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cmeisenzahl · Feb 21, 2011, 09:13 AM

Daughter and I finally watched Inception (Blu-Ray) over the weekend, loved it! What did you think of it?

It's funny, I claim to not like Leo D. much, but it seems like I love nearly every movie he does.

Big Mac · Feb 21, 2011, 09:25 AM

I didn't see it until a couple of weeks ago on Blu-ray myself. Impressive film in many respects, but I don't know if it was well rounded enough to win Best Picture necessarily. (I have yet to see the other best picture nominees save TS 3, though.)

*I generally agree with you on Leo. Not a big fan of his earlier work, but he has impressed me from The Departed and henceforth.
*Great visual effects (knowing that so much of it was real because Nolan dislikes CG is very impressive).
*The story, I thought, was somewhat weak and convoluted. And it was a little too Matrix-y in the way that you can die in an artificial reality. But impressive nonetheless.

P · Feb 21, 2011, 09:34 AM

Really liked it as well. As for Best Picture...well, I'm pretty sure it won't win. It's better than the other nominees that I have seen, but I think most commentators have Black Swan and True Grit as the top competitors, and I haven't seen either.

Thorzdad · Feb 21, 2011, 09:41 AM

We enjoyed it both for the visuals and the intriguing subject. Hated the cop-out ending, though.

Big Mac · Feb 21, 2011, 09:45 AM

I actually don't think it was a cop-out. If by cop-out you mean ambiguous, I was annoyed by that at first. But now, upon further reflection, I realized the ending is fairly clear.

Thorzdad · Feb 21, 2011, 09:55 AM

I can't agree that the ending is clear. I do think it's constructed to support whichever possible ending you prefer. Ambiguous...and a cop-out. It annoyed me because the rest of the movie was so strong. The writing and direction was so confident. But, then, the end came and it's like they went home and let the night-shift wrap things up. Still, a great movie to watch several times over.

imitchellg5 · Feb 21, 2011, 10:49 AM

I recently saw it for the first time as well. I really liked it. Christopher Nolan makes some great films that use a ton of special effects but without being over the top. I agree with Thorzdad's comment that the writing and direction were confident. I love the fast-paced story line after it gets going too, there seems to be this great tension between all the characters and the story itself.

ort888 · 12:32 PM

There was a lot to like about the movie but I had some big problems with it. It felt like they were just making up rules as they went along. And the dreams weren't weird enough. I don't know about the rest of you, but my dreams don't "feel" anything like the dreams presented in the movie. It just felt like they were in a perfect replica of reality.

It was well put together and a fun ride though. I think I would have preferred if they had less action and heist and focused more on the cool scenario of Leo and his wife being trapped in a dream world... which I thought was a really interesting concept. And while Nolan is a very talented director, he seems to put together movies as though they are math problems. I still don't think he's a good action director. The gunfights in this movie were laughably bad.

Uncle Skeleton · Feb 21, 2011, 12:21 PM

I also just saw it recently. Overall it was very good, but I don't think I have to reiterate what's good about it before moving on to what annoyed me

I wish it was told from the new-comer's perspective (juno's). This might be a movie cliche, but it is one for a reason (letting the audience piggyback on a naive character's introductions). I found their presentation of the "rules" boring and arbitrary, and I think it's because they did it with two "vets" talking to each other, so naturally they left out the filler that we the audience needed.

Also a lot of it seemed derivative of Ocean's Eleven. 1, they needed a collection of utility characters in order to snatch the mcguffin. They spent time wandering around collecting these characters like tools in a toolbox, and all these tools did exactly what they were supposed to do like one big happy toolset. No ulterior motives, no character development (in the toolset), not even any power-struggles. 2, the main character is supposedly an expert con, but isn't allowed to play the game so has to teach instead. 3, the main character has a destructive relationship with his ex, which threatens his commitment and causes the rest of the team direct danger. 4, (this one isn't that bad, but) they eventually pull it off by getting the mark to help them do it.

