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Inception

Started by CaledonianGonzo, July 08, 2010, 08:36:35 PM

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CaledonianGonzo

Christopher Nolan's first movie since The Dark Night is out next weekend and, so far, the word on it is overwhelmingly positive.

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=136118

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z75o-F6ja2I

Details of the plot have been kept under tight wraps for months, and are now starting to leak out, but I've managed to stay almost completely spoiler free.  I like the idea, certainly, that it's apparently not short of smarts and the viewers have to work a little.  Will it be 'The New Matrix' (tm) or will it be too cerebral for Joe Sixpack and John Q. Public?  Obviously, I've got no idea yet, but either way I'm there on opening night with a feather in my hair.

vrailaine

Will be going to see it AND toy story 3 in the cinema in a fortnight some time, can go ages without ever seeing the need to go to a cinema so I want to see this one an awful lot.

And a negative note, i usually find Nolan's films terribly cold with absolutely no rewatchability after the first viewing(which is always great, to be clear)

biggytitbo

Leo's really porking up these days isn't he?

Less importantly, the film looks quite good.

The Duck Man

I'm really looking forward to it, but "Dom Cobb" has to be the worst name for a protagonist in the entire history of fiction.

chocky909

I've got tickets to see this at the IMAX next Friday in awesome non-3D and I would like to avoid the spoilers too. It just looks like a big budget intelligent film from the teaser trailers, which is rare and always makes me think of The Matrix.The Dark Knight and Memento were pretty great films although I do agree with vrailaine that the rewatchability isn't great. Excellent first viewings though.

I struggled to make it through Insomnia and The Prestige and don't remember much about them. I think my short attention span didn't help, watching on DVD with the distractions all around me. Hopefully if Inception has similarly dense plotting it will be easier for me to follow when I'm trapped in a cinema with no diversions. Anyone rate Insomnia or The Prestige? Give 'em another go?

Nik Drou

Quote from: chocky909 on July 08, 2010, 09:52:32 PM
Anyone rate Insomnia or The Prestige? Give 'em another go?

Me, quite highly and yes.

chocky909

I'll make the effort to give them a proper go then. Cheers.

Zetetic

Insomnia falls quite neatly into the 'pointless remake' box. It robs the original of anything that made it distinctive, but it's a perfectly watchable film if you pretend it's nothing to do with the first one.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I think it was unfortunate to have been released around the same time as One Hour Photo, as it got overshadowed by that in the 'Robin Williams plays creepy' stakes.

Anyway I am also looking forward to Inception. It seems to have been a particularly uninspiring summer at the pictures, so hopefully this can redress the balance to some extent. At the very least it looks like it should be a treat for the eyes.

El Unicornio, mang

I've liked all of Nolan's films (including that really low budget Following one, although the premise was wasted a bit) and DiCaprio is a fine actor, so really looking forward to this.

Lord Mandrake

I don't like the trailer, it's very desperate and raises question marks for me about whether Di Caprio can indeed act. I'm sure the film will be palatable in the whizz bang sense. Dark knight wasn't exactly fucking Chinatown. Nolan is efficient but no auteur , for me.

Glebe

Yep, getting glowing reviews all 'round. Not expecting to be blown away or anything, but fingers crossed.

non capisco

Quote from: biggytitbo on July 08, 2010, 09:12:52 PM
Leo's really porking up these days isn't he?

With every film he's getting closer to that walk-on part as Norman Lamont in a Thatcher biopic.
I like the fact Leo's losing his looks, he's always been a great actor and the less of a heartthrob he looks the less chance he'll be cast in something uninteresting.

Rev

It just looks so empty.  This sort of thing should be right up my street, but it needs a tiny red drop of humanity in there, and it's something that Nolan doesn't seem to be able to pull off.  His films are all decent, don't get me wrong, but they're all hollow; the closest he's come to making something rounded and satisfying was The Prestige, but he sort of fudged that too.  I'm beginning to suspect that he's never actually met another human being.  At the very least, he needs to hire a temp to suck off Kubrick's corpse so that he can be free to spend his time making movies.


biggytitbo

Quote from: Rev on July 09, 2010, 01:04:07 AM
It just looks so empty.
I think you're jumping the gun a bit to judge the film so harshly based on a trailer, which tend just to be a collection of wow moments.

Bingo Fury

Quote from: chocky909 on July 08, 2010, 09:52:32 PM
Anyone rate Insomnia or The Prestige? Give 'em another go?

