Inception (2010)

A thief who steals corporate secrets through use of the dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO.

Director:

 Christopher Nolan.

Writer:

 Christopher Nolan.

Stars:

 Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page.

Story line

Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming.

Inception Movie Reviews

Inception is written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Dileep Rao, Tom Berenger, and Michael Caine. The musical score is by Hans Zimmer and Wally Pfister is the cinematographer. Plot finds DiCaprio playing Dom Cobb, a specialised spy for hire who steals ideas from the dreams of people. But one day he gets a different offer, one that will enable him to see his estranged children. To get his reward he must enact Inception, the planting of an idea in the mind of the selected target. But Inception is thought impossible and should Cobb and his selected team fail? The consequences are unthinkable.

There has already been much written and pondered about as regards Inception in the relatively short running time of its life. One can only imagine what will be written and said about it in ten years time. For although it's arguably a bit too early to be talking about it being held in such high regards as the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, it's inescapable that Nolan's movie is this current generation's sci-fi classic. That Nolan has managed to make it accessible to the mainstream, and dazzled the eyes as much as the brain in the process, is close to being a piece of genius craftsmanship.

Inception is a film that it's better to know nothing about before venturing into it, and then it asks, well Nolan asks, for your undivided attention. It's neither as confusing as some have painted it, nor does it have any tricks-peek behind the curtain type-up its sleeve. The truth is is that Inception has something for everyone; thematically speaking, and that's before we pore over the special effects that sees Nolan raising the bar considerably. As is the case with twisty high concept movies, interpretations are many, with the director rightly abstaining from discourse about his movie. What forms the basis is your basic life and death struggles, with the grey areas during and after given a clever cinematic make over. There's also meditations on grief that this reviewer personally found easy to get involved with; that of course wont work for everyone, but that is just one of many strands that Nolan dangles for the discerning viewer.

If that all sounds a bit too serious for the man who has redefined the Super Hero genre, rest assured thrill seekers, Inception is also a loud swirly spectacle. The action is raucous, be it gun fights or zero gravity punch ups, Nolan has not lost the ability to take the viewer on an action fuelled roller-coaster ride, aided superbly by Lee Smith's editing and Pfister's perfectly broad photography While Zimmer's score blends electronic action pulse beats with saddened guitar strains (ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr on 12 string) to craft one of the best scores of 2010. As I said, there's something for everyone here, making it perhaps one of the leading nominees for title of ultimate modern day blockbuster.

Then there's the strong ensemble cast, led by a quite scintillating performance from DiCaprio. Following on from his cards played close to his chest turn in Shutter Island, DiCaprio has given 2010 two of its best lead performances. Here he gives real depth of emotion, the kind that makes it easy for the viewers to hang their hats on. His unfussy acting is easy to buy into, giving the character the air of believability, he is the glue that binds the whole film together. Murphy is wonderfully vulnerable, very much an axis in the narrative, while Levitt almost usurps DiCaprio with a neatly layered portrayal that carries a delightful whiff of duality about it. Special praise, too, for Ellen Page. Still in her early 20s, she exudes an intelligent sexiness that shines bright in a role that could have been boorishly played as a cipher in a lesser actress' hands. While Hardy provides brawny levity and Berenger leaves a favourable mark.

The Matrix meets Heat and Mission Impossible, only it's written by Phillip K. Dick and Richard Matheson; or something like that. A cracking hybrid movie that's fit to grace any summer and sure to improve and enlighten with further viewings. 9.5/10

The Bourne Identity (2002)

A man is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and suffering from amnesia, before racing to elude assassins and regain his memory.

Director:

 Doug Liman.

Writers:

 Tony Gilroy (screenplay), W. Blake Herron(screenplay) (as William Blake Herron).

Stars:

 Franka Potente, Matt Damon, Chris Cooper.

Storyline

Based very loosely on Robert Ludlum's novel, the Bourne Identity is the story of a man whose wounded body is discovered by fishermen who nurse him back to health. He can remember nothing and begins to try to rebuild his memory based on clues such as the Swiss bank account, the number of which, is implanted in his hip. He soon realizes that he is being hunted and takes off with Marie on a search to find out who he is and why he is being hunted. 

This Movie Reviews

I can sympathize with reviewers who had read the book and were disappointed by this film and the liberties it apparently took with the story. I've had that happen with books I've enjoyed and it can spoil a film you might otherwise have liked. I never read the book, so I was able to appreciate this film on its own merits - slick, tough, fast-paced and refreshingly devoid of the kind of nonsense that has made the Bond films harder and harder to sit through. 

I'm especially impressed by the fights, which, as other reviewers have pointed out, are among the most believable martial-arts-based fight scenes ever seen. No big grand gestures or Olympian kicks - just fast, nasty moves designed to inflict maximum damage with minimum effort.

The cast is uniformly good - even Damon, who is no fave of mine, comes across believably as a man who's trained to hold it all in, but isn't sure what it all is that he's holding in. Cooper, Cox and Owen shine in their all-too-brief screen time. Potente is attractive in a real person sort of way (sigh of relief for this genre) and possesses an inner strength that makes her character's actions and reactions ring truer than what we'd get from the traditional Hollywood eye-candy girlfriend these films normally feature.

From the gritty bowels of the trawler, where Damon awakens to his situation, to the field where he confronts his most deadly assailant, the locations are the antithesis of the travel poster hotspots that Bond so frequently visits. Despite its breakneck pace (handled so well by Liman and so poorly in the sequel by his protégé), the film manages to convey a sense of melancholy that lifts it a bit above the average action thriller. Sorry book fans - it may not be your cup of Ludlum, but it's still a damn fine little action flick.

