|
|
| Inception a mad dreamscape caper |
by Scott Rice -
SGN Contributing Writer
Inception
Now Playing
Inception is not a hackneyed rehash of Christopher Nolan's 2000 surprise hit Memento, despite the irritating gesticulations and overwrought exposition of the 20-something young woman sitting behind me in the theater as the screen went black. The tirade was obviously planned long before the film started. She was trying to seem urbane. She came off as jejune.
The old saying 'everyone's a critic' has certainly taken on new meaning in the shadow of the rise of the interweb citizen journalist, and we certainly all have the right to weigh in on movies we see. However, be careful using definitive statements like the one made by the jejune young woman behind me when informally discussing movies with your friends. You might end up sounding jejune yourself.
Inception and Memento do have some important correlations, the most important of which is the deft use of cross-cutting. But the relationship between the two films is no more closely related than, say, Hitchcock's Marnie is related to his Vertigo. In fact, Nolan's sophisticated use of cross-cutting is so effective one imagines Edwin S. Porter firing up a stogie and kicking the lid off his coffin in delight to know just how far his innovation has come. (I'll bet the jejune young woman behind me doesn't even know who Edwin S. Porter is, but she didn't take Dr. Bruce Kawin's film history class, either.)
And it's the expert use of cross-cutting, one of the oldest cinematic techniques there is, that turns the third act of Inception into one of the best 40 minutes in the history of film. The special effects are seamless, the blocking is perfect, and the editing meticulous. Somehow you always know where and when you are in the universe of the film. The specifics may sound banal, but the result is drop-your-popcorn exciting.
Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an expert at extracting information from people via dreams. He makes his living as a hired gun in the world of corporate espionage. He's hired by Saito (Ken Watanabe) to recruit a team to plant an idea (instead of stealing information) in the mind of the heir to an energy conglomerate (Cillian Murphy). Planting ideas, it seems, is much more difficult than stealing them. As our intrepid crew of dream-trekkers sets out for the netherworlds where Morpheus lurks, they find themselves drawn further and further down the dream wormhole until getting back becomes a problem. While the first third of Inception stumbles along (and will hopefully be explicated a bit in the I-promise-you-it's-coming sequel), the last two-thirds are a rockin' fun ride. Don't miss it on the big screen!
Leo, like a bottle of '82 Lafite Rothschild, just keeps getting better with age. He looks better, he acts better, and he chooses movies better. With Shutter Island already under his belt for 2010, Inception will shoot his already formidable market value into the stratosphere and likely ensure an Oscar nod, for one film or the other, come January.
Marion Cotillard is breathtakingly gorgeous as Mal, Cobb's dreamy (sorry) wife. Cotillard steals scenes at every turn, often just by turning those enormous eyes to the camera.
A cadre of young stars work the hell out of a number of juicy supporting roles. Ellen Page plays Ariadne (here she designs the labyrinth the hero must navigate) with a sure hand in a pivotal role as the only member of the team that knows all of Cobb's secrets. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Arthur, the dour sidekick to Cobb's impetuous hero. Cillian Murphy plays the heir to the corporate empire and Tom Hardy (set to play the title role in the new Mad Max film coming in 2012) plays Eames, the wisecracking pretty boy who forges characters from the dreamer's subconscious. All four are A-list stars-to-be, and all four prove why.
Also along for the ride is a bevy of awesome star-power in supporting roles. Ken Watanabe, Tom Berenger, Pete Postlethwaite, and Michael Caine are so good at what they do that they get a little eclipsed by the action, the special effects, the tight narrative, and all the other star power. Don't be fooled, though; they each turn in the amazing work we've come to expect from them.
