Inside 'Inception'





Inception Movie Poster (2010)

  

            Oreinology is the scientific study of dreams. Not that I heard of it before but the mere notion of semi-fantasy world of dreams being studied is far too bizaare and mysterious in an ordinary person's point of view. Even more striking is how the 'Inception', which was hailed by IMDb and other pertinent movie review websites as the crème de la crème among the movies shown so far in 2010, twisted reality and added another level of comlplexity to the idea we hold about dreams. A colleague of mine told me that the movie will bring the 'nerd' out of any movie-goers mainly due to the fact that it possesses a storyline that will not appeal to any dumb chick-flick or action-flick lovers. To assess if this Christopher Nolan film really deserves the buzz, I watched it myself and by solely basing it on how my jaws dropped and my head ached just before the movie credits sarted rolling, I could say that the uniqueness of this movie is incomparable and even goes beyond the impact that 'Memento', 'The Dark Knight', and 'The Prestige' had brought to me.

               'Inception' tells the story of Dominic Cobbs (played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who also did great in 'Shutter Island' earlier this year), who, after failing his attempt to steal secrets from the subconscious dream of a Japanese businessman named Saito, was employed by the latter to a mission that will make use of 'inception' or as how the movie defined it, the process of 'planting' ideas in a person's subconscious mind by penetrating into his dreams without him knowing it. Their main goal is to break Saito's corporate rival's empire by using the latter's son as the target. The team, which is composed of a 'dream architect' who will build the 'dream', a forger who will copy somebody else's identity, a sedative chemist who will be responsible for creating a 'three-layered' dream, will accomplish the mission by breaking into the target's subconscious dream and 'plant' the necessary idea that will change the future of  their company and of his own forever. The main conflict arise when the team realizes that the target's mind is trained to defend unnecessary intrusions, thus making their mission quite more taxing, in addition to Cobb's unresolved conflict with his deceased wife, who keeps on interrupting their mission by consistently pestering his mind of guilt and remorse.

            The movie itself is a puzzle that worth one's full attention. It's a collage of different elements: there are some fast-paced scenes that will make you scratch your head in confusion but mostly, it will thrill you with its awe-inspiring special effects and unforgettable original story.You will never get what the movie is all about unless you digest it slowly (I'm talking about the story and not the pop corn that you munch). The story is multi-layered, complex, and cryptic, which is especially true if we are to talk about the movie's ending, an ambiguous conclusion that is the best of its kind. I couldn't help but be amazed of Nolan's genius and for creating an all-original script that will define a decade of movie-going. Although mind-blowing and complicated in its purest form, this is a sci-fi movie that will definitely leave a mark in anybody's heart and mind. The whole cast was perfectly assembled; they made the unbelievable sci-fi story believable. Two thumbs up for Nolan, DiCaprio, Page, and the rest of the cast for giving the audience a performance of a lifetime and for changing the way I perceive dreams.  




A scene from the movie 'Inception'

 

"Apocalypse and Beyond"

Imagine yourself alone in a nameless city perfectly resembling a post-war portrait. Towering rubbles and decaying bodies scattered everywhere you go; a harrowing scene that would best describe what a nightmare is. Imagine that this is real. In a blink of an eye, the world as you know it is now an ash land devoid of its flora and fauna, leaving you and other few survivors the choice to either live or die, to survive or to perish, to go on or to lose hope. The choice is yours. And with all the integrity left of your humanity amidst the harshest of all human conditions, what will you choose?

This is a hypothetical question that has been haunting me ever since I learned of Nostradamus, the Mayan prophecies, the four horsemen of Revelations, and all the events that will lead to the "end-of-the-world" phenomenon. They call it the 'Apocalypse'.

It was during my senior year in high school when the subject first tickled my imagination. I remember watching the movie Left Behind and witnessed how the "believers" of Jesus Christ suddenly vanished without a single trace, leaving the "nonbelievers" behind. Then came the biblical prophecies: the parable of ten virgins, the “rapture”, the “second coming”, the satanic 666, and the symbolical two beasts: the “beast of the sea” and the “beast of the earth”, which will turn out to be the "antichrist" couple at the end of times. I can still recall how it shook my spirituality and left me sleepless for some nights.

