Inception

[JubilantLankyLad 1,957]

neat review of Inception, with spoilers: http://www.theawl.com/2010/07/the-key-to-i...t-making-moviesI think it may go a bit far at times but the premise is interesting. It certainly explains why Leo looks so much like Nolan in this film. I definitely agree that Inception is one of the most self-referential movies I've seen.

[SuitedAces21 2,722]

saw it again. truly amazing.

[runthemover 39]

NO SPOILERS, PROMISEI saw Inception last night. I like to go into movies completely cold - the less I know about them the better. In this case I knew it was directed by Nolan and starred Leo, that's it. I suspected I was going to love the movie once we got about 5 minutes in, because it was explaining itself wonderfully without narration or explicit exposition. By the end, I was still smiling ear to ear; even though I knew how it was going to end, I loved watching it happen. I really think this was one of the best movies I've ever seen. Visually it was outstanding. Logically it was fantastic (one smallish quibble about the

van

but otherwise it all makes great sense from multiple perspectives). Pacing was perfect - 2.5 hrs went by in about 20 minutes as far as I was concerned

(and that's TOTALLY a metaphor for the movie imo)

. And the acting was strong across the board (the weakest performance was still better than the strongest in many movies). It all came together so well that I was delighted. I was laughing in delight as the credits rolled and applauded for the first time in years at the movies. I was delighted in a way that I can really only remember having been after some Pixar movies. This is not a simple movie, but it's not overly confusing either. It just doesn't shy away from presenting you with a detailed and complex storyline, a complicated world that you need to think about and pay attention to in order to understand. And the more you put into understanding it, the more you get out.Just a great, great movie.

ohhhh yea.

some of the best parts were definitely when the people were by themselves whilst others were down below

[speedz99 145]

I'm having a very minor procedure done on Wednesday morning, and I'm staying at my parents' place that night. I've convinced my dad that it'll be a good idea for us to go see Inception that night while I'm in my post-surgical vicoden-induced haze. I'm pretty excited about it.

[digitalmonkey 929]

I'm having a very minor procedure done on Wednesday morning, and I'm staying at my parents' place that night. I've convinced my dad that it'll be a good idea for us to go see Inception that night while I'm in my post-surgical vicoden-induced haze. I'm pretty excited about it.

I've never had vicoden...will you be able to follow the movie?

[speedz99 145]

I've never had vicoden...will you be able to follow the movie?

Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem.

[CobaltBlue 662]

Saw it last night and looking forward to further viewings.This is a really good spoiler-heavy allegorical article:http://chud.com/articles/articles/24477/1/...TION/Page1.html(Taken from another article that someone posted.)

[vbnautilus 48]

there are no words to describe how amazing it was.

i mean it was just out-fuckin-standing.

I just saw it, and this is pretty much how I felt about it ^^.

Okay, now I've more time to think about it.Stuff that I didn't like:

I think Ellen Page was the weak link to the movie. I didn't believe she was a legendary student of some mysterious discipline.

Huh?

I thought she was just supposed to be a student of architecture. She didn't even know about the dream stuff until Leo told her about it.

[speedz99 145]

Liked it a lot, didn't love it.

When Cobb (Leo) is first describing the dream process to Ariadne (Ellen Page) in the cafe in Paris, I really liked how blowing up the street didn't look real. I thought it was a great example of using cg clean look and using it to move the story forward. Relatedly, I liked the practical effects as well--the rotating hallway, the wire work before the sleeping characters get into the elevator, and unless I'm mistaken, a bunch of the car chases looked real, too.

I'm pretty sure I read that the Paris scene was mostly practical effects as well...maybe I'm wrong.

I think Ellen Page was the weak link to the movie. I didn't believe she was a legendary student of some mysterious discipline. She doesn't give me the impression of the necessary intelligence or charisma that her role requires.

I agree that her character was a bit weak in that I didn't really understand why she was doing what she was doing most of the time, but I'm not sure it was Page's fault. I don't think the character was written all that well.

[El Guapo 8]

Not sure if I commented on this yet or not (don't think so, since I just saw it on Saturday night). I really liked the movie. I don't remember who said it, but it made me think of Dark City a lot as well, and I really liked that movie.I thought they did a fantastic job of making the unbelievable, believable.

What were everyone's thoughts at the end? Did someone, himself maybe, put him way under so he could enjoy his children? Or did he really make it back?

[speedz99 145]

What were everyone's thoughts at the end? Did someone, himself maybe, put him way under so he could enjoy his children? Or did he really make it back?

