Inception (2010) - It Will Hurt Your Brain

On the Menu: INCEPTION (2010)

Ingredients: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, Tom Berenger, Lukas Haas, Dileep Rao and Pete Postlethwaite. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Run time: 148 minutes. Rated: PG-13.

At First Bite: All I needed to be psyched for this film was the preview and the cast/crew list. I'm a huge Joseph Gordon-Levitt fan, and, as I noted in my WHIP IT review, I heart Ellen Page. Also, I've seen all of Christopher Nolan's films and never rated one lower than 4 stars (FOLLOWING, MEMENTO and THE DARK KNIGHT were all 5s, in my opinion).

Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) is an expert in extraction. He goes into someone's dream and steals something the dreamer is trying to keep secret/hidden. So, basically, he's a thief.

He's also a fugitive. If he can complete his final assignment, then his name will be cleared and he can go back to his family. The catch is it's not an extraction. It's inception.

His employer, Saito (Watanabe), wants him to implant an idea into a business rival's subconscious.

Cobb's partner, Arthur (Gordon-Levitt), doesn't think it can work. He believes a dreamer will always know if an idea is innately his/hers.

So, is inception possible? Cobb thinks so. They'll just have to go even deeper into the subconscious than they have before.

Cobb assembles a crack team (in addition to Arthur): an architect named Ariadne (Page), a forger (Hardy) and a chemist (Rao).

Problem is recent assignments have been sabotaged by someone who somehow knows the layouts of the dream worlds.

Will they succeed?

Tough to Swallow: I figured out the significance of the opening scene rather early, i.e., the players and location.

It's all still confusing, but the way I understood the concept of kicks (things set off to upset the dreamer's equilibrium, which causes him/her to awaken) and levels, Arthur, in Level Two, should have woken up when the van initially drove off the bridge in Level One. Right?

Two of the people sitting in my row (both two seats away from me) constantly had their phones out texting someone. Come on. Do we need to walk through a phone detector before going into a movie theater? Obviously, some people do.

Second Helping: Watched the movie again (July 20).

I took extensive notes.

**SPOILER ALERT** I don't think the entire movie is a dream. There are moments when Cobb spins his totem and it stops spinning, which means he's not in a dream. One such moment is right before he speaks to his kids on the phone.

If there's an interpretation I really like, it's that the film is a retelling of the Minotaur story in Greek mythology, where Ariadne helps Theseus find his way out of the maze after defeating the beast. Others have suggested Ariadne is Cobb's therapist, which would go along with the myth in a way. She sets up these elaborate mazes for Cobb to work his way through while fighting his beast, the guilt from Mal's death.

I have two questions that might be important to understanding the movie.
1) Was the top Mal's totem before Cobb started using it?
2) Did Saito and Cobb awaken from limbo because the sedation wore off or because Saito used the gun?

Something to Chew On: This is Nolan's first original work since FOLLOWING (1998).

INCEPTION is a film about sleeping. Nolan's 2002 film INSOMNIA is a film about staying awake.

Nolan initially pitched INCEPTION to Warner Bros. after completing INSOMNIA. The script wasn't written at the time. He had apparently started writing it while shooting MEMENTO (2000), but it ended up taking almost 10 years to finish.

One of the main characters in FOLLOWING is named Cobb, which is also the last name of DiCaprio's character. Both characters are types of burglars.

James Franco was offered the role of Arthur, but had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts.

Evan Rachel Wood turned down the role of Ariadne. Emily Blunt, Rachel McAdams and Emma Roberts were also considered for the part.

Michael Gaston, who plays Sanford Harris on "Fringe," has a small part as an immigration officer.

Edith Piaf's "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" (translated No, I Regret Nothing) is one of the songs in the movie (used as kick music). Cotillard played Piaf in LA VIE EN ROSE, and won an Oscar for her performance.

Some extraction team members carry totems, which are small, private objects the individual uses to help him/her differentiate between reality and the dream world. Ariadne's object is a chess piece (pawn?). Murphy's character is named Robert Fischer, Jr. Former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer's birth name was Robert Fischer.

In Greek mythology, Ariadne was the one who helped Theseus successfully navigate out of the Minotaur's labyrinth. The first thing Cobb asks Ariadne to do is quickly draw a maze that it would take him a minute to solve. The maze she stumps him on is circular, as is the Minotaur's. Later, she ends up creating even more elaborate mazes within dreams.

In the Quran, the story of Yusuf (also Yusef) begins with a dream and ends with its interpretation.

Cotillard's character is named Mal, which means evil (in French and Latin).

The film currently has a 9.3 user rating on IMDb.com (5,123 votes).

Aftertaste: The movie is all about ideas.

Speaking of ideas, kudos to Nolan for hashing out an original one. I'm tired of all these remakes (although I enjoyed A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and look forward to DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS).

I don't necessarily understand everything that I saw on screen. Sure, you're taught the principles of extraction and the architecture of dreams along with Ariadne, but that doesn't mean it all makes sense. Some dream concepts will ring true with you though (at least, for me, they did): 1) if you die in a dream, you just wake up and 2) the sense of falling will pull you out of your slumber.

