Inception (2010)

It's hard to really give a thorough description of what Inception is about, but here's the most basic ingredient to understanding how complex it is: Imagine the Matrix. Now imagine that there was a Matrix inside that Matrix. And possibly another one inside that one. You kind of get the head trip that Inception is about to take you on.

The movie concerns that which is most precious to movies: dreams. Movies realize our greatest dreams and greatest fantasies, and Inception is a movie to challenge all those notions. Here is the reason we go to the cinema: to see things we've never seen before, to experience thrills that we've never dreamed of. A Trip to the Moon was a modern marvel in 1902, and I'm happy to report that in a summer full of sequels, reboots, and whatever else, Christopher Nolan has delivered what could very well turn out to be his best movie.

I say could because I'm not sure of the movie's greatness yet. But it is a movie that, once over, immediately warrants a repeat viewing because you want to go back, knowing what you now know, and reconstruct the movie from there. Repeat viewings, as is true for all movies, test whether something is truly a masterpiece. For now, I will say Inception is one of the best of the year and maybe that opinion will change later on.

The movie is about a specialized group of people who steal ideas from other people's dreams. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, one of the best in this field, along with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I won't even begin trying to explain how this process, known as "extraction," exactly works, and I won't even delve too far into the concept of Inception except to say, it is the opposite of an extraction.

Marion Cotillard is also in this movie, as Leo's wife, and she has a stare that terrifies the shit out of you. There's also Ellen Page, who doesn't know how this stuff works and so serves as our entry point into the whole idea of the dream world. Her job is to construct the reality of the dream so that the subject doesn't realize there are other "dreamers" there.

Nolan, who is the sole writing credit on this one (usually his brother Jonathan collaborates, but this one was maybe to intricate for Nolan to lay out for him on paper), proves how adept he is at juggling multiple story lines. This movie is the perfect study of parallel editing over the course of an hour to build tension so high that you are about to burst at the seams with craziness just wanting it to all end.

Undoubtedly there will be several knockoffs of this film down the line, but we will weather them. People will try to be as brilliant as Nolan, but few if any will succeed. He is working on a whole new level, way ahead of the rest of his competition, and inventing the curve. Did I understand Inception? Yes. Can I explain it? Yes, but it would take far too much time to lay out, and honestly, you should just go see it. It's a movie that has to be experienced, it cannot simply be explained.

(500) Days of Summer (2009)

Populating many multiplexes this summer are stupid, idiotic romantic comedies like The Proposal and The Ugly Truth. There's nothing wrong with a romantic comedy; City Lights (1931), Annie Hall (1977), It Happened One Night (1934), and When Harry Met Sally... (1989) are all romantic comedies that I feel are terrific films. Those films somehow fully embodied or transcended the genre, and are not merely completely predictable by-the-numbers films. And while (500) Days of Summer is not in the same league as those four, it's still a pretty damn good movie, and a refreshing look at romance.

The movie does away with any semblance of chronology, starting at Day 488, in many ways the most pivotal day, and then going back to Day 1, only to jump to Day 290 to examine the turmoil the relationship is in. A voice-over at the beginning states that this is a story of boy meets girl, but is not a love story. It's no secret that at the end of the film the two are not together, as evidenced by the title, so the film becomes an observation of Tom's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) confusion about what went wrong, and not understanding.

The movie seems to have a brutal honesty about relationships, right at the start, as Summer (Zooey Deschanel), the girl Tom is enamored with, right off the bat tells him she is not looking for anything serious. It seems that these two are in a role-reversal of what seems to be the "norm": Tom is looking for love, while Summer just wants to have fun.

The movie is carried by the leads effortlessly, especially Gordon-Levitt who is able to make you empathize with him during his heartbreak. Deschanel as Summer is also great, creating a character that remains a mystery throughout the picture, but also someone you could totally imagine wanting to hang out with.

The movie also has that indelible indie feel, as Tom in depression enters scenes from Persona and The Seventh Seal, or after his first big night with summer dances down the street to Hall & Oate's "You Make My Dreams". The movie has a pretty good soundtrack, which, besides the Hall & Oates, supports the indie feel of the picture.

The movie is directed by Marc Webb, his first feature, and what a breakout. Obviously the next movie is the true test of the director's strength, but here he fills the movie with such joy and sorrow, and you actually feel for these characters, even though the film will jump from early days of happiness to latter days of sorrow. The screenplay is written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who also scripted The Pink Panther 2. I never saw that film, but I am assured that when this duo is working from the heart instead of for the cash, they put a strong film together.

The film is not without its flaws. Most annoying is Chloe Moretz as Tom Hanson's 12-year-old sister who has all the right answers, or doesn't. She's the one character in the film that doesn't have an authentic feel to her, and instead was created as a weird channel for Tom's emotions in times of crises. An early scene of the film has her rushing to Tom's place because Summer has just broken up with him, and the goofiness was a little too much to handle.

Otherwise, I can't recommend this picture enough. 2009 hasn't been a particularly exciting year, but now I've seen The Hurt Locker, and this. Both are fresh breaths of air into their respective genres, and hopefully this means that there will be plenty of films to come.