Inception, mainly
Jan. 5th, 2011 04:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
citrinesunsetI saw Inception. Finally, huh? Actually, this is very quick for me to see a new movie. I usually wait until stuff comes on HBO, but I was curious about it and I'm still off from school, so I thought it'd be a good chance to rent a couple movies.
I've been hearing about it everywhere over the past few months, but didn't have a clue what it was even about until I finally watched the trailer. That could have been a big warning sign, because it's very rare for stuff to live up to my expectations in situations like that.
But I didn't really have any expectations. I'd heard the special effects were great. And I definitely wasn't disappointed there. I thought they were great and a lot of fun to watch.
The cast exceeded my expectations. Learning that Ellen Page was in it was a huge draw for me to see it in the first place, because I love Ellen Page. But I'd expected her to have a small role, so I was happily surprised.
I liked the story and I thought the whole thing was fun to watch. I liked it enough to rewatch it the next day, and like it enough that I'm sure I'll watch it again eventually.
I don't really have anything deep to say about it. Just a couple things that came to mind:
1: I think this is the first time I've seen an idea in a sci fi/fantasy story that I kinda wished was real.
Sure, when I was a kid, I played lightsaber battle with a broom a few times. But I knew I wouldn't really want to be a Jedi or live in the Star Wars universe. And I never would have wanted to receive a Hogwarts letter. I'm too quick to see the potential downsides of stuff like that.
What I did want as a kid was to teach myself to lucid dream. I really wanted it. I think I thought lucid dreaming meant you could turn your dreams into your own personal playground and shit.
I've long since gotten over the disappointment. But my inner child reacted to Inception with glee nonetheless.
2: I haven't thought much about any possible interpretations of the movie beyond how it was presented.
But the slight ambiguity about what was real and what wasn't made me look at the literary devices used in the movie more than I normally would. There's a fair amount of symbolism, repetition, and recurring motifs. Ariadne, for example, working with mazes and being named after a character in Greek mythology who was connected to mazes. Saito's line about taking a "leap of faith" mirrors Mal's line and suicide.
Things like this work as literary devices, but I could also see them working in the context of the story, if it turned out that nothing was real and that everything amounted to dream symbolism.
I also rented Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I liked it all right and am glad I saw it. Didn't like it as much as Inception, though, and it doesn't have the same rewatch value for me. Very stylistic, but I think that's fun sometimes. *shrugs* But I liked the cast, it was kind of fun, and it wasn't very expensive to rent.
In other news, I've been around someone who has the flu, and I've felt a little under the weather off and on for the past couple days. Ugh. If I get really sick, I will not be happy. I'm hoping it stays a low-grade thing if I keep getting my rest.
I've been hearing about it everywhere over the past few months, but didn't have a clue what it was even about until I finally watched the trailer. That could have been a big warning sign, because it's very rare for stuff to live up to my expectations in situations like that.
But I didn't really have any expectations. I'd heard the special effects were great. And I definitely wasn't disappointed there. I thought they were great and a lot of fun to watch.
The cast exceeded my expectations. Learning that Ellen Page was in it was a huge draw for me to see it in the first place, because I love Ellen Page. But I'd expected her to have a small role, so I was happily surprised.
I liked the story and I thought the whole thing was fun to watch. I liked it enough to rewatch it the next day, and like it enough that I'm sure I'll watch it again eventually.
I don't really have anything deep to say about it. Just a couple things that came to mind:
1: I think this is the first time I've seen an idea in a sci fi/fantasy story that I kinda wished was real.
Sure, when I was a kid, I played lightsaber battle with a broom a few times. But I knew I wouldn't really want to be a Jedi or live in the Star Wars universe. And I never would have wanted to receive a Hogwarts letter. I'm too quick to see the potential downsides of stuff like that.
What I did want as a kid was to teach myself to lucid dream. I really wanted it. I think I thought lucid dreaming meant you could turn your dreams into your own personal playground and shit.
I've long since gotten over the disappointment. But my inner child reacted to Inception with glee nonetheless.
2: I haven't thought much about any possible interpretations of the movie beyond how it was presented.
But the slight ambiguity about what was real and what wasn't made me look at the literary devices used in the movie more than I normally would. There's a fair amount of symbolism, repetition, and recurring motifs. Ariadne, for example, working with mazes and being named after a character in Greek mythology who was connected to mazes. Saito's line about taking a "leap of faith" mirrors Mal's line and suicide.
Things like this work as literary devices, but I could also see them working in the context of the story, if it turned out that nothing was real and that everything amounted to dream symbolism.
I also rented Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I liked it all right and am glad I saw it. Didn't like it as much as Inception, though, and it doesn't have the same rewatch value for me. Very stylistic, but I think that's fun sometimes. *shrugs* But I liked the cast, it was kind of fun, and it wasn't very expensive to rent.
In other news, I've been around someone who has the flu, and I've felt a little under the weather off and on for the past couple days. Ugh. If I get really sick, I will not be happy. I'm hoping it stays a low-grade thing if I keep getting my rest.
