Dear reader, there is some risk of spoilers if you keep reading. So, if you want to your forthcoming viewing of Inception or Toy Story 3 to be sans spoiler, stop reading now.
I’m now going to continue writing and presume that at least one person is still reading. It’s a vain hope but a familiar one.
Inception first then. The mind-bending thriller directed by Christopher Nolan, featuring the new Robert de Niro (except he’s not really new now, is he) Leonardo di Caprio. It’s a story about people who can influence and enter dreams (by and large) and has lots of levels and is really confusing.
Except it isn’t. Well I didn’t find it all that confusing, and in a way I was a little disappointed as I was expecting something akin to a Memento/Donnie Darko type experience with added BIG HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTER THRILLER scenes. It certainly delivered on the latter with some genuinely stunning special effects, the fight scene in the hotel corridor was superbly done and thankfully didn’t rely too heavily on the fast-cut edits that seem to have become the norm recently.
It’s an excellent thriller, don’t get me wrong, and the premise is a clever one, well executed I just think I got a bit caught up in the hyperbole surrounding it.
Top tip: what age are the children you see? do they sound that old on the phone?
Definitely a movie to see on the big screen but, for me, I don’t think it will enter the hallowed halls of the ‘cult’ movie. Or maybe I just need to go watch it again.
Toy Story 3, on the other hand, is already assured a place in the box office hit list. It’s the franchise that can do no wrong and, once again, the team at Pixar deliver a smart, well written movie which allows kids to have fun, whilst adults nod along and may, or you know, may not, shed a tiny tear or two… I couldn’t possibly comment.
Dealing with the reality that Andy has grown up, Woody has to come to terms with how his life is changing (given my current circumstance it was oddly familiar in a way). On the way, due to various circumstances, he ends up leading a daring rescue mission to save all his friends. Story wise it’s simple enough, but managed to have me laughing along and genuinely on the edge of my seat at one point.
We actually saw the 3D version which was good but Pixar don’t overuse the technology, preferring to simply allow it to offer some depth without going for the “oh my god it’s coming out of the screen at me” moments we saw in Ice Age. I don’t think you’d be losing anything seeing the 2D version (and you’d save yourself a couple of quid).
I know await the Bluray boxset of the trilogy and part of me really hopes they don’t succumb and do anything more with this franchise. Time to let Woody, Buzz, Jess and all the others retire peacefully.
“some depth without going for the “oh my god it’s coming out of the screen at me” moments” sounds like, for once, a sensible use of 3D-ness – but I’m kind of biased. My astigmatism means that when I see a 3D film I get a sense of depth of middle- and long-distance objects, but anything in the foreground breaks up into two images and gives me a headache.