I've got a bunch of theories, but I don't actually think highly enough of any of them to be sure. One thing that keeps bothering me is the first symmetry of the meetings with Saito at the beginning and end of the movie. I'd have to watch it again, but wasn't Saito an old man in the first scene as well? I feel like the best explanation for that would be that Cobb is in some kind of giant loop (remember that's how they work the dream architecture) created for him, maybe by Page's character, who it's already been mentioned seems to be the one pushing him to change. Again, I'd have to watch it again to confirm that the first scene is what I remembered.

[SuitedAces21 2,722]

What were everyone's thoughts at the end? Did someone, himself maybe, put him way under so he could enjoy his children? Or did he really make it back?

My initial reaction was, "that top was about to fall, i can hear it." My friend and I argued it. And when I saw it the second time, it was defitenly wobbling and you could absolutely hear it. However, I dont think it matters. Remember that every time before that spin, Leo waited to see if it fell or kept spinning, but at the end, when he saw his kids, he didnt, he spun it and walked away. He didnt care. He had forgiven himself, and let go of the guilt for incepting the idea that killed his wife, as he saw reality. Why did the kids look exactly the same? I don't know. But he was home and ready to be with them, real or not.As for me. I think it was real. But some people will say it doesnt matter if the top fell, because the whole thing was a dream. As to that, I'm not sure.I took the ending as C Nolan incepting the audience. He put the idea that Leo was still dreaming into our minds by going black before we know for sure. We now doubt everything we saw. Was it all a dream? Now we wonder. Pretty clever if you ask me.

[speedz99 145]

I took the ending as C Nolan incepting the audience. He put the idea that Leo was still dreaming into our minds by going black before we know for sure. We now doubt everything we saw. Was it all a dream? Now we wonder. Pretty clever if you ask me.

I was already thinking it might be a dream...actually, one of the cool things about the movie is that you're always wondering...because when Saito started moving the gun we immediately flashed to the plane. I think those kinds of immediate and random flashes signified a dream state in the movie, although, again, I need to watch the movie a second time. But you're right in that, in the end, it doesn't really matter if he's dreaming.

[vbnautilus 48]

What were everyone's thoughts at the end? Did someone, himself maybe, put him way under so he could enjoy his children? Or did he really make it back?

It has to end that way. The way I see it, even if that last scene is 'in reality', the movie can make a much stronger statement by stressing the ambiguity of reality, and to me that was the whole point of the movie. From the perspective of cognitive neuroscience, it is true that most of what we experience is a creation of the brain anyways. Even reality itself is a dream. That's why I liked this movie so much.

I'd have to watch it again, but wasn't Saito an old man in the first scene as well? I feel like the best explanation for that would be that Cobb is in some kind of giant loop (remember that's how they work the dream architecture) created for him, maybe by Page's character, who it's already been mentioned seems to be the one pushing him to change. Again, I'd have to watch it again to confirm that the first scene is what I remembered.

The first scene was just the beginning of the last scene. It was a flash-ahead, a storytelling device. At least, that's how I saw it.

[brvheart 1,752]

The first scene was just the beginning of the last scene. It was a flash-ahead, a storytelling device. At least, that's how I saw it.

This.

[Voldemort 0]

The first scene was just the beginning of the last scene. It was a flash-ahead, a storytelling device. At least, that's how I saw it.

Exactly how I saw it.

[speedz99 145]

The first scene was just the beginning of the last scene. It was a flash-ahead, a storytelling device. At least, that's how I saw it.

You're probably right...I can't really remember exactly how the beginning went.

[CobaltBlue 662]

It has to end that way.

I felt the same.

My wife left wanting closure, while I insisted that it had to end with the audience able to make a choice about what they'd seen. Personally, I chose to believe reality, because the top had fallen in previous states, but I know there are compelling arguments for it being a dream.

[vbnautilus 48]

I felt the same.

My wife left wanting closure, while I insisted that it had to end with the audience able to make a choice about what they'd seen. Personally, I chose to believe reality, because the top had fallen in previous states, but I know there are compelling arguments for it being a dream.

Yeah... and importantly, it did not matter to Cobb whether the top stopped spinning. This was the reality he chose to live in regardless.

[frautotenkinder 1,025]

Huh?

I thought she was just supposed to be a student of architecture. She didn't even know about the dream stuff until Leo told her about it.

