Inception

Inception is a pet project of Chris Nolan's. He first came up with the idea when he was 16 year old. He's been working on the script for the past 10 years. This is his movie. It's his first wholly original work since his debut, Following. The script is also the first he's written on his own in the same amount of time.

You can immediately see why this script took him so long to work out. At the heart of the movie, you have three time lines going simultaneously. Also, there are so many details to keep track of, if you think it's easy to get lost while watching it, think of how easy it would be to get lost while writing it, when all those details are just ideas floating in your mind and not set anywhere. Nolan did a masterful job of setting everything down.

With this level of complexity, it'd be easy for the story, plot and characters to get muddy, confused, or lost. The story and plot are clear (in the sense that you understand the big picture of what's going on as the little details unravel) – Cobb (Leonadro DiCaprio) has to plant an idea in the mind of Saito's (Ken Watanabe) business rival. Cobb is an extractor, planting an idea is much more difficult and untried. Cobb assembles a team to plan their attack, in the same manner of a heist movie (using that set up helps immensely in making the movie accessible and no doubt helped Nolan). And the characters are well defined, they have distinct roles and personalities.

One of the more impressive aspects of the movie is the way that Nolan makes this whole scenario feel organic and real. It's not a futuristic setting, it has a rather timeless feel to it with nothing suggesting when this is. It's relatively devoid of technology – there's a rather unimpressive looking briefcase which contains the device to connect everyone, with a button and some tubes. Cell phones barely even make an appearance. And there's no expository scene explaining how it's possible to infiltrate another person's dreams by connecting to this machine. By starting the film with a scene showing the team and device in action, we're immediately brought in and believe it without needing these explanations. It's the number one rule of film: show, don't tell. The filmmaker is then free to push on; as long as the characters don't question it, we have no reason to either. It just feels completely natural. And that's damn good storytelling and filmmaking.

I also quite like the special effects. Nolan, as a filmmaker, stresses practical effects over computer-generated, which is really an admirable trait. And we've seen effects like these before, but I don't think ever on the scale Nolan takes it. We've seen buildings fold on themselves, or maybe even a city block, but Nolan folds an entire city onto itself, in just about the only obvious computer-generated effect. Watching that scene is just awe-inspiring. You see it in the trailers and commercials, yet you still find yourself going 'wow.' And we've seen people walk on walls and ceilings in spinning rooms before, but here you have an entire hotel hallway. Watching the actors fight in that long, spinning hallway is mesmerizing. It's incredible to watch. And this was done practically - by building a hallway and spinning it. Very impressive. If we were bombarded by computer-generated effects in this movie, we'd be taken out of the movie because there'd likely be just too much going on.

The film never feels cluttered or overwhelming. At the very least, you always know the filmmaker is in control, knows what he's doing, and has a plan, so you don't feel overwhelmed. And there's a lot going on. Not only is there the planning and planting of the idea, and then the action going on in three levels of dreams, but there's also Cobb's past to deal with. He's haunted by his dead wife, Mal, who is able to infiltrate, and complicate, the dream worlds where their heists take place. She's a part of Cobb's psyche now and he can't control her. In the first scene, where Cobb and his team are trying to extract information from Saito, she sabotages them. So he has to contend with that – he can't know details about the maps that are being created for the dreams because if he knows, she knows, and she'll make hell for them.

Cobb was accused of murdering Mal in the States. He can't go back because of it and is the impetus for him taking this job, as Saito claims he can make a call and have everything taken care of. Cobb didn't murder Mal, but he feels guilt over it. They were stuck in limbo together (in a normal dream, if you die, you wake up, but if you're under sedation, you go into a state of limbo in your psyche until the sedation wears off, and because time is expanded in the dream world and is compounded with each dream-within-a-dream, the time could feel like years), when they woke up, she couldn't believe it was the real world and killed herself. It is because of this guilt that she haunts him.

This is an incredible amount of character and story depth and story complications, that we don't get lost, confused, or overwhelmed is a testament to Nolan's storytelling and filmmaking abilities. This is just, all around, an extremely well-made movie – in technique and story. It's also fascinating, fun, interesting, enjoyable, intense, and will keep you thinking about it well after you've left the theater. What else could you want from a movie?

5 out of 5

Toy Story 3

To be perfectly honest, I don't know how to start this off. I'll just say that I absolutely loved this movie. It's wonderfully sweet, endearing, cute (in a good way) and touching. It continues the story from the first two movies in an excellent way and brings it to a nice, logical close.

As Andy prepares to go to college, the toys (those who have survived the years of spring cleanings and garage sales) fret their fates – trash or attic. Going to the trash means their death. Going to the attic means they're saved, will stick together, and be there when they are needed again. They've also heard talk of a thing called 'day care,' where other toys have gone.

When they wind up on the street (with the exception of Woody, who Andy has picked to accompany him to college) as a result of a misunderstanding by Andy's mom, they sneak their way into the donation box. Woody, who had tried to save them from the street and the approaching garbage truck, gets stuck in the box as well after trying to convince them to go back to the attic so they will be there when Andy needs them. Woody is totally devoted to Andy (as he was picked to go to college, that's pretty easy for him), the others are more concerned with being played with rather than whose they are.

So they go to day care and it looks like a wonderful place – a constant stream of kids who will never out grow the toys. Woody, unable to convince the others to go back home, leaves and makes his way out of the day care, but is found and taken home by Bonnie, the daughter of one of the employees. He gets played with for the first time in a long time, but can't enjoy it because he just wants to go home. The others still at day care find out that it isn't what it first appeared. It's ruled with a cotton-stuffed iron fist by the bitter Lots-O-Huggin Bear (Lotso for short). Woody finds this out too, then it becomes a prison break as he goes back to rescue them.

This is where the movie breaks away from the first two. It's not just about the toys wanting to be played with (Toy Story being about Woody's fear of being replaced and no longer being played with; Toy Story 2 being about Woody's fear of being broken and no longer being played with; the rest of the toys' concern is being played with), but, now, their destruction and death in a landfill crusher and incinerator.

Heavy stuff for a family film. But Pixar has never been afraid of using unconventional subjects in their family films – The Incredibles is, in essence, a mid-life crisis family drama; Wall-E has almost no dialogue in the first act and paints a picture of a destroyed Earth. That's why Pixar is Pixar, the pinnacle in modern family films – they get that there is more to it than being cute or playing down to what you think kids want or can handle. They make sure there's story, character and depth. They're not just making something to pacify the kids for 90 minutes.

Needless to say, the toys don't die. And they're able to make it back home before Andy goes away. But after going through that ordeal with his friends, Woody gets second thoughts about joining Andy at college. He secretly plants the idea of donating the toys rather than putting them in the attic and leaves an address. Andy thinks it's the day care, but instead it's Bonnie's house. The scene between Andy and Bonnie as he introduces her to the toys is incredibly sweet and just plain wonderful. When he gets to the bottom of the box and finds Woody...the tears will flow. And they are well-earned, genuine, honest tears. That is how much you care about these characters, toys and humans alike.

The voice cast is wonderful, both the returning actors and new ones (Michael Keaton's Ken is just fun). The animation is superb. The story and characters are outstanding. There's lots of fun references to the previous two movies, but never verges into playing on nostalgia. It's not likely you'll find a better family-friendly movie this year (you may find ones you think are better suited for kids, but they won't be as well done overall and enjoyable for all age groups, because there's more to a family than just the kids, isn't there?).

5 out of 5