It's on the same level as THE MATRIX and DONNIE DARKO as far as mind-blowing plot goes.

But, as all-consuming as the plot is, to me, it's just a fragment of what makes this film so impressive. The visuals are simply amazing. Seriously, I am more impressed with the look of the dream worlds in this film than I was by anything in AVATAR. There's a never-ending staircase, a cityscape that folds over onto itself, zero-gravity fighting sequences and things exploding everywhere. And that's just a taste, really.

Hans Zimmer's score is sometimes haunting and sometimes beautiful, but it always works.

The acting is top-notch. Sure, the movie spends more time developing DiCaprio's character, but he's the lead. Gordon-Levitt and Page are two of my personal favorites, and they did not disappoint. Hardy is going to be the next break-out actor, in my opinion (see BRONSON). Next to DiCaprio, Cotillard gives the best performance in the movie though. I was pleasantly surprised to see Berenger, who held his own amongst all the young stars.

I plan on seeing this again within the next days, so I'll definitely be adding a Second Helping section.

I've always wondered what it would be like if you could share dreams. After watching INCEPTION, I'm not sure I'd like that.

Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

Rating:

Tucker & Dale Vs Evil (2009) - ActionFest Buffet: Plate #5

On the Menu: TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL (2009)

Ingredients: Alan Tudyk, Tyler Labine, Katrina Bowden, Chelan Simmons and Jesse Moss. Directed by Eli Craig. Run time: 86 minutes. Rated: Not rated.

At First Bite: Aside from THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD, this film was the only one I was sure I wanted to see at ActionFest. I love, love, love horror comedies.

Two mountainfolk, Tucker (Tudyk) and Dale (Labine), are moving into their "new" summer home out in the middle of the woods. Not too far away, a group of college kids are camping.

According to a campfire tale and the decor of Tucker and Dale's vacation home, these woods have a hillbilly slasher history.

When one of the college girls, Allison (Bowden), bumps her head after falling off a rock, the hayseed duo comes to her rescue. However, the rest of the college gang assume Tucker and Dale are psychotic killers and that they've kidnapped Allison.

Misunderstandings abound, and the blood rains hard and heavy.

Tough to Swallow: I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure the locator title at the beginning of the film reads:

Appalachian Mountains
West Virgina

But, if the 2007 NIT champions don't mind...

In the closing credits, the credit for Construction Foreman is misspelled as "Construction Forman."

Something to Chew On: Theater audience = 40+. This was the biggest audience I was a part of during ActionFest, and the 5th movie I screened for the Saturday session.

This is Craig's directorial debut.

TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL premiered at Sundance on January 22, 2010.

Some of you might recognize Chelan Simmons; she played Hillary on the ABC Family show "Kyle X/Y." You might also know Katrina Bowden as Tina Fey's secretary on "30 Rock."

The film currently has an 8.8 user rating on IMDb.com (147 votes).

Aftertaste: This was, by far, the best film I screened at ActionFest. It's like SHAUN OF THE DEAD for slasher films. Seriously, I was laughing for the entire 86 minutes. Well, laughing or smacking my forehead for not coming up with this idea first. It might be a send-up of slasher films, but there's no real horror to it. It plays out as a straight comedy, albeit a bloody one.

It's the perfect premise for a movie. Take a typical slasher setting and characters, then throw in a healthy dose of misunderstanding (like dramatic irony, but for comedy). The audience is in on the joke from the start, but the characters know nothing.

The kids think the hillbillies are killers. And, eventually, the hillbillies think the kids are in a suicide cult.

I don't want to give too much away.

The acting, in my opinion, is terrific. The movie relies heavily on Tudyk and Labine, and they do not disappoint. Bowden brings the beauty. The others in the cast simply have to play dumb, although Moss has to also provide some raving lunacy, which he does in spades.

This is a low-budget picture, but you definitely can't tell from what's on the screen. Nothing about it looks amateur.

I hope TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL gets a wide theatrical release. Given the opportunity, this movie could be a major box-office winner.

Rating:

Black Dynamite (2009) - So Much Cheesy Goodness

On the Menu: BLACK DYNAMITE (2009)

Ingredients: Michael Jai White, Tommy Davidson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Arsenio Hall, Mykelti Williamson, Obba Babatundé, Bokeem Woodbine, Brian McKnight, John Salley, Cedric Yarbrough, Kevin Chapman, Byron Minns, Mike Starr, Phil Morris, Tucker Smallwood, Richard Edson, Miguel A. Núñez, Jr., Kym Whitley and Nicole Sullivan. Directed by Scott Sanders. Run time: 90 minutes. Rated: R.

At First Bite: When I first saw the trailer I thought BLACK DYNAMITE was really a '70s film just being released on DVD. I mean, most of the DVDs with the BLACK DYNAMITE trailer had the trailer for SOUL POWER, too, and that movie was shot in 1974. Once you see Arsenio Hall and Tommy Davidson, you realize it's not an authentic Blaxpoitation film though. But, in the trailer no one is credited as themselves. For example, Black Dynamite is played by Ferrante Jones, who is really Michael Jai White, and Chicago Wind is played by William T. Michaelson, who is really Mykelti Williamson. I knew right away that I wanted to see this once it came out on DVD.

The movie opens with the death of Jimmy, Black Dynamite's brother. If you're an undercover police officer posing as a pimp, you won't last long if you can't speak jive.

So, Black Dynamite is on a mission of revenge. That revenge mission turns into an anti-drug mission. And that mission turns into a bigger, more convoluted mission.

Second Helping: I watched it a second time, but with the audio commentary from Sanders, Minns and White. It was even funnier than the first viewing since I missed some of the jokes the first time around. The commentary mentions the different homages and points out some of the more subtle jokes. I definitely recommend you watch the movie at least twice, and once with the commentary track.

Tough to Swallow: There's a scene where a man is set on fire and they use CG for the fire. There's a green screen shot almost right after the fire scene, too. Neither fit with the '70s production vibe. 

In the diner scene, on the blackboard with the day's specials, scrambled is misspelled as "scrambed." Also, specials is written as "special's." In the animated closing credits, Bokeem Woodbine's character is listed as Black Hand Jack, but his character is Back Hand Jack.

The biggest travesty is that my favorite character, Militant #2, only has a handful of lines.

Something to Chew On: White came up with the idea for BLACK DYNAMITE while listening to James Brown's "Super Bad" on his iPod; he was working on UNDISPUTED II: LAST MAN STANDING at the time. White actually co-wrote the story and screenplay. Sanders shot the movie with Super 16 Color Reversal Kodak film stock, which gives it a grainy, high contrast and saturated look. The movie includes stock footage from actual blaxpoitation films as well as from the Sony Pictures library. Sanders has mentioned the film includes shots from "Charlie's Angels," "S.W.A.T.," "The Rookies," "Matt Helm" and the 1984 Chuck Norris movie MISSING IN ACTION.

The movie premiered as a midnight showing at Sundance in 2009.

There are numerous homages: TROUBLE MAN, DOLEMITE, THE MACK, THREE THE HARD WAY, FOXY BROWN, AVENGING DISCO GODFATHER and ENTER THE DRAGON to name a few. White's influences for Dynamite were Jim Brown, Jim Kelly and Fred Williamson. White actually watched the finished movie with Brown, and Brown gave it his thumbs up. Davidson said his character, Cream Corn, was influenced by all the pimps on "Starsky and Hutch."

Most everyone knows Mykelti Williamson was Bubba in FORREST GUMP. Well, Byron Minns co-starred in that as well. He played the soldier who taught Forrest how to play ping pong.

And, depending on how many movies, TV shows and music videos you watch, you should recognize everyone on the Pimp Counci. There's also a couple references to the popular Roscoe's restaurant chain.

The film currently has a 7.5 user rating on IMDb.com (4,587 votes).

Sides: The DVD has a commentary track from Sanders, Minns and White. There are 17 deleted/alternate scenes (about 25 minutes worth of footage). "Lighting the Fuse" is a 23-minute making-of featurette. "The Comic-Con Experience" is an 18-minute Q&A session from the convention. The DVD also includes trailers for 12 other films.

Aftertaste: I love parodies. Well, I love good parodies. BLACK DYNAMITE is a great spoof of a genre that was half-parody anyway. You might have to watch the movie a second time to catch all the humor. There are funny lines (most of the humor is in the deliveries) and funny characters, but the spoofs of production values are even more hilarious. One stunt guy is killed at least 6 different times in the movie, another stunt guy is "replaced" mid-scene, boom mics are purposely left dangling in shots and stock footage is interjected regardless if it totally fits. Discontinuity is a big part of what makes the movie work. Most of the "mistakes" are on purpose, and from listening to the commentary, the real mistakes were left in anyway.

I didn't get all the homages since I've only seen maybe four Blaxploitation films; I can think of FOXY BROWN, SHAFT, THE BLACK SIX and SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSSS SONG right offhand. But, I have seen ENTER THE DRAGON and White was definitely channeling the character of Williams for a good portion of the movie.

How does BLACK DYNAMITE compare to other Blaxpoitation parodies? I thought I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA (4 1/2 stars) and UNDERCOVER BROTHER (4 stars) were really funny. POOTIE TANG (1 1/2 stars) was downright stupid, but some of the lines got stuck in my head for at least a month. The difference with BLACK DYNAMITE is realism. The filmmakers wanted the movie to represent a '70s crew trying to make the best movie they could with what they had. Remember, White is playing Ferrante Jones, who is playing Black Dynamite. That's why it's funny when White pauses to look at the low boom mic or expects the director to stop the scene when another "actor" flubs his line, or when the camera stays on someone just a beat too long once the scene is over. Even the soundtrack is geared for laughs. Composer Adrian Younge puts together numerous "I'm singing about what's happening on screen" songs that are riots.

Apparently, it IS easy being cheesy.

Rating: