Is Inception the Summer Movie for Smart People? Looks Like It
Entertainment Weekly’s Best of Summer issue dubbed Inception the season’s “biggest buzz movie” and described it as “a mind-bending thriller.”
The magazine’s writers are not alone in their enthusiasm for director Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi yarn about dream thieves on a special mission – or, as he puts it, “corporate espionage by way of dream invasion.” My fave film reviewer, Roger Ebert, lauded Inception for a “wholly original” story that cleverly repurposes movie conventions. Healthy scores at RottenTomatoes and Metacritic reflect a critical consensus for the flick.
This looks like a special treat: a big-budget summer movie for smart people. (There is some concern that it may actually be too smart or too complex to fare well at the box office.)
It’s Nolan’s seventh feature film. The others include Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight – all of them critically acclaimed.
Other reasons to see this movie include stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. DiCaprio is one of the very best film actors of his generation. Page has shown impressive talent and range in Juno, Hard Candy and (yes) Smart People. Gordon-Levitt, whom many know from TV’s Third Rock from the Sun, has done impressive work in quality indie flicks like Brick, The Lookout, Stop-Loss and 500 Days of Summer since his sitcom days.
Inception is playing at a movie house near me that charges a mere $6 for matinees, so I’ll be seeing it this weekend. This is the summer movie I am most stoked to see.
In the spirit of that EW Best of Summer issue, I have a few picks in other categories for this summer’s most memorable pop culture. Allow me to indulge in a bit of list making.
Summer TV: Hot in Cleveland, for bringing together three cool “middle-aged” chicks (Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick) and one much older one (Betty White) to work with scripts that are actually funny.
Summer Book: I’m way too cheap to buy a new book; the only hardcovers I buy are from remainder bins. So let’s say my book of the season is Andrew Morton’s Angelina Jolie bio, which I’ll soon be getting free to review. Then there’s that book by that guy named Teeluck. I’ve read good things about it.
Summer Song: Katy Perry’s insanely catchy California Gurls, which has a sublimely silly video. Sadly, the record company powers that be won’t let me post the video on MMA. A loud “Fuck you” to them, I say. Fucking greedy fucking music-industry suits. Here’s a vid they (so far) have allowed us to embed – 37 seconds of Katy Perry on the set:
So, what’s the pop-culture highlight of your summer?
Predators here I come!…It’s entirely your fault if I don’t like it…just so yer know…;-)
Yes, it is hot in Cleveland. C’mon winter!
Smart popcorn flicks? This is obviously going to prove to be nothing more than anomaly. I’m sure we’ll get the sequel to Paul Blart: Mall Cop next summer.
It is unusual to get “adult” films in the summer, us over 18s like to go to the movies too.
I have just got home from a matinee viewing, I loved it. The audience applauded at the end, it was an extremely clever film, with some clever effects and solid acting performances. Highly recommended.
Good to know.
After thinking about it overnight, I like it more today than I did yesterday.
I’m rather looking forward to ‘Predators’..it’s good then?
It is playing locally and it is playing in I-Max, which I absolutely love, so I will see it on Sunday. I went and saw Predators this afternoon and it was pretty good if you like that sort of thing and I do…
The other new movie I’m highly interested in is The Kids Are All Right, starring Julianne Moore and Annette Bening as a couple whose son and daughter track down their biological father.
Going to see Predators in about a hour. Summer fun!
Smart people? That’s me screwed then….
Yeah, me too. I should bring my girlfriend with me to explain it all after the show.