Inception

Release Date: July 16th, 2010

Click here for the Inception Trailer.

Dom Cobb(Leonardo DiCaprio) lives in a world where people can enter other people's dreams and, in doing so, extract information that would otherwise be impossible to retrieve. Dom is an extractor, a professional thief who specializes in conning secrets from his targets by infiltrating their dreams. Dom has a specialized team including his partner Arthur(Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is the point man, the Forger Eames(Tom Hardy) who can take the form of other people in a dream and Ariadne(Ellen Page), the team's architect who is in charge of constructing the worlds were the dreams will take place.

Dom and his team are approached by Mr. Saito(Ken Wantanabe), a businessman whose dreams they were infiltrating. Mr. Saito reveals that he was testing the team for a job. Mr. Saito wants Dom and his team to perform something known as Inception, implanting an idea into somebody's head through their dreams which will then push the person to make the decision in real life.

The act of inception has never been successfully done and Dom is wary about trying it. Mr. Saito's target is Robert Fischer(Cillian Murphy), the son of Mr. Saito's terminally ill corporate rival and heir to his father's business. Mr. Saito wants to implant the idea that Fischer should break up his father's empire so Mr. Saito can be number one in the industry. In order to perform inception, Dom and his team must infiltrate a dream within a dream within a dream in Fischer, deeper than anyone has ever gone.

Due to the depth of the project, Dom enlists the help of Dr. Yusuf(Dileep Rao), a sedative chemist. Yusuf develops a sedative that is strong enough to keep Dom and his team unconscious long enough to achieve their objective. However, should someone die in the dream they will not be woken up in real life as is common with extracting information. Instead they will be stuck in a limbo for an indeterminate amount of time. With the risk of inception along with the risk of going so deep into a human's subconscious, the added threat of any training the subject has had against dream infiltration and Dom's personal struggles against a ghost from his past, the hopes of coming out of the dream is slim at best.

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Ok so Inception comes from the mind of Christopher Nolan, the same genius that brought us The Dark Knight. So needless to say, this movie is probably going to be good. But it isn't good, it isn't great, it's phenomenal. This is probably one of the best movies I have ever seen and is definitely one of my new all time favorites.

First off, the premise behind the movie is just so intense. The possibility of going into somebody's dreams and retrieving information or even implanting information is beyond cool. Couple that with all the things some of these characters can do in the dreams and the imagination highway seems endless. One thing I loved about this film is how Leonardo DiCaprio's team could do almost anything they want and add or subtract virtually anything. It sort of reminded me of the premise behind The Matrix where the characters could receive anything and learn anything instantly.

Let me just say that if you don't like movies that make you think, then you should not see this movie. You will be constantly wondering whether or not the characters are in a dream, how many dreams they are in or if they are in real life. But this just adds to the overall suspense of the film. It also grabs your attention and doesn't let go until the credits roll, and even then you won't want to leave.

I really loved the action in this film. Car chases, shootouts, assaults on military bases and an insane fight in zero gravity are just the tip of the iceberg. One cool element that added to the action was how, if something went wrong, a person's dream could begin to collapse causing all kinds of mayhem.

I thought all the actors and actresses were fantastic. There was a nice blend of personalities and styles. From fairly new actors like Ellen Page to seasoned veterans like Leonardo DiCaprio and the always incredible Michael Caine, there was somebody for everybody to enjoy. All the performances were top notch and will definitely be ones people remember for years to come.

I don't think I can find any fault with this ending. The one thing some people may have a problem with is the ending, which leaves plenty of room for debate. But I like that fact about the ending so for me it is a positive. Overall this movie was fantastic. It had a story that blew my mind and caused me to doubt whether or not I was living or in a dream. The action was intense and flowed perfectly with the story and most certainly was not overdone. The acting was incredible and no person delivered a bad performance.

Overall I think I will have to say that this movie is my favorite of the summer. In my opinion this film needs to win an award for Best Picture. I give Inception 10 Totems out of 10.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Release Date: August 7th, 2009

Click here for the G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Trailer.

