Inception

[Barney_DaPurple1]

"Well, dreams, they feel real while we're in them... It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange."


Distribution Studio Warner Bros. Pictures
Director Christopher Nolan

Cast Leonardo DiCaprio (Dominic "Dom" Cobb), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Arthur)...+>

Cast Leonardo DiCaprio (Dominic "Dom" Cobb), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Arthur), Marion Cotillard (Mallorie "Mal" Cobb), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Arthur), Ellen Page (Ariadne), Ken Watanabe (Saito), Tom Hardy (Eames), Dileep Rao (Yusuf), Tom Berenger (Peter Browning), Cillian Murphy (Robert Michael Fischer Jr.), Michael Caine (Miles), Pete Postlethwaite (Maurice Fischer)<-

BO Release Date July 16, 2010
BD Release Date December 7, 2010
MPAA Rating PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout.
Genres Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Psychological Thriller
Runtime 2 Hrs. 28 Mins. | 5 Hrs. 32 Mins. Extraction Mode (IME)
Video 1080/24p | 2.40:1 | VC-1 Advanced Profile Level 3
Audio English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (Default), 5.1 Dolby Digital French, Spanish, Portuguese
Subtitle English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Region ABC
Disc Size (BD50) 42,492,024,838 bytes
Protection AACS
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Bit Depth 8 bits
BD-Java
BD-Live 2.0
DVD
Digital Copy Internet Downloadable Only
Bargain Price $18 @ BigRiver and Redbullseye - 3-Disc set includes BD, Special Feature (BD), and DVD. Digital Copy is Internet downloadable only.




OTHER MOVIE COMPARISON
Shutter Island meets The Thirteenth Floor | Dreamscape, The Lawnmower Man, The Town, The Cell, Memento, The Matrix, Avatar, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dark City, Alice in Wonderland (2010), What Dreams May Come, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The Labyrinth, Total Recall, Gamers, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Surrogates, Public Enemies, Batman Begins, The International, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, A Christmas Carol, The Butterfly Effect, The Mothman Prophecies, Minority Report, The Time Traveler's Wife, The Last Samurai, Tron: Legacy




WHAT'S THE MOVIE ABOUT?
Inception is a concept of planting an idea in someone's dream. The idea then influences the emotional state and thought process of the individual when he is awake. Saito hires Dominic Cobb (DiCaprio) to influence Robert Fischer, the heir to the Fischer Morrow Energy Conglomerate, Saito's leading competitor, to break up the corporation. If he is successful, in return Cobb can return home to his kids in the United States after being wrongly accused of killing his wife Mal.




TRAILERS, CLIPS, AND MUSIC VIDEOS

BARNEY'S BOOMOO FUNFACTS AND TRIVIA
Barney does not assume the accuracy for these funfacts. They are to be used for entertainment purposes only.

• Born Christopher Johnathan James Nolan, July 30, 1970. Husband to producer Emma Thomas. Has four children. Older brother to writer Jonathan Nolan. Nephew to actor John Nolan.

• Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, and Michael Caine (Saito, Robert Fischer, Miles) all have worked with Director Christopher Nolan in the past in Batman Begins (Ra's Al Ghul, The Scarecrow, Alfred).

• Only around 400 visual effects shots. 100 less than The Dark Night. Average VFX shots for this type of film is around 2000.

• Noland did not want to shoot the film with the IMAX cameras because it was too big and heavy. He needed something light and mobile for the authentic hand held shots.

• Was presented with the opportunity to do it in 3D. Nolan shot it down because he felt it would have been a distraction from the inception storyline. Also fact is he is red and green colorblind.

• A totem is a small personal object that help someone recognize that he is not in a someone else's dream. Cobb is a top (originally it belonged to Mal). Arthur is a loaded dice. Ariadne is a brass pawn chess piece.

• Ariadne played by Ellen Page is the name of the daughter of King Minos of Crete in Greek Mythology. She helped Theseus find his way out of the labyrinth where her half brother the Minotaur used the maze for sacrificing Athenians.

• In the fourth book by Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson: The Battle of the Labyrinth, Ariadne's string is one of the key devices in the story.

• Cobb's toddler son James Cobb in real life is actually Chris Nolan's 2 year old son, Magnus Nolan.

• The Australian Flight Attendant in the film is played by Miranda Nolan, an English actress and Chris Nolan's first cousin. Daughter of professional actors John Nolan and Kim Hartman. She holds a black belt in kickboxing.

• A dream architect is someone who is responsible for creating the dream world or maze. It's the subjects in a dream who are responsible for filling in the details with their subconscious. Cobb's former architect was Nash. Ariadne took his place after the failed Cobol mission. Cobb was a former dream architect himself.

• A Forger in a dream is someone who fakes stuff. He can forge documents as well as take on the appearance of any character. Eames' job as a forger is to impersonate Peter Browning, uncle to Robert Fischer, Maurice Fischer's right hand man, and the corporation financial adviser.

• Part of the dream team is to have someone stay behind or in that level of the dream to administer the sedative. This dream "moderator" is also responsible for keeping the time and applying the "kick" to wake up everyone. Arthur, Yusuf, Eames, and the flight attendant were responsible for these duties.

• The leader of the dream team is the Extractor. He is responsible getting secrets out of the subject. He is also the mastermind behind the inception concept. Cobb is the extractor for the entire movie.

• The train running through the middle of downtown L.A. without railroad tracks in the level 1 dream was accomplished by covering a semi-tractor trailer with a light weight manufactured material of a train. The front part of the train is actually a 1.5 ton steel plate. The train represent Mal's influence and destructive power on Cobb.

• The raining downtown L.A. scenes of dream level 1 were shot on location during a sunny day. Combining with camera filter lenses, Nolan's crew created several blocks of rain downpour while large panels on cranes had to brought in to block off the direct sunlight.

