Inception

One of the latest movies I saw and it was nothing short of fantastic. With Inception Nolan has created a movie beyond brilliant. The movie makes the audience exclaim, raise their eyebrows, sit up on their seats and most importantly... it makes them think.

Inception requires extreme concentration as it presents complex ideas and situations. Now, it may be complex to understand, but simply put it is one of the most amazing movies of this year and maybe many more before that.

It was only Nolan who could have made this movie. It is not for the idea alone that I give credit to Nolan, but more because he was able to explain the movie within the 2 hours allotted to him. I would expect other directors to hand out brochures to the viewers to help them decipher the plot. The movie creates a lot of ambiguity, raises a lot of questions and leads to many a discusssions. But that is what Nolan intended to do anyway. The plot is clear, it is the piecing together that is left to the audience. The director made sure that the movie did not leave our minds for a long time. Heck! it has been almost 2 weeks since I saw the movie and I am still here. I plan to watch the movie again. He creates magic similar to The Dark Knight but with an entirely different cast, plot and direction.


The protaganist of the movie, Cobb, is an Extractor. His job is to enter people's dreams and steal their sub-conscious thoughts. He is wanted by law for murder. He is given a task, by Saito, to enter a person's dreams and put in an idea - Inception. Doing this would get him freedom and he can go back, free, to his children. The movie explores controlling dreams, designing their layouts, shared dreaming and the most powerful concept... of layered dreams. In the movie, Cobb creates 3 levels of dreams (dream within a dream within a dream) to be able to successfuly plant an idea in Fischer's mind. To design the dream scenarios, one needs an architect who would create the dream worlds. She would be the only one who would know about it. Also, there needs to be a dreamer for each level. When the participants in plot move ahead a dream level, the original dreamer needs to stay back. The story revolves around the entire execution of this plan.

The ending of the movie though not twisted, twists the viewer's mind. It was a bold decision that Nolan took. The ending is not concrete. For a second, one is not sure if the movie is indeed over. But the sheer magic that Nolan has created through the movie takes over and just leaves you in awe.

Inception is a movie like you have never seen before and it will make you want to see it again and again and again.

Star Wars

This is my first post on the blog. Given the theme of the blog, I could not get myself to write about anything other than ‘Star Wars’. And mind you, I say Star Wars… not the prequel or the original episodes. It is just not the same without all 6 episodes.

Today, I am a proud owner of all the original DVDs. I have episodes I, II and III plus two versions each for episodes IV, V and VI. The two versions include the original – the way they were made in the late 70s and the re-mastered versions which Mr. Lucas decided was okay under the excuse of ‘artistic flourish’.

S and I were bent upon making sure that we got the original versions and not fall prey to better technology at the cost of altering what already were masterpieces. We were the genuine ‘Star Wars’ fans and not just pretending to be.

I am a huge fan. We finished watching all that we bought. Episodes I through VI and the re-mastered versions of episodes IV, V and VI in just…. hold your breath…. hold onto it… 2 days. The experience is far better than anything else… though it might be at par with watching the entire ‘Lord of the Rings’ in 1 day.

I am still a huge fan. The re-mastered versions were good. They were better than the original. No, I did not just say that. That dumb pretender put a gun to my head. Nooo…

But the truth is exactly that my fellow Star Warsians. The chances are that you have always seen the re-mastered version and never known it. The trick is to keep your eyes peeled during the ‘Mos Eisley’ sequence (Mos Eisley is the ‘wretched hive of scum and villainy’ that Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker go to to find themselves someone to get them to Alderaan). At the end of episode VI, spirits of which characters did you notice watching over Luke at Endor? Obi-Wan and Yoda…. Diinnnngg! Wrong answer.

The original movie had Obi-Wan, Yoda and Anakin played by Sebastian Shaw (the fantastic Darth Vader in episodes IV, V and VI). The re-mastered version super-imposed Hayden Christensen (Anakin from episodes II and III) in place of Sebastian Shaw. Poor Mr. Shaw, the only shot that actually showed his face (sorry... the beat up face of Darth Vader just before he dies does not count) in a fine light was taken over the low-grade Anakin. What was the need, I ask? Hayden aged to look like Sebastian. Why, I further implore, was that difficult to digest?

But given all, George Lucas has done a very good job. He has edited the movies without taking away the overall effect. He has not at all interfered with the story or the characters.

The movies themselves are god-send. The magnanimous sets, the space shots, Tatooine... everything hit the right spot. It is a story of grandeur, achievement and the good winning over the not-so-good and bad. But I became a die-hard fan after watching ‘Return of the Jedi’. The Ewoks, Jabba the Hutt and his merry troop clinched it for me.

Do you know who the ‘Chosen One’ was who restored balance to The Force?

Select the area below to see if you are on your way to rise in this world.

Anakin Skywalker.

He was considered to be the Chosen One. But he turned over to the Dark Side in ‘Revenge of the Sith’. When Luke Skywalker confronts Darth Vader in the final battle in ‘Return of the Jedi’ he puts down his lightsaber and refuses to kill his father. Here Darth Sidious (The Emperor) unleashes ‘Force Lightning’ on Luke to punish him for not joining the dark side of The Force. At this juncture, Anakin Vader (hehe... on his way to explore the good in him) turns the Force Lightning onto The Emperor and throws him down the Death Star’s reactor shaft... in turn sacrificing himself... turning into Anakin Skywalkeronce again. So it was little Annie who turned out to be the Chosen One indeed.

Favourite Characters (limiting to 3)

1. General Grievous (he is by far the best with lightsabers)
2. Ewoks (I want a couple of Ewoks for myself)
   
3. Kaminoans (From the colner planet of Kamino, these are the most graceful creatures of all)

Worst Characters

1. Jar Jar Binks (no points for guessing this one)
2. Young Anakin Skywalker (are you telling me they found no one else??)