Inception (with implanted spoilers)

that blog is weird - who thinks that the ending is the best part?

Maybe Leo and his wife had matching true love his-and-hers totem tops?

The more I think about this film, the more it feels like either a) a sequel to a movie never made or b) a big-budget Hollywood remake of a smart little thriller (a la "Insomnia") that cost nada. I noted somewhere else that "Inception" cost somewhere around 24,000 times as much as "Primer."

After first viewing:

Could hear all dialogue clearly
Lost track of who's consciousness we were diving into on each level, not sure how it matters tho
Pretty happy taking it that Leo's wife was correct, and that he's still dreaming. Tho not sure why she just can't wake him up.

or as mark s has suggested, doodz just send an email

only got about 1/4 way through this thread so far this AM, prob will see much better readings than that further on

It seemed kind of dumb when Arthur said "Paradox!" when he threw that guy off the stairs. We get it, thanks.

Oh OK someone mentioned that upthread. I agreed.

re: heath ledger doppelganger, doesn't juno look more than a bit like the D.A. from the last two batman movies?
how many batman players are in this doing more or less the same role?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M6dYiIbRKM

Saw this last night. It was alright. Don't think I'll bother watching it again. Didn't have any emotional pull for me, and I kinda want my big bucks high concept action movies to have at least a bit of emo in them.

People on this thread saying "it wasn't that brain-busting" are otm too.

love that bill & ted trailer

Amazing

for a movie abt a bunch of rogues out for one last heist its not really much fun

There were scenes I enjoyed and nice things to see but the sterility of it is more or less down to Nolan I think. Can't blame Leo DiCaprio for not bringing fully to life some boring unfleshed out character with clunky lines.

Y'all just do what Slim Thug tells ya to

true - steven soderbergh's ocean's inception would have been GREAT

I'm not seeing Christian Bale as Billy Ocean.

nah man, keep the same cast. I'm getting pretty excited thinking about the possibilities tbh. get that chinese acrobat dude again, uh, the one dude who controlled the bigass drill... I dunno

Thoughts: (we're way past the point of spoiler alerts, right? Beware, in any case)

There seems to be a typical Nolan protagonist as every one of them is something of a humorless monomaniac, and the motivations for their obsessions are always pretty feeble and ring false to me. The relationship between these men and their wives or girlfriends is like something out of "A Beautiful Mind."

Shades of Nicolas Roeg's "Don't Look Now," with, among other things, the way Leo DiCaprio keeps having re-occurring hallucinations of his small children, who, of course, always have their backs to him. The way Roeg's movie dealt with the concept of second sight and played with sequence of events is worth comparing to this movie, but, unlike "Don't Look Now", Inception isn't wrapped in hazy mysticism and doesn't give off a creepy occult vibe. Nolan never really gets into the mystery of dreams and he doesn't reveal anything too insightful about them either, which is a shame. Likewise, big concepts from gnosticism and whatnot are briefly mentioned but not really explored in the movie. And finishing off the 'don't look now" comparisons, not sure if eventually getting knifed by your dead wife beats getting knifed by a deranged dwarf you thought was your kid.

More thoughts later, I'm dead tired.

Going back to the motives of these shallow characters which were bypassed in favor of the needless plot complexities, during the whole "I am falsely accused of killing my wife and I will villify myself" quick plot intro, I was reminded afterwards that this theme was far better executed in The Fugitive.

I am falsely accused of killing my wife and I will villify myself

Not the most productive approach.

I liked this movie on a purely action/artsy level. I never got bothered by any of the lines (except maybe the mantra they say abouyt the train coming or whatever when they lie down on the tracks - it was weird). I think the old TBS slogan "movies for guys who likes movies" applies to me and this movie just cuz I like action and explosions and it's hard for me to be bothered by unrealistic stuff, cheesey stuff and huge ass arsenal. Seeing this movie dissected to the littlest things and comparisons over the last couple weeks has made me not want to read this thread. Alas I put in so much effort reading the first few hundred posts that I've continued to read on

Just something that hasn't been mentioned- when juno follows leo down to his basement/the hotel room for the first time, we're looking at marion cotillard from the side, and even tho we know she's going to look over and scare us, it still jarred the shit out of me, the people either side of me, and everyone else in my line of sight in the theatre.

did nolan do something clever here as a director, or did anybody else experience this, or what?

It was pretty startling for me too, even though as you said you could tell it from a mile off. Pretty big music sting there I seem to recall (see also Signs and the birthday part alien)

i can't help thinking it was more than that, tbh- tho signs 1st glimpse of alien is a good comparison certainly.

also i'd add that it was a fairly successful ghost (horror?) story every time wife showed up.

that part was startling for me, though I hated how those around me had to react in overexaggerated fashion.

How do you know they were over exaggerating?

the x-factor is cotillard's creepy fuckin' face.

i will go out and get christopher nolan's white gloves and slap you in the face with one, sir

Not an insult! It was good casting.

hmm as long as creepy doesn't preclude heartstoppingly beautiful then we have no quarrel. FOR NOW

http://i26.tinypic.com/2wgy9md.jpg

http://i31.tinypic.com/2ef56hx.jpg

http://i25.tinypic.com/2lixyqp.jpg

http://i32.tinypic.com/3499q39.png

http://i31.tinypic.com/5wwkm8.png

http://i28.tinypic.com/k1aq0m.png

Whether this movie is any great shakes is up for debate, but no question it is endlessly mockable.

http://socialitelife.celebuzz.com/bfm_gallery/2009/09/leo_dicaprio_on_the_set_of_inception/gallery_main/gallery_main-inception-film-set-leonardo-dicaprio-09162009-08.jpg

I saw this movie again tonight, and it seemed like the whole audience let out this disappointed "aww!" at spinning top at the ending. Didn't happen the first time I saw it.

Definitely happened first time through with me -- I was too startled to say anything!

Audience laughed at my showing

audience cried at mine

Ending is such an unnecessary cheap shot

I say again, I really liked it, made me lol. Both times I've seen it!

this movie is completely ridiculous. i sort of want to fart in christopher nolan's mouth. i liked jonathan taylor thomas though.

nolan is like the cleverest dumb person ever.

Ending is such an unnecessary cheap shot

iirc the original ending involved Cobb watching a group of mimes play tennis with no ball, and then Cobb disappearing into thin air.

No Yardbirds No Credibility

Don't remember feeling like that ending was a cheap shot

Also that bit at the end of Flash Gordon where there's a question mark tattooed on Ming the Merciless's skull is a better ending

Though Chris Nolan was gonna come on and go "aaaaaaah"