Inception (with implanted spoilers)

but the inner ear function was something the chemist specially mixed in so I don't think it would have worked for leo/mal when they were originally in limbo

AO Scott has once more said it better than me (although DorianLynskey puts it well upthread)

http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/movies/16inception.html?ref=movies&pagewanted=all

And then there's

http://github.com/karthick18/inception/blob/master/inception.c

Good movies don't inspire shit like that ^^^

Prosecution rests.

huh. xp

I really like that AO Scott review. I hadn't read it before but my objections seem to mirror his. And this is a very nice line:

The pursuit of competitive advantage by well-dressed, emotionless men is hardly the stuff that dreams are made of

but it is what movies are made of!

Yes, and I refer you to the opening sentence of Scott's review :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hdx9JjzDfo

http://imgur.com/9Tsd2.jpg

Link to larger image[/http://i.imgur.com/9Tsd2.jpg]

Don't know if this has already been linked to, but it pretty much sums up how I felt about the movie:

http://www.frieze.com/blog/entry/wrap_your_troubles_in_dreams/

Kind of wish I disliked this so I'd feel like talking about what it's not.

But wasn't it pitched as what it's not? If it had been sold as an above-average action film the fine, I wouldn't have bothered seeing it. But when you have a film this serious, an idea Nolan has been working on for a decade, people are comparing it to Kubrick, then I think you're entitled to slam it for being a disappointment and, what's worse, a fundamentally unimaginative one.

it was technically excellent, ably performed (in the main), had no heart and didn't care about the emotions.

what's not to kubrick?

kubrick didn't try but nolan did (to care about the emotions)

the intentions of the director are his business, tbh. doesn't have any affect on my viewing pleasure.

effect/affect i got an a in english you know.

But Kubrick, aware that he didn't care about emotions, compensated with the full force of his scary intellect. With Nolan, the pop psychology is hardly less superficial than the emotions. And when a director tries to do something he's no good at then it can't help but affect my viewing pleasure. It's why I think Eyes Wide Shut was Kubrick's only case of disastrous overreach - if you can't do sexy then for God's sake don't try.

I don't want to overstate my dislike though - I had a solid enough time and if friends had just said "go see this weird action movie, it's pretty good" then that would have been enough.

^^^^is killing it itt

Thought it was great that Eyes Wide Shut was completely unerotic. xpost

It's pretty clear that the people who disliked the movie are faulting it for not being deep or insightful whereas the people who DID like it didn't care that it wasn't deep or insightful.

I like that you can have weird mind-melting conversations about the concepts that the movie played around with, but that the movie itself was a straightforward action flick. That was what really sold the movie to me; the underpinnings were there for a full-on philosophical treatise but the movie only discussed on it in the confines of how it impacted the action plot. Pieces of it could be seen as lazy; it might have been more interesting if the subconscious constructs becoming aware of the intruders and attacking them morphed into something unspeakable rather then sprouting guns, and it would have also been cool to see Ariadne freak out and start world-building on the fly in a similar vein to what JGL's character did in the stairwell, but on a larger scale, but those are relatively small quibbles. I enjoyed what the movie did. I expected an action movie with a slightly weird premise; I got an action movie with a slightly weird premise. I enjoyed myself. Pretty much that is what I want when I go to see a movie.

EWS = more a of a "dream logic" movie that Inception. and really please can we drop the idea that Kubrick didn't care about emotions. it's insanely reductive.

EWS could have been so great had they cast anyone besides Tom Cruise

like, they could have cast Yahoo Serious and it would have been better

i remember reading that Kubrick originally wanted Steve Martin. not sure if that's true!

no, xxxpost, i wouldn't care about it not being 'deep' or whatever if it had been an enjoyable action film but it was actually really fucking boring

I'll agree that Nolan doesn't have the chops to explore the deeper themes that someone like, say, Malick might be able to do when dealing with dream invasions. But then again I don't think Malick has the chops to make a thrilling and tight heist-action-thriller. I'm glad Nolan didn't stretch himself to attempt anything profound. If people want to parse the philosophical underpinnings of the idea, they can, but it would have killed the entertainment and so I'm glad they're never really front and center.

xpost

of course if you found it dull than that's fair enough

it might have been more interesting if the subconscious constructs becoming aware of the intruders and attacking them morphed into something unspeakable rather then sprouting guns, and it would have also been cool to see Ariadne freak out and start world-building on the fly in a similar vein to what JGL's character did in the stairwell, but on a larger scale, but those are relatively small quibbles.

