FROM THE GUY RESPONSIBLE FOR MEMENTO, THE PRESTIGE AND THE DARK KNIGHT? NO WAY: Based on early reviews, Christopher Nolan's Inception is really, really good.
[Speaking of summer movies: finally saw TS3 this weekend. Yes, I was a bawling mess in that final scene. Damn you, Pixar.]
I'm REALLY trying to keep my expectations reasonable for Inception... but it's hard! I've always loved Nolan's work, especially when he's not making Batman movies, so I was already geeked for Inception before I saw the reviews. Now, it's more a matter of "OMIGOD IS IT JULY 16 YET?!?!?!"
ReplyDeleteAs for Toy Story 3, I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I thought it was only ok. I mean, it's a definite thumbs-up (so I'm not exactly Armond White), but I thought it was the least satisfying of the trilogy. Well, I also thought TS2 was good-but-not-great. Maybe it's just that I hold the first one in such high esteem (I really do think it's the greatest animated movie I've ever seen), but I thought 2 and 3 were just variations on the story ("We're separated from Andy, and we've got to get back home!") without really providing anything new, character-wise. Still, middle-of-the-road Pixar is better than just about everything else out there.
Also very much looking forward to inception, but I didn't read the article as I'm trying to keep myself as information free as possible to enjoy the surprise(s).
ReplyDeleteSaw TS3, on Father's Day, with my 8/6/4 yos. Thankfully I had the 3D glasses on so that I didn't have to explain to my kids why Daddy was crying so much. What an emotional ending. It's somewhat silly to rank them considering that they are all solid A's, but if I had to, I'd go with 1/3/2. I'm pretty damn sure it's the best 3rd movie of a series ever.
I will be at the beach with my kids on July 16. Do you think a 9 year old and 6 year old can handle Nolan's universe? Someone would probably call CPS on me.
ReplyDeleteI brought the kids to see TS3 this weekend, and they were traumatized. I kept trying to reassure them that everything wiould be okay, but there was a moment there, knowing it would be the last of the TS movies, when I thought, "Are they really going to go there?" In the end, all the kids in the theater were happy, and all the adults were sobbing. I enjoyed it immensely, and not only because of Buzz's Spanish mode.
Clubber Lang would like to have a word with you about that last point, Lou. :)
ReplyDeleteLisased, although I felt dumb in retrospect, I also had that "Are they really going to go there" moment. And I had that moment notwithstanding the fact that I had already figured out that the ______ would _______ at the end. (By the way, my theater totally erupted in applause when the _____ in fact _____ed at the end of that scene. It was a combination of it being a great moment of release and the odd affection that people have for the _________.)
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was a very good movie, but not as good as everyone had been telling me it would be. I liked it, but I liked 2 better and 1 best of all (in fact I have a feeling that being a girl who likes stories about girls and heroines to connect to v heros so 2 gets bonus points in my heart for Jessie the Cowgirl)
ReplyDeleteCo-sign on the additional utility of the 3D glasses.
ReplyDeleteThey did push that scene further than I expected. The wordless looks and hand holding were much more terrifying than simple screaming would have been. That was the only part that took my youngest out of the movie, she was freaking out and needed to be told that it was all going to be okay.
ReplyDeleteWait, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt? Sold!
ReplyDeleteI seriously wonder whether there has ever been a pop-cultural event to cause so many parents to cry so much about their child's pending departure for college quite so long before said departure. 11-12 years, in our case. And she was crying too, for the same reason.
ReplyDeleteAlso, speaking of another third part--was I the only one kind of let down by Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest? Yes, nicely written, and I appreciated the callbacks and tie-together that the whole trilogy is about violence toward women and how awful it is, but the first 85% of the book is basically everyone explaining to everyone else what readers who read the first two books already knew (and the bizarre "stalker at SNP" plot thread), then some (admittedly nice) Swedish courtroom drama, and then a fairly sudden 30 page conclusion full of globetrotting, sex, and violence. Seemed like the book could have benefitted from better balance.
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it, Russ -- although I was also feeling heavy nostalgia about my own departure for college all wrapped up with the emotions you described.
ReplyDeleteThat sequence also reminded me of the scene in Big that gets me every time, when Tom-Hanks-as-Josh goes back to his neighborhood and sees the kids his true age out playing ball and just being kids. Scale that down a few years, and it's Andy appreciating the joy Bonnie feels in that moment in TS3.
Thought it was just me - couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteI think TS3 suffered a bit from expectations - the first film came out of nowhere, and it was a pleasant surprise that the second wasn't a cynical attempt to cash in. 3 was the first of the movies for which everyone expected brilliance.
ReplyDelete