With Inception, Christopher Nolan delivers the perfect blend of action and intelligence. The precisely constructed script is told through striking visuals set to a superb score. The film is massively original, complex yet easy to follow, and wildly entertaining. This magnificent mix of elements makes for the ultimate summer movie, and without-a-doubt the best film of the year so far.

In the world of Inception, technology has been developed that allows dream-sharing, a technique through which which multiple people can inhabit one dream world. Many problems stem from this new technology, including the possibility of idea theft, but I’ll stop before I give too much away. The film utilizes these unique sci-fi elements to create an elaborate heist adventure, but everything is centered upon an emotional core. The real heart of the film is DiCaprio’s performance as Dom Cobb. In another amazing performance, DiCaprio portrays his character in all his shades, including the suave professional thief as well as the heartbroken man he is on the inside. The only reason the audience cares about the conclusion of the story is because we empathize with the leading man.

Inception asks, ”Is there a difference between the real world and the dream world?” By exploring the dream world, the line between reality and imaginary is blurred, causing not only the characters in the movie, but the audience themselves to question what is real and what is imaginary. The powerful ending of the movie puts forth this question very clearly, but the answer is left up for discussion. I was literally left speechless after seeing this film. There are so many aspects of this movie that could be discussed at length, but I am going to hold back for now in order to avoid spoilers. In any case, Inception is the most recent entry in a series of films in which Chris Nolan explores the nature of reality (Memento and The Prestige being the first two) and is the culmination of both those films and his more mainstream fare (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight).

However thought-provoking the film may be, the fact that it works on so many levels at once makes Inception a truly amazing film. Not only does Nolan present another intelligent, mind-bending mystery like Memento, Inception is also wildly entertaining. From the opening scene all the way until the stunning conclusion, you are taken on an awesome ride. The action set pieces are great, including a fight in a zero-gravity hotel, a very James Bond-esque snow fortification assault, along with a few others. Still, your attention is only held so well because you are invested in the characters. The best action comes during the extended finale, which takes up a majority of the film. The players get deeper and deeper into this multi-layered heist which provides suspense that is heightened by the fictional dream technology. As the movie concludes, this intricate set-up pays off as each layer is unpeeled perfectly. The entire story is so tautly written that each and every piece fits perfectly together to provide for a very satisfying tale.

Another key to the movie is also in its script. At the beginning of the film, the viewer has no idea what is going on, which is to be expected. However soon afterwards the ground rules are laid and the dream technology is explained. Rather than have several confusing pieces which fuse only in retrospect as in Memento, the plot here is much more straightforward. At first this seems like a weakness, the one flaw that holds the movie back from becoming a classic piece of cinema. There is a trade-off, however. In laying the foundation early, Nolan was able to take his idea a lot farther, and really explore the entire realm of possibility of this dream-exploring concept. Inception is much more accessible to a wider audience then, say, 2001 is. This makes for a very entertaining summer movie, while at the same time hardly sacrificing any of the intellectual or emotional weight of the film.

The screenplay is only one aspect, however, of an entirely magnificent film. The acting is excellent all-around. Inception’s ensemble cast is one of the most impressive ever put together. In addition to DiCaprio’s usually impressive performance, the other players are fantastic as well. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great as Arthur, Cobb’s straight-laced assistant who takes part in one of the most interestingly staged fight scenes in a long time. Ellen Page plays Ariadne, the new member of the team, and while she doesn’t show anything spectacular, she holds her own very well for a young actress. The rest of the star-studded cast also give great performances. Another integral part of the film is the sound. Both Hans Zimmer’s amazing, non-traditional score, as well as the sound design in general, play a huge part in generating the mood for the movie. Different sounds represent different things, including some that are very memorable such as the sound that tubes of the dream-sharing machine make and the crunching of the glass from the apartment where Cobb’s life was altered forever.

The visuals are also impressive, as the various dreams are portrayed through unique, surrealist images. This feeling of unease is essential to the film, as the dreams serve as allegory for what the characters are doing. From one point of view, nothing in the dream world is actually happening, but the intent are there. For example, when Cobb and Arthur must get a piece of information from someone this is visualized in the movie by an attempt to break into a vault in order to get some trivial item. The information isn’t on the item itself, the item itself is the idea. This is where the intriguing concept that forms the basis of the film really pays off. This visualization of dreaming is so key to the movie, that if it didn’t work as well as it does, the entire story would fall apart.

There are so many areas of this movie that could have gone wrong, but they didn’t. Everything just clicks on every level. From an intellectual standpoint, Nolan has once again challenged his audience to think about their own reality. At the same time, the action and adventure also satisfies the needs of anyone who simply wants to be entertained. Finally, from an emotional level, the film deals with Cobb’s inability to let go, and the ultimate consequences of his actions. Many movies attempt to accomplish one thing well, but Inception succeeds on every level, placing it among the only a handful of other films in recent years that can claim as much originality, intelligence, or entertainment value as this extraordinary film. I think we’re going to be talking about this movie for long time to come.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

The as-yet-untitled Batman 3 was included in the 20-film deal announced between Warner Bros. and IMAX last week, but no other information was given. Warner Bros. has now announced that they are releasing Batman 3 on July 20, 2012.