Then there's just a few regular old plot holes. If gravity is mediated through inner ear function, then why does dream-gravity have any effect (on deeper dreams), and if so why only one-layer deep? Next, if Leo revealed his face in the dream, wouldn't seeing him IRL after (in the airplane) blow everything? Why didn't he change his face like the other character did? Next, why didn't they just whisper in the mark's ear when he was sleeping, like people did 1000 years ago? It seems like when it comes down to it, they did end up just telling him the idea (the dying father character told him, first by proxy and then in person), so what was the point of it all? If the change was from "break it up" to "you don't want it," that's a pretty small change, and you could just whisper "don't be your father" in his ear... they didn't sell me on the need for so many dreams. I think it could have been done so that an experience, rather than words, convinced him, and that would have better integrated into the whole dream thing.

I like that it had me thinking about it afterwards.... I guess I just hope it revives the "action-thinker" genre for a while. Just because it's a mishmash of Eternal Sunshine and Ocean's doesn't have to be a bad thing, since both those movies were pretty good. But it could have gone a lot further if it branched out from that territory more.

My 2¢. I'm glad someone else is fresh to this movie so I can get this stuff off my chest without feeling too out of date

Shaddim · Feb 21, 2011, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by P

Really liked it as well. As for Best Picture...well, I'm pretty sure it won't win. It's better than the other nominees that I have seen, but I think most commentators have Black Swan and True Grit as the top competitors, and I haven't seen either.

It won't beat Black Swan, which was, hands down, the best film of last year.

SSharon · Feb 23, 2011, 11:17 PM

I took Inception out from my local library, but haven't watched it yet. I started it with my wife, but it is not her speed and I didn't want to force her to watch it so I'm saving it for another day.

I'm looking forward to it as I haven't seen any big name movies recently. I also think reading the posts above will help me enjoy the movie more rather than spoil it. Did any of the people that really liked it know what they were getting into?

imitchellg5 · Feb 23, 2011, 11:20 PM

I knew it was about dreams, obviously, but I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of the film. I'll not spoil it

reader50 · Feb 24, 2011, 01:10 AM

I liked it. Good coordination across multiple levels of reality.

ctt1wbw · Feb 24, 2011, 03:18 PM

Raise your hand if you think it was one of the dumbest movies ever made...

*raises hand*

imitchellg5 · Feb 24, 2011, 03:29 PM

Reported for message of hate.

andi*pandi · Feb 24, 2011, 03:37 PM

Husband and I enjoyed it. Sure the gunfire was silly (guns pointed into moving car windows don't hit anybody!) but hey. The ambiguous ending was annoying but not naggingly so. If he'd just walked off into the sunset it would have been worse.

Eug · Feb 25, 2011, 02:14 AM

I liked it a lot.

However, I thought it was odd that there were strict rules of dream engagement, and I also thought a lot of the risks/requirements were conveniently arbitrary.

Great blockbuster that integrated its multiple layers relatively seamlessly, and it was nice it required some thinking. However, I don't think it deserves best picture, and I say that as someone who hasn't seen most of the other movies nominated. I put it in the same class as District 9: a movie I liked a lot and one that expanded the genre, but with some plot holes and minor annoyances that pulled it out of true contention for best picture.

freudling · Feb 25, 2011, 03:42 AM

Hollywood Trash.™

Mullholland Dr. by Lynch or Lost Highway, much better.

Eug · Feb 25, 2011, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by freudling

Hollywood Trash.™

Mullholland Dr. by Lynch or Lost Highway, much better.

Never saw Lost Highway. I liked Mullholland Dr., but preferred Inception. I don't really consider them comparable movies though.

Laminar · Feb 25, 2011, 11:27 AM

Paging voodoo to the Lounge, voodoo please report to this thread.

freudling · Feb 25, 2011, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by Eug

Never saw Lost Highway. I liked Mullholland Dr., but preferred Inception. I don't really consider them comparable movies though.

I do: Mulholland Dr. is sort of a dream. A love story in a city of dreams as Lynch stated.

Eug · Feb 25, 2011, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by freudling

I do: Mulholland Dr. is sort of a dream. A love story in a city of dreams as Lynch stated.

And The Lion King is like BBC Earth, because they're both about wild animals.

freudling · Feb 25, 2011, 01:47 PM

Originally Posted by Eug

And The Lion King is like BBC Earth, because they're both about wild animals.

Alright... they're both movies. I compared them. End of the world... It's my opinion and mine alone.