James McCullen(Christopher Eccleston) is a Scottish weapons designer who has just created a nanotechnology-based weapon. The nanites are remote controlled and are capable of destroying an entire city. With his company MARS, McCullen sells four nano-warheads to NATO who puts the U.S. Army in charge of delivering the warheads. Conrad "Duke" Hauser(Channing Tatum) and his best friend and second in command Wallace "Ripcord" Weems(Marlon Wayans) along with their team are entrusted with the delivery of the warheads. En route to their destination, the team is ambushed by a squad of super soldiers that seem virtually unstoppable.During the fight, a woman emerges and attempts to take the case of warheads from Duke and Ripcord. While fighting her off, Duke realizes that the woman is his ex-fiance Ana Lewis(Sienna Miller), who now goes by "The Baroness". The Baroness is about to kill duke and Ripcord when they are saved by Shana "Scarlett" O'Hara(Rachel Nichols), "Snake Eyes"(Ray Park) and Hershel "Heavy Duty" Dalton(Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) who retrieve the warheads and transport them, along with Duke and Ripcord, back to The Pit, the command center for G.I. Joe. Upon arrival, Duke and Ripcord meet General Clayton "Hawk" Abernathy(Dennis Quaid). After the debriefing, Hawk dismisses Duke and Ripcord who insist on staying to which Hawk agrees to let them join G.I. Joe.

Upon inspecting the warheads, McCullen appears via a hologram message and tells them to disable the tracking device which has already been disabled by Abel "Breaker" Shaz(Said Taghmaoui). McCullen then wishes to view the warheads to make sure thy are in tact. Breaker then uses an visual x-ray scanner to examine the case without opening it which reveals the warheads to be intact, however McCullen insists on seeing them and gives Breaker a code to unlock it, however, the code actually re-initiates the tracking device and it is revealed that McCullen sent the people to steal the warheads. McCullen is implanting soldiers with nanites to create super soldiers who do not feel pain and do not know danger, threat, or fear. With the tracking device now working, McCullen sends The Baroness along with Thomas "Storm Shadow" Arashikage(Lee Byung-hun) and Zartan(Arnold Vosloo) with an army of super soldiers to infiltrate The Pit and steal the warheads. During the battle in The Pit, General Hawk is badly injured while The Baroness and Storm Shadow escape with the warheads. They take the warheads to Baron DeCobray, The Baroness' husband, who is a scientist. They force Baron DeCobray to weaponize the warheads while the Joes pursue them.

The Baroness and Storm Shadow get the warheads weaponized and head to the Eiffel Tower to detonate one. Storm Shadow and The Baroness are fleeing through the streets of Paris with Duke and Ripcord following in their accelerator suits trying to stop them. During the chase, Snake Eyes jumps onto the Baroness' car and attempts to stop them as well with Scarlett, Breaker and Heavy Duty following close behind. The Baroness and Storm Shadow's car gets hit by a train and the two split up with Storm Shadow taking the warhead and The Baroness taking the remote control and kill switch. Duke follows after The Baroness while Ripcord pursues Storm Shadow. Ripcord finds Storm Shadow but is too late to stop him from firing the warhead at the Eiffel Tower which detonates and begins dissolving the support beams. Duke finds The Baroness who escapes in a plane. However, thanks to Duke's accelerator suit, he is able to jump into the plane and hit the kill switch but not before the Eiffel Tower plummets to the ground. While in the plane Duke is incapacitated and captured. Duke is taken to McCullen's secret research base under the ice caps of the Arctic. While being transported, Duke attempts to steal the case and escape but is easily apprehended again. But while Duke had the case he was able to re-initialize the tracking code letting the Joes know where he is. Breaker, Ripcord, Heavy Duty, Scarlett and Snake Eyes travel to the Arctic to save Duke and retrieve the warheads which McCullen has already integrated into three missiles which he launches at specific world powers including Russia and the United States. Snake Eyes takes out one of the missiles while Ripcord hijacks a prototype Night Raven jet and goes after the other two.