Pls remake Inception, HI DERE. This is exactly what the first half hour made me think was going to happen.

please can we drop the idea that Kubrick didn't care about emotions. it's insanely reductive.

I've heard this counter-argument before, and I'm always wary of received wisdom, but I've honestly never seen any evidence that he did care. Maybe Paths of Glory but nothing after that.

i found the parallel action scenes at the end pretty compelling and totally interesting for how they worked within the structure of the film as much as for how they were stylistically executed.

if the subconscious constructs becoming aware of the intruders and attacking them morphed into something unspeakable

so glad they didn't

you know it would have been just some swirly CGI bullshit right?

Not if it was done right. A bit of Lynchian creepiness >>>>>>> anonymous guys with guns.

as far as i am aware all of Kubrick's movies contain people! just because a persistent theme is dehumanization, through cosmic or social means, then it doesn't mean emotions aren't there

hey guys I heard a rumor that Inception had actual humans in it

could have been something really freaky and dreamlike, like everybody gets up and tries to gently headbutt the intruders in complete silence, or just starts wailing and crying like children, or something.

xp see? dorianlynskey otm

Pls remake Inception, HI DERE. This is exactly what the first half hour made me think was going to happen.

I get why it didn't happen, though, In the former case, the subconscious constructs seem to be working in the framework of the Architect's pattern, so their rejection mechanism manifests itself as something compatible with the Architect's plan. In the second case, the plot pretty thoroughly beats the impulse to world-build on the fly out of Ariadne by have Mal disembowel her, so it makes sense to me that she as a novice would avoid trying to do anything that would bring that type of attention back to her, particularly since dying would drop her into Limbo rather than waking her up, plus JGL's character is much more experienced at dreamworld manipulation and was only making a localized change noticeable by one construct that was already attempting to kill him; his world-changing exercises didn't matter since the constructs were already trying to kill him, and the change he made was small/localized enough that he likely didn't make any more of an impression than he already had.

The constructs would have been more menacing had they killed people without guns, like by literally tearing them apart or clubbing them to death or what have you; I was hoping that that is what would happen in the hotel.

i have no desire to see what JGL's insides look like

They didn't really need to make it a zombie movie but that would have been kind of cool.

I just think the visual moves that Nolan did make - that waterfall effect at the climax when Leo decides to go into limbo, loved that whole scene - had a lot more impact because of the restraint he showed otherwise.

xp to dorian

still say my fav shot was the railroad tracks one

xpost. I see your point. It's hard to say Nolan should have done x or y. I just wanted it to be somehow stranger and more disorientating, and there are countless ways he could have done that but I just don't think he has that kind of brain.

One of the reason everyone loved Ledger's Joker, I think, he really creeped up / weirded out Nolan's super-controlled vision.

tbh I loved Marion Cotillard for similar reasons

I dunno that Nolan didn't intend that, though, he pretty much admitted that one of the big influences on Dark Knight was "The Killing Joke" graphic novel, which features a very similar Joker - darker, attempting to use crime to make sociological points, ends on an ambiguous note, et al....

xpost

How you guys rate this movie against Dark City?

im not sure i can explain it exactly, but nolan just seems like someone whos really anal, hence the nerdy narrative splice and dice in memento, how nothing is left unexplained in inception, and how dicaprio said he doesnt usually like this type of film but nolan makes it seem more like real life (ie more prosaic looking). he seems intent on making sure nothing really foxes anyone.

(obv i know inception has foxed lots of people, but the foxing there also seems really anal-nerdy)

How you guys rate this movie against Dark City?

Early days yet but...it's not quite apples and oranges (Nolan has admitted a debt) but there's enough of a difference between the films and their respective styles that I didn't immediately group them together. Might have to rewatch Dark City to see what comes to mind in light of Inception.

One of the reason everyone loved Ledger's Joker, I think, he really creeped up / weirded out Nolan's super-controlled vision.

this guy makes a similar argument.