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Here are my favorite two Inception reviews. I hadn't read anything about it until I suffered through a viewing yesterday. This is a classic Hollywood case of "The Emperor's New Clothes". People are pretentiously going along with the idea that it's a great story because it's tricky to follow. I was shocked that Tin didn't buy into it (perhaps he could see clearly after a good night's rest?)
One of the big reasons why I didn't give a damn about most of the action was because I knew it didn't matter! If the characters drown or are shot dead, it didn't matter. This is a point that isn't elaborated upon in most reviews. The ending was a competent classic Hollywood manipulation, but it was too little and way too late. Oooo, spinning top -- ambiguous -- so what!?!
Another good one: http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/can-someone-please-explain-inception-me
....The alarm goes off, I hit the snooze button, then i dream I've gotten out of the bed to fix coffee, then the alarm goes off again, I hit the snooze button again and the dream "resets"....
...the linked review articulates them rather poorly IMO. I suppose one of the benefits of the web is that one can find support for ones views/positions on anything even if they aren't so "popular". The apparent caveat is that quality tends to be tougher to find in the less popular positions.
why do you care about any movie? It doesn't matter what happens, its just a movie.
...I really liked the film.It was intelligent and challenging, reminding me of Memento, Dark City and The Matrix when I first saw them.
Except this has an A-list cast and a big budget production that looks terrific.
What it lacks its the emotional connection with the audience to match the brilliance of the filmmaking.
Is the end ambiguous?
Why do the kids have on the same clothes they've worn throughout his other dreams?
How did his wife get into the window across the way to jump in "reality"?
Edits: 08/12/10
I agree with Faraci's view.
Thanks.
Dean.
reelsmith's axiom : Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it
I'm guessing you meant "it didn't matter" because it was all just a dream, rather than because you simply didn't give a rip about the characters. But wasn't there a comment at some point in the movie about how you REALLY CAN DIE if you screw up during a dream? Just one of several dream-laws that were revealed during the movie, invented in a hopeless attempt to create a semblance of logic around the caper.
It wasn't posited that you really can die, but that you lapse into some kind of coma in which your remain unconscious indefinitely.
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world. -Gandhi
Edits: 08/12/10
Granted, some of the production values reeked of cliche Hollywood action tedium. But the film's climax was brilliant--when it is finally explained that DiCrapio had gone into his wife's subconscious, manifest in the film as the image of a dollhouse, where she had hidden away something very precious, and how Dicrapio replaced it with the idea that reality isn't real...this I found to be a very powerful, haunting narrative. The visuals supporting it were intense, imaginative and innovative. But amidst all the action and explosions they may have failed to have the impact that they should. Still, when the conclusion came and you see the children's faces, it was very powerful.The film definitely had problems and gimmicks--more serious problems than the action sequences, like holes that shortchanged the viewer. But the overall narrative was clever and paid off in a way that makes me give props to Nolan. He's put together four films in a row that command repeat viewing, and that makes him the best working director in Hollywood right now, in my book.
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world. -Gandhi
Edits: 08/12/10
Memento was decent, though wildly over-rated. The tools in Hollywood could be and were predicted to give the script the statue.
Dark Knight was a disaster and Ledger was wildly miscast. It was shameful that the studio made extra bucks off his death and crappy performance.
I agree with you on Ledger's perf in "Knight." He was a ponderous Joker, without the necessary flamboyant personality to make the character thrive. His was a wispy-ish presence in a film that needed a monster. Will Farrell would have been a better choice. At least he's funny. The movie itself was a typically overblown, beautifully manufactured Hollybland bore. But IMHO, the real disaster was "The Vomitorium of Dr. Parnassus." Can you imagine having to save that mess, after the star died mid-production. And I think Gillium's a real talent, albeit one who rarely reaches his potential. I know I have an extreme opinion, so no offense intended.
Dark Knight was more ambitious as a morality study. I thought the central character was not Wayne/Batman or Joker but actually Dent/Twoface, the district attorney. You saw how he really didn't have the spine to do what was needed to fight crime--though it appeared he did at first--and ended up becoming a criminal himself because of it.
Ledger's performance worked for me. He was more like Jeff Goldblum's "Fly" than Jack Nicholson's Joker clown. His goal of turning lawful citizens into criminals and murderers was interesting, making him a force of evil on a different level than your average action villain, and setting up the morality study to be quite deep, I thought. Ledger was brilliant. Bale and Eckhart were great too. The weak link was Gyllenhaal, but since she was killed it didn't really matter.
Prestige was Nolan's masterpiece. I've posted on it a lot and most people don't agree with my take. Another one that puts me at odds is that I didn't like Memento. I thought the story was boring and the nonlinear time was a cheap device to make an uninteresting movie seem more interesting on first viewing. Unlike Batman Begins, Prestige, TDK or Inception, there was no narrative or idea in Memento that grabbed me at all or made me want to watch it again.
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world. -Gandhi
...Ledger was wildly miscast. It was shameful that the studio made extra bucks off his death and crappy performance.
We'll have to agree to disagree on that one.
IMHO, Ledger was perfectly cast and brilliant.
Dean.
reelsmith's axiom : Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it
The idea that Ledger was miscast is very odd to me. I will say that I don't like Nolan's ability to handle action scenes. I find them very overdone and confusing. I thought the scenes with Arthur getting the rest of the gang into the elevator and figuring out how to drop them in zero gravity much better than the gun fights which seemed out of place and off kilter in Inception.
I say he was miscast because I felt he was too young a man for the part. He lacked the gravitas necessary for what he was trying to pull off. Most liked his performance, where I saw it was trying too hard and not terribly creative, original or extreme. It seemed like a guy desperately trying to be creative and not really succeeding. Nothing about it rang true for me.
Nicholson may have been a clown (and it's apples and oranges with what they tried for and was called for in the film), but Nicholson was enjoyable, entertaining and consistent with who he is as a person. Ledger was basically a nice boy trying hard to be extreme and dangerous. It played like a bad joke to me. Not quite acting class bad, but in no way would I ever say it was a top performance even worthy of a nomination.
Opinions vary. Obviously, I'm in the minority.
Thought he played it perfectly. You liked Nicholson's performance because it was closer to his real life? Ledger was too nice a guy in real life? That's one thing acting is about, overcoming yourself while believably projecting another.
ed////432&%*125
"I'd like to own a squadron of tanks"
Some may prefer a more "goofball" Joker ala Cesar Romero or Nicholson, but Ledger's brooding, psychotic take on the character fits better with Nolan's vision for The Dark Knight.
BTW, Alpha//69er... You might need to hone your syntax a bit.
When I read "ed////432&%*125" I had the overwhelming urge to pour a pitcher of iced tea over my head (no lemon)... Was that the intended effect?
SF
BTW, I've got no control over syntax. That comes from CYSOPS
"I'd like to own a squadron of tanks"
Edits: 08/14/10
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