Scarlet, Breaker and Snake Eyes infiltrate the base to find the control room to guide ripcord to the missiles and shut down the base. While captured, Duke is strapped into a medical chair and is being prepared to be operated on by The Doctor. The Doctor plans on altering Dukes physical features and turning him into one of the mind controlled super soldiers. While preparing for the procedure, The Doctor reveals himself to be Rex Lewis(Joseph Gordon-Levitt), The Baroness' younger brother. Rex was a science officer in the army with Duke and Ripcord who was presumed dead after an attack in Afghanistan went wrong. Rex hid in a bunker with Doctor Mindbender(Kevin O'Connor) and was severely disfigured by the blast. Doctor Mindbender told everything he knew about nanotechnology to Rex who went mad by the thought of the power. The Baroness, who is persuaded by Duke, tries to save him but is restrained. Rex then reveals that he has implanted her with nanites as well and that she has been under his control for the past four years. Rex is surprised that she is resisting after being controlled for so long. When McCullen tries to kill Duke and The Baroness his face becomes horribly burned and he flees the area with Rex to an escape submarine.

Meanwhile, Heavy Duty is leading an underwater assault against McCullen's super soldiers and his base. While Breaker and Scarlett are attempting to shut down the base, they successfully lead Ripcord to the other two missiles which he succeeds in destroying. While defending Scarlett and Breaker, Snake Eyes is confronted by Shadow Storm and the two face off, having been enemies since childhood. In the ensuing battle, Snake Eyes defeats Shadow Storm whose body falls into the icy water. Duke and The Baroness pursue Rex and McCullen in a small attack vessel. Rex sprays McCullen's burned face with nanites which develop into a steel mask at which point Rex dubs McCullen "Destro". While fleeing, Rex renames himself "Cobra Commander" and attempts to flee the base with Destro. Duke and The Baroness catch up with Cobra and Destro whose ship is far larger and more powerful than the small attack vessel Duke and The Baroness are in. When it seems that Cobra is going to destroy Duke and the Baroness, the entire G.I. Joe army emerges behind them and captures Cobra Commander and Destro. Duke and the rest of the team take refuge on the USS Flagg where The Baroness is placed under close security and medical care until all the nanites can be removed from her body.

Back in Washington, the President(Jonathan Pryce) is taking shelter in his bunker from the previous missile attack when Zartan emerges with the help of a mind-controlled Secret Service Agent. Zartan is revealed to have undergone facial reconstructive surgery from Rex to make him look exactly like the President. Zartan then take the President's place in the White House while Cobra Commander and Destro are locked in specialty jail cells in The Pit with cobra commander vowing to Duke and the rest of the Joes that the fight isn't over yet.

Taking one of the most beloved childhood toys of all time and turning it into a big screen motion picture like this can be tricky. The new trend in film making these days is making movies based on the entertainment we already love like comic books, toys and video games. This movie is based on a prequel type story to the comic books and cartoons from the earlier years of G.I. Joe. But you can not watch this movie and try to compare it to other stories because it just won't work. That being said, it is time to get into the pros and cons of this movie.

Despite other reviews on this movie, I actually enjoyed it and thought it was a great film. The main focus of this movie was without a doubt action. G.I. Joe is, in fact, a soldier toy so it make sense that the movie would be packed full of action and it was. There were tins of fight scenes, fast chases and huge explosions littered throughout the entire film. But this is to be expected from a series like G.I. Joe. This movie reminded me of a cartoon with actual people. One thing this movie didn't have going for it was some of the dialogue. At times the dialogue seemed a bit corny but again, G.I. Joe was a comic book and cartoon from the late 80's to mid 90's where corny dialogue was the "hip" thing to do. Some of the action and dialogue is what reminded me of a cartoon.