Fast forward to the present time, I'm still in awe on how stories from this specific genre still capture my interest. It makes me wonder about the fate that awaits our world in the future. But no matter how rich the literature is, only few fictional stories really moulded my perception about the 'Apocalypse' and the ‘life’ beyond it.

Every once in a while, a book changes how a person views his world. The Road did that to me.

It was a chance encounter. The cover shows a man hugging his child in a very dark and heart-breaking backdrop. Upon reading its back cover, I found out that the book has a post-apocalyptic theme so I grabbed it right away. Unbeknownst to me, The Road is actually Cormac McCarthy's magnum opus and was even awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 2006. I fell in love with this heart-wrenching masterpiece not because of its 'goodness' but of the 'darkness' which deeply engulfed my imagination and left me emotionally disturbed for quite some time. I even watched its movie adaptation which stars Lord of the Ring's Viggo Mortensen and was equally surprised by its compelling power and substance.

Using a cryptic but clear style of writing uniquely of his own, McCarthy tells the story of a father and his son who has survived an unknown cataclysm that left the world shattered and almost lifeless. Bringing only a grocery cart containing all of their belongings, they took the road and started travelling towards the south with hopes of finding safe haven in the end. Their profound journey continues as they struggle to survive in a world that is now dominated by cannibalism, hunger, death, and hopelessness. And as they come face-to-face with death every day, they would learn that keeping the "fire" within them still proves to be the best way to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds and still be "human" after all.

"You remember what you want to forget and you forget what you want to remember" is the novel's battle cry which speaks for the bleak and gloomy mood that the story has to offer. It is not the 'bad dreams' that one should be worried about because that means you're still fighting, as said by the father. Pain is a key to survival. It reminds me of my fellow countrymen under extreme conditions yet still manages to survive on a daily basis. Perhaps the pain of hunger is the main catalyst why most poverty-stricken Filipinos are able to think of ways to survive or, if they’re lucky enough, come out of it and make “rags-to-riches” stories out of their own lives.

But by just reading between the lines, I fully captured what The Road intends to impart.

Our planet is a "ticking time bomb". Some scientists might say that the end is yet to come because its expiration date may still be billion years away. But times have changed and our planet's irreversible extinction may be sooner than we actually thought. Beyond the unconditional fatherly love that the book portrays is a lesson that human civilization has been struggling to learn for ages. We've been warned about the green house effect, the hole in the ozone layer, the continuous threats of the global warming, and all the man-made phenomena here and there. They are the anatomy of every natural disaster that shook the whole world. And if we don't start changing our ways, the world as we know it will gradually turn into the dark ash land just like in The Road. Who knows? It could be ten or twenty years from now.

Without a doubt, The Road is a haunting tale of survival, love, and most importantly, life. If history taught me one thing, it would be the reality that life is all about choices. I've always been fascinated about the 'Apocalypse' but to tell you the truth, it is the darkest parts of our past that thrills me the most. From the dark Holocaust of WWII to the horrendous 9/11 attacks in the U.S., all of these human tragedies have proven how futile a single human life can be once the universe conspires to take such a huge quantity of casualties. These are the ‘signs’ that we ought to take heed of and behind all these is our power to live our lives to the fullest while it’s not too late. No one really knows how much time is left for us but The Road gives us two choices: We can either take the road of creedless comfort or the road to painful survival, with our own integrity still intact. Two roads. Two destinations. The choice is ours.

"Shelter" (2008): Movie Pick of the Month

Just to satisfy my craving for gay-themed movies, I pulled Shelter out of my growing torrent movie collection and gave it a try. Although a bit predictable, an opinion which I share with other bloggers who already put their eyes on this film, the story and the acting are both compelling and remarkable indeed. Set in Southern California, Shelter is the story of Zack (Trevor Wright), an artist who is torn between his family responsibilities and  his dream of entering an art school to hone his skills. After his mother died, he decided to take control of his family by supporting his ill father and her sister, who is a single mom to his nephew, Cody, financially through working on low-paying jobs. But everything changed when he was reunited with his bestfriend's gay brother, Shaun (Brad Rowe), who came in to find remedy to a witer's block. As the story goes, the two protagonists developed their relationship from surfing buddies to a romantic relationship that put Zack's predicament to a different level. He have to deal not only with his domestic anxieties but also to the reality that surrounds his sexuality. Compared to Brokeback Mountain's "gay cowboy lovers", Zack and Shaun left a different kind of impression to me: sweet yet compelling story of two gay lovers who have brought the audience the perpetual value of personal choice, liberty, family, independence, love, and happiness. Furthermore, the light and relaxing backdrop of the movie allows closet gays (like me) to come into terms with reality while watching the film and eventually realize that genuine happiness can really be achieved by following our hearts' desires no matter how absurd they are in the eyes of the public. This movie has provided a 'shelter' for those confused guys like me who feel as if the world, still in the bondage of homosexual discrimination, is not the best place to come out and show our real identity. Without a doubt, this is one of the most unforgettable and inspiring pink movies I have ever watched so far. To all Trevor Wright fans out there, count me in! I couldn't get enough of Shelter until now. Perhaps this is the "aftertaste" of a good movie but Shelter is not a flawless one. However, its simplicity is what strikes me the most and that is enough to give this movie 4 out of 5 stars.

