What I like about it is that Brando totally sells the conversion of his character, the chemistry between himself and Dunaway is playful and flirtatious (something not often portrayed with charactersrs at that age) and that final therapy scene between him and Depp cuts right to the heart. He looks like a mess and as I said before was probably reading every line off a cue card, but it's just effortless work that fees completely natural.

The scene in question starts at about 2:20 and runs less than a minute. But Brando's last line is the key to the entire story (which is really more about his character "waking up" than Depp's diagnosis/cure), a metaphor for the craft of acting, and delivered with absolute perfection:

YouTube - Don Juan DeMarco (Movie) Part 10 of 11

And here's some of that late career magic w/ Brando & Dunaway:

YouTube - Faye Dunaway and Marlon Brando Part 2

powerhour24 said:
In addition to coaxing performances with Inception I was talking about the sheer balancing acting of character interactions he reigned in as well, and it does have a larger amount of pivotal characters/performances than The Prestige. I don't agree with your negative attitude towards Scarlett Johansson, and I don't dislike the Prestige, other than the ending which wasn't so much a cop-out for me as it was a genre-switch.

I will admit Caine's performance in Thie Prstige was superior to his in Inception.
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Didn't mean to sound so harsh re: Johansson and Perabo. My point is that both actresses were American and in a Victorian-era setting, and weren't the first people you'd think of casting in that situation. I don't think either is bad, but those perfs easily could have gone very wrong. They both do a decent job, but don't add very much, especially compared to what Hall does in the film.
 
In all fairness, a lot of my animosity toward Dr. Moreau was based on how disappointed I was with the movie overall. Brando really wasn't bad, and at least he had the distinction of being the most interesting character in the movie. Val Kilmer looked like he didn't care and David Thewlis was ok, but the performance came across as a bit confused and uneven.
 
Oh don't get me wrong, that movie is a complete mess. Although I think it's so ridiculous it should be a cult film by now. That little mini-Brando? Amazing.

MB_ndr_moreau.jpg
 
Isn't that the little dude Pedro Martinez was carrying around in 2004?
 
OrARoundabout said:
While this may be true..it's still a pretty awesome film

Click:
131955923.jpg
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Bahaha!
I saw it on Friday. God I loved it. The theatre was sold out, and packed and I laughed at the people who came in at 10 minutes to the movie and were all mad about having to sit down front. Idiots.

The crowd was right into though and there were a lot of funny parts. We got the huge reaction and applause at the end too, I was clapping too. I do have to say
that I could have sworn the kids were way older on the phone when Cobb talked to them, did anyone else notice that? But then if the ending is not a dream then how come they never aged while he was gone?

I have to go see it again. I also enjoyed the really heavy score, the music really fit this movie, although
I heard one person said it was too industrial and she found it distracting. The climax of this movie had so many levels I really loved the complexity and how it made me feel anxious...can you imagine being in charge of continuity on this set? Good lord, that would have been incredibly hard.

I love movies that make you think. I hope we get more movies like this. No I take that back, I hope movie makers take the hint and realize we are craving new, innovative and creative movies like this one. I
found it refreshing although the snow scenes were a little to 007 reminscent for me, I totally noticed it and thought, hey don't we have this video game? I love Tom Hardy, wow, he was great and rawr, look at those sexy lips...
 
No, I thought she did a great job in her other big period piece The Girl With the Pearl Earring, and I thought she was hilarious in Scoop, where she nailed Woody Allen's style of humor.
 
Jive Turkey said:
Saw it tonight and loved it. I'll post more tomorrow as I'm about to go to sleep, but I have a question about Cobb's totem

JGL's totem makes sense since only he knows the way the die is loaded. But Cobb's wouldn't really tell him whether he's in a reality or not as it could be easily faked. The top only stops spinning in the real world, but what would stop someone from creating an imaginary top in a dream world that does the same thing? They wouldnt even have to know much about it as it's just common physics. There isnt really a secret to his top like there is to JGL's loaded die. Am I missing something?
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I'm thinking he hasn't actually let anyone hold it, which seems to be the main thing here with all of them. The others don't really know how it feels in their hand, the weight, and texture, though I guess someone could take a pretty educated guess. JGL's did have an extra layer of security I guess as only he would know the outcome of a roll.