What I did like about this movie was the amount of characters they had in it. The main Joe team had 7 members and Cobra had 4 with his full army of super soldiers. Watching this movie with all the characters reminded me of what it was like playing with the toys when I was a kid which brought back many happy memories and made the movie more enjoyable. Other review will tell you that this movie lacked acting skills, depth and all that other "Emmy Nominated" banter, however, in a movie like G.I. Joe, none of that is necessary. Nobody makes G.I. Joe to win best new movie or best drama. It is made for the pure fun and adrenaline you get while watching it. Which is exactly what G.I. Joe does for you. This movie is like being a kid again. The corny dialogue and over-the-top action is what first drew people in to the cartoon and the comic book and that is what will draw people in to the movie. If you are a fan of the G.I. Joe comic book or t.v. show then you will undoubtedly be a fan of this movie.

The acting won't win any of the stars a "Best Performance" Emmy but that is hardly the point with this movie and the actors/actresses themselves didn't do that bad of a job. I don't really have any problems with any of the actors and I thought they all did a great job. This is definitely a movie for the true fans of G.I. Joe and is also one that may be able to draw in some new blood to the franchise like the new Star Trek movie did for it's fan base. One of the better Summer action movies, G.I. Joe is one you should go see, especially if you are already a fan of the show, comic books and toys. I give G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra 8.5 Accelerator Suits out of 10.

(500) Days of Summer

Release Date: July 17th, 2009

Click here for the (500) Days of Summer Trailer.

Tom Hanson(Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a young man working for a greeting card company. Tom's life is mediocre with hanging out with his roommates and going to karaoke clubs comprising a good portion of his day to day life. Tom doesn't have a bad life, just a normal, uneventful, unexciting one. But all that changes when Tom is in a typical meeting at work. While in the meeting, Tom's boss Vance(Clark Gregg) introduces his new assistant Summer Finn(Zooey Deschanel). From first glance, Tom is infatuated with Summer. Tom believes in true love, love at first site, and all the other things that go along with it and believes that he has found the girl of his dreams in Summer. Tom wants to make an approach on Summer until his roommate and co-worker McKenzie(Geoffrey Arend) tells him that Summer is unapproachable, that the last guy in the office to do it couldn't even get a second look. At this news, Tom becomes irritated and decides to put Summer behind him until the two bump in to each other on the elevator where they exchange conversation about liking the band Smiths. At this instant, To believes Summer to be "the one".

Tom spends the next two weeks trying to initiate something between him and Summer with most of his attempts ending in an awkward fail. When all seems lost, McKenzie tells Tom about an after work party at a local karaoke bar where the entire office is going, including Summer. Tom arrives at the bar to find McKenzie on stage singing. While watching Tom is approached by Summer, who is happy he decided to come. The two begin talking until Summer is called up on stage to sing. Afterward Summer gets Tom a little drunk and convinces him to get up and sing to which he agrees. After he is done, the three of them sit down and talk about life, relationships and love which Tom and Summer disagree on. Tom believes that there is such a thing as love where Summer doesn't believe in it. The two agree to disagree and decide to leave. While Tom is helping a very drunk McKenzie into a cab, McKenzie bursts out to Summer that Tom likes her. After some persuading from Summer, Tom reveals that he does in fact like her but tacks on an "as friends" to the end of it. Summer tells Tom that she thinks he is very interesting and leaves Tom on the sidewalk. The next day at work, Summer and Tom are in the copy room together when Summer kisses Tom. The two passionately kiss until Summer's copies are finished at which point she just leaves him there by himself.

The two begin spending a lot of time together, going around and having fun in the city with Summer sharing some of her most intimate secrets with Tom and Tom taking Summer to his favorite spot in the city. While there, Tom explains to Summer how he was studying to become an architect until he ran out of money and had to quit school and get a job at the card company to sustain himself. One day, as the two walk around Ikea, they begin to play and joke as if they were a married couple in the many Ikea show rooms. When the two fall in a bed together the two go to kiss when Summer tells Tom that she isn't looking for anything serious. They go back to Tom's apartment and start making out in Tom's bed when Tom excuses himself to the bathroom. While in there, Tom reassures himself that it is just casual fun and to take things slow. But things change when he comes out of the bathroom to find Summer naked in his bed. The next day, Tom has a new skip in his step and feels like life couldn't get any better.