Director Christopher Nolan does not want to film in 3D, but sources believe that the movie will come out in both IMAX and conventional theaters. Nolan is working on the storyline for his next Batman installment, co-writing with David Goyer and brother Jonathan Nolan.

Christian Bale is set to return as the titular crime-fighter. Also rumored to return for Batman 3 are Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman.

Batman Begins earned $352 million worldwide, while The Dark Night topped out around $1 billion. As the movie is set to premiere in 2012, to keep on schedule they should go into production this fall, with filming into swing by winter.

Nolan is currently in post-production of his highly anticipated sci-fi thriller Inception, starring Leonardo Di Caprio. Inception will be released in theaters on July 16, 2010.

Little is known at this point regarding Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight follow-up, Inception, but today brought a poster for the film, discovered by some enterprising young internet gamer who unlocked said poster by beating a game on the Inception website.

This appears to be a much milder form of The Dark Knight‘s viral marketing, and I’m secretly hoping Nolan and Co. manage to reveal absolutely nothing else about the film prior to its release date. All things considered nowadays, though, I’m sure we can expect a slow-but-steady roll-out of images, teasers, and online games in the buildup to Inception‘s July 16th release date.

What (little) is revealed in the poster:  Leonardo DiCaprio standing knee-deep in the middle of a flooded city (intriguing), and the tagline:  ‘Your Mind is the Scene of the Crime’ first seen in the teaser trailer.  He’s also holding what appears to be either an injection gun of some sort (Leo plays a CEO-type who runs a team whose job it is to remove and implant thoughts from people’s minds through some sort of injection device), or just a gun.  I’m hoping it’s a laser pistol.

And don’t forget, we’ve been promised a new Inception trailer Christmas day.

My thoughts after seeing the Inception trailer with some Basterds (going for a third time today) this weekend were pretty mute. The images were nice and gave off a sort of Matrix feel to the project. However, that’s not why I felt mute to it as I still love the first Matrix. My problem with it is I don’t know enough to really judge if it’s going to be “better than Dark Knight!!!!” or just another decent film.

True Nolanites though will eat it up as the trailer has his stamp all over it. I am in love with the imagery and will be there, but this didn’t do much for me. You can view the trailer in all it’s glory below:

In addition, the uneventful website for the film has opened and can be viewed here.

Inception opens Summer 2010

Spawn creator, Todd McFarlane, wants Leonardo DiCaprio to chase Spawn in his relaunch of the big-screen Spawn brand.

McFarlane, who is one of the most popular comic artists in the history of the medium, spoke to MTV about the possibility of having the Academy Award-nominated actor in his film. “The main character isn’t Spawn, per se, it’s the guy chasing Spawn,” McFarlane said. “And I’ve always had [Leonardo] DiCaprio in the back of my mind.”

I have Salma Hayek in the back of my mind.

Needs more cowbell. Less cape.

“It’s a big wish, but his dad was a big fan of underground comic books and [Leo] came from that. It’s not a big special-effects movie, it’s a character movie, so I could shoot it in 40-50 days and you don’t have to budget that much time.”

Since the massive sensation that was Iron Man, McFarlane’s phone has been ringing off the hook to have Spawn make a cinematic return. ““If I go with the lower-budget movie, they’ll let me direct it. And if I go bigger, than I sit in the producer’s chair; if the budget’s too big, they’re not going to give me the chance at [directing] it,” said the guy who illustrated my favorite Spider-Man cover. “So I’m trying to decide whether I want to go big production, bigger money, bigger marketing — or just do something that’s a little bit smaller, more rock ‘n’ roll, and the way I’ve had it in my brain for the last five years.”

Leonardo DiCaprio is currently involved in Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi thriller, Inception, where he’ll play a “CEO-type” figure in a story that’s about “the architecture of the mind.”

Variety is reporting that Leonardo Dicaprio will star in “Inception”, the next film from director Christopher Nolan. Nolan is the director of such films as “The Dark Knight” and “The Prestige”.  Shooting on the film will not begin until later this year and the film is due for a summer 2010 release date. The contract negotiations are reportedly in the final stages.

No details about the movie’s plot have surfaced as of yet. The film however is being described as a “contemporary sci-fi”. I have faith that Nolan knows what he is doing and will suit the role to Leo’s strengths so there is no chance of a miscast. Dicaprio has come a long way in the last decade and his teaming up with one of the best directors of recent times only raises my interest in the movie. This one is on my looking forward to seeing in 2010 list.

What do you think? Do you care about this? Would you rather Nolan move straight to TDK 3 or whatever it will be called?

Stay tuned for more news about Inception here at Atomic Popcorn.