• Ever sense a sudden jolt before you fell asleep? This is a form of an innate "kicker" from our days as we were monkeys sleeping up high on tree branches in the African plains. This mechanism is design to wake your monkey ars up before you fell off the tree. You had to sleep high up there in the first place because of all the predators were down at ground level. Make sense? Well, if you had answer yes to the question, scientists have classified you into a group of myoclonic "jerks". I'm not kidding. Look it up!

• The French kicker song entitle "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" performed by Edith Piaf translates to "No, I regret nothing". Marion Cotillard (Mal) played Piaf in the French film La Vie en Rose (2007). Nolan said it was purely coincident.

• Brain function in a dream is about 20 times normal. The effects in a dream within a dream is compounded. 10 hours ~ 1 week (1st dream level) ~ 6 months (2nd dream level) ~ 10 years (3rd dream level). If you're stuck in limbo or believe it to be the forth level, the world created by Cobb and Mal, then that equates to at least ~ 200 years (182.65 years to be precise). Since it is limbo, you can be stuck there forever especially when the sedative is powerful enough. This may explain [SPOILER]Saito's appearance in the beginning and the forever taking time it took the van falling into the river scenes.[/SPOILER]

• The train number is 3502. The hijacked L.A. taxi cab number is 2053. The combination number to the safe is 528491. The hotel room number is 528. The fake phone number signifying a lucid dream state is 528491.

• Lucid dream is the awareness that one is dreaming while in a dream. You can practice and master lucid dreams through time and ultimately control them.

• In 1964, professional golfer Jack Nicklaus was having a bad slump and routinely shooting in the high 70s. He critiqued his swing while he was dreaming and found that he has been having trouble collapsing his right arm which was taking the club head away from the ball. But in his dream, he was doing it perfectly. So he practiced it in his sleep. The following morning, his game improved tremendously and shot consistently in the lower 60s.

• "About ten days ago, I retired very late. I had been up waiting for important dispatches from the front. I could not have been long in bed when I fell into a slumber, for I was weary.I soon began to dream...There seemed to be a death-like stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs... I was puzzled and alarmed... Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, some gazing mournfully upon the corpse whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully.'Who is dead in the White House?' I demanded of one of the soldiers "The President" was his answer; "he was killed by an assassin!" Then came a loud burst of grief form the crowd, which awoke me from my dream." Abraham Lincoln days before he was assassinated.

• Kenneth Parks, a 23-year-old who lived in Pickering, near Toronto, drove 14 miles to his in-laws' home on May 23, 1987. He stabbed to death his mother-in-law. He then drove to the police and said "I think I have killed some people... my hands," only then realizing he had severely cut his own hands. When the case went to trial, Parks was found not guilty because of his defense. He was sleepwalking. Unaware of his actions in a dream state, he was aquitted. Sleepwalking murders are technically defined as Homicidal Somnambulism.

• Sexsomnia is defined as having unconscious sex acts or intercourse while asleep. Mrs. Barney swears she has this condition every night.

• Probably the biggest inception conspiracy theory of our times, in 1965 The Beatles were in London filming Help!. Paul McCartney was staying in a small attic room of his family's house on Wimpole Street. That night he dreamt of a tune but was unsure that it was his own creation. He played for his friends and asked them if they recognize it. No one did.
  
  Paul McCartney
  

  "I woke up with a lovely tune in my head. I thought, 'That's great, I wonder what that is?' There was an upright piano next to me, to the right of the bed by the window. I got out of bed, sat at the piano, found G, found F sharp minor 7th -- and that leads you through then to B to E minor, and finally back to E. It all leads forward logically. I liked the melody a lot, but because I'd dreamed it, I couldn't believe I'd written it. I thought, 'No, I've never written anything like this before.' But I had the tune, which was the most magic thing!"

  That song was "Yesterday", which enters the Guinness Book of Record for having the most cover versions. Here's the kicker (pun intended). Nat King Cole’s 1954 ballad "Answer Me, My Love" included the same tune and a line that goes something like this;
  
  "You were mine yesterday, I believed that love was here to stay, won't you tell me where I've gone astray?"
  
  Here is McCartney's lyrics 11 years later;
  
  "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now I need a place to hide away."
  
  Not exaclty the same lyrics, but it's close enough for a good inception argument maybe?

• The word Buddha itself comes from the word bodhi meaning "awakeful". In the book "Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light", Tibetan Buddhists are taught to practice a form of dream Yoga or lucid dream to maintain full waking consciousness while in the dream state. This form of meditation is only achievable at the highest level of enlightenment.

• "A dream is real while it lasts. Can we say more of life?" - Havelock Ellis (1859 - 1939)

BD LOADING ANIMATION




BD MAIN MENU

BD PLAYERS PERFORMANCE

OPPO BDP-93

Total Loading Time: 1 min. 00 sec. | OSD Shift: Yes | Subtitle Shift: Yes | Zoom: No
Firmware Version: BDP9x-33-1216

OPPO BDP-80

Total Loading Time: 1 min. 23 sec. | OSD Shift: Yes | Subtitle Shift: Yes | Zoom: No
Firmware Version: 14-0522

Sony PlayStation 3 80GB

Total Loading Time: 1 min. 14 sec.
Firmware Version: 3.55

Panasonic BDT-300

Total Loading Time: 1 min. 24 sec.
Firmware Version: 1.73 | Wireless Lan Module: 1.50

Samsung BD-P1400

Total Loading Time: 3 min. 04 sec.
Firmware Version: 2.3

Disc Problem: The elapse time progress bar comes up at the beginning of chapter 2 (repeatable). Also, WB writes a resume play function into the internