Inception Review

BRRRRRRRRRRMMMM!!! This is the first and biggest part in my "Week of Catching Up"; a movie review that should've been written more than a month ago, and perhaps the biggest film of the entire summer. I actually saw Inception the day after it came out, just to put in perspective as to how long this has been delayed; and because of that my memory on the film may be a little flaky.

Inception was the first film directed by Christopher Nolan since The Dark Knight, so to say the least, expectations were high for this completely original work. And considering this was pretty much the only big movie this summer that wasn't a shoddy adaptation (not that Scott Pilgrim was shoddy; it didn't release when this came out, but it's still an adaptation no less) or so-so sequel, Inception was a pretty pivotal film. Personally, I tried not to hype it up, like The Dark Knight, I refrained from watching any trailers or clips so that I could get a true experience without any notion as to what I would be in for.

Being that this review is nearly two months late, I'm not going to sit here and write out a full synopsis of the story, because at this point you've probably seen it already, and if you haven't; shame on you. Basically, Leonardo DiCaprio and his crack team of dream wizards must enter the dreams inside dreams in order to plant an idea in the mind of the son of a rival corporation of the man who hired them; you know, basics. But seriously, I kind of remember the general story, but as I said, details are flaky.

Cast-wise everyone's pretty good, DiCaprio, Levitt, and Hardy all have their quirks that make them likeable. Ken Watanabe was good as well, but I found that I couldn't understand him most of the time except for a few words here and there, and I generally have no problem understanding thick accents. I really enjoyed Marion Cotillard's performance, as she was a really convincing threat to Cobb's mental stability, and made his character all that much more interesting. Only cast complaint I have is that Michael Caine got last billing, because he honestly didn't even need to be in the film; his character has no significance and only has like... two lines.

The most interesting part of this film was the special effects, as Nolan has be known to shy away from CG in his films. So while there is a significant number of moments in the film that couldn't be done without computer graphics, it's the parts without it that are stunning. The most spectacular one being where Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a fight in a zero-gravity hallway, and then must continue to group up all his unconscious acquaintances while still in zero-g. Of course being two months later, I've since found out how they actually pulled it off, but watching it the first time, without any idea what to expect, it was quite the magical moment.

Lastly, the score, this is by far Hans Zimmer's best score yet, and the addition of The Smith's Johnny Marr on many of the tracks just makes it all the more cooler. Plus, it's got plenty of BRRRRRRMMMMMM to keep your heart and brain going.

Overall Inception was a pretty fantastic film, and I would've seen it a second time had my schedule not been so filled up. Especially in a summer that's been filled with okay sequels, crappy adaptations, or just generally uninteresting or poorly made films, it was great to see something that really stood out above all the rest and wasn't afraid to actually make its audience think. To be honest, having seen most of Nolan's other works, I'd say this is his best and most ambitious work yet, and I even liked it more than The Dark Knight. And being that I gave that film a 10/10...

Overall Score: 10/10

If I have one complaint, it's that these people all had incredibly uninteresting dreams. Seriously, where my laser wielding pandas riding on T-Rex-back on Mars?! This is a dream after all, get creative!

Oh, and no Seal of Approval, because... I don't know, the review's late, and I think I give it out to casually nowadays. 10/10 is still good though, that's all that matters. But if you disagree, tell me, and I'll give it the Seal.

(500) Days of Summer review

If we opened the summer by having our first comedy review, The Hangover, then I suppose it only seems fitting to end the summer by reviewing our first... romantic comedy. Now, despite the label given to (500) Days of Summer, Marc Webb's feature film directorial debut felt like a much different film than the typical romance movie, but you'll have to read on to find out why.

What I found so different about (500) Days of Summer, or at least what made it more interesting, is that it was from the male character's, Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), point of view as opposed to that of the leading female character, in this case, Summer (Zooey Deschanel). However, this may have been done before, I wouldn't know, this isn't really my choice film genre. But, what I do know about the film is that it's very upfront as to what you're going to see, as the narrator clearly says, "You should know upfront that this is not a love story," which in my mind already makes it different from the typical happy ending, feel-good romance films.

The premise of the film is quite simple, Tom wishes to one day find "the one" and Summer feels that she's happier being free and independent. But while the characters may sound like nothing new, it's the way that (500) Days of Summer is presented that makes the movie so unique. As the title may suggest, the movie chronicles Tom's 500 days with Summer, as he tries to figure out where their relationship went sour.

