Posts Tagged ‘inception’

Hashtag: Explain A Film Plot Badly

Posted 08 Sep 2014 — by Ezra Stead
Category Movies I Didn't Get

By Ezra Stead

Hashtag: Explain A Film Plot BadlyIn case you missed it, there was a fun little game trending on Twitter over the weekend, with the hashtag “Explain A Film Plot Badly.” It’s kind of similar to this old thing I wrote. Here are the ones I came up with, in order of when they were tweeted (answers can be found in the tags for this article, but I think you’ll get ’em all):

Kevin Spacey has a nice time drinking coffee and telling stories to a grumpy policeman.

Sigourney Weaver risks her life to save a cat.

Sam Neill learns to like children after being forced to keep two of them from being eaten. Read More

Hercules – Needs More Blood!

Posted 17 Aug 2014 — by contributor
Category Film Reviews, Member Movie Reviews, Movies I Got

By Mike Shaeffer

Hercules, USA, 2014

Directed by Brett Ratner

Hercules is not the cocky hero that believes he is destined to defeat any foe.  This is a weary mercenary-for-hire who is tired of tall tales and wants to score on one last mission so he can finally retire and be left alone. Action fans would look upon Brett Ratner’s X-Men 3 more fondly if no other X-men movies existed before or after it. Sadly, The Last Stand stands as the least enjoyable of the mutant franchise, and I attribute this largely to Ratner’s approach to action sequences. When he attaches himself to a solid story and a talented cast, he can churn out immensely watchable guilty pleasures like After the Sunset (2004) or the pilot to Prison Break, which hooked me into a hermit-like Netflix binge, burning through all four seasons in six weeks. So what about Ratner’s take on Hercules? The iconic lion’s head? Check. Dwayne Johnson dons the headgear like Riddick putting on his goggles just before opening up a can of whoop-ass, and you’ve got the familiar trope of a son struggling with who his father really is—see Superman, Simon Birch, Inception, The Empire Strikes Back, or even TV’s ArcherRead More

Spoiler Alert! Some Thoughts On Twist Endings

By Ezra Stead

The Sixth Sense ruined twist endings for quite sometime after its 1999 release. Since M. Night Shyamalan’s much-ballyhooed 1999 feature The Sixth Sense, twist endings have gotten something of a bad rap, and usually with good reason. After all, in many cases they are a cheap way to add excitement to the climax of an otherwise dull story; sometimes they are a cop-out, negating all emotional involvement that may have been invested in a film up until that point; others seem to be the sole reason for a story’s existence, without which the whole thing crumbles. On the other hand, when they work, twist endings can make a good film great, and they occasionally even reward repeat viewings by revealing previously unseen layers that can only be recognized once the conclusion of the story is known.

As rightly reviled as are many recent examples of the technique, especially many of Shyamalan’s subsequent efforts, there are also many laudable examples to be found among some of history’s greatest cinematic achievements, old and new. Widely respected filmmakers from Alfred Hitchcock to David Fincher and Christopher Nolan have successfully employed the well-placed twist to wonderful effect, and even Orson Welles’s immortal classic Citizen Kane, considered by many to be the greatest American film ever made, concludes with what can only be deemed an elegant, emotionally rich twist ending. Read More

Oscar Predictions 2011 – Which Movie Will Win the Best Picture Award?

Posted 22 Feb 2011 — by contributor
Category Box Office News, Film Industry News

The question of the year in the movie industry: Who will win the Best Picture award? Who will take another Academy Award home as winner and who will just spend the night applauding others? As no one knows for sure yet, let’s take a look at the list of the Best Picture Nominees and try to come up with some system to make predictions.

Best Picture Nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards:

Black Swan — director: Darren Aronofsky; writers: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz; stars: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel

The Fighter — director: David O. Russell; writers: Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy; stars: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams

Inception — director: Christopher Nolan; writer: Christopher Nolan; stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page

The Kids Are All Right — director: Lisa Cholodenko; writers: Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg; stars: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo

The King’s Speech — director: Tom Hooper; writer: David Seidler; stars: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter

127 Hours — director: Danny Boyle; writers: Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy; stars: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara

The Social Network — director: David Fincher; writers: Aaron Sorkin, Ben Mezrich; stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake

Toy Story 3 — director: Lee Unkrich; writers: John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton; stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack

True Grit — directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen; writers: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen; stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Hailee Steinfeld

Winter’s Bone — director: Debra Granik; writers: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini; stars: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes and Garret Dillahunt Read More

Changes Inside Warner Bros And DC Could Mean New Films/Series For Comic Characters

Posted 05 Oct 2010 — by Jason A. Hill
Category Film Industry News

By Jason A. Hill

DC entertainmentWBWarner Bros. has moved operation of DC Entertainment under its supervision with Diane Nelson to serve as President. DC Entertainment, formerly a separate division of Warner Brothers Entertainment, Inc., will be integrated along with the DC Comics business, brand, and characters into WBEI.

DC Entertainment will now work with each of the Warner Bros. divisions, which will tap into the expertise of the studio and utilize DC properties as key titles and growth drivers across all of the studio, including feature films, television, interactive entertainment, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products. The DC Comics publishing business will remain largely unchanged. DC Comics releases about 90 comic books and 30 graphic novels a month and remains a creative leader in the comic book industry. Read More

Inception – One Simple Idea, Quite Simply A Masterpiece

Posted 18 Jul 2010 — by Jason A. Hill
Category Film Reviews, Most Confusing Films of All time, Movies I Got

By Jason A. Hill

Inception, USA / UK, 2010

leonardo dicaprio

In a story, and especially in screenwriting, writers often have a concept they refer to as the “controlling idea.” This is an idea that boils down all the complexity of a movie to one idea, one sentence.

In Inception, director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Memento) has crafted a story whose “controlling idea” is a controlling idea. That is, “an idea, planted deep enough into a person’s subconscious, will grow like a virus and become the very center of that person’s existence,” which is referred to as “inception.” This loop of meanings is just the surface of what is a multi-layered labyrinth of a plot, and can become very confusing for much of the audience this film will entertain. But if you can get past the vast complexity of the plot, where Nolan has spared no expense in giving plenty of action, suspense, and drama, you will have seen quite possibly the best sci-fi film in ten years. I know that’s a bold statement, and considering its very good but relatively tame 84% rating from RottenTomatoes.com’s composite of various critics’ reviews, it is still yet to be determined how it will resonate with viewers over the next few weeks. But having seen it for myself, I already know another viewing will be necessary to fully grasp all this film has to offer, and I may write another article just to explain. For now, I will try to justify my high praise for this film and attempt to apply the inception that it is not to be missed!

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