Inception

Inception

Directed By: Christopher Nolan

Written By: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon Levitt,

Ellen Page, Michael Caine, Tom Hardy 

Synopsis: In a world where people can go into each other's dreams,

 Cobb (DiCaprio), does one last job, where he has to implant an idea instead of stealing it,

 that will guarantee him getting home again.

Inception- He Said

Christopher Nolan is a director that has an almost Pixar-like streak of great movies under his belt.  With his latest movie, Inception, he manages to create a dense world of psychological and philosophical trickery.  Inception tells the story of Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his team of “dream thieves” that must undertake the most difficult job of their career in order for Cobb to be able to go home.  The premise of the movie is a high end that manages to prove engaging and complex but still understandable. 

For anyone that has seen both movies, one will be able to see that Inception is the spiritual sequel of The Dark Knight.  One of TDK’s themes was escalation; while Batman kept trying to outsmart the Joker, he was always one step ahead, and the meticulous planning on the Joker’s part was top notch.  Similarly in this movie we have this plot that keeps on getting more and more complicated as we go through the movie, but thankfully it doesn’t get convoluted like a Charlie Kauffman story could.  The story deals with Cobb’s team trying to steal an idea from a powerful businessman, Saito.  After they fail in the trippiest way possible, Saito offers Cobb the chance to go home if instead of extracting an idea, they insert an idea in the mind of the heir of a business empire, Robert Fischer, Jr.  Inception, as it is called, is the hardest thing to do to someone’s mind, as it is a really invasive procedure.  Cobb gathers a team of experts in very particular fields in relation to the dream world.  The best character, that isn’t Joseph Gordon Levitt, is Ellen Page’s Ariadne, as she serves as the character that is new to this world just like us.  She helps make this movie understandable which is one of the movie’s great strengths is in building and making you believe in a world where people can go into each other’s minds.  The rules are very well established, and explained in a way that doesn’t feel like dumbed-down exposition.

This movie has the great ability to keep you glued to your seat; literally, I don’t think that I saw more than 3 people get up during the movie to go to the bathroom.  This is because, by the time that the actual heist and plan come to fruition, the amount of tension and what is happening to all of the character is so much that you cannot look away.  This is where I find this movie becoming legendary because the action and “in the moment” occurrences are just plain bad-ass, but underneath there is a lot more emotionally gripping and interesting in a philosophical manner about reality and fantasy and what happens when the lines are blurred.  For one, the CG is used in a relatively classier manner and the story has much more layers that can be the subject of many a thesis in film studies classes.  And as a good point to note, Arthur
(Joseph Gordon Levitt) constantly steals the show, whether its his funny back-and-forth with Tom Hardy’s Eames, or his amazing gravity-defying action scenes; this character makes dazzles you in his complete badassery.  He is easily the Boba Fett of this movie.  

Depending on your point of view of certain events in the film, your opinion of the characters can shift.   I feel that some of the characters that aren’t Arthur or Ariadne aren’t as well developed as they could be.  When you see this movie, you definitely feel this is the Cobb show, where we see him deal with the repercussions of his past actions, but it is almost a detriment considering the players in the team feel more like spy movie clichés rather than fully fleshed out characters.  If you interpret the movie in a certain way, the lack of characterization makes sense.  Otherwise, this feels like really bad writing that feels reserved more to bad action movies than a brainy sci-fi thriller.

I have heard of reviews that are frustrated at not being able to keep up with plot, and to those people I say, they weren’t paying attention.  This movie has a lot going, and it is really busy, but just like a tasteful guitar solo. It serves the song, or in this case the movie’s story. When it’s all said and done, you get a movie that mixes the best parts of The Dark Knight and heist films coupled with Nolan’s mind-bending style.  In a truly lackluster and boring year of movies, this feels like fresh air, and this is exactly the kind of movie that needs to be seen, it’s either this or The Last Airbender.  Your pick moviegoers. 

Inception-She Said

I thought I had seen pretty much everything when it came to movies. And then I saw Inception. With as many reboots, remakes, sequels, prequels, adaptations, and cliché storylines we‘re forced to watch nowadays, it was so refreshing to see something original, but not just original…smart; I mean really, really smart. Christopher Nolan created this world where dreams become reality, reality becomes dreams, and sometimes, literally, you don’t know which way is up.

The story is kind of a heist film in a way. Leonardo DiCaprio’s, Cobb, has been hired to break into Cillian Murphy’s, Fischer, dreams and plant an idea, but the trick is making Fischer believe Fischer thought of the idea. Not an easy task when the brain begins to recognize intruders and starts to attack them. Cobb has the best of the best working for him to ensure this “Inception” is pulled off because the success of this job determines Cobb’s future. He wants to go back home to his kids, but circumstances has prevented him until this job arises. With the successful inception, he gets his life back. The problem with Cobb is he cannot control his subconscious when he’s in someone else’s dream, so his wife, Mal, shows up. This becomes an issue when she tries sabotage the missions.

So the first half of the movie is the set up. We’re given rules of breaking into someone’s dream. And by rules, I mean A LOT of rules. Some of the time I couldn’t keep them straight, or I would forget what was said or how it will play into the inception. Don’t worry; Nolan’s brilliant writing takes care of those fears. All the rules I thought didn’t make sense…made complete sense while the inception was going on.  There’s not much more I can say or want to say about the plot. Even if I tried, the impact of it wouldn’t be felt unless it was in context. For example, the ending will be a huge discussion topic, and I could say exactly what happens. But what’s brilliant about Nolan is the ending only works because by that time you’re so invested in the world.

I can’t say enough about this movie. The action sequences are fresh and exciting. There’s one scene that happens in a hallway (shown in many of the TV spots) that was one of the most tense and impressive sequences I’ve seen in a long time. I found myself forgetting to breathe because it was so exciting. Nolan also takes a huge risk of having dreams within dreams. This could have easily have gotten convoluted and messy, but amazingly it doesn’t. It’s a brilliant ploy to give them more time to complete the job…wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Trust me; it’ll all make sense.

Inception brings an amazing opportunity for discussions. Recently, there’s been a lack of mainstream movies that are truly original, and this is absolutely refreshing. There are so many layers to this film: what’s reality? What’s a dream? How do you escape with your life? How do you finish the job? The craze and praise this movie is receiving is all warranted. It will live up to your expectations. Even if you’re not excited, see it. It’s the first great movie of the summer, and the ideas presented will be discussed for years to come, and trust me, you will want to be a part of the discussion.

Despicable Me

Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud

Written by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul

Starring: Steve Carell, Russell Brand, and Jason Segal

Synopsis: Gru wants to outdo his nemsis, Vector, by becoming the best villain in the world by stealing the moon.  However, Gru's plans are foiled when he becomes a dad to three orphans.

Despicable Me- He said

Dreamworks Animation studios got its start in pop culture as the makers of Shrek, a great little movie everyone knows by now. Unfortunately, after the success of Shrek, Dreamworks stuck with the same formula of celebrity voices and adult humor undertones, with mediocre animation and stories, giving us such gems as Shark Tale, Bee Movie, and the second Madagascar movie. This all finally went away when they released Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, and subsequently this year’s runaway hit How To Train Your Dragon. I am glad to say that while Despicable Me is not nearly as great as the other movies mentioned, it is an insanely enjoyable good time and pretty endearing to boot.




When I saw the first trailers for this movie, I was confused and rather apprehensive. The trailers made little to no sense when put together, and the marketing was all over the place. It wasn’t until the minions showed up, and my sister kept on raving about them, that I got a bit interested. The Minions are the cute, yellow things that serve our main protagonist/villain Gru. Gru, from what we see, is a mediocre villain who thinks rather highly of himself. When he goes to the Evil Bank to get a loan for his new plan that involves stealing the moon, he is rejected because he is no longer a hot new villain. That villain is Vector, a super geeky inventor that wears orange spandex and stole the Great Pyramid from Egypt. After Vector foils one of his plans, Gru tries to best him and he’s going to use three orphan girls, Margo, Edith, and Agnes, he adopted to unwittingly help. If you’ve seen any movie when the main character changes his or her way, you know how this movie will turn out for the most part.