Constantly throughout the film it will cut to a screen displaying what day it is (i.e. "Day (476)" and so on), though it is never in chronological order, making the viewer decipher what's really going on. I definitely liked the idea of viewing their relationship on a day-by-day basis, and a lot of times in the film it works. But then there's times where it's just bouncing back and forth too much, and it really seems to lose its impact. Marc Webb's unique directive touch is appreciated, but the execution just isn't always there (maybe next time buddy).

Otherwise, there are definitely parts of the film I enjoyed. The soundtrack is great if The Smiths and indie music are your thing, and I was glad that Zooey Deschanel was able to show off her singing talents in the film, as I much enjoyed her work with M. Ward on their She & Him album, Volume One (and I hope to hear more!). But there's was a lot of subtle things as well that were cool to see, like the assorted Smiths posters, or Tom's Joy Division t-shirt, not to mention the Han Solo cameo (I'm not sure how they got the rights to do that by the way) in one of the more amusing scenes of the film.

Overall, (500) Days of Summer is a good film, and for Marc Webb's directorial debut it certainly raises hopes for whatever film projects he may have in the future. But it still has its short-comings; mainly due to the unique day-by-day non-sequential storytelling, which is sometimes the film's greatest achievement, and yet it's biggest fault. I was also pleased with the casting, as this role for Joseph Gordon-Levitt felt more fitting of his personality then say... Cobra Commander, and it seemed like Zooey really got to be herself for most of the film, instead of hamming up emotions like she and the rest of the cast did in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening. In the end, I did like the film as an "alternative romantic comedy", but if that's what you're looking for, I'd probably suggest something more like Garden State instead.

Overall Score: 8/10

For those curious, (500) Days of Summer had a limited release earlier this summer in July, but recently had its wide release on August 7th. That means it should actually be playing in a theater near you, unlike most independent films I've reviewed.

Visit the film's official website at FoxSearchlight.com
Watch Marc Webb's Cinemash short with Joseph and Zooey

(500) Days of Sid and Nancy

Our friends over at GeekTyrant posted this pretty amusing video yesterday, which was directed by Marc Webb as both a promotion for his new film (500) Days of Summer, as well as the first video in a new series by MSN called Cinemash, which takes actors and has them portray scenes from famous movies.

This first video takes the stars of (500) Days of Summer, Zooey Deschanel and Joesph Gordon-Levitt, and puts them in the roles of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, as seen in the 1986 film Sid and Nancy, which originally starred Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb. Presumably on purpose, (500) Days of Summer makes a reference to Sid and Nancy, the clip of which can also be found at GeekTyrant.

I initially had no intention of seeing (500) Days of Summer, even though I do like Zooey Deschanel as both an actress and a musician, but this clip has me rethinking my stand on the film. Obviously the Sid and Nancy clip won't be in it, but regardless, the chemistry between the two actors seems interesting enough.

Final G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra poster...

Just got this 'final one-sheet' poster for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra from Paramount, figured it was worth analyzing:

(click for larger version)

From my knowledge, that seems to be our first look at Destro with his metal face, because prior to this we've only seen him as a human (played by Chistopher "The Doctor" Eccleston) in the trailer. Also, on the top right there, looks to be the first real image of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cobra Commander; which you may notice looks very different from the source material, as the producer's felt the original Cobra Commander's hood to be too reminiscent of 'the Klan'.

Personally, I'm not overly excited to see the movie (and according to our recent poll, neither were you). From the footage I've watched there seems to be way to many CG humans (i.e. I don't mind CG robots in Transformers, you can't actually build those for a movie, but when your film is about human soldiers, at least have actors, not computers, for most of your scenes), and that's many due to these unnecessary "accelerator suits" made for the film... oh and there's also the really corny acting.

I grew up loving G.I. Joe, but this franchise just doesn't appeal to me like Transformers still does. Maybe it's because the latter has been constantly re-imagined for television in the last decade or so, where as G.I. Joe has had less adaptations... I'm just guessing here, what do you think?

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra releases in theaters everywhere on August 7th, 2009.

UPDATE: Apparently I'm wrong, seems metal face there is a generic Cobra grunt, and the mysterious one in the upper left is a new character called "The Doctor" (and no, not THAT Doctor)... but I also hear The Doctor is Cobra Commander.. so I don't know.