Inception

Inception (2010)
Rated: PG-13
Genre: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Running Time: 148 minutes
Director: Chris Nolan

"From the director of Dark Knight.." is an effective attention-getter in hearing the preview for this gnarly, reality-altering movie starring (among others), Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur, Ellen Page as Ariadne and Ken Watanabe as Saito. Is it even possible for us to be disappointed with a movie created the person who gave us what we needed in 2008 with Dark Knight? I say anything is possible and entered the theater hoping for the film to meet my expectations, but certainly not to exceed them.

We meet Cobb washed up on a beach with nothing to his name but a gun & a spinning top. Security guards bring him to an obviously powerful Japanese businessman who confronts him about this top and it is clear there is more to this simple item than appears. We then shift to a dream in which we meet Arthur & Saito and learn a bit about how deceiving these worlds are. What seems to be reality are truly graphic, lifelike dreams - and depending upon who the "dreamer" is, can determine how people, places and objects (these are called projections) act. In this dream state, you feel pain but "death" in this place, is you waking up. From outside the dream, a "kick" is what wakes you up. This is done by someone in reality, who is of course, awake, by utilizing the law of gravity. Simply push your "reality self" over and once you hit something, you wake up. The kick is a pivotal feature as there exists a slim possibility that you may get trapped in the dream world. Arthur & Cobb work together, in the world of a dream, and can manipulate the unknowing participant. This works best by the participant thinking that the dream is truly a reality and thus Cobb & Arthur can get them to reveal, or simply show them where, their darkest secrets may lie. The crux of this film comes from an unimaginable idea, one in which you don't work with the dreamer's ideas and projections but you implant an idea of your own, having them believe it is of their own creation. Simply put - you are completing a type of mind control. This is called inception. Cobb & Arthur are hired to complete this complicated task and construct a team whose goal is to achieve inception. Their subject: a wealthy businessman. Yet there is a reason it is said it can't be done; numerous intricacies add unpredictability and higher risks. Added to the level of difficulty is the projections dreamers can unintentionally plant within the dream; they can be useful... or harmful.

Cleverly sewn together, each scene is intriguing and thrilling. Chris Nolan wrote, produced and directed this - he is a genius! There are visual stimuli yet much more as your mind has a level of understanding since we all, at some point, have experienced dreams that seemed to be reality. Thinking you're clever you determine that its quite simple to decipher what is real and what isn't. Yet once in, it becomes less clear and more complex and once you think you have it together, you are thrown something else to decipher. I left thinking about a struggle Cobb clearly fought over. If the dream is yours; yours to manipulate, to shape, to grow, with people of whom you love - why leave? Does it really matter if one world is "reality" and the other is a dream? If in this dream, you achieve your life goals, fall in love, build an empire etc... does it honestly matter if you are in a state of slumber in current time?

P.S.: The previews show you the zero gravity struggle between an unknown man and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This scene is fantastic - whew!

This gets a five out of five frames! Easily the best film of 2010 so far.



Check out the trailer - then tell me you're not going to see this!



Danae signing off!

source: youtube.com

Predators

Predators (2010)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Running Time: Approximately 107 minutes
Rated: R
Director: Nimrod Antal

We meet Royce (Adrian Brody) abruptly, as he is awoken, mid air, dropping quickly through the atmosphere towards land as he struggles to pull his chute. Once on solid ground, he discovers he is not the only one who was revived by this method. He meets, among others, Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov), a Russian soldier, Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), a member of the Mexican drug cartel, Isabelle (Alice Braga), an Israeli black ops sniper and Edwin (Topher Grace), a surgeon who seemingly doesn't fit in with the crowd of killers. Amongst the scuffle, they determine that they are not there to hunt each other, but to defend themselves from being hunted.

They determine that they were placed, though not known by who, on a planet being used as a game reserve. And they are the game. They conclude that they were chosen because of who they were - predators themselves. What better opponent, or challenge, then other creatures that hunt for a living? Wikipedia notes (either I missed this or they guessed) that the Predators themselves brought them there so they could hone their skills - this would make the most sense as the only other entity that would drop them there would be fellow human beings and although certainly capable, harder on the conscious.

The director, Nimrod Antal, stuck with the action movie basics: characters with drive and personality, a formidable enemy, a reason to fight and of course - lots of explosions, violence, blood and death. There were parallels with the original film. Each Predator can sense body heat, making it difficult to hide and, as Arnold S. did in the first film, we see some mud-covering to prevent discovery. In the 1987 movie, a highly spiritual Navajo warrior, Billy, stays behind as an honorable fighter, to face the creature in hand to hand combat and allowing more time for others to get away - there is a similar scene in this sequel.

The neat new surprises was that of a type of hunting hound yet seeing as it was the Predator's pet - they were much bigger and much tougher! In addition, we learn the classes between Predators and how they hunt.