"The Blind Side" (2009): Movie Pick of the Month

As what the film poster obviously shows, "The Blind Side" is a sports movie....a football movie, to be exact. It's one of the most awarded and talked about movies of 2009 so out of sheer curiosity, I took the time to download the movie via BitTorrent. I'm usually not a big fan of sports movie but after watching the whole film, I have realized that "The Blind Side" is a complete exception to my dislike.
"The Blind Side", which was based on the 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of the Game by Michael Lewis, is an inspiring story of Michael "Big Mike" Oher (Quinton Aaron), an African-American who has been in foster care of different families for 17 years. Luckily, he was accepted at Wingate Christian School (known as Briarrest Christian School in reality) after his friend's father convinced the coach, who, in turn, convinced the school principal that Michael, indeed, has great potentials to become an athlete. In school, Michael Oher met Sean "SJ" Jr. (Jae Head) and quickly became his friend. SJ is the son of Sean (Tim McGraw) and Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock) Touhy, an interior designer , and has an older sister named Collins (Lily Collins), who studies in the same school. Michael was introduced to SJ's family when one freezing night, Leigh Anne offered Mike to stay in their house after noticing that the poor, homeless boy was shivering in the middle of the dark road. Eventually, Michael Oher became a part of their family, a fact that was easily accepted by Collins and SJ but not by Leigh Anne's friends, who believed that it will greatly affect her kids' social life. Nonetheless, she continued to make "Big Mike" a real part of their family until she discovered at school that even though he has scored low in essentially every aspect, he scored in the 98th percentile in 'protective instincts'. Consequently, they enrolled Mike in the school's football team and as they say, the rest is history. Bestowed with natural protective skills and unbelievable strength, Michael caught the eyes of every college coaches around the state carrying along them various offers for the boy with extraordinary talent. But in order for Mike to get the NCAA Division I Scholarship, he has to get a grade of at least 2.5 GPA, the reason why Leigh Anne hired Miss Sue (Kathy Bates) as his private tutor. During the last part of the film, conflict arose when NCAA investigator probed Mike's decision in choosing University of Mississippi instead of University of Tennessee, suspicious that Leigh Anne, who is a University of Mississippi alumna, forced him make such a contradicting decision as Mike has Tennessee as his home-state team. Mike confronted Leigh Anne but after being enlightened that Leigh Anne will be happy for whatever his decision will be, he still opted to accept the Ole Miss scholarship because his family has gone to school there.
Aside from the fact that this movie has showed great depth in story-telling from start to finish, I also admire how Sandra Bullock portrayed her role which admirably broke the "dumb comedienne" stereotype that has been attached to her name. Without a doubt, Sandra deserves to receive major awards to praise the feat she has got for this performance. Although there are some boring parts in the movie, I have to say that "The Blind Side" is a movie based on reality that truly bites. It's a very inspiring movie that shows us that every one has a right to dream big and become big. Perhaps, "The Blind Side" will be an ideal benchmark for sports movies in the future who should focus also on the story and not just on stimulating action of sports.