Shaddim · Feb 28, 2011, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by Shaddim

It won't beat Black Swan, which was, hands down, the best film of last year.

Well, Portman won for Best Actress, but Black Swan was seriously snubbed in Best Picture. The King's Speech, what?

P · Feb 28, 2011, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by Shaddim

Well, Portman won for Best Actress, but Black Swan was seriously snubbed in Best Picture. The King's Speech, what?

Still haven't seen Black Swan, but The King's Speech is certainly not a bad movie. There have been many less deserving winners.

Arty50 · Feb 28, 2011, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by Thorzdad

I can't agree that the ending is clear. I do think it's constructed to support whichever possible ending you prefer. Ambiguous...and a cop-out. It annoyed me because the rest of the movie was so strong. The writing and direction was so confident. But, then, the end came and it's like they went home and let the night-shift wrap things up. Still, a great movie to watch several times over.

I have to disagree with this. I love ambiguous endings. Take "Total Recall" for instance. To this day, friends and I still debate whether Quaid was still in Recall or whether Recall really woke up Howser. You could say the same about the end of Inception. Did that top fall...did it keep spinning...

In the end, people will still be talking about how they think the movie really ended long after everyone has forgotten that the King's Speach ever existed.

reader50 · Feb 28, 2011, 09:39 PM

Nolan gets asked a lot about the top at the end. He claims the ambiguity was not the primary plot point - the point was that Cobb was no longer paying attention to it. He'd moved on to his kids, and didn't bother to check the outcome.

Since the top exhibited spin instabilities, I'd say it was real anyway. It was perfectly stable when we saw it in dreams.

Shaddim · Feb 28, 2011, 09:57 PM

Originally Posted by reader50

Since the top exhibited spin instabilities, I'd say it was real anyway. It was perfectly stable when we saw it in dreams.

Or that he made his dream into his reality. But, at that point it wouldn't matter to him anyway.

- - e r i k - - · Feb 28, 2011, 10:47 PM

Nolan has stated that there is a definite TRUE ending, to the observant that should be pretty clear. To be hung up on that is also missing the point entirely. The point is that Cobb himself doesn't *care*.

Shaddim · Feb 28, 2011, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

Nolan has stated that there is a definite TRUE ending, to the observant that should be pretty clear. To be hung up on that is also missing the point entirely. The point is that Cobb himself doesn't *care*.

That's what I said, it doesn't matter to him.

freudling · Mar 1, 2011, 12:05 AM

SPOILER ALERT.

The movie is a dream. Guy wakes up at the end, goes home.

Crappy acting, stupid characters. The Canadian chic? Really? And the skinny guy... Leonardo wasn't believable either. Only the Asian guy was! He did a great job.

I watched this again with my girlfriend last night. She hadn't seen it and wanted to. I fell asleep 30 minutes in. Second time around was thus not a charm.

- - e r i k - - · Mar 1, 2011, 12:15 AM

Originally Posted by freudling

SPOILER ALERT.

The movie is a dream. Guy wakes up at the end, goes home.

Wrong.

voodoo · Mar 1, 2011, 09:39 AM

Originally Posted by Laminar

Paging voodoo to the Lounge, voodoo please report to this thread.

It was a pretty enjoyable movie, but relied more on plot than characters, which ultimately made me care as little in the end as DiCaprio's character, whether the ending was real or a dream.

Recommend the Rifftrax for it.

PhilCat · Mar 1, 2011, 10:43 AM

I'd probably would have to see it again, being there is always something missed the fist time.

It makes me wonder how much was cut from the opening scene.
I liked how the they brought the train into the scene as an unrelated element but effective
obstacle.
It jogged a strange dream from memory of and somewhat similar.
A thread of weird dreams could fill a few pages I'm sure.

Arty50 · Mar 1, 2011, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

Nolan has stated that there is a definite TRUE ending, to the observant that should be pretty clear. To be hung up on that is also missing the point entirely. The point is that Cobb himself doesn't *care*.

But there was a shiny metal object spinning in the foreground, how could I possibly notice what was going on behind it?

Come to think of it now, you're right; he wasn't even paying attention to it at the end. Unlike me...oooooh...shiny...

(And yes, I realize it wasn't that shiny)