Magnet #897 - Albert EinsteinI picked this Albert Einstein magnet from Pomegranate for today, because I think he would have had a heyday with Inception. He'd probably talk for hours about the layered realities and dreams, the inherent quantum time and physics of each layer, and of course, the relativity of it all.
But, here's the thing. He'd have to go discuss it with someone else.
I hate movies that make me think too much. There. I said it.
There's a reason I go to movies, and that's to go into a darken theatre and forget about the world at large for a couple of hours.
Yes, there's an argument to be made for a movie to challenge your thinking about what you know to be truth and reality.
There's an argument to be made for a movie to expand your horizons, to teach you something.
There's even an argument for a movie to scare the living daylights out of you.
But, you know what? I hate being mindf*cked. Hate it. So any movie that exists solely to make me think about it days later makes me crazy.
On top of that, I also hate nonlinear storytelling, which is why I also didn't get through Christopher Nolan's Memento. And, yes, I know that's quite an unpopular, if pedestrian, opinion. I don't care.
The story line, screwy though it was, does keep you engaged (unless you were that idiot girl child in front on me on her Blackberry for the last 30 minutes of the movie. It would have been different if she were saving lives on email, but she was on Facebook. Tagging pictures. Of her and her boyfriend. Kissing. Several pictures. And her and her girlfriends. Not kissing. Dudes. Tagging pictures. I get that you're too dumb to understand what was happening, but seriously? Dim the freakin' BB display then! /endrant), and the ending is open ended enough to make the entire room (except dumbass Facebook girl) grunt. (Admittedly, I also hate open-ended endings, for the same reason I hate unsolved mysteries.)
Now. On the flip side? Inception was gorgeous. The direction was phenomenal, the cinematography was beautiful, the effects were amazing, the multiple locations were fabulous, the architecture was awesome, the score was terrific, and the pretty people were, well, pretty.
So, I guess that leaves me on the fence about Inception. I hated the mindf*ck, but loved the production as a whole.
And, I dunno what dreams may come tonight, but the movie kinda made me realize that the vivid, violent and unhappy dreams I was having earlier this summer have all but gone away in this last week of freedom.
It's kinda nice to have my good sleeps back.
Now, I just gotta find me a totem.
3 comments:
You an me are likethis on this topic. I didn't much like Momento either. I don't mind a movie that makes me thoughtful, but I don't like overtly thinky stuff. I have delayed seeing Inception for just this reason, plus I still think the plot sounds like that old Dennis Quaid film and that one wasn't too thinky, so I'm sticking with it.
I loved the mindf*ck, and loved how much it made me think. I loved the details, and the levels of details, and the uberlevels of details. (Hell, I'm part of the 0.00001% of the population that still defends Lost.)
I just didn't like the despondency of it all.
No matter how you decide to take the ending (and I took it the non-happy way), there's a definite sadness and hopelessness about everything. No matter what, things in the end turn out somewhat badly for all involved. Even if you take it in the happiest, successful way possible. It's still a sad story.
Like Schindler's List (I know, fiction and non-fiction cannot be adequately compared, and this analogy in inappropriate on many other levels, too): yes, he saved a ton of people, but excuse me, did you catch all those piles of bodies through-out the rest of the film?
Also: I get really, really physiologically involved in these kind of movies, and my heart was pounding out of my little chest the entire time. The next day? Heart still racing. I don't enjoy the feeling of dread, and Inception threw a big wet blanket of it over me through the whole movie and the rest of my weekend. The only other movies I've felt like that during were Panic Room and Alpha Dog. Wouldn't watch those again.
But I also truly loved the movie and would recommend it to anyone. Like you said: visuals, effects, acting, locations, sets, script... everything was amazing. I hope it wins a ton of awards. :)
Sorry it bothered your noggin, though. :(
Hahaah. @GG, I didn't even think to get involved in the despondency. Because I think I went to a third alt ending that I haven't seen people talk about (though I'm sure they have), which negated the whole movie to begin with.
Vicki, I think seeing it would be good - because on the big screen, the effects are amazing. But, yeah, be prepared to get into trying to work things out. Oiy.
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