Inception (with implanted spoilers)

youth in revolt is by far the worst movie i've seen this year. there is no way in hell that inception could be worse than that.

youth in revolt is fine and the anti-cera backlash is yawwwwwwwn

however i do not have high hopes for scott pilgrim

Pretty disappointed by this. So many questions, that barely seem worth asking. But I will anyway. Apols if this is covered upthread. Why were there so many explosives being set all the time? Just for the 'kick' to wake themselves up? Seems like overkill, and also why would that work, or driving a van off a bridge, when earlier on the van was shoved off the road and near tumbled down an embankment, without waking anyone up?

Why did Ariadne offer to lead Fischer to the fortress in the snow level by saying "I designed it"? Wouldn't that give the game away that it wasn't his dream?

Why was Saito so old in Limbo, and Leo still young, when Leo went into it before him?

It played far too fast and loose with time, like Arthur only having a few minutes in the hotel to wake them up, yet managing to fight off henchmen, collect explosives, rope them all together, get them into a lift, and set the explosives again.

Ultimately, though, I just didn't really care about what was happening, emotionally or viscerally. No connection with the characters, no sense of urgency or peril. It might have helped slightly if they'd dropped the standard hollywood practice of baddies being unable to hit a target at point blank range with automatic weapons, goodies landing shots from 50 yards with pistols.

i had a really big crush on lucas haas when I was a teenager, so I liked that part. even if he does look like shelley duvall.

xpost It was Fischer's dream, but they were trying to make him believe it was the attorney's. They wanted Fischer to think he was breaking into the attorney's mind and stealing his secret. Cobb explained this.

ledge sounds like you missed major plot points dude

saito went into limbo first iirc

youth in revolt is fine and the anti-cera backlash is yawwwwwwwn

no backlash here. i love cera and he was good in YIR. but the writing was fucking hideous. easily the worst indie-style teen flick i've seen in years. worse than thumbsucker.

wrong thread...

xp some details yeah but not major stuff i don't think.

i could be wrong about saito but i had the thought at the time, only an hour ago.

saito dies in the 3rd level & goes 2 limbo then after that leo decides to dream down into the 4th level/his limbo

(as i remember) cobb and ariadne agree to go to limbo to get fischer; they tell eames who okays it. they limbo it up, eames tells saito to guard fischer and goes off to set explosives. saito fires off some shots, tosses his grenade, dies.

it's weird that leo wakes up on a beach - signifier of arriving in limbo - *after* he's gone to limbo to find fischer.

just realised a disappointing gap between expectation and reality: the trailer had the shot of the buildings all rolling up and i imagined that would be a perilous moment for the charaxters, and there would be other monumental and paradigm-shifting things for them to deal with - but nah it was mostly just guys with guns.

the zero-g fight was cool tho.

but even the druggy episodes of star trek:tng get this right.

caek! yes! i just tweeted that tng s7 ep 21 was better than this :)

from nick's link upthread:

For the most part, the film wisely refuses to milk its best ideas (we’d love to see more vertical streets, Escher stairs and wall-walking, but Nolan keeps such moments brief and tantalising memories)

yeah that would get pretty old pretty fast, unlike guys running round with guns, that's always fresh.

ok i'm retreading old boring ground myself now.

How did Cobb and Saito get out of limbo? I missed a detail?

killed themselves, same way cobb and his wife got out

So killing yourself doesn't put you into a new level? Thats why I was confused.

Wouldn't they have to ride "kicks" out? If you can just kill yourself in limbo and its as easy as being only one level in, they why worry about dying anywhere between first level and limbo?

Thats the detail I was missing.

I they went into limbo cos they were so sedated that dream-death wouldn't wake them. We don't actually know how they woke up, or indeed if they did at all.

^^^^^ yes, chemist explained this

YOUTH IN REVOLT was v flawed and even more forgettable, but at least I could sort of enjoy myself during it. INCEPTION was just a boring, boring chore to sit through--a film devoid of both emotions and interesting ideas. And Michael Cera >>> Leonardo DiCaprio

Cera probably would've been a better choice for Cobb.

wow some truly laughable challops coming out now

http://9gag.com/photo/30013_540.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHJwgA54Gqk

i see this film becoming a litmus test for me

also the cinematography is not v remarkable, i groaned when they cut to those waves

like i said above, a dream movie with NO ATMOSPHERE

just remembered another wtf moment, leo getting caught in the narrow alleyway while on the run in mombassa - except his shoulders are still at 45 degrees to the walls! "oh lord how can i squeeze through this alley, if only there were some way of turning my body fully sideways ;_;"

I'm probably being dumb but why does Mal jump out of an apartment on the other side of the street?

Because it's NOT REAL.

I wonder if I was so emotionally uninvolved because it was a dream, and I could give a fuck what happens in dreams -- turn off as soon as characters in other books or films start relating their dreams, and also in real life.

There are also other ways to tell if you're dreaming that surely Mal could have tried out. Writng's a big one: printed words rarely stay the same twice in dreams, so if you can read a book, you're not dreaming. Likewise, surely they'd recognize a level at which they didn't have dream powers, like being able to leap across to the other apartment.

http://cheezcomixed.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/inceptionp1.jpg

Why on earth would you even contemplate going to see Inception if you turn off mentally when literature or TV or other films start dealing with dreams?!

Someone who felt Donnie Darko was evocative and emotionally engaging, but Inception wasn't is the opposite kind of film goer than me.

Also, ledge, you didn't recognize the being stuck in a tight alley while you're being pursued as a classic dream moment?

Because I thought I'd love it, and did. But it was much more like a thought exercise than any sort of oh-no-they're-in-peril-don't-die engagement xp

Being conscious of the weaknesses and traps of oft-tread subject matter doesn't you won't like every whack at it. I thought Chris Nolan made a pretty entertaining film about Guys In Tights Wrestling With Deep Thoughts despite the inherent absurdity of it.

doesn't mean you won't like every whack at it, rather. I'm probably going to see Devil even though Man Vs. Devil movies are guaranteed to be bullshit ridiculous on some level. That doesn't mean they can't have some thrills.

Also, ledge, you didn't recognize the being stuck in a tight alley while you're being pursued as a classic dream moment?

uh the silly thing ledge pointed out wasn't that he wasn't stuck in a tight alley, but that the actor clearly wasn't trying that hard to get through the space.

the second wasn't should be a was, sorry

it was an enjoyable thought excercise. Also Leo's scrunchy body is shaped like a 'v' from above making it appear like he wasn't turned sideways in the tight alley

another optical illusion!

seemed like leslie nielsen wrestling with a towel thrown in his face to me

and its not a big movie-capsizing deal or anything, just a lol

The actor wasn't trying hard enough to get through the space? You guys are silly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4bu4DF7ewo

again, just an action-movie-cliche lol, not a chink in the armor that needs defending

i loved that scene. since i've had a ton of sleep-paralysis inspired dreams like that. usually im trying to run to or away from something and can't. fucking. move.