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the_deep_magicSaw Inception tonight, and I was really impressed!
I enjoyed the Batman movies, of course, but up until now, I've felt like Christopher Nolan hasn't really lived up to the mark he set with Memento. I really, really wanted to like The Prestige (because, hello, Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in one movie?), but I felt like it fell through at the end because Nolan stopped playing by his own rules. [Minor spoiler alert] I only saw it the once, but I remember feeling cheated because throughout the movie, everything was done with elaborate planning and trickery, and then all of a sudden, bam! Magic's real! Also, I used to operate a large Tesla coil on a regular basis, and I am like 99.9% sure that's not how it works. [/spoiler] And I did see Insomnia, but for the life of me, I can't remember anything about it except Al Pacino taping garbage bags to the windows so he could get some sleep, and that doesn't speak well for the movie.
But what I think Nolan does best when he's on his game is really use the entire medium of film to his advantage -- the script, the pacing, the sound, the audience's expectations, and especially the visuals. He's an amazingly visual storyteller. Try to imagine the emotional punch of Fischer pulling that pinwheel out of the vault, or, hell, the final shot in text form. It just doesn't work. And Nolan does suspense better than just about anyone, though I still think M. Night Shyamalan, despite his many, many (manymanymany) glaring flaws, does the best suspense around (ask me about Unbreakable sometime). But anyway, Inception -- the zero-gravity fight scene was seriously amazing, sure to inspire dozens of unnecessary copycats over the next few years.
One of the few things that kept Inception from best!movie!ever! territory was Leonardo DiCaprio. I know, I'm pissing off all the Titanic fans here, but he can never just be the character. He's always Leonardo DiCaprio playing the character -- same mannerisms, same gestures, same speech patterns. Yes, I've seen What's Eating Gilbert Grape. And no, I wasn't impressed, and besides, that was, what, 15 years ago? Come on. And Joseph Gordon-Levitt -- he's good, but he still doesn't look a day over 17. Which is completely unfair of me to point out, as I'm always complaining that people never take me seriously because I look so young, but there you have it. He's still Tommy from Third Rock to me. Sorry, bb.
Marion Cotillard was fabulous, though, as was the dude who played Eames. Also, surprise!Cillian Murphy is never, ever a bad thing. This might be blasphemy, but his eyes are every bit as amazing as Captain Fine's. Those glasses he wore in Batman Begins? Jeebus. I'd say that they really oughtta let him use that Irish accent more often, but then you'd have women (and men) rushing to the front of the theatre to lick and claw at the screen, so maybe it's best to keep it to a minimum.
So, for those of you that have seen it... was it all in Cobb's head, from beginning to end? I don't think so, as there were some scenes in "reality" where Cobb wasn't present, like Ariadne hollowing out the chess piece for her totem. But thinking back, I can't remember if the spinning top ever actually fell, or if he always picked it up before it had a chance to. Anyone else remember? Also, I thought the twist was going to end up being that the wife herself was the inception, planted in Cobb's mind to control him or something, since a few other characters spoke about her but no one talked about actually meeting or interacting with her. I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong.
So, overall: maybe not quite as unique and wow-inducing as Memento, but still (in technical parlance) really fuckin' cool.
Also, it is still my day over at the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
pintofest Luau... for another 21 minutes. But you have until September to write stories or draw pictures for meeeeeeee! ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
duckgirlie has already written me fic, which I must go read riiiiiight aboooooout... now!
I enjoyed the Batman movies, of course, but up until now, I've felt like Christopher Nolan hasn't really lived up to the mark he set with Memento. I really, really wanted to like The Prestige (because, hello, Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in one movie?), but I felt like it fell through at the end because Nolan stopped playing by his own rules. [Minor spoiler alert] I only saw it the once, but I remember feeling cheated because throughout the movie, everything was done with elaborate planning and trickery, and then all of a sudden, bam! Magic's real! Also, I used to operate a large Tesla coil on a regular basis, and I am like 99.9% sure that's not how it works. [/spoiler] And I did see Insomnia, but for the life of me, I can't remember anything about it except Al Pacino taping garbage bags to the windows so he could get some sleep, and that doesn't speak well for the movie.
But what I think Nolan does best when he's on his game is really use the entire medium of film to his advantage -- the script, the pacing, the sound, the audience's expectations, and especially the visuals. He's an amazingly visual storyteller. Try to imagine the emotional punch of Fischer pulling that pinwheel out of the vault, or, hell, the final shot in text form. It just doesn't work. And Nolan does suspense better than just about anyone, though I still think M. Night Shyamalan, despite his many, many (manymanymany) glaring flaws, does the best suspense around (ask me about Unbreakable sometime). But anyway, Inception -- the zero-gravity fight scene was seriously amazing, sure to inspire dozens of unnecessary copycats over the next few years.
One of the few things that kept Inception from best!movie!ever! territory was Leonardo DiCaprio. I know, I'm pissing off all the Titanic fans here, but he can never just be the character. He's always Leonardo DiCaprio playing the character -- same mannerisms, same gestures, same speech patterns. Yes, I've seen What's Eating Gilbert Grape. And no, I wasn't impressed, and besides, that was, what, 15 years ago? Come on. And Joseph Gordon-Levitt -- he's good, but he still doesn't look a day over 17. Which is completely unfair of me to point out, as I'm always complaining that people never take me seriously because I look so young, but there you have it. He's still Tommy from Third Rock to me. Sorry, bb.
Marion Cotillard was fabulous, though, as was the dude who played Eames. Also, surprise!Cillian Murphy is never, ever a bad thing. This might be blasphemy, but his eyes are every bit as amazing as Captain Fine's. Those glasses he wore in Batman Begins? Jeebus. I'd say that they really oughtta let him use that Irish accent more often, but then you'd have women (and men) rushing to the front of the theatre to lick and claw at the screen, so maybe it's best to keep it to a minimum.
So, for those of you that have seen it... was it all in Cobb's head, from beginning to end? I don't think so, as there were some scenes in "reality" where Cobb wasn't present, like Ariadne hollowing out the chess piece for her totem. But thinking back, I can't remember if the spinning top ever actually fell, or if he always picked it up before it had a chance to. Anyone else remember? Also, I thought the twist was going to end up being that the wife herself was the inception, planted in Cobb's mind to control him or something, since a few other characters spoke about her but no one talked about actually meeting or interacting with her. I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong.
So, overall: maybe not quite as unique and wow-inducing as Memento, but still (in technical parlance) really fuckin' cool.
Also, it is still my day over at the
pintofest Luau... for another 21 minutes. But you have until September to write stories or draw pictures for meeeeeeee! duckgirlie has already written me fic, which I must go read riiiiiight aboooooout... now!
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Date: 2010-07-17 05:48 am (UTC)You're right, really. It's kind of nice not having details ruining my suspension of disbelief. So maybe more of "this is how the tech devolved into a means of corporate espionage" rather than an actual "here's how this works" would've done it for me.