Things start going well for a few weeks until Summer and Tom are at a bar where a slightly drunk man approaches the two and starts hitting on Summer. Summer makes it clear to the man that she is not interested which he doesn't believe. When Tom interjects, the man begins to laugh and can not believe that she is dating Tom. Tom gets up and punches the guy in the face. Tom then flashes an awkward smile at Summer before the man gets up and beats up Tom. The two go back to Summer's apartment where Summer yells at Tom saying he wasn't acting cool at all and that the only reason he hit that guy was for himself. Tom begins arguing back saying he did that for her and that even though she doesn't want to label things that they are in a relationship and that the things they do with each other isn't just a friendship. When they are done Tom storms out in anger. While the two at at their respective apartments, Tom debates calling Summer but decides against it. Summer comes to his apartment where she apologizes for everything. The two have a long discussion about their past relationships and the two seem happy.

Over the next few weeks, things start to get good again. Tom and Summer start hanging out more and they go to the movies. While at the movies seeing The Graduate, Summer begins to cry at the scene where Dustin Hoffman and Katherine Ross flee their wedding and their looks of joy and excitement slowly fade. After the movie, Summer tells Tom that she is tired and wants to sleep but Tom convinces her to go get pancakes with him. While at the restaurant, Summer tells Tom that they should stop seeing each other. Taken aback by this sudden statement, Tom asks why they should if they are both so happy. Summer explains that she isn't happy and as the pancakes come, Tom gets up and leaves as Summer yells for him to stop saying that they are still best friends. Tom returns to his apartment where he begins breaking his plates over the counter in a catatonic state. His friends call the only person they could think of to help, Tom's little sister Rachel(Chloe Moretz). Rachel rides her bike to Tom's apartment where she sits him down and tells him to explain to her what is going on. Tom recounts the breakup with Summer and explains vehemently that he doesn't want to get over her but to get her back.

As his depressed state worsens, his work becomes affected. Tom's boss calls him into his office one day asking him if everything is ok and asking if his recent state as anything to do with Summer leaving. Tom denies that it has anything to do with Summer to which his boss interjects saying that everybody in the office knew about them. As the months pass, one of Tom's co-workers is getting married. On the train to the wedding, Tom passes Summer, who is in the same car. Tom pretends not to notice Summer who notices him and walks up to talk to him. The two begin talking and go into one of the cars to have coffee. Tom and Summer spend the entire weekend together and Tom asks Summer to dance at the wedding. She agrees and the two have a very romantic night together. The next day, Summer invites Tom to a party at her apartment buildings roof. Tom agrees, hopeful that this will reunite them. While on his way to the party, Tom is imagining his dream night and hoping to match it up to reality.

At the party, Tom quickly realizes that his dream night is nowhere in site. Summer barely talks to him and Tom's only company seems to be a bottle of alcohol. But things get worse when Tom sees Summer showing one of her friends an engagement ring and introducing her fiance. Furious, Tom leaves without a word. Tom spends the next five days staying in his apartment like a zombie, only leaving one time to buy orange juice, Twinkies, and Jack Daniels. By the time Tom returns to work, it is time for the weekly meeting. Halfway through the meeting of presentations for new card ideas, Tom realizes that his beliefs on love, life and relationships is wrong. He stands up and delivers a passionate speech about how the company he works for is feeding people lies about how life and love is. After his speech, Tom quits and leaves as the room is left stunned. As his depression worsens, Rachel tells Tom to seriously look back on his and Summer's relationship[p and to notice the bad things.