I'm not putting this in spoiler tags. If you're reading this, you've been warned.I didn't think Ariadne was a literal architect, or architecture student. When Cobb walked in to his father-in-law's classroom and asked for a student of--you know--what you taught me, I felt like it was some off the books academic discipline. Maybe logic + rhetoric + arithmancy.Ending

Cobb is still in limbo. Think about the phone call he got with his daughter. She sounded older and bitchy. Cobb's relations with his in-laws are strained. His reunion with them are golden lit, and easy. The children have remained the same age. The sound of the top sputtering is a McGuffin.

Can I read spoiler tagged posts on a touch screen? (And how?)

[vbnautilus 48]

I'm not putting this in spoiler tags. If you're reading this, you've been warned.

Agreed - at this point if you are reading this thread you are gonna get spoiled. Before I saw the movie I knew not to look in here.

I didn't think Ariadne was a literal architect, or architecture student. When Cobb walked in to his father-in-law's classroom and asked for a student of--you know--what you taught me, I felt like it was some off the books academic discipline. Maybe logic + rhetoric + arithmancy.

Nah I'm pretty sure she was a straight architecture student, although Michael Caine chose her because he knew she had the right kind of skills for the job. LA Times synopsis agrees with me: In the film, Page plays Ariadne, a gifted young architecture student in Paris who is recruited by a mysterious man named Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) for his corporate espionage team. Arthur made several references to this during her training as well, teaching her things about the stairs for example in terms of what she knew about architecture.

Can I read spoiler tagged posts on a touch screen? (And how?)

This is really annoying, isn't it.... the only workaround I know of on the iPhone/iPad is to reply to a post in order to see it quoted.

[speedz99 145]

I didn't think Ariadne was a literal architect, or architecture student. When Cobb walked in to his father-in-law's classroom and asked for a student of--you know--what you taught me, I felt like it was some off the books academic discipline. Maybe logic + rhetoric + arithmancy.

Yeah, I wasn't sure about that one. I think she might have actually been an architecture student.

Cobb's relations with his in-laws are strained.

This is kind of inconsequential, but are you shure about this? I'm not sure they specified on "grandma" being the wife's mother. It would make sense if it was his mother...who was mad at him, but would have let him back into their lives is his father explained what happened. I still do think it was a dream though. Besides the logical stuff, the scene just had the feeling of a dream sequence.

[frautotenkinder 1,025]

Yeah, I wasn't sure about that one. I think she might have actually been an architecture student.

This is kind of inconsequential, but are you shure about this? I'm not sure they specified on "grandma" being the wife's mother. It would make sense if it was his mother...who was mad at him, but would have let him back into their lives is his father explained what happened. I still do think it was a dream though. Besides the logical stuff, the scene just had the feeling of a dream sequence.

My logic:Mal has a French accent, Miles (Michael Caine) has an English accent. Europe!When Cobb is speaking with Miles, he never calls him dad, and when discussing the grandmother/wife of Miles, Cobb never refers to the woman as his mother.It's not like any of my criteria would hold up in the real world, but in script land, that's where my logic took me.

[Swift_Psycho 1]

I felt the same.

My wife left wanting closure, while I insisted that it had to end with the audience able to make a choice about what they'd seen. Personally, I chose to believe reality, because the top had fallen in previous states, but I know there are compelling arguments for it being a dream.

I think I read this question in one of the many reviews of the film, but isn't it completely unimportant whether the top fell or not? And not just unimportant in a "Cobb has moved on with his life" sense, but also unimportant in a more direct sense regarding whether it was a dream or not? I've only seen the movie once, so if someone can clear this up for me, that would be great:Each person chooses a totem that would have something special about it that would let the owner know whether he was in a dream or not. The totem works because the other people you are in a dream with, and particularly the person whose dream you are in (since they have the most direct control over the architecture of each dream), aren't supposed to know how the totem works, and therefore can't mimic the totem perfectly in a dream. But doesn't that go out the window if (A) someone else knows how your totem works (like how several characters already know about Cobb's top and how he uses it to test reality) especially if it's the person hosting the dream, or (B) you are hosting your own dream and of course know how your totem is supposed to work.Therefore, that means Cobb could easily still be in someone else's or his own dream even if the top does fall.Maybe I just didn't understand the rules of dreaming or totems properly, so if I'm wrong here, I'd like some help.

[brvheart 1,752]

STOP WITH THE SPOILER TAGS! PEOPLE KNOW NOT TO CLICK ON A SPECIFIC THREAD IF THEY DON'T WANT STUFF SPOILED AND I CAN'T READ THIS THREAD ON MY PHONE!