"Up In The Air" (2009): Movie Pick of the Month

Reality bites. And amidst the magic that all the fantasy-driven movies like Avatar have brought to the main screen audiences, some people opt to savor the bittersweet taste of reality rather than escape from it--I'm one of them. "Up In The Air"is a dramedy that lightly tackles the very highlight of the recession era in the United States. It's the story of Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) who works in a company that specializes in firing people and made for employers who don't have the guts to conduct employee layoffs on a face-to-face basis. He's also a motivational speaker who usually starts off the discussion by asking his audience the symbolic question of "What's in your backpack?". He introduces the comfort and advantages of having a life free from baggages brought upon by relationships and commitments. It reflects his own philosophy in life that mainly resembles that of a hermit's, even though he keeps on denying it. Ryan's personal goal for his life is to achieve ten million frequent flyer miles through riding the plane, which he bluntly treats as his 'home' because of the daily trips he have to endure for his job. The story also revolved around two characters namely Alex (Vera Farmiga), a frequent flyer as well whom he had casual relationship with while traveling, and Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), his ambitious coworker who developed the idea of conducting the layoff remotely through the internet, contradicting Ryan's traditional face-to-face firing. Later in the film, Ryan almost fell in love with Alex but found out that she already has a family of her own and their relationship is a mere escape from reality. Natalie, on the other hand, quit the job during the last part of the film after learning that one of the employees she fired jumped off the bridge and took away her own life. However, she got the new job because of the recommendation forwarded by Ryan, whom she developed a friendly relationship with eventually.
"Up In The Air" (which has various nominations for Golden Globes and Oscars) is a true masterpiece combining wit, comedy, and drama. On a personal perspective, I think this movie is something that I can relate with. Having experienced how it feels to be fired unexpectedly, I saw great humor in the way Ryan developed his own line in firing employees : "Anybody who ever built an empire, or changed the world, sat where you are now. And it's *because* they sat there that they were able to do it." During this trying times aptly dubbed as the 'recession era', unemployment and moments like what the film captured regarding firing people are the things that people have to watch firsthand in order to realize that there's life after unemployment. Also, the movie, by painting a portrait of Clooney's character, made me check my own ideologies and have a sudden soul-searching. I have lived a life with a limited time for building and nurturing friendships. I'm the type of personality that will value my career more than anything else like what Ryan Bingham believes in the movie. I prefer to be alone most of the time and not so much of an outdoorsy kind of person. I don't know what good reason to give for such a behavior but maybe I can count on what Ryan's brother-in-law asked when he had a cold feet in marrying Ryan's sister. Like him, I also can't see the purpose and meaning for getting married, raising a family, and then ending up being old and abandoned to a nursing home. However, by contemplating the way the story ended in the movie, connections seem more important than existing alone- -an idea that brought me back to reality.
In general, the movie is an artistic combination of great story-telling and surprisingly good acting. George Clooney is quite great as usual but Anna Kendrick really surprised me the most. I have seen her played a not-so-significant role as Jessica in the Twilight movie series but in judging the way she portrayed her character in this movie, I won't doubt if she will receive various nominations.
Considering all these aspects that has made this movie a very good pick, I assure that everyone will be captivated and fall in love with this movie made up in the air!


The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living.- Ryan Bingham

Return of the Iron Man

Full Trailer for 'Iron Man 2' Shows Whiplash in Action
When I first watched Iron Man (starring Robert Downey Jr.) in dvd last August, I fell in love with the special effects and the story-telling rendered by the film itself. Unlike other moivies with the same comics-based characters, Iron Man has a different attack in reliving the character as a movie super hero. Light and engaging story complemented by superb special effects and a powerhouse cast that are not new in Oscar nominations and awards, this movie will leave every members of the family dumbstrucked and amazed. A day after the first sneak peek to "Iron Man 2" was released by Entertainment Tonight (ET) on Tuesday, December 15, the full trailer has been debuted by Apple. Making its way out earlier than it was expected, the video gives a look at the movie's villain, Whiplash, who uses his power to attack Tony Stark. Moreover, the trailer also features another Iron Man's enemy, Black Widow, which is the alter-ego of Tony Stark's new assistant, Natasha (played by Scarlett Johansson. Then, toward the end of the clip, Iron Man and War Machine are seen teaming up in their action. Additionally, on Wednesday, December 16, ET has shared the second sneak peek to the "Iron Man" sequel. In "Iron Man 2", Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow return to reprise their roles as Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. Meanwhile, Whiplash/Ivan Vanko is portrayed by Mickey Rourke. The film also has Don Cheadle starring as War Machine/Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes, and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. Paramount Pictures plans to drop the movie in U.S. theaters on May 7, 2010.