Thumbs Down
I rarely go to movies in the theater. The truth is I rarely watch movies, period. But tonight I was persuaded to go to a popular movie and dinner with my husband and long-time neighborhood friends.
I should have known from the comment from another neighbor, a high school teacher, who said his students all loved the movie. I should have known from the many previews that preceded it that it was way too violent to appeal to me.
But the worst thing was I couldn’t even understand the plot (if there was one). The premise was that technology existed to allow us to learn about people from their dreams and even to suggest things to them while they were dreaming. It also involved dreams within dreams.
None of that would have been so bad if it weren’t for all the senseless shootings and fiery explosions. The two men tried to dismiss this saying it happened only in people’s dreams so it was alright. Huh? said the other two of us.
Inception was produced by the same guy who did Momento. I’m sure many of you reading this thought that was one of the greatest movies ever. But I’m sorry to say I didn’t like it either.
I sat through Inception looking at my watch, wishing I could be home reading “Letters from Thailand,” and looking forward to dinner. At least I was not the only one in our small group who gave it a thumbs down.
posted by Barbara at 12:07 AM
8 Comments:
I haven't seen it yet, although we have tentative plans to see it this afternoon. I don't like violence either but I seem to be able to tolerate it in some movies if it has some sort of purpose. I hope I can follow it. I've heard it's hard to follow. But since it's about dreams maybe there's no point in following it so maybe I'll try to just go with the flow. Wish me luck!
I thought Memento was a nasty movie. Good in its way, but nasty, and creepy.
I agree with you Barbara. I saw Inception in Switzerland this past week (in English with German and French subtitles) and it is a thumbs down indeed. There were some cool effects but that certainly did not make up for the 'huh?' factor.
I have to catch up on your blog but have you left for you vacation yet?
Cyndy -- I will be curious to see what you think of Inception. I always thought I must the only person ever who didn't like Momento.
Gary -- Glad to hear you had a similar reaction to this movie. A lot of very cool special effects, but they didn't hang together for me.
We leave on August 10 for our Thai odyssey. Can't wait!
I did go see it and I thought it was very cool, although it was indeed far more violent than it needed to be. It was sometimes quite painful to watch.
I was very surprised to come out of the movie with such admiration for its complex structure. It's true that it went in and out of the various levels of the group dream in a way that seemed kind of random at first but it had to be that way in order to show everything that was happening simultaneously at the various levels of subconsciousness during the same shared dream. It was actually rather brilliantly organized. And the participants who were left behind to help at the previous levels dealt with all of the things that didn't go exactly as planned in very creative ways. I loved the intensity and the suspense and the very exciting ski scenes. The whole thing was a pretty wild ride. But I agree that a lot of the violence was very hard to take. I'm glad most of my dreams aren't like that - I'd probably be in an insane asylum if my dreams were that violent.
I had my very first free fall nightmare immediately after falling asleep after the earthquake last week. It reminded me of doing flips in the air before engaging the parachute during the one time I went sky diving, except that it was dark and disturbing and scary instead of fun. This movie made me think of that again for some reason.
Cyndy -- You obviously got it in the same way the men in my party did. They were full of admiration for the very things you mentioned while I was still stuck on the violence. Sometimes I think it's a sign of immaturity that I can't rise above and just enjoy the ride!
I enjoyed the movie, both movies really, though, I didn't actually like the characters. They both made me think about the lies we tell ourselves, how far we're willing to go, and where dreams stop and life begins (or vice versa). The inconsistencies, gaps and lack of clarity just left more room for my thoughts.
I enjoyed "Inception".
That said, it was not without faults. You have to take a giant leap of faith to believe that you can have a life in other people's dreams. I enjoyed the layers (literally) of stories within stories and the attention to detail. I enjoyed the acting, DiCaprio is always a joy to watch on screen, but so were Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I enjoyed the big screen special effects (you know I love an explosion or two in a movie) and the writing. I know this is only my own opinion, but it was nice to see a movie where they did not write in a love story where one was not necessary to the plot (as in any of Dan Brown's novels).
I think I will have to give this movie another chance, probably by Netflix since several of you are such big supporters. I often get fixated on something like violence and explosions and miss the point entirely.
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