I've only seen the movie once though, and want to focus a little more on that next viewing.

lazarus said:
Well none of them know what his totem is supposed to do, right? Did he even tell Page how he recognizes it?
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I thought he did, wasn't he telling her when we learned what it did? Again I'll have to see the movie again. But if he did tell her, could be just another one of the signs that he was getting sloppy and close to losing it.


I also started thinking that since the top was actually his wife's totem, and she would know it's properties better than anyone, is it possible that he could have even subconsciously made her manipulate the top so that it fell down in his dream. I mean his subconscious is what was making her do everything else to get him to stay too right? It's almost like he performed an inception on himself.

I might be thinking about it too much :reject:
 
Alright, the Dora the Explorer thing was great. And it'll satiate our resident tubasynth aficionados.
 
bonocomet said:
I'm thinking he hasn't actually let anyone hold it, which seems to be the main thing here with all of them. The others don't really know how it feels in their hand, the weight, and texture, though I guess someone could take a pretty educated guess. JGL's did have an extra layer of security I guess as only he would know the outcome of a roll.

I've only seen the movie once though, and want to focus a little more on that next viewing.
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I've been reading a lot of theories about the movie. There are some really awesome interpretations that really do make the movie more of a mind fuck. One in particular is that it was Cobb himself who was being incepted by Saito; A lot of the pieces seem to fit. I bring this up because he was the only other person in the movie that did touch Cobb's totem. Could also be a reason why he demanded to be present at the inception; because he was the one who was truly the architect of the dream. Next time you watch the film, watch it from that perspective and see if it makes sense. I know I will. Another thing that sort of fits the theory that the movie is not what it appears on the surface is the Ecsher stairs; Their cyclical nature is similar to the plotting of the film. It starts and ends in the same scene (well, almost). Perhaps Nolan is getting meta on us and implying that the film itself is an illusion, just like the stairs. I havent really put it all together, but it will make the second viewing that much more enjoyable
 
Well the Xzibit one was funny just because I like that particular meme. The other ones went over my head.
 
I'll also add that the editing of the film, even when they were supposed to be in the real world, was done in a way to mimic the random changes in environment where we arent really sure how anyone got there. This could've just been the style.. a sort of nod to the 'editing' in our dreams, or perhaps it could be a clue... I came up with that one myself because I'm awesome
 
All of the theories are interesting to read. But, I am sticking to thinking that everything was quite linear, that the job is pulled off and Cobb returns to his kids......that there is no mind fuck....and that's the mind fuck.
 
lazarus said:
I didn't find those funny at all.

Am I missing something?

Also, it's Dom Cobb. Not Tom. So, big FAIL right there.
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No, they're not funny (although I did chuckle at the first one, even though I have no idea what movie it's from).

It bugged me that Marion's character is named Mal. Yeah, I get it, "mal" is Latin for "evil." But how are we supposed to get that in the movie, when it's pronounced "Moll?" I assumed it was short for "Molly," so that went right over my head.
 
No spoken words said:
All of the theories are interesting to read. But, I am sticking to thinking that everything was quite linear, that the job is pulled off and Cobb returns to his kids......that there is no mind fuck....and that's the mind fuck.
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but then why are his kids wearing the same clothes that they were in his memories?
 
corianderstem said:
No, they're not funny (although I did chuckle at the first one, even though I have no idea what movie it's from).

It bugged me that Marion's character is named Mal. Yeah, I get it, "mal" is Latin for "evil." But how are we supposed to get that in the movie, when it's pronounced "Moll?" I assumed it was short for "Molly," so that went right over my head.
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I guess because its not intrinsic to the plot. If you get it, awesome. If not, you arent missing anything. Same with Ariadne's name
 
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