Inception (C+) Upon reflection, this is the movie Brian DePalma should've made instead of Christopher Nolan. Not that Nolan's a bad filmmaker, but he's more of a clockmaker who happens to work in film than a filmmaker. His films tend to set up a Big Idea, then follow the implications of the Big Idea. In the case of Inception, the Big Idea is that the technology exists to enter into other people's dreams,and interact in such a way with their dream state as to take secrets out of their heads. And then we get the premise that if one can take an idea from a person in such a way, it should be possible to implant an idea in a person's head. With me?
It's a Heist Movie, as well. Now, the standard trope of the Heist Movie is that the Heist itself takes place about halfway/2/3rds into the picture. The Heist is shown to be meticulously plotted, brilliantly and professionally executed...and then one of the robbers involved gets greedy or careless and the whole enterprise falls apart after the fact. Inception is not that type of Heist movie. The main pleasure in Inception is in learning about the premise, buying the premise, and watching the burglars carry out the Heist-in-Reverse. Some of the set pieces, such as the shifting Paris landscape and the battle in the rotating hallway, are truly thrilling.
The problem is, as I mentioned earlier, is that Nolan is more of a clockmaker than a film-maker. Compare Inception with DePalma's 'Femme Fatale', which has a heist as it's bookend and a dream taking up the majority of the movie. I wouldn't call 'Femme Fatale' a great movie, but it evokes a dream state far more successfully than Inception did. Part of the problem Nolan has is that a film has a limited time to tell a story, and for this type of story, he has to spend most of his time selling the premise and how it works to his audience, so the characters get short shrift. Ellen Page, in particular, may as well have been called, "Miss Exposition". My point being, if you can't buy the setup as Nolan sells it, the movie falls apart. His use of how dream logic worked really bugged me, if I may cite 'Fridge Logic'. Why, given the history of dreams in cinema, from Bunuel to Jodrowsky to Tarsem, does Nolan go for the simplest and easiest ways to depict a world of dreaming?
(P.S. Here's a link to a website comparing 'Inception' to a Don Rosa 'Scrooge McDuck' comic with essentially the same storyline...) You're welcome.
Kick-Ass (The movie, not the comic) (B) After I thoroughly bad-mouthed the comic last time, I entirely expected to hate the movie as well. (Yeah, and I like to drink expired milk and complain about how sour it is. Wanna make something of it? Huh? Let's you and me wrassle!) Well, guess what, this movie is really, surprisingly enjoyable! Mainly because director/co-writer Matthew Vaughn isn't looking down on his characters (and the audience) as much as Mark Millar was. For instance, when Millar answers the question, "Why aren't there superheroes in real-life?", he says, "Because you losers reading this comic fantasizing about being super-heroes need a wake-up call and I'm just the guy to do it!" Vaughn's answer, on the other hand, is, "Because real-life is far more interesting than any comic book."
The story isn't hampered by an Idiot Plot, the characters are funny and likable, (I love Nicholas Cage's Adam West accent) and the action is over-the-top without condemning the viewer for getting off on it. As for the issue of Hit-Girl and watching an eleven-year old girl cuss like a sailor and kill bad guys, it didn't bother me at all. (Again, unlike the comic, her dad had a legitimate reason for going up against the bad guys.) Plus, I've always wanted to see a kid call someone a 'cunt' in a movie. Comic gold, that is. Seriously.
Blacksad (A) I love this series. Not because it sells me, an avowed hater of 'mature' anthropomorphic animal comics on it's premise-a cat detective goes a-sleuthing. Not because Juanjo Guarnido's watercolours are so detailed, precise, and beautifully rendered. And not because Juan Diaz Canales' scripts are so well-plotted. (He's like a Spanish Patrica Highstreet.) It's because...Ok, that's entirely why I love this series. Look at this page here...
You're welcome.
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