Inception (2010)

I saw "Inception" so you don't have to!  Just kidding, "Inception" was actually a pretty great movie!  I'm not a super big fan of Leonardo di Caprio.  I mostly have trouble getting past his voice (he sounds like a bitchy twelve year old).  But other than that "Inception" had a pretty all-star lineup, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Paige, and Ken Watanabe.  All of the actors were basically perfect except for di Caprio, because he's a bitchy twelve year old.

I can't really tell too much of the plot because it would give up too much of the plot, but I do have one complaint; that being that some of the details and events (including the past of the characters and how they came to be) was a little vague at times.  It really wasn't until the very end of the movie that I noticed how everything fit together and the importance/significance of all of the characters.  However, it was shot very well and had a lot of interesting ideas, however, a lot of the ideas presented in "Inception" are not entirely original.  The two movies that stood out to me as being similar along some lines were "The Matrix" and "Vanilla Sky".  Without giving away anything, lets just say that each of these movies are similar to "Inception" in the way that the character's minds/thoughts/dreams are manipulated.

Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed "Inception" and highly recommend seeing, maybe more than once!  "Inception" gets a 4.5, not a 5, for the sole reason that Leonardo di Caprio's voice sucked...and because I don't like his acting style....and because he's a teenage heartthrob and I'm not.... :(

Knowing (2009)

Other than the fact that I hate Nicholas Cage, "Knowing" was a pretty O.K. movie...until the end.  It seems like I've stumbled upon a few movies lately that sort of have a "hidden" (and when I say hidden I mean completely blatant...) religious message.  I recently watched "The Book of Eli" which is the other movie I'm referring to.

I'll just go ahead and ruin it for you since I would hope that after reading this review, you wouldn't see it.  "Knowing" is pretty much a round about way of telling the story of the great flood and cleansing of the Earth and Noah's ark in modern times when everything on Earth is wiped out by a massive solar flair except for a few young children that are saved by what I deemed to represent angels to repopulate and restore civilization.  Pretty standard premise of a pre-apocalyptic world with a ton of foreshadowing but overall very predictable.  All of this was then ruined by Nicholas Cage.

Here is what I see wrong with Cage.  It seems like every single movie he's in, he plays the same lame character; that being the out of luck husband who is a genius on some large topic that is the key to saving the world (even though he doesn't save the world in "Knowing").  Cage's character basically bosses everybody around on his quest to discover the truth behind a lot of strange happenings centered around him and his son.  Of course every character submits to his will and follows him around like chickens with their dicks cut off.  Not to mention he is a terrible actor with absolutely no emotion change (it's all "I'm awesome and here to save the world! Out of my way!")

The only credit that I will give this movie is that it has the guts to completely destroy civilization rather than writing a script in with Nick Cage uses his super-god powers to resurrect the entire human race and survive a massive solar flair.  "Knowing" gets a 2/5 for decent beginning, with a bad everything else.  Go team!

The Book of Eli (2010)

I'm sure everybody in the world is a fan of Denzel Washington.  How could you not be?  "The Book of Eli" is Washington's latest blockbuster and it follows a man named Eli in his journey (guided by some kind of omnipresent entity....) to deliver the words of the Holy Bible to a group of people who are trying to rebuild society after it has been extinguished by war and natural disaster.  He comes in contact with a man who wants the "book" for the sole purpose of using it's power of persuasion and faith to increase his own wealth and livelihood by exercising control over whomever will follow him.  It takes place a seemingly post-apocalyptic world in which the Earth has been scorched by the sun and few humans remain, and even fewer alternative forms of life.  There is no law and order, there is only the struggle for survival.

I would have enjoyed this movie immensely if it hadn't been based on religion.  The movie portrayed my exact thoughts in a line by the antagonist, Carnagie (Gary Oldman), even though it appears to be a glorification of Western religion.  Carnagie states that he needs the book to exhibit it's power over the weak-minded people of the world so that he can control them and increase his own estate.  Now, I'm not going to get into a religious discussion about what is right and what isn't (in my mind, do whatever you want as long as it doesn't influence me and my decisions), but for a movie trying to explain why religion is seemingly good, why would you point out the fundamental flaw in it (that being that people blindly follow religion without giving serious thought to the implications it's having on their lives and the lives of others)?  Not only that but isn't it setting a bad example if the new prophet of God (Washington) brutally slaughters anybody who gets in his way in supreme displays of bad-assery?  It's like the crusades all over again!  That will be where my religious rant will end.

Other than the lame connections to the King James Bible, this movie had several great things going for it.  The acting was all great, except for the part that Mila Kunis plays (Solara).  Washington and Oldman were both great.  The cinematography and the general vibe of the movie was also very interesting.  What was most likely used was mostly shots of people surrounded by green screen with CGI sets erected all around them.  This gives the movie a very surreal and lonely feeling and does a great job of displaying the despair and fright of the remaining human race.  There were also some really awesome fight scenes, very much in the style of Zach Snyder (Sin City, 300) that showed a great display of the entire fight from a panoramic type view, rather than a first person view.  Because of the religious aspect, "The Book of Eli" only gets a 3.5/5.  Screw you Denzel Washington for making a movie that had so much potential to be completely righteous (not in the religious sense) and gory.