Inception

[Your Usual Table]

EDIT: Removed

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Inception

The trailer looks like one great big T-mobile advert.

Do most people have dreams where everything just explodes in CGI slo-mo, for no reason?

Most of my dreams involve naked the content of this post has been moderated for reasons of taste and decency and then smiling as they walk away.

[erwin]

Inception

Blimey! This gets a 9.3 on IMDb. Count me in (although the concept has a whiff of Matrix about it, and I hated that).

[Reed John]

Inception

I saw it and loved it. Very well put together and decent performances from a group of very likable actors. It's actually a lot better than the Matrix, which I also liked a lot. This is just much better written, for one, and the plot thread that runs through it (****spoiler**** ie, Leonardo DiCaprio relationship with his dead wife) is more interesting than "the robots took over the world."

I'm not sure it all entirely makes sense with how dreams actually work, but that's not really the point.

It's definitely one for people who like mind-benders, as Nolan seems to be the man to see about these days. People who can't be bothered keeping up with all of the dream within a dream within a dream stuff and so forth won't like it. I couldn't follow all of it, so I'll see it again.

The special effects are actually pretty modest. Other than the scene in the trailer where Ellen Page's character bends Paris over onto itself, there isn't much attempt to do anything big and spectacular. The coolest bit, I thought, were the ***modest spoiler*** parts where the hotel suddenly loses gravity. I don't know how they filmed that, but it looked seamless and perfect.*

***more spoilers***
*because the guy dream about the hotel is asleep in a falling car. I guess you don't feel gravity in a dream if you aren't experiencing it? Seems plausible, but I don't know if that's empirically proven.

[Incandenza]

Inception

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:

Do most people have dreams where everything just explodes in CGI slo-mo, for no reason?

That's my building reaction as well after constantly seeing the commercials. That, and I'm getting really tired of Joseph Gordon Levitt trying to look cool and natty in old fashioned suits.

That said, a lot of my friends have seen this and said they were blown away by it, and I am interested in seeing it.

[Ray de Galles]

Inception

Slight spoiler alert:

Except he wasn't actually "asleep in a falling car", was he?

I loved it (it's very Phillip K Dick) and the internal logic of the movie held together well even if it took a turn for the "Who with the whatnow?!" In the climactic fourth stage of the main dream.

Strong cast too, especially the '500 Days of Summer' guy and the actor playing 'Eames' (sp?).

[Levin]

Inception

I think it doesn't quite have the wow factor of the first Matrix film, but it may be the better film. I certainly want to see it again.

[Reed John]

Inception

*****spoiler*****

Except he wasn't actually "asleep in a falling car", was he?

No. That was the part that didn't seem to correspond to my actual experience of having a dream in a dream. I don't think that the physiology rules of first-layer dream would necessarily hold in the lower layers.

But they successfully papered over all of that with the Chemist guy whose sedatives could make it all very stable. I don't think that's how real, everyday dreams work, but it's possible that the brain could somehow be tricked into working that way, I guess. I doubt anyone really knows. Neuroscience is really such a nascent field.
*************************

Anyway, that's not really what it was about, was it? It was about how we deal with loss and accepting reality vs fantasy and the metaphors for secrets. That's what it has over The Matrix. The Matrix was about robots taking over the world as a metaphor for, er, robots taking over the world and some shit about Jesus that made no sense.

Strong cast too, especially the '500 Days of Summer' guy and the actor playing 'Eames' (sp?).

Eames was played by somebody I didn't recognize as was the guy driving van/making the drugs.

A number of fairly famous people in small, unbilled roles - Michael Caine, Tom Berenger, the Scarecrow guy. The girl who played the dead wife is famous too - she was in Public Enemies - but I forget her name.

I really like the 500 Days of Summer guy, Joseph Gordon- Levitt. Did you know, his mom ran for congress on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket in the 1970s?

[Ray de Galles]

Inception

After checking, I found out Eames was played by Tom Hardy who amongst others has played Charles Bronson (the UK version) and is apparently the next Mad Max.

The wife was Marianne Coitillard (sp?) who won the Oscar for playing Edith Piaf, I think.

I love The Berenger, he's one of the reasons I watch 'October Road'.

[gt3]

Inception

I saw this at the weekend, and throwing caution and Lucia L's disapproval to the wind, I'd like to add to the chorus of approval. Possibly one of the most breathtaking, thought provoking and actually *Romantic* films I have ever seen.

Nolan has now made three of my all time favourite movies, including this one. What I especially liked was the way he used the tropes of films that we are all (overly)familiar with and gave them a witty and stylistic twist. Top stuff. Looking forward to going to see it again soon.

**********************spoiler********************* ****

The thing about them being "asleep in the car" - the chemist chap had already explained (when they were trialing the sedative by constantly shoving that chap out of the chair as he was sleeping) that he had somehow miraculously adapted it so that it didn't affect inner ear function...so that why they were still able to feel the "kick" in the dream they were experiencing whilst asleep in the car.

And yes, that fight sequence in the hotel was incredible, whilst the snow bound one was pure James Bond.

[Reed John]

Inception

************spoiler************

The thing about them being "asleep in the car" - the chemist chap had already explained (when they were trialing the sedative by constantly shoving that chap out of the chair as he was sleeping) that he had somehow miraculously adapted it so that it didn't affect inner ear function...so that why they were still able to feel the "kick" in the dream they were experiencing whilst asleep in the car.

