Trailer looks as good as the cast.

Yeah, I dont think it revealed all that much. It does give us a proper premise though, so you at least know what the movie is about now. Some prefer not knowing anything before blindly going in, but I dont think some basic information wont hurt it. And yes, "Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up we realize that something is actually strange.", is an awesome line, not because it sounds cool, but because, damn, it's so true. I guess that line provides the context in which you see all the weird stuff happening. It's certainly sounds very original and interesting and one movie I will definitely watch.

That said, the new trailer does set it up as a rather conventionally structured film. It looks like one of those heist movies, albeit a very high concept one. You have the recruiting process, the planning, the execution, the getaway, all done with a whole bunch of varied characters. Still, I'm not going to miss it. When was the last time a big-budget film actually had an original idea of its own?

Nice. I think the best thing I've read about it is that there is an emotional core to it. It didn't seem that way from the trailers.

I just finished one of Nolan's films - Insomnia. Great.

I've seen it. Another great film.

Can't wait for the movie or your Counter Strike to finish downloading? haha. Btw I'm not at my PC. From my signature I can see that my brother is playing TF2 lol.

It's a unique approach to telling a unique story, and for the most part it's great. Only real problem is that the director and editor at times fail to overcome the flow problem inherent in a film where you tell the story by showing the last scene first and moving towards the beginning, so there is a brief disconnect whenever once scene ends and the next scene begins.

Negative reviews are trickling in now. After the first rounds of reviews saying the film has an emotional core worth caring for, the new ones seem to say exactly the opposite! I must say I have some slight trepidation for this now.

How about telling us if the movie is any good.

Just watched it, and I must say, I was a bit underwhelmed. The first hour, where they introduced the dream world and the rules that govern it, is marvelous. It's only midway through the heist when things get really complex and you (well I anyway) struggled to keep up. I was trying to train my thought on one thing and the film just waltzes past and throws me another Thing That I have To Wrap My Brain Around. To be honest, I think it gets too complicated for its own good at times. Too much on-the-fly thinking does suck away the enjoyment, you know. And there is an emotional centre to it, but again, the reason it doesn't quite work out is because, at least partially, you can't feel the emotions when you're wrecking your brain thinking. In the end, I still have some big questions that need answering. It's either that or they're large plotholes. Probably the former. So I'll watch it again in a few days, and I won't really judge it before I do.

Yeah this might be true. A few viewings should ably tell if this is indeed an ingenious sci-fi film or one that was just too wrapped up in its intricate plotting.

I had a few questions during the film. I should have written them down lol because right now I can';t remember what those questions are.

There's one here:
Scratch that, I've figured it out.

This post has been edited by QuickFire: Jul 15 2010, 03:22 PM

I dunno, I just thought about it when I was going down to get some snacks and it just came to me. that I didn't get that first time.

haha yeah. The answers are coming to me now... maybe I just needed to take a step back. But it's pretty impossible to remember all the details, there's just a lot, and I'm not blessed with good memory.

Not sure. You cant be really sure about anything in this movie.

I think the film is too obsessed with plot dynamics and details, and moves at too fast a pace, it's crammed too full with cold mechanics and leaves no space for reflection and emotions. I'm afraid to say even by now only the first hour of the film really sticks in my mind, together with a few notable scenes in the second half. The plot is impeccable plotted, in a cold sense. It's so intricate that I doubt there will be any holes.

Even Nolan fans have to admit he really isn't the best man for shooting action scenes. Face it, the shootout on the snowy mountain was quite a drag, wasn't it? Clearly inspired by James Bond, but while watching I couldn't help but notice not just how poor it was, but also how unnecessary it was. The shifting-gravity sequence though.... that was just friggin awesome (and short )!

Not to say I dont recommend it, definitely go watch it, just saying I'm a bit disappointed. Hopefully my second viewing will be much better. Changing my mind after a few viewings isn't uncommon for me.

Organic? Well the gravity-shifting scene was fluid. Looked really good. But that whole scene on top of the mountains? No. Perhaps he's better at doing conceptual action scenes, but he does so very suck at conventional shootouts.

Btw, I like your ending.

Ahh yes thanks for reminding me, that was one of the questions I had in mind while watching. How does one get back to reality from a limbo state? In fact, can someone tell me the whole story about Cobb and Mal? They were experimenting with dream states, took a high dosage of sedatives, lived a long time in their dream world, decided it was enough, killed themselves by being run over by a train, wound up in limbo, got old there, and then somehow getting back to reality? So how did they get back to reality? I'm not sure if I got their story correctly. Shit I cant remember anymore lol.

haha which forums do you go to?

This post has been edited by QuickFire: Jul 16 2010, 12:03 PM

And how did he do that? By showing him the totem? Cobb looked confused in that scene.

I doubt that, perhaps they just didn't show how they got out from limbo... or I just missed something.

Will be watching again this sunday.

Yeah that was what made me think, at first, that you get back to reality from limbo by killing yourself. But they had to show that shot of them being really old later in the film, and that confuses things.

I think sedatives are used in every instance of extraction, only the dosage varies. You wont get kicked out by death when a high dosage of sedatives is involved. You go into limbo.

Also, I dont think showing them as old people was only a visual effect. If memory serves me right Cobb did say there was a shock when they found themselves looking young again.

Anyway, I'm getting more confused the more I think of it. Near the end, when Saito dies and goes into limbo, Cobb and Adriadne connects the device to him and goes into his limbo, right (tell me if I'm wrong, can't remember well)? How come Saito's limbo is filled with the remnants of Cobb's city he built when he was stuck in his and Mal's own limbo?



This post has been edited by QuickFire: Jul 16 2010, 10:28 PM

I'm pretty sure there's sedatives regardless. That's how they slip onto sleep that easily. This is a minor detail anyway, not really worth discussing.

Yeah, that crossed my mind. But I would like to know for sure, how all of this works. Things like this isn't supposed to be ambiguous. Things like this really bugged the hell out of my head during the movie. And it's all this thinking that makes the film so cold, as we don't have a chance to invest emotionally. I know there's an emotional centre to it, but trying to feel the emotions in this film is like trying to think how much you love your girlfriend while you're writing a math exam with really hard questions. Hopefully once I've seen this 3 or 4 times, and all the little details have been dealt with and I can disregard the very dense plot, the emotions will surface and I will actually have the chance to ponder about its themes.

Perhaps the limbo state is... shared? It doesn't make sense to me, they could share dreams because they were connected to the same device, but there wasn't an device that, uhm... connected Saito's and Cobb's deaths. Hopefully the answer is in there somewhere.

That's how Nolan was able to convince the studio to grant him $200 million- he promised to make it so dense with details that people would simply have no choice but to watch it two, three, four times to fully comprehend it!

Anyway, dying in your dream doesn't wake you up. There was once when I died in my dream, and then I simply floated around watching everyone else, exactly like what happens when you die in online shooters liek Counter Strike and the free cam kicks in. That was a nice dream. I no-clipped everywhere.

This post has been edited by QuickFire: Jul 17 2010, 12:32 AM

Hmm, if that's how it is, I dont like it. They weren't connected to a device from the preceding level. I prefer the idea that even in a shared dream, each individual dreamer still has the power to be in his/her own higher-level dream.

But then again, the device in any of the levels in the dreams were... not real anyway, simply a fabrication. So perhaps it does make sense, but if they could share higher-level dreams without employing a shared device (like how all of their limbos were shared, even though they weren't connected by any imaginary device from the third dream level, the snow mountains), why bother fabricating the device in the first place?

I;m not sure if I'm making any sense. Sleepy already lol.