After this, Tom begins to take up architecture again, trashing his apartment and using his walls as a canvas. Tom creates a portfolio of work and a list of prospective firms to show his designs to. Tom looses hope as he is slowly denied by each firm until only a handful of firms are left. To clear his head, Tom goes to his favorite part in the city. As he is gazing out on the city he is approached by Summer. Summer compliments Tom on his wardrobe and tells him that she realizes that he is angry. Tom confesses to Summer that all his ideas on life, relationships and love were wrong to which Summer disagrees, telling him that the girl who didn't want to be anyone's girlfriend is now somebody's wife. She tells Tom that with her husband, she is sure of what she never was with Tom: if she loved him or not. Summer holds Tom's hand before telling him that she has to go. Tom tells her that he is happy that she is happy but makes it a point not to congratulate her on her marriage to which she smiles and leaves.

As Tom sits in the waiting room of his next interview he sees a girl sitting across from him. She asks tom if they have met, swearing that she knows him from somewhere. Tom denies knowing her, having never seen her before. The girl suddenly remembers that she has seen Tom at his favorite spot in the city which is coincidentally her favorite spot. The two joke with each other hoping that the other will not get the job. As Tom goes in to the interview, he pauses and walks back to the girl asking her if she wants to get some coffee after the interview. The girl says no, stating she is already meeting someone. However, as Tom turns to walk away, the girl changes her mind and agrees to go with him, stating they will work out the details later. Tom introduces himself while the girl reveals her name to be Autumn.

I did not initially want to see this movie when I first saw things about it, but the power of a woman is strong and I ended up seeing it. Much to my surprise, I really really enjoyed this movie. I was most impressed with the performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who has been on a bit of a major movie hiatus in recent years. This film does something that most romantic films can not do and that is accurately display what appears to be an actual relationship. First of all, the chemistry between Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was remarkably realistic. It actually felt as if you were watching the lives of two actual people unfold before you as opposed to two actors in a movie.

This film, I think, is as close to real life as you can get without making a horrible reality show. There was nothing flashy about the lives of the characters, no big mystery in their lives, no big climactic shocker in the end, just two people living life as it typically is. This movie really made you want the relationship between the characters to succeed but at the same time made you understand if it didn't. This was one romantic comedy that actually took the term to heart.

If I could explain this movie in one word, I might say things like quirky, cute, delightful, warm, cozy etc...Probably the best thing about this movie was that it was different from all the other movies out today that tend to focus on crude humor, sex, foul language and insane antics to draw a crowd. This movie draws it's audience with exceptional acting and wonderful story telling. It also had an interesting way of showing the story to the audience. The plot revolves around Gordon-Levitt's character and his 500 day relationship with Deschanel's character. However, instead of going day by day in chronological order, showing how the relationship fell apart, director Marc Webb jumps from the early days of the relationship with the couple being very happy and enjoying life to the latter days with Gordon-Levitt's character slipping into depression and becoming more upset with life. Webb bridged the day changes with a little animated interval showing the day number with the backdrop of a city drawing either in bright happy colors or dark black and whites depending on the day. It was this transaction between days that made the movie interesting to watch. You would see one of the many happy days and then be transported to the depression times wondering what happened along the way which causes you to stick around to find out. This style makes the movie interesting, not to mention an omnipresent narrator who pops in from time to time to explain what is going on if you are confused, which you shouldn't be because the plot is simple enough to follow.

This really was a very enjoyable film. It is a love story that everybody can relate to and one that appeals to people of all ages. It also does a great job of not bogging you down with a sappy love story throughout the entire movie by adding in a nice blend of comedy. This movie just made me feel good. I left the theater in a good mood and the rest of my day was good as well. I think this film will get underrated by most people because it doesn't have any really big names tagged onto it. While Zooey Deschanel is a very popular actress and Joseph Gordon-Levitt has had a good career, they don't raise the same kind of fame as some of the other stars in recent movies to come out. However, if this film does get over looked by viewers, then they are the ones that are missing out. This is one of those hidden gems that everybody should go see. I give (500) Days of Summer 9 Greeting cards out of 10