Thank goodness there was no ridiculous and miraculous dodging-bullets-in-a-clearing or even needless love-making. Why there always seems to be a romance/kissing scene amidst a pressing need to escape is besides me. Somehow, despite being surrounded by enemies, many films portray the protagonist, while having only minutes to escape, finding time to look longingly into the eyes of the one whom, although they've butted heads previously, they are destined to be with. They then must lean in for a kiss that absolutely could not wait until after death wasn't knocking at the door (not a peeve of mine, no not at ALL!).

Note: Although Adrian Brody may be a surprise as the lead for this genre of film, he fits the mold for Royce the mercenary. He does a great job as an action hero (cue the strong and decisive action hero phrases where needed :))

My prediction allowed for a moderate "wow factor", respectable action scenes, a semi-believable story and lots and lots of violence. Expectations exceeded? No. Disappointed? Not at all. Job well done, Arnold would be proud.

This receives a solid three out of five frames.



Here is the trailer!!



Will you go to see this or wait for something else to come? Let me know via email or the forum at: www.j1studios.com.

Danae signing off!

So you think you can do what now?

So You Think You Can Dance
Channel: FOX
Date & Time: Wed. at 8pm, Thurs. at 9pm
Rating: Everybody

So I would like to complain about the latest season of So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD). It pains me to do this since I love this show so much. My biggest issue this season doesn’t necessarily lie with the people chosen to be on the show (oh I have issues with that but that will be discussed later) or with the fact that Mary Murphy is no longer a constant presence (I actually kind of love that). My biggest problem has to do with the structure of the competition. Too many things have changed.

Let me take you back, if you will, to past seasons. In the past 6 seasons, after the auditions, the judges will choose 20 dancers to make the show, 10 boys and 10 girls. Each boy would be matched up with a girl and they would dance as partners for a certain amount of weeks and then they would switch up partners to make things more interesting. Each week one boy and one girl would be voted off. Seems like an easy enough formula. One that has been working for six seasons. One that has proved to yield favorable results. Well this season they threw a big part of that formula out the window. Instead of 20 dancers, they only chose 11. Yeah 11 folks. Seems they couldn’t quite make the tough decision to cut one more person. So we are left with six guys and five girls. Now I’m sure you all are wondering how they can pair up this uneven number. Well there is the other part of the change. Now the dancers aren’t paired up with other contestants. They are now dancing with “all-stars” (past contestants of the show). What in the world is this about? I don’t understand. I don’t like it either. I think I know where they are going with this whole thing. I guess next to these great and wonderful all-stars we can really judge how well the contestant danced. A good dancer can’t be dragged down along with a bad dancer if their partner doesn’t get it. But this messes with the whole fabric of the show. The threads that hold the show together. Just this past episode they had the dancers dance once with the all-stars and then again with another contestant. So they are kind of leading it back to the original premise.

What is with the smaller amount of contestants this season? Is it because FOX only allotted SYTYCD a certain number of weeks and they decided they couldn’t fit all of it in considering the time constraints? If there are going to be fewer contestants why can’t they be paired up with each other from the beginning? Why the all-stars? There wasn’t really any kind of an explanation as to why this is happening. I love seeing those past contestants. They dance beautifully and bring a level of professionalism to the performance. But why are they there?!?! Why can’t these contestants have the same experience as the all-stars? There are just too many questions and very few answers.

The contestants this season I don’t completely agree with. They aren’t bad dancers or overwhelmingly annoying. They just aren’t people I think should be there instead of others. Now if they had 20 dancers this season these 11 probably wouldn’t bother me as much because some of the other dancers that I think were better would be there too. I must say that these dancers have held their own so far alongside the all-stars.

The one thing I do love about the changes though is that I don’t have to hear that annoying Mary Murphy scream and act like an ass all the time. Matter of fact, I have hardly seen her this season. I don’t know if they explained why she hasn’t been there every episode. I don’t need an explanation though. I need the address of Nigel so I can send him a fruit basket or something as a thank you. Mary always got on my nerves. It was so bad that I would mute the television every time she would speak just so I wouldn’t have to hear her voice and her screaming and the stupid stuff that she would say to the dancers. Now I’m not wishing harm on her or bad times. I’m sure she’s a perfectly lovely woman off the show. But on the show, man, I wanted to make it so she no longer had a voice box so we wouldn’t have to hear her anymore. I wanted a permanent mute option.

Well, hopefully with the new change of them dancing one dance with fellow contestants will come more dances in that vein. I want less all-stars and more season 7 contestants. I want more dancing and less Mary Murphy. Let’s see where the rest of the season takes us. At this last show they were doing the top 8 so we have many more shows to go.

I'm giving this season 3 1/2 stars so far. They have changed too much. But they can still redeem themselves.


Sorry I don't have an updated video from this last episode, but since it just aired last night no clips were available. This is the recap from last week's episode. Enjoy!
Top 9 - FOX Broadcasting Company - So You Think You Can Dance - Videos


Well, until next time kids, this has been Hava!