Inception

The dictionary describes the word inception as “The beginning of something, such as an undertaking; a commencement.”…so how does it apply to this film?

Well, I am still not quite sure but what I do know is this $160 million dollar budgeted film, written and directed by Christopher Nolan (director of Dark Knight), will leave you asking questions.

See this one with friends so that you can have discussions after. The film is billed as “smart” and if confusing is smart, then smart it is. The big star of the film is Leonardo DiCaprio who carries the film well, along side of a star studded cast of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Tom Berenger, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine and others.

“Your mind is the scene of the crime”, say Nolan describing the indulgent film about committing the ultimate thefts through entering other people’s dreams (and some of your own). The two biggest parts of the film that I had problems with were 1. - the sequencing and 2. – how easy and accepting Ellen Page’s character joined in on it all. It takes place in 6 different countries, and supposedly Nolan tried really hard to film as much as possible with his camera and rely less on computer effects. I liked the film as a big over the top summer thriller but did have trouble always making out the small talk from the actors.

There is no sex, not a lot of bad language and other than lots of shooting, pretty suitable for tweens. The hard part is to see if they can understand it. Maybe they can explain it to you. Do you want to think this hard at the end of the week? That’s the big question. If so, go!

DVD Pairing Suggestion: Memento (2000) Winters Bone

Jennifer Lawrence (teenage daughter on The Bill Engvall show) plays Ree Dolly, a 17-year-old girl from the Ozark Mountains (but it could probably be WV, KY, NC, TN etc) who is trying to raise two children and deal with a mother who has had some sort of mental breakdown. She has to find her absentee meth addicted father in order to keep their well being. Her life is full of rough characters that she calls kin. It saddens me that there are people in America that live this way.

The film is an indy movie that has won awards at the Berlin International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival.

I wouldn’t take kids or even teens. Let’s face it, it is depressing and while there are, in odd ways, positives, the negatives far outweigh them. I am not saying it is bad but if you have a tendency to become depressed, I’d skip it - but if not – it is worth seeing. See it at the Rialto downtown but remember Glenwood is all dug up so you will need to park on a side street.