I totally misunderstood that scene, I guess. I thought he meant that, despite the sedation, the tipping-over would still wake somebody up. But it didn't, so I was a bit confused.

And yes, that fight sequence in the hotel was incredible, whilst the snow bound one was pure James Bond.

Did they ever explain why she chose to make her fortress in the mountains in the snow? Was that a metaphor for something? Or was it just that Ellen Page is Canadian, ergo her character is Canadian, ergo snow?

[Ray de Galles]

Inception

But nobody ever actually got tipped up or dropped, they dreamt they did (they were on a plane I suppose but that's never suggested as having any bearing on them).

The "inner ear function/kick reflex" thing covers the rough area of simulating a jarring experience to snap them out of dreams within dreams (thought not back to reality, which was what the guy being tipped over in a chair appeared to be testing) but not sure it goes both ways and explains imagined experiences in one dream (i.e. weightlessness) carrying over to a dream within a dream.

Not that I mind and I worry even discussing it makes the film seem boring/hokey when it's really actually "Fuck. Wow!"

[Reed John]

Inception

Agreed. It's like if you read Calvin and Hobbes and have to ask "Can Hobbes really talk?" then you've missed the point already.

[danielmak]

Inception

*Spoiler* but if you're reading this far then it's all moot.

Remember that when Ellen Page's character goes down to the final realm of the dream with Leo's character to get the Japanese dude that she talks about needing to kick all the way back up--that's why she tells the impersonation guy to diffribulate the rich guy at a certain point. So the idea is that each character needs to feel the kick at the bottom level of whatever dream they are in to wake up and feel the kick in the next lowest level. So they couldn't feel the kick in the van until they felt the kick in the next lowest level (i.e., this is why the fall from the bridge did not wake them up--they needed to first wake up from the dream within the dream).

Of course, this doesn't make a lot of sense if the chemicals had a failsafe in the form of the kick. That is, if the van tipping was the failsafe then they should have woke up right when it went off the bridge, but I guess this is back to the point of being stuck in the dream if one does not kick out of the next layer of dreams.

[gt3]

Inception

"Not that I mind and I worry even discussing it makes the film seem boring/hokey when it's really actually "Fuck. Wow!"

Exactly - this thread is turning into OTF how to destroy all the fun to be had from a film 101...

I spent large parts of that film dropping my jaw in amazement. And we shouldn't ley our tendancy to over analyse things on here distract from that. It's a bravura piece offilm making - on many levels.

[Levin]

Inception

I'm sort of in agreement with Harri and gt3 here. However... these two article have soem rather brilliant analysis that I hadn't considered and really bring some light on what the film could be about
Spoilers in the links
Read first
Read second

[Max Payne]

Inception

Carnivorous Vulgaris wrote:

It would be novel to see the climax of the movie boil down to Leonardo DiCaprio attempting to outrun a slab of smoked gouda the size of a mountain.

Dreaming ot Tripping?

[gt3]

Inception

Cheers for that RvL. Those blogs really do give a completely different take on the film. And of course in the context of What they posit, it all suddenly makes perfect sense. I'll enjoy watching it again with those ideas in my head.

[RobW]

Inception

Saw it tonight, absolutely stunning.

Tell you what though, **very slight spoiler** they'd be buggered if Fischer didn't want that glass of water on the plane wouldn't they?

[Diable Rouge]

Inception

[/quote]
Did they ever explain why she chose to make her fortress in the mountains in the snow? Was that a metaphor for something? Or was it just that Ellen Page is Canadian, ergo her character is Canadian, ergo snow?[/quote]
**** Spoiler ****

The various forms of water are a crucial plot device in terms of following the narrative, but for the benefit of anyone who hasn't seen it yet, I'll leave it at that.

[Lucia Lanigan]

Inception

and throwing caution and Lucia L's disapproval to the wind

To point out that turning The Picture of Dorian Gray into Skins made it less rather than more 'relevant' once was unfortunate. To do so again on an unrelated thread would look like carelessness.

Inception looks great to me. I loved Shutter Island and I'm willing to bet DiCaprio's on a head-twisty roll.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Inception

Going to see this tonight, ticket availability willing ("Vue", can I point out, are bloody crap at following up on their OWN promotional on-line offers, I've been trying to use the code they e-mailed me for "Cheap Day Tuesday" tickets and sorry Vue, IT DOESN'T WORK.).

OTF's reviews on this thread have made me more keen than ever to see a film I thought looked rather crap on the trailer, rather than putting me off a film that I thought looked quite good - quite a reversal of normal form, that.

[gt3]

Inception

Lucia Lanigan wrote:

and throwing caution and Lucia L's disapproval to the wind

To point out that turning The Picture of Dorian Gray into Skins made it less rather than more 'relevant' once was unfortunate. To do so again on an unrelated thread would look like carelessness.

Inception looks great to me. I loved Shutter Island and I'm willing to bet DiCaprio's on a head-twisty roll.

Heh - I've told a friend of mine that if he doesn't like Inception, I'll give him the price of his ticket...I'd make you the same offer Lucia, if I had my Berlin guide book...

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Inception

I can see what people meant about wanting to see it again.

I began to lose my understanding at various points about which was the "real" (ie critical at that point) dream, within a dream, within a dream ... the various cutbacks to the gunfight at the mountain fortress didn't help, as I'd forgotten what the "point" of that dream was all about, and who was supposed to be controlling what happened inside it.

The denouement as well ... is he still dreaming, or not?

[Ray de Galles]

Inception

Does it matter?