Look, don't get all caught up in figuring out the dreamscape on the first viewing. Sit back and enjoy the ride. Then go back to see Inception again and take notes. That way you can argue endlessly with friends about the sublime, if ambiguous, ending to this mad dreamscape caper. And if you take good notes, you'll run a good chance of not coming off as jejune.
|
|
|
|
| Fun Salt peppered
with thrills
|
by Sara Michelle Fetters -
SGN Contributing Writer
Salt
Open July 23
Phillip Noyce's Salt is a heck of a lot of fun. The man behind Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan adventures Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger returns to the genre after a decade of making smaller, more personal films like The Quiet American and Rabbit-Proof Fence, and does so with wickedly delightful glee, and while female Jason Bourne meets John McClane comparisons are inevitable, this is still one ticking-clock espionage thriller that definitely and defiantly stands on its own.
The first third is best. Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) is a CIA operative who is fingered by mysterious defector Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski) as a Cold War spy tasked with assassinating current Russian President Matveyev (Olek Krupa). Intent on proving her innocence, she busts out of a secure facility with her boss Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber) and high-level government agent Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) hot on her tail.
This sequence of the picture absolutely nails it. The action scenes are directed with confident assurance, and Noyce makes sure viewers can follow every move no matter how fast it's going. Even when things get silly (a series of freeway escapes is almost Looney Tunes in its absurdity), it's all handled with such ingenuity it stays believable almost in spite of itself. These opening moments grow increasingly tense and exciting as the danger level blossoms, each twist and turn a sensational bit of slight of hand that held me breathlessly captivated.
At the center of it all is Jolie behaving like a cross between James Bond and Ellen Ripley. Like the former, there is no jam too big for her to find a way to escape from. Like the latter, she manages to do these things without sacrificing either her femininity (I love how she removes her heels just before the chase begins) or her intelligence. This is a woman who thinks first, acts second, and lays people unconscious third, and even when she's playing the mouse you just know the cat is still lurking quietly inside, waiting patiently to turn the tables and pounce.
So screenwriter Kurt Wimmer's (Equilibrium, Law Abiding Citizen) plot does grow increasingly ludicrous, and at a certain point Salt becomes a bit too much of an unstoppable cyborg and too little of a super-smart secret agent using her wits and her wiles to save the day. Additionally, the true identity of the real villain isn't difficult to decipher, and even in light of current events it's hard to believe a Russian mole could burrow themselves as far into the government hierarchy as this one does.
But this film is so just well put together, edited, scored, and acted that a lot of these things become moot. Noyce has assembled a picture so gosh-darn entertaining even the missteps are a joy, and I imagine much like those 1990s Jack Ryan efforts, this is a thriller people will watch over and over with little problem at all. I love the way it moves, the way it breathes, and even a kind of obnoxious denouement setting up a potential (and probably inevitable) sequel didn't annoy as much as it could have. No, Salt hits the spot, peppering the screen with thrills, and in a summer filled with male dominated action pretenders, here is one female contender ready to take the kung-fu crown away from them and sit on the throne all by herself.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pulp fiction -
An interview with Vincent Kovar,
editor of Re-Pulped
------------------------------
Adam Lambert glams it up for Seattle fans
------------------------------
RuPaul returns to The Lobby Bar
------------------------------
Sharon McNight is cabaret at its best
------------------------------
Legendary Lip Sync Contest celebrates first year
------------------------------
Bettye LaVette mesmerizing in one-night-only appearance
------------------------------
A Dyke About Town: A week of
amazing music
------------------------------
Shoestring opera brings big rewards
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
Spelling Bee a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e
------------------------------
Inception a mad dreamscape caper
------------------------------
Fun Salt peppered
with thrills
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
Q-Scopes by Jack Fertig
------------------------------
------------------------------
Miniature Tigers singer weighs in on Arizona law, Gay marriage
------------------------------
Northwest News
------------------------------
Letters
------------------------------
Farcical Pageant Play a riot
------------------------------
Past relationships haunt Kindred Spirits
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
The Kids Are All Right: See it; please discuss
------------------------------
Panevino offers a taste of Italy on Broadway
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------ |
![[Valid RSS]](images/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}
post your own information on
http://sgn.org/rss.xml | what is RSS? | 
use Google to set up your RSS feed