Inception, 2010

Inception, 2010
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Leonardo Di Caprio, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine



Stage: Local theatre, third row :)

Inception in short: In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job till date, Inception


Preps: After screening for several weeks now and all my friends almost went to see it already, all of them thrilled and excited, after reviewing some of the excellent critics, my mind is set to experience something beyond borders and am so anxious to see it. I don't care anymore if I go on a child show (in terms of hours of seeing this piece), I definitely need to see it. I don't care even sitting in the third row.


Reality: Inception means the beginning or creation of something.From Latin inception-, stem of inceptio, from inceptus, past participle of incipere (to begin).

In this sense the Inception implies returning to one's roots and implementing an idea into someone's brains on the shore of his/hers subconscience - dreams. Therefore a spooky thing to think about - if you can hire people to do it, make you dream and enter your alter reality you can see only in your dreams.

The movie is an absolute upgrade to anything I have seen so far. The idea / scenario fresh as it can be, absolutely stunning effects and the perspective for the viewer definitely makes your eyelids wide open and your mouth filled with saliva, wanting more and more of this. Two hours and a half of action, changing scenery, making impossible possible - the viewer is sucked into the center of the action which never stops.

All the turnovers amaze, unexpected action when you think there isn't any action left, wrestling on the walls and physical aspect of time floating - as you enter each level, the time slows down, same as it goes in the animal kingdom with the life expectancy or height perspective.

The music is so powerful it enhances each moment of the movie. The cast is superb and exclusive - seeing Di Caprio in yet another supreme role he plays after Shutter Island makes me impressed in every possible way. Imagine the mixture of Matrix, Memento, three best science fiction movies you have ever seen, Mission Impossible, and several others and upgrade them for five levels in difficulty of scenes, impressive scenario, absolutely fabolous photography and cast - there you go, you have Inception.

To imply at least one drawback of the movie - I mentioned Mission impossible - like in Matrix, if the viewer doesn't accept certain facts or physical stuff that seems to be beyond understanding of an average person - well, then you might have a problem tracking this. The mathematical idea - you get it in general, but not in details. In terms of understanding, how this can be even possible. The director never shares with us what stands behind the Architect, but maybe this is a topic for one of the sequels.

The viewer is left in doubt, what is the reality. The symbol / totem Di Caprio (Cobb) uses to determine dreams from reality never seems to stop at the very end of the movie, which would imply that he's still left in one layer of his dreams. And in Nolan's style - makes you wonder philosophically, what is a dream and what is reality. The same way as in Avatar or Matrix - some aspects of one's dreams can be so tempting, you never want to leave them and would sacrifice everything just to live there where you cannot.

Nolan scores big time with this piece. One of the best movies lately or shall I say ever. However, I need to see it several times (funny, had the same idea with Memento or Matrix). The movie is so rich that in my opinion you can watch it several times and each time discover a new perspective. A MUST to see, definitely.



My personal rating: 9,8 (it's not a perfect ten for me, as I seem to be not so clever as I would like to be and don't understand the different physical and mathematical levels on which the movie operates. So I am satisfied with a general overview and I accept everything. The same thing as happened with Matrix when you watch it for the first time. But definitely one of the better movies I have ever seen, worth seeing several times).



Inception on IMDB

Looooots of details on Inception on WIKI


Inception Home page

Shutter Island, 2010

Shutter Island, 2010
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo di Caprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley



Scene: local cinema/Colloseum

Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Drama/Psychological Sci-Fi

Short synopsis: Drama is set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on the remote Shutter Island


Preps: One of the hotties right now at the movies. Some of the people I do give a damn about their opinion thought it was good. Well, I got the chance to see it in the movies, so here it goes.


Reality: I am somehow impressed by its half and dissappointed by the second half. The beginning is good, but as predicted, I saw it on the powerful trailer. Two cops investigating a murder on an island, full of mad people in a funky institution. With hystorical tools, as the scenery is from 1954. Classic story, which I like to follow, because I adore cop investigations in a movie and psychological moment gives me a drive. Also, the flow goes on smoothly (with the story)

Right in the middle, I am puzzled, the movie loses me. The halucinnations that Teddy has, are just too much. Ok, he has them, but do they have to be one third of the movie? I start to feel a bored itch in my shoulder. Such a shame because of the good beginning. I never got to see how the hell the lady went out of her room :)

The turnover 15 minutes before the end is amazing. I kept wondering whether all of this was in Caprio's head or not. What really happened and how it happened, was it all a governmental trap or something. Anyhow, in the last round the movie offers a new dimension, for which my personal rating just exploded from prior maybe low 4,0 to a solid 8,0. Absolutely great. I just love unexpected turnovers, especially that all you have seen so far was a fragment of your imagination and Di Caprio just fits into these roles. I subconsciously think of The Beach, where he also diluded into one of his fantasies, at that point due to pot, this time due to.. I wonder what. And this is what made this movie again a good one and worth seeing again.

By the way, you will hate the institution. You wouldn't even want your mother-in-law (in case you hate her) there, yet alone think about being treated there. Spooky indeed.



My personal rating: 8,0 (the twist made me change my mind and I believe I should see it again, as I believe it might be worth it. Will skip the middle, I think, or fast forward it for a bit)



Shutter on IMDB
Shutter official site