I actually had to go to imdb to remind myself which film Insomnia was - it was okay, worth seeing once, if not more than that - but I totally loved The Prestige and think it has loads of rewatch value. Love that the whole film is structured like a magic trick, and that
Spoiler alert
Jackman's feeling of rivalry is so overpowering that it actually spurs him on to achieve the impossible
[close]
. Second time around, all the clues are right up in your face but they totally escaped me on first viewing. Got a second-hand copy earmarked that I haven't picked up yet.

hundred

I thought the Prstige was a bit annoying while watching first time around. Thinking 'Why is he being such a dick? I hate him. Oh wait now I hate the other guy, he's really not acting normal'. Then the end came and it kinda made sense (apart from the very end, when the film says
Spoiler alert
IT WERE ALL MAGIC!!!!
[close]
)

Very much looking forward to Inception at IMAX, and also agree with whoever said it's a bit harsh to judge the emotional content from the trailer.

wearyworld

Quote from: hundred on July 09, 2010, 04:27:35 PM
Then the end came and it kinda made sense (apart from the very end, when the film says
Spoiler alert
IT WERE ALL MAGIC!!!!
[close]
)
But seeing as the film's all about
Spoiler alert
magic
[close]
, what doesn't make sense about it being
Spoiler alert
magic
[close]
? That's a great film, probably Nolan's best. I'd certainly agree that things like Batman Begins and Memento don't bear rewatches; hopefully with Inception he's stolen not only from Philip K. Dick's mind but also his heart.

JPA

Insomnia is the only one of Nolan's that I haven't seen, and I'd definitely give The Prestige another go chocky, I really enjoyed it.

Looking forward to Inception, looks really good from the trailers. Whether this translates to the actual film is another story of course.

Paaaaul

I'm very excited about this - didn't realise it was so close to release.

The Prestige is probably my favourite film of the last ten years. I must have watched it at least a dozen times, and it encouraged me to read the fantastic back catalogue of Christopher Priest. If Nolan wants a real mind-bending challenge, he should make a film of Priest's The Affirmation.

Rev

Quote from: biggytitbo on July 09, 2010, 07:30:47 AM
I think you're jumping the gun a bit to judge the film so harshly based on a trailer, which tend just to be a collection of wow moments.

I'm judging it on the trailer coupled with his entire CV to date.  His films are all so weirdly distant.  I had hoped that - given the subject matter - this one would be a bit of a breakthrough, but there's nothing to suggest that in the trailer or the reviews that have come out.  I'm expecting it to be a lot of fun, though.

hundred

Quote from: wearyworld on July 09, 2010, 06:07:33 PM
But seeing as the film's all about
Spoiler alert
magic
[close]
, what doesn't make sense about it being
Spoiler alert
magic
[close]
? That's a great film, probably Nolan's best. I'd certainly agree that things like Batman Begins and Memento don't bear rewatches; hopefully with Inception he's stolen not only from Philip K. Dick's mind but also his heart.

But it's not about
Spoiler alert
magic
[close]
at all, it's about illusion, and dedication to it. I do like the way, as someone above mentioned, that the film plays out like a magic trick, but with the reveal explained, but I'm a bit uncomfortable with the whole
Spoiler alert
magic
[close]
part, maybe because a I recently heard a crazy conspiracy theory about Tesla and infinite energy from a friend who's almost certainly mental.


I'm not sure what I'm meant to be spoilering...

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: hundred on July 10, 2010, 03:02:19 AM
But it's not about
Spoiler alert
magic
[close]
at all, it's about illusion

Rev

Quote from: hundred on July 10, 2010, 03:02:19 AM
But it's not about
Spoiler alert
magic
[close]
at all, it's about illusion, and dedication to it

No, it's definitely about magic too, it's just that the magical part is provided by Tesla, which isn't the direction you'd expect it to come from.

Such a great film, the Prestige, but I can't help but wonder what it'd have been like with a little bit of heart.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Nolan's films are all about obsession and its corrupting effect, though. I can't really imagine how heart would fit in with that.

Madison

Seen it. Acres of heart. Buckets of it. Tears and sighs galore. And a really good heist film and 'a visual feast' as Bazza Norman might say.

Now go and see it and come back and analyse the shit out of it with me please, I'm SO ALONE.

thugler

He can't do endings. Endings of memento, prestige and dark knight all stink. It looks horrible, but I've liked all his other films so I might like it. Imaxing it in a couple of weeks.

Di craprio is by no means a good actor. He's horrible! Even in good films he sticks out.

El Unicornio, mang

The endings of The Prestige and Following were good, I thought. And Insomnia wasn't bad either. It's hard to do a good ending though, even some of my favourites have rotten endings. I like DiCaprio, he can seem a bit too 'acty' sometimes, but he was excellent in The Aviator and Shutter Island. And TITANIC *not really*

chocolateboy

Quote from: thugler on July 13, 2010, 10:38:47 PM
Di craprio is by no means a good actor. He's horrible! Even in good films he sticks out.

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on July 13, 2010, 10:43:22 PM
I like DiCaprio, he can seem a bit too 'acty' sometimes, but he was excellent in The Aviator and Shutter Island. And TITANIC *not really*

I take it neither of you have seen What's Eating Gilbert Grape? He's astonishing in that (and unrecognizable). Reminds me of some of the overshadowed-but-brilliant supporting performances in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - Danny DeVito's maybe.

In every film I've seen DiCaprio in since, I've been waiting for him to notice that he's an incredible actor, but he never does.

hundred

Quote from: thugler on July 13, 2010, 10:38:47 PM
Di craprio is by no means a good actor. He's horrible! Even in good films he sticks out.

That's just nonsense. He's consistently good. He even did a good South African/Zimabwean accent, which no-one has ever done. Not even South Africans.