Inception

[PoolMan]

Okay, I know the Forum is down to about three people these days (seriously folks, where's the love?), but I can't abide another day without an Inception thread.

Seen it? Loved it? Hated it? Share! (and then I will too)

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

Saw it yesterday. Loved it. Very much.

I was going in preparing myself for disappointment, because Christopher Nolan has hurt me before (*cough*thePrestige*cough*), and luckily it wasn't necessary. The movie reminded me a lot of Total Recall, not only cause of the dream vs. reality overtones, but also because the twists along the way were natural to the plot (as opposed to most twists, where they have to replay a million scenes to show how the twist affected them). AND it was one of the few movies I've seen recently that warranted such a long running time.

Thumbs up!

[PoolMan]

Now I don't know whether to write here in my pouty "nobody's talking about Inception" thread, or 'neath wdm's excellent reader review. I elect to further my own ego.

I'm pretty blown away. It's not perfect, by any stretch, but it is by a mile my favourite movie of the year, and possibly of the last few. It was intricate, action packed, cerebral, funny (when appropriate), and all around well crafted. I'm just impressed.

I intend to own this on BluRay as soon as it's a valid option. I've already started dropping hints to my wife (hints that mostly consist of "I would like Inception for my birthday and/or Christmas, please".

Care to turn this into a spoilery discussion? (and leave wdm's review spoiler free?)

[coccatino]

I saw it last night (OMG, I went to the movies!)
Ok, it was really good. I'll admit. BUT, by no means did it live up to the insane amount of hype that I was being fed by friends and facebook acquaintences. My mind is not blown. I do not feel an urge to see it a second time to determine if I can figure things out (as one friend demanded I would).
But it was a really good movie. I feel like the fact that it was good was kind of ruined for me because it was waaaay too overhyped by friends. boo to that. I need to start getting mother-in-law to babysit on opening weekends for things so that I can just enjoy a good movie without the letdown.
The scenes with the lack of gravity were excellent, visually. I think some awards are deserved, there. The acting all around was really fantastic.
Did anyone else not catch Ellen Page's name until the end credits? I seriously didn't. For the entire movie she was just "Ellen Page" to me.
Also- I greatly appreciated that they never tried to explain why the technology exists or works and just let me accept that it does and move on. Too often I feel like I would just accept something fantastic in a movie if they hadn't given some stupid explanation.

[PoolMan]

I was careful to be enthusiastic, but not obnoxious, with one friend who I was certain was going to enjoy it. I certainly encouraged him to go (and in fact, went for my second screening at his first), but I didn't set any expectations of miracles. That probably went a long way in his very similar reaction to mine.

I particularly agree that not overdoing it on the technology was a very smart move. They certainly do explain its presence as a military-developed tech and its reason for existing at all (which is actually pretty clever), but not going crazy with what the little tubes are and how they work was an appreciated understatement to me. It's enough that the audience understands what it does, they don't need to know every little detail on how it works. A gaffe too many sci fi films fall into.

My second viewing was fun, and I had quite a few "a-ha" moments as I realized the script actually did a phenomenal job of covering the questions I had lingering from my first viewing. It's actually pretty meticulous in its thoroughness - maybe relying a little too much on telling rather than showing at points, but never ridiculously so.

As for Ariadne's name, it's certainly mentioned aloud a few times during the movie, including the moment Ellen Page is first introduced. Not sure how you missed it, unless it's an uncommon enough name that you mistook it for a phrase or word that you just didn't catch instead of a name.

SPOILERS FOLLOW!

The big question I have is whether you guys believe the top falls or doesn't at the end, and (almost more importantly) whether it matters either way.

