2010
is going to be a great year for movies. I’m confident of this. Since
we’re in this ride together I figured we’d get ready for the year in a
fun and exciting new way. First, over the course of the next fifteen
weekdays we’re going to highlight one mainstream film a day. Some of
them are slam dunks, some of them have a cloud of trouble floating
above them, but all represent a great way to spend a Friday night at
the movie theater even if it results in you ripping its ass thereafter.
One
of the things this site is built on is a love of movies. Some folks
think we’ve let some of that go by the wayside. I disagree, but
regardless, I want 2010 to be a year where this site restores some of
that wonder. Though the glass can never truly be half-full in a
business so driven by rehashes and hollow entertainment, we’re going to
have fun with it and prepare you guys with as many tools as possible to
make the moviegoing experience worth it. Especially as the internet
gets more and more bogged down with people who have no right serving as
an authority of film blabbering all over blogs and Twitter and beyond.
There’s a reason you come here.
Inception
Written and Directed by Christopher Nolan
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt
The Gist
Your mind is the scene of the crime.
Fuck you they aren’t telling you much more.
Participants to Watch
Tom Berenger used to be an amazing actor. Then he wasn’t. Then he was gone. Christopher Nolan has given him a fat, showy role. Can he run with it and parlay it into a nice second career as a character guy in films we actually see?
Christopher Nolan wrote this by himself. No brother. No David Goyer (thank God). Is he capable of blowing our ass out our mind?
Leonardo DiCaprio has become sort of a mixture of The Beatles and Jesus, only more successful. I’m being facetious, but other than a few whiskery accents, the guy is teflon covered in kevlar wrapped in magical gnome armor. Will he ever let go his grasp on being the actor all the Elite directors make celluloid love to?
The Buzz
The trailers foretell a mindfuck of a movie wrapped in Matrix sheen. Christopher Nolan, despite his detractors [the biggest I know of being an editor for this site whose name escapes me], is buzz incarnate. The movie is huge and is going to be marketed huge. Also, considering Nolan’s track record, it’s probably going to be excellent. The guy doesn’t make bad movies. Period. Buzz is great, but when you have a good product and lots of money backing you, buzz is just noise.
Best Case
What is DEFINITELY going to happen with this movie.
Worst Case
They accidentally ship film cans with Milk inside rather than Inception.
CHUD’s Prognosis
It’s
going to be unmissable. The trailers allude to reality being manipulated, ideas being weapons, and it’s all so dark and deep and mysterious and there’s all those cool shots and booming sounds. I have to admit, my lips are covered with the Kool-Aid Mr. Nolan’s making. This is just about can’t miss material.
Useful links
Official Site
Next: A movie opening this week!
7 comments
Nick's got Chris Nolan juicemouth. Loved the gentle Devin ribbing
Nolan is the only person in the world who's making me wanna see a movie with Di Caprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and/or Ellen Page!
"The guy doesn't make bad movies. Period."
Uh, I think you meant that his Insomnia remake was a period.
Insomnia wasnt the greatest movie in the world but it was a solid little crime drama/wilderness movie done with a little style and panache. Nolan's track record is pretty flawless and he's assembled a great cast for this (ellen page showing up surprised me, but im glad to see her in a high profile role that's not her being an emo chick) and Nolan is making a big budget high concept movie. I fail to see the downside in anything related to this movie. Nolan's secret weapon is wally pfister, cinematographer/DP. All of Nolan's movies are gorgeous looking. Inception seems to be more of the same.
"The Prestige" was a decent enough movie completely torpedoed by a twist so retarded it makes "Shutter Island" finale look tempered and reasonable. I like Nolan as a filmmaker, but he's 1 for 2 in the mind-fuck category, and has tendencies towards over-indulgence. Color me skeptical on this one.
Agreed, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt doesn't even land a spot on Participants to Watch? I figured the way everyone buzzes about him as the next great actor of his generation, he'd be more the interest than DiCaprio (who I like, but I feel like I've really gotten a sense of what he can and can't do at this point.) Maybe all the JGL obsession is wearing off? Well, other than mine.
And while I agree that "The Prestige" twist doesn't play perfectly as cinema, I actually think it's a really smart conclusion with some interesting things to say about modern magicians. Also, while I know a lot of people despise Zizek, this is an interesting enough article on the topic: http://zizekstudies.org/index.php/ijzs/article/view/58/120
I'll be honest: I think Nolan is kind of overrated. I enjoyed Batman Begins for having some fun with the concept, but I thought that The Dark Knight was pretty terrible and represented the pretentious over-indulgence that sometimes marks Nolan's worst films. I genuinely mean that, too.
I'm interested in this one mainly due to the presence of two of my favorite younger performers: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page.
Worst case scenario for Inception? It has some of the pretentiousness and bloat that utterly ruined The Prestige for me.
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