09 December 2010

Spinning Tops in Our Dreams



Two days ago one of the biggest films of the year hit the shelves on bluray and dvd.  We promptly acquired said movie. Upon second viewing of Christopher Nolan's Inception we came to the conclusion that it's still amazing.  The film is expected to be one of the ten nominees for Best Picture at this year's oscars, and deservedly so.  The locations are huge, the film is multilayered, and the acting is great.

The action set pieces are some of the most extraordinary seen to date, and the great thing is that they don't require a whole lot of visual effects to pull them off.  (We actually prefer that, even though we've written one of the most VFX heavy films ever to be shot in the state of Arkansas.)  Nolan could have gone multiple directions with the locations and sets of this film, since nearly the entire film is set within the dream world, but everything is surprisingly realistic.  Nolan is known for taking absurdity and making it believable (ever heard of a little franchise called Batman?). He and his cinematographer Wally Pfister have both stated their reluctance to move into the realm of 3D, because to them it seems more gimmicky.

Warning: this will shock some of the people who know Justin well, but he actually is beginning to like Inception more than The Dark Knight when it comes to directly comparing Nolan's films to each other. They differ in nature. The Dark Knight is a crime film dressed up as a superhero popcorn flick.  Inception is a sci fi, heist, inside a James Bond film.  It also took seeing Inception for Justin to admit that The Dark Knight does begin to drag near the end,  even though he still loves the film because, to him, Batman is the greatest American hero ever created.  Inception, in all its wordy wonder, keeps the mind working the entire film. If it's your first time to see it, we strongly suggest not taking your eyes off the screen until the credits roll. Really. When is it a dream and when is it not is something the viewers is constantly asking themselves.




It's been said that Nolan sees Inception as his "James Bond film." Justin's cousin (who actually knows Christopher Nolan) found out that his all time favorite film is  On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  This is one of the Bond films where there actually are guys on skis shooting AK47s at Bond, and we're not spoiling anything by saying this is mirrored in Inception. It also, like every Bond film, includes locations all around the world.  It's clear to see with this movie that Nolan has made his childhood fantasy.  Sidenote- if you get a chance, check out the aforementioned Bond flick.  Bond gets married in it. What?

While we haven't made it through all the special features yet, we've gotten a small taste of the "Extraction Mode" of the film.  This version sneaks behind the scenes footage into the film as you're watching it. It show how they pulled off some of the more memorable set pieces and action pieces.  There's one particular scene involving Cillian Murphy and Leonardo DiCaprio in which they've set an entire hotel lobby and bar on a device that tilts up to a 45 degree angle.  The scene isn't action packed but the water in the glasses suddenly shift angles and the lights above would do the same thing.  It's a visual feast.

If you missed your chance to see Inception in the theaters you'll definitely want to get a viewing in before awards season starts. If nothing else, you can at least confidently say, "That the kid from Angels in the Outfield is pretty good at stunts!"




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