[coccatino]

SPOILERS

I don't think it matters if it falls. He doesn't look back to see, himself, so he clearly is choosing to accept whatever this reality is.
My husband was thinking the entire movie was a dream. I remember him waking up and spinning the top and it falling when JGL explains to Adriane why she should have a totem. Sounded like the top was going to topple, but the kids were in the same clothes¡K I think you could make a really good case in either direction. But here¡¦s the thing with the top- the reason to have a totem is because no one else knows the exact weight/feel of it and therefore you will know if you are in someone else¡¦s dream¡K but it won¡¦t help you know if you¡¦re in your own, by that logic. YOU can replicate it in your own subconscious because you know it. SO, even if the top does fall, it doesn¡¦t mean he¡¦s not dreaming. It just means he wants to accept this as reality.

I happened to see it in an old theater with terrible screens and there was a vertical line on the screen throughout the movie, and at the end, it was RIGHT where the top was, and so through the credits, it almost looked like you could still see light reflecting off of the spinning top, but it was just the screen. Made it a little more interesting at the end, though, hahaha

As for Adriane¡¦s name, I knew they said it when they introduced her, I just didn¡¦t remember it at all throughout and was surprised to see what it was during the credits. I need to pay better attention ƒº

[PoolMan]

SPOILERS

I hadn't considered that reading of the totem (it's a reflection of his desire, so it doesn't matter), very interesting! Perhaps you could extend that to why it wobbles in the closing shot (maybe you couldn't see that with your line on the screen) - Cobb's desire for this to be reality is shaking the top's tendency to stay upright in a dream. Who knows?

My personal take is that it doesn't matter whether the top falls or not because it wasn't his totem to begin with - it was Mal's. The whole point of having the totem and never giving it to someone else is so that you can be supremely confident in it. Not only is the top not Cobb's to begin with, it spends some time completely shut away from both Cobb and Mal in limbo, inside the safe in Mal's childhood home. Again we find Cobb not taking (Arthur's) wise advice, namely that you can't give your totem to anyone, or it defeats the point of having one.

This actually dovetails nicely with your theory, Coccatino. The version of the top Cobb gets back is merely his own projection of the top when he gets back to the "real" world. Therefore, it reflects his subconscious, which as you say could just be expressing what it wants to be reality.

Boy, I can't wait for the bluray version.

[coccatino]

SPOILERS

I was also thinking about the implications of that being Mal's totem and whether or not that mattered. If she is really dead and she and he are the only people who have ever held it he could use it as his totem. If she was right and is alive in the real world, the entire movie is a dream and the totem indicates nothing because it's his own subconscious desires that control whether or not it falls.

Yeah, I'll definitely be looking forward to commentary when it comes out. I was annoyed when I first saw it because it didn't meet my ridiculous expectations due to all of the hype, but I keep having really good conversations with people about it, now.
It's nice since the last movie I saw in the theater was Toy Story 3 (which was excellent, hehe, it's just nice to see a grown up movie)

[biancaschule]

I've been new to this site and i found out that the post is very interesting. Cool, keep up posting.

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Beginning Photography Tips & Techniques

[dblade]

I watched it, but I think it's a bad film. He spends way too much time on the convoluted triple set piece of dreams while not doing the needed explanations to make the world outside of the dream plausible. There were some gaping errors like why Paris folding up on itself would cause the world not to fall into complete shadow, or why being in freefall in the van affected people in the hotel, but being in freefall in the hotel didn't affect the people in the complex. The CEO of one of the most powerful companies in the world doesn't own a private jet? There are no antitrust laws?

I also have issues with how relentlessly logical the dream world was. Dreams don't have that kind of internal consistency, and are fluid and surreal. Nolan missed that entirely, and made it very conventional. Why would everyone's projections only be normal people? Why do people only dream of cities?

The plot is bad because of the ambiguity imo, which ties in with my first point. If he chose one or the other options: the world being his dream, or it being the real world, it would have been a lot stronger with more emotional pay off. The best ending in the world would not have been a spinning top, but him turning around, seeing Mal behind him holding the knife, and rushing at him. But he had to play it cute.

I'd love the MRFH crew to compare it with the old 80s movie dreamscape. I plan on rewatching that now that I've seen Inception myself.