What I found interesting about the way this movie handles its world and how believable everything is. You don’t question a geek stealing the Pyramid, yellow Minions walking around and doing nutty stuff, and the villain banks. I really enjoyed this considering that most movies need a long set up, and it felt refreshing to just jump into a world headfirst. Gru’s life is an eccentric one full of colorful characters like his mom and his assistant/mentor Dr. Nefario; they are both your typical over the top-senior citizen types, which usually seem rather annoying (I never bought into the Betty White hype), but they work rather well. I will say that the issues that the mom give Gru are interesting but felt tacked on at random times of the movie. Once we meet the little girls and their very distinct personalities, the movie starts to pick up in a positive manner. If you have seen the commercials you know that Agnes, the little girl will steal the show along the minions, and that’s not a bad thing at all. If you have seen Toy Story 3, think of Bonnie but a much younger version.



With the kids and the minions stealing the show, it does show Gru to be a slightly boring protagonist, his overly confident persona that masks a guy full of insecurity is something we’ve seen quite a bit. Vector is the worst character of the whole movie; he’s a very one-note sort of characters that did very little to nothing to add to the story. But these are all rather minor complaints about the movie. The weird thing is that there is nothing truly wrong with the movie, and its story is one that we have seen before but it is done well. As I stated before Gru and Vector being weak characters is a detriment to the overall story.



Overall, this is one of the better Dreamworks Animation movies, sure they are following the same formula that has gotten them in trouble before, but this time like in their last two movies it works just fine.

Despicable Me- she said

I don’t usually buy into Dreamworks movies. I enjoyed Shrek, but after that, their movies seemed so much more blah than Pixar movies. It wasn’t until this year’s How to Train Your Dragon by DreamWorks (I never saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs until recently) that I realized someone besides Pixar could make a decent animated movie. Even with that, I still wasn’t expecting much when Despicable Me was being advertised. I was indifferent towards the movie going in, but I found myself really, really enjoying it.


Despicable Me creates this amazing world where villains live next door, have their own banks, and regularly steal major landmarks like the Great Pyramid. Gru is a villain who was probably very good at his job at some point, but he has lost his edge. He is very old school having a cascade of miniature twinkie-looking things as his minions working on new and brilliant gadgets and gizmos. He has developed the best idea to get him back on top…steal the moon. Unfortunately, he can’t get the loan for his idea from the bank (the loan goes to his nemesis, Vector), so Gru adopts three girls, Margo, Edith, and Agnes, to unknowingly help him. At first, Gru is initially annoyed with having these three new personalities in his home, but then they grow on him.

Gru initially uses the girls to get inside Vector’s house. Vector is like the Mac version of the villains, while Gru is the PC. Vetor’s home is clean, slick, and shiny. Gru’s home is worn, creaky, and has history. Vector has a remote control for everything, and Gru has to create a new gadget for everything. Gru wants to prove that he’s still the best villain, so he takes it upon himself to steal the moon to outdo Vector. However, his plans get foiled when his feelings change for his new “daughters”.

As the girls begin to find a place in Gru’s heart, he is faced with a problem: does he save his career as a villain or does he take his new found role as a dad? Or is there room in this world to be both? We’ve seen this situation before, work or family, but it’s nice to see a fun take on the classic situation.

The person who steals the movie is the youngest girl, Agnes. The actress, Elsie Fisher, does brilliant voice work. She walks the line of being annoying and endearing, which is a difficult line to walk, but she pulls it off. At first, you think she’s going to be this annoying little girl who’s obsessed with unicorns, but she’s so lovable, you want to adopt her by the end. The other girls are equally as adorable. They each have their very distinct personalities and quirks. I found myself more interested in their story than Gru’s plot.

Another fun aspect is the minions. These creatures are Gru’s workers, who live (I guess) in the bowls of his home. They’re like smart four year olds that look like mini twinkies. They work hard with the tasks they’re given, but they giggle and laugh at any instance of a fart joke. The minions are there for the crude humor that draws in the younger crowd, and even though I did find them kind of cute, the jokes got old.

Overall, Dreamworks is clearly taking a turn for the better. They must have found some new writers. Despicable Me is quirky and fun and is one of the better movies of the summer. There’s a new formula that Dreamworks must be drinking because their past few movies have been heads above their earlier ones (yes even Shrek). Whatever they’re drinking, they need to stay on it, then maybe they can actually begin to compete with Pixar.

Cyrus

Directed and Written by The Duplass Brothers

Starring: John C. Reily, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill

Synopsis: John meets Molly and begins a relationship much to the dislike of her son, Cyrus.