Category: Movies

Inception Ending – Thoughts & Questions :: SPOILER ALERT

07/21/2010 / Blake

Don’t read this if you’ve not seen Inception yet. You’ve been warned.

It’s a great movie. See if if you get the chance. The ending of Inception leaves a little up for interpretation. And that may just be the perfect ending. My mind wants to wrap it up nice and neatly. And I think I can. But when I do there are a few things hanging on that make me say, “But what about this….?”

So the biggest question is do you think the top stopped spinning or not at the end? I think it did. But I can understand the arguments as to why it may not have. But on a pure physics level, it seemed to be slowing down and starting tip over. And after seeing him w/ his kids it would have been such a bummer for him to not have made it to them.
Dom and Ariadne were both hooked up to the “sleep machine” in the 3rd level (snowy place) to get to the fourth leven to save Saito. But Saito was never hooked to that sleep machine. He died. Did his dying just send him off to that next level, they “greyness”? And that’s why Dom had to go rescue him?
Did that snowy place remind anyone of “Spies Like Us”?
How long ago did Mal kill herself from jumping off the ledge before the movie starts? I ask because in the memories he has of his kids, they seem to be near about the same age as they were at the end. So it would seem to be not much time had passed (unless the end was also a dream.)
When Dom and Mal spend those 50 years together it showed them get really old. But when the train ran over their heads they were young again. How does that work? Could they have possibly gone to another level at some point?
Do you think they filmed some of this in one of those airplanes like the “vomit comet“ that lets you perform in a weightless environment?
Nolan wrote, directed, and produced the movie. He’s going to continue to get richer.
Did anyone else feel tense from the opening scene til the end? It wore me out.
Hans Zimmer did an awesome job w/ the music.
Focus on the tubes in their arms – when Mal and Cobb woke on the floor after being hit by the train – they didn’t have a machine near by. When Cobb woke on the plane – he didn’t have a tube in his arm. Therefore were they dreaming in both instances?
In the first level dream when they are supposedly being attacked by Fischer’s subconscious, how did the train get there? The trains come from Cobb’s subconscious not Fischer’s, right?
If you check on the cast list for Inception on IMDB, there are two sets of kids that play the Inception children at different ages, which makes me believe that the end was not a dream state.

I have a few more bouncing around, but let me sleep on it.

Why are Vampires so popular?

11/25/2008 / Blake

I asked this question to a friend the other day, but it seems vampires are so much “the thing” in pop culture. Why are vampires so popular?

Right now the #1 movie in the country is Twilight. It focuses on a girl who moves to Washington (state) and becomes entangled with a “family” of vampires.
The #1, #2, #3, and #4 books on the USA Today Best Seller list are Twilight and it’s three sequels by Stephanie Meyer.
HBO‘s new series called True Blood has seen its ratings increase to now be its most popular series since the Sopranos and Sex In The City.
I read that at least 18 vampire themed movies have been released this year with more on the way.

So why are vampires hot? What is making people eat up the books and movie tickets? I know it’s not because the books are outstanding literature. They’re not terrible, but not outstanding (I’ve read one and a half of the Twilight series). Is it the forbiddenness of relationships with them? Is it the fact they don’t die (a mortal death at least?) Dunno.

But at least in the way of the Twilight vampires, it seems Meyer is messing with the vampire legend some. Her vamps can come out in the day time, but their skin sparkles instead of smokes and withers away. And they can get nourishment by drinking blood from animals instead of needed it to be human blood. [The Japanese in True Blood have created a synthetic blood substitute for the vamps in that series, though they say it doesn’t taste as good as the real thing.] And they can see themselves in a mirror. No mention of garlic or stakes through the heart or holy water (that I’ve read yet at least)

Do you think vampires are hot? Why or why not?

Invisible Children’s New Movie “GO”

10/07/2008 / Blake

I first learned of The Invisible Children while at Passion 06 in Nashville. But in a nutshell, they’re an movement began by three young men after travelling to Africa and seeing the horrid atrocities occurring as unwanted children have fled Sudan in to Northern Uganda. There they have often been kidnapped and forced into war as child soldiers. Those three guys made a movie about what they say. It impacted a lot of people.

Invisible Children has made and is making a big difference in the lives of those children. And this weekend The Orchard in Oxford is partnering with them to bring their latest movie, GO, to The Lyric Theater on The Square in Oxford.

We set up a website for it today: InvisibleChildrenOxford.com.
Go visit it. Find out more. And attend the screening.
October 12. The Lyric. 6pm.
Two videos below you should watch…

The trailer for the movie GO:

Part of what led to the movie:

Toy Story 2 [to the tune of The Dark Knight]

10/06/2008 / Blake

This is simply amazing. Really. I’m utterly amazed.

They’re Australian, so I’ll forgive them

04/19/2008 / Blake

I really, really, really like Hillsong United (myspace). They are one of those worship bands I’d heard about before, but never invested any time into checking them out until a few years ago. I was blown away. They have some really moving songs, but not just moving because of good music (which is top notch), but I think the lyrics are deep too.

They have a new project coming out, and part of the project is a new DVD. And the name of this new DVD is called All In This Together (click the pic for more info). I think my mind is poisoned now because of High School Musical. I even hear Pat use the phrase “we’re all in this together” last week in his sermon, and I immediately thought of HSM. In Pat’s defense, I don’t think he’s ever seen the movie.

But I think that I’m going to get the new double cd AND the DVD that Hillsong United is releasing. I’ve never been disappointed with their stuff.

Three Down :: Two To Go

04/17/2008 / Blake

I don’t think I’ve ever done it. I know I’ve not on purpose. But this year I plan on seeing all five films that were up for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Last night we watched Juno (trailer). I liked it a lot. It was kind of quirky, but in a good way. When it was first out in theaters I’d heard it almost glorified teen pregnancy. I really didn’t think it did. I think it actually told some of the hardships associated with teen pregnancy (both social and physical). But the character did take it pretty well. It has some really sharp dialog and good acting. I laughed quite a bit at it. It’s also really thought provoking with out ever being cliche. Allison Janney was great. I’ve always liked her from The West Wing. But Ellen Page, the lead role, was excellent. I think she could be in store for some great roles in the future. I’d also seen her in the movie Hard Candy. It was freaky, but good. I’d say Juno is about an 9.1.

Before that we saw Michael Clayton (trailer). I think George Clooney is one of the better actors currently working. He can do a pretty broad range of characters, from really serious to really silly. This is definitely one of his serious roles. It’s a movie you have to pay close attention to it in order to follow. But Michael Clayton is a a lawyer at a huge firm. His job is to be the “fixer”. He cleans up messes and smooths things over that need smoothing. But he’s run into a huge issue and is being pressed from different sides to fix it while dealing with personal issues. The story telling is not linear. So you gotta pay attention. But if you keep up, it’s a great movie. Michael Clayton is about an 8.8.

And just before that we saw Atonement (trailer). It’s a period piece where everyone seems either really privileged or lower class. The acting from Kiera Knightley and James McAvoy was great. The story is about false accusations stemming from jealousy ruining a life and a love, and the journey attempting to repair that love and find atonement for past wrongs. It’s a good movie. But got a little slow at times. One that will cause you to get really frustrated at the characters. And it is told completely out of order. I followed it, but The Wife kept asking why they didn’t just put it all from start to finish. If you’re looking for a good “pick me up”, then this is not that sort of movie, but it’s got some pretty good cinematography of war that was pretty amazing too. I’d give it a 7.4

Cloverfield….Wow!

01/22/2008 / Blake

Well, I’d had January 18th etched in my mind for a while, but it turned out that it just wouldn’t work out that day for me to see Cloverfield. But this afternoon I caught a matinée and was blown away. No spoilers here, but just suffice to say that it was one of the more impressive movies I’ve seen in a while.

Not necessarily because of the story, but because of the methods of the film makers, how they did it, what they showed, how the couched the story, and how they gave me a few pauses to catch my breath before making me hold it again for the next few minutes. It had some comedic moments in it as well.

A few pieces of advice if you’re going to go see it:

Go pee before hand. No, it’s not going to make you pee, but you don’t want to have to get up in the middle of this one and miss anything. Don’t get a huge Dr. Pepper or anything either.
Don’t sit too close to the screen. Did you see The Bourne Ultimatum? Remember those fight scenes and chase scenes? It’s quite similar to that, except the whole movie.
Pay very close attention at the very end.
And if you want to wait out the ending credits, there’s something for you to listen for.
And buckle up.

Admittedly, this is not a film for everyone. The Wife probably wouldn’t have liked it. But pretty much all my friend that have seen it were quite impressed with it.

Batman Begins

06/16/2005 / Blake

Tonight was the night. Batman Begins opened and I went with a handful of friends from church. Actually it was a group of college students, three high school grads, and two high school students….and me. I’m probably 10 years older than the oldest person there. But oh well.

It was a good movie. I could tell from the trailers that it was much less “cartoony” than the previous ones. I saw only a few of them until the plastic nature of the movies really turned me off. But even with more realism, it still threw a few silly punches with corney punch lines that were more than predictable. But it still captures the attention of the audience and keeps you interested. The bad guys are bad enough. And we watch Bruce Wayne wrestle with the demons of his past. Katie Holmes plays the eye candy, I mean love interest, but there’s no depth of character there. Christian Bale does a pretty successful job at giving us a peek into Bruce Wayne’s personal turmoil…much better than Val Kilmer or George Clooney.

Go see it. It’s worth it. And the big screen will do it much more justice than your living room television. Oh, and the good guys win!