I feel the same way about Joseph Gordon-Levitt's choices in films as I do my brother's choices in restaurants…. they both just cannot steer me wrong when it comes to taste and quality. I love that about ol Joseph, he started in 3rd Rock From The Sun and has just chosen amazingly brilliant and affecting movies ever since. 'Brick' is one of my all time favourite films, and 'Mysterious Skin' was excellent… though quite hard to watch. Actually, REALLY hard to watch. I really cried when he got attacked in the bathroom, like REALLY cried. Sobbing. nose not running but pouring. violently shaking. but, it was still a very well made, very horrifically realistic movie. BUT this review is not on either of those movies, no no. it's all about 'Inception' by Christopher Nolan. And it has the gorgeous Ellen Page and the incomparable Leonardo DiCaprio in it. Actually, on the topic of ne'er steer me wrong, Leo DC is also very much like Joseph in his movie selections… these days…
But here's the gist, if you haven't seen the film (which is ridiculous if you haven't, I mean what are you doing with your time? Watching 'Rush Hour 2' and 'Bratz the movie'? for shaaammme!) Leo is Dom Cobb, who is a master at getting into people's heads, messing with their dreams and thoughts and leaving those son-bitches not knowing that it wasn't a dream at all, it was in fact all orchestrated by a team of professionals. Among that team of professionals is his partner Arthur (Joseph, my love), Ariadne (Ellen Page), who is an architect student who joins the crew because Cobb thinks she's a young him, Yusuf- the chemist who makes the sedative to make them all go night night (wouldn't want to accept a drink from him is all I'm saying) and finally Eames, who has the coolest job of all in my opinion; he forges the identities in the dreams. So poor Cobb had his life tragically destroyed and is estranged from his kids, it's especially sad because it's Michael Caine that's guilt tripping him about his lack of presence in his children's lives. I don't know if I could take that kind of emotional beating from someone as dapper and wonderful as Michael Caine… that might just be the end of me. Also, Michael Caine plays Cobbs' father in law. So when this uber powerful guy Saito bribes Cobbs into committing corporate espionage by promising to clear his name and have him return to his children, Cobb willingly accepts. So begins the apparently near impossible task of 'Inception', which is basically where they put a dream within a dream within a dream to hopefully successfully implant this idea into someone else's subconscious. The target here is Robert Michael Fischer (played by Cillian Murphy, possibly the prettiest man in hollywood), the heir to his recently deceased father's business. The deal is they need to make him decide to sell the business so Saito can remain the most powerful man in the universe!! … or something along those lines. It's all planned perfectly and their prep is second to none BUT what they don't realise is that Robert has already been trained to kind of ward off people like Cobb, so his subconscious begins to attack them while they're going about their business. This, they did not plan for. Team that with regular hijinks from Cobb's deceased wife Mal (Marion Cotillard), who is still playing on his mind, and you've got yourself a task bigger than making Lara Bingle interesting in any real way. It's a wild ride, kids.
A bit of trivia just quickly… Nolan had this concept in the works years before it actually got made. He wrote a horror-type treatment of this idea in 2001 and gave it to Warner Bros. Being the smarty that he is though, he wasn't entirely confident that he could pull it off without a bit more experience in creating big budget motion pictures, so he put it on the back burner for a while so he could build up his skills. I like that about Christopher Nolan, he cares so much about his ideas that he doesn't want to fuck them up by going too hard to early. He's a meticulous sort of gent, and I admire that. I do often wonder if it's that reason that makes him able to work so successfully and on more than one occasion with Christian Bale (who is clearly a bit of a d-bag but insists that it's okay for him to be a jerk because he cares so much about 'his craft'), or maybe Nolan is just so lovely that no one can be aggressive towards him. Who knows. All i know is that if I were there when Christian Bale yelled at two little girls for asking for an autograph and being so incredibly mean that he made them both cry, I would have given that boy the ol what for, if you follow me. Anyway, back to it..
What I loved about this movie is… well, many things, obviously I'm a fan of many of the actors if not all of them, but I also really appreciate that the writing and direction of the film made what I'd consider to be a fairly dense text, accessible and easy to follow. I remember watching 'Momento' a few times before I actually got the whole thing, and so I was worried that my slow-paced ability to grasp complicated concepts would leave me walking out of the theatre going "the HELL just happened, y'all?". But I totally didn't! I was SO proud of myself!! It was better than that time I went to Charlie's with my friend Bec and she would ALWAYS eat twice as much as me and gloat, GLOAT I say! But this one time, I ate the same as her and I didn't even throw up or anything. It was amazing. so yeh, it was like that. Super proud.
I think if I was going to criticise anything about the movie it'd be that I wanted MORE Joseph Gordon-Levitt. And I didn't appreciate him kissing Ellen Page. Not just because I got jealous, that's certainly a part of it of course, but because they just seem soooo unsuited. I know, it's not even a huge plot point, and it's the most juvenile thing to complain about but that's my opinion. Joseph GL and Ellen P should keep their lips forever separated. Joseph is allowed to kiss any of the following females and I promise to be cool about it-
Meryl Streep
Rosario Dawson
Audrey Tautou
Kate Winslet
Snooki from Jersey Shore (because that would be SO ridiculous. SO ridiculous that I'd just have to shrug and go "well I guess that means the apocalypse is today")
Cillian Murphy
Ani DiFranco
Emma Stone
and I guess a COUPLE more that I've forgotten just at this moment. But how bout this, I'll promise to tell him (and the world) if I'm unhappy in future with any of his onscreen hookups… Deal? Deal!
Well that's it for this instalment. I'm going to see 'Hope Springs' this week so I might get around to writing something about that if I don't go mental and overstress about all the school and social things I've signed myself up to recently. Why do I always go overboard with my activities? It's so all or nothing with me and I think that has to change. A nice healthy balance is the goal. I might buy some Dr. Phil books to get me onto the right path. hahaha! just kidding! that guy's not even a real doctor! I'll pay him NOTHING for his fame and media attention… NOTHING!
Seeya! xoxo
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