Inception - New Movie Review

When it comes to movies, this year has sucked. Particularly the summer blockbuster season. Until now the only good movie that has been released was Toy Story 3, and if it wasn't for the last 10 minutes of that film I probably would have walked away disappointed. That fortunately changed with the release of Inception. I feel as though I would do the film a disservice if I did not go into plot elements that would spoil the movie. If you were looking for my recommendation on this film let me say that this film isn't for everyone. If you enjoyed films like Memento and Fight Club, you will enjoy this movie. If you don't like thinking during a movie don't go. This movie gets a high recommendation from me and is my favorite movie of the year so far, so go see it and then come back here to read my thoughts.

I want to jump into the meat of the story, but let's start with the acting in this fine film. Leonardo DiCaprio continues to prove he is one of the finest actors of this generation. He is near the point where if he is in a movie I will automatically think about going to see it. Not necessarily for his acting style, but because he is smart about the projects he works on. In this movie he perfectly played the man on the edge. But he is supported by a strong supporting cast. There wasn't a single person that felt as if they were forced in, everyone had their part and played it to perfection. Joseph Gordon Levitt takes another step in what I hope will be his ascent into a high profile acting career. Ellen Page still has work to do to separate herself from Juno, but since I love that character so much it's not an issue yet. Marion Colltiard plays a great creepy femme fatale and everyone else works well together with these four.

However, the acting is nothing compared to the beautiful direction that Christopher Nolan puts on screen. The changing of the world and manipulation of the dream scape was done just perfectly. The zero gravity sequences and the rotating hallways looked fantastic. I've learned since seeing them that it was all done with wires and an actual rotating hallway, not computers and green screens. It helped make these scenes seem so real. The action was easy to follow and didn't overpower the main story but complimented it. The only directing misstep I found was that the van falling for as long as it did. It became a little too much by the end. I realize that this was done in slow motion due to the rules of the world they set up, but by the time it crashed, it became almost comical. Fewer shots of the van or perhaps having it crash a little later in the movie could have helped.

The main draw for me though was the story. The story portrayed an original idea, something that we haven't had in a summer movie for a long time. The idea of going into someones dreams to steal an idea is cool, but then they add the layers. Dreams within dreams, rules for changing the dream world and rules for waking up. All of these things work so well together. A good choice that they made in the movie was to not focus on how they do it, just that they do it and here are the rules. I love this mechanic of not explaining what doesn't need to be explained. When people starting offering reasons for why things work, you get Midichlorians, and no one wants Midichlorians. We also get a great plot that deals with the concept of inception, planting an idea in someones mind. The entire movie felt like a great heist movie, just with a different end goal. I love heist movies, so seeing this new twist on a classic movie style was fantastic.

None of this will be the first thought on your mind as you leave the theater though. It will be focused on the ending. Once the screen goes black you will believe one of two things, the top fell or it kept spinning. Some probably will find this as a cop out, but I appreciate it for what it is. A way of having the movie live on in discussions and work it's way into your mind. Nolan has in fact worked Inception on all of us that have seen the movie by planting the idea in our heads that the entire film may have been a dream. If the top had fallen then the movie is discussed and then forgotten. If the top does not fall, and shows no sign of falling, then we all think it is a dream and we discuss clues that Nolan gave us throughout the movie. But, by putting in that small wobble, Nolan didn't give us an answer and let us debate. It also robbed people like me of saying, "I knew it the whole time." See, throughout the movie I expected a twist so I looked for clues and found many. Never seeing the children faces, the signs within the city not making sense, the nameless villains, the fact that the children did not seem to age, the fact that it was not his original totem, clues like this would have left we with a sense of accomplishment since I caught them during the movie. But, thanks to that little wobble, I am caught in an endless debate over what I think was going to happen.

At the beginning of the film Leo's character says, "What's the most resilient parasite? An idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules." This movie is just like an idea, it's gnawing at my mind and will stay there for a long, long time. For this reason, and many others, it gets 5 out of 5 stars.

Dinner For Schmucks - Advanced Review

While I love a great drama or an emotional comedy that will tug at your heart strings, every once and a while a straight up comedy is needed just for some laughs. This week I was fortunate enough to catch an advanced screening of "Dinner for Schmucks", the new comedy featuring Steve Carell and Paul Rudd. I've liked this duo in their previous team-ups, "Anchorman" and "The 40 Year Old Virgin", so I was hopeful for a movie full of laughs.

Plenty of laughs were found indeed. The movie is full of funny characters that bring a lot of funny to the movie. Most of the sequences hit right on target with the only exception being the return of the crazy girlfriend Darla. Her character was one dimensional and just not funny. Fortunately, she is only in two scenes and is gone quickly. The other characters are hilarious with Steve Carell leading the way. He has made a career out of playing the idiot with the heart and if you find him funny in that type of role you will find him funny in that movie. He doesn't get all the laughs however, a Russell Brand-esque artist and an IRS auditor played by Zack Galifinakis bring in fresh jokes just when Carell's character gets stale. There are others but none bring the funny like these three. The only character problem (besides Darla) is in Paul Rudd's character. He plays the straight man in this movie, which he can play perfectly fine, but knowing what he is capable of it is disappointing to not see him and Carell go head to head in the funny department.

This issue with Rudd playing a boring straight man brings down the plot of the movie because it is his character that the movie is centered around. The actions that he makes drive the movie and it is hard to really buy Paul Rudd as a jerk in this movie. Since I couldn't see him as being self centered, the emotional beats just didn't have any effect. This means that there is no reason to watch this movie based on the plot and it must survive based on the jokes. Many of which I found very funny with each scene being funnier than the last. The funniest of which has yet to be shown or even hinted at in any of the trailers. Hopefully that stays the same.

In summary, the movie isn't about the plot it's about the jokes, which there are plenty of. Fortunately, the commercials currently out are a fair representation for the type of jokes in this movie, so if you have laughed at the commercials you will find this movie funny. It gets a solid 3 out of 5 stars.