Minority Report (2002)

In a future where a special police unit is able to arrest murderers before they commit their crimes, an officer from that unit is himself accused of a future murder.

Director:

 Steven Spielberg.

Writers:

 Philip K. Dick (short story), Scott Frank(screenplay).

Stars:

 Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton.

Storyline

In the year 2054 A.D. crime is virtually eliminated from Washington D.C. thanks to an elite law enforcing squad "Precrime". They use three gifted humans (called "Pre-Cogs") with special powers to see into the future and predict crimes beforehand. John Anderton heads Precrime and believes the system's flawlessness steadfastly. However one day the Pre-Cogs predict that Anderton will commit a murder himself in the next 36 hours. Worse, Anderton doesn't even know the victim. He decides to get to the mystery's core by finding out the 'minority report' which means the prediction of the female Pre-Cog Agatha that "might" tell a different story and prove Anderton innocent.

Minority Report Movie Reviews

It's an open secret: the Oscar is jinxed. Spielberg's triumph with "Schindler's List" was followed by the longest hiatus of his career, which was broken with ... "Jurassic Park II", a lifeless sequel of the kind you'd once have sworn he'd never make - the single worst and most anonymous movie he's ever directed ("Hook" had its moments). His next two films were improvements (there was nowhere to go but up): the first anonymous but not bad ("Amistad"), the second bad but not anonymous ("Saving Private Ryan"), but they were both pompous gestures which appear to have been designed to win still more awards; and it wasn't until eight years after "Schindler's List" that the skilled director of old times re-appeared (with "A.I." in 2001).

But he's well and truly back now, and I'm happy. I've even learned to welcome it when he makes decisions which infuriate me, so long as he makes them with the right kind of self-assured arrogance. I didn't like the voice-over at the end (we didn't need to be told that stuff; we could have worked it out), or the way he caved in to the modern tendency to be needlessly revolting (at least he don't play his gross-out moments for cheap laughs), or even the style of photography (it's easy to manipulate us into thinking the future is a grim place, if you push-process the film until even the images which in the normal course of events would be luscious and rich, are grimy and desaturated - there are other ways of getting colourless images, as Spielberg well knows, and many of them are better). Yet, in the end, big deal. The story is a knockout, the action is taut, the future rich, dazzling and believable. Spielberg is to be particularly congratulated on how completely he has avoided the unimaginative dystopia of "Blade Runner". The future we see here is a MIX of dream and nightmare, so convincing a mix that we can't always tell them apart.

Here's a measure of how good the movie is: in an interview, Spielberg revealed that he completely misunderstood the issues which drive the stories

• and there's simply no way of telling this from the finished product.

Unless Spielberg was just opportunistically latching on to the hook forced on him by a dim-witted journalist, he THOUGHT the movie was about how much freedom we are willing to give up in exchange for safety (in order to prevent terrorist attacks, for instance). This is interpretation is strained. Three people (the precogs) do indeed give up their freedom in order that millions of other people may be safer, and yes, there is an issue here. When one of the Crime Prevention officer says, "It's best not to think of them as human", I was surprised to find myself nodding in agreement. The benefits of the system are so great that OF COURSE I'd rather not look too closely into the burden that must be borne by three - just three - individuals. Aside from the three unfortunate precogs, nobody is asked to give up any freedom at all. (Except, of course, the freedom to commit murder. But under the law we are already unfree to commit murder, and a good thing too.)

The interesting issues that DO fall naturally out of the story concern the futility of revenge. After people who would otherwise have committed murder are prevented from doing so, they're sent to prison anyway, presumably on the grounds that that's what they deserve - and no doubt it IS what they deserve. But it's clear enough that locking these people up, however much it may be in the interests of justice, serves no purpose. It's exacting revenge on criminals for the sake of exacting revenge - which is exactly what the U.S. justice system is committed to doing at the moment, which is why the future is a realistic one. (Apart from the precognition, that is.) Anderton's mistake is to believe in the value of revenge, and he's never more admirable than when he realises his mistake. (THAT was a great scene; it's a pity I can't tell you exactly why. Suffice it to say that when we think we know where the story's going, we may indeed know where the story's going - but Spielberg is only allowing us to see so much of what's coming up in order to obscure the rest of it.)

The final sign that Spielberg is again at his peak lies in the performances. They're all good. Tom Cruise's weakness as an actor is that he is only ever as good as his director, and the fact that he's so good here means that "Minority Report" was directed by the real Spielberg, the old Spielberg, the Spielberg with the same ability Charles Dickens had to make even his most grotesque creations, and even his LEAST grotesque, come to life.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

A murder mystery brings together a private eye, a struggling actress, and a thief masquerading as an actor.

Director:

 Shane Black.

Writers:

 Brett Halliday (novel), Shane Black (screen story).

Stars:

 Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan.

Storyline

A petty thief posing as an actor is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl and a detective who's been training him for his upcoming role... Written by austin4577@aol.com

This Movie Reviews

I was lucky enough to see a preview of Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang at a 'mystery' film showing at the Rivoli Cinemas in Melbourne recently.

I really don't know what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting to enjoy the film as throughly as I did.

The film centers around Harry (Robert Downey Jnr) a petty thief who while escapes into an audition for a new detective movie. After an amusing audition, he's whisked of the bright lights and parties of LA.

I won't go too much into the story because to give any of it away would take away from the unpredictable nature of the film. Worth seeing just for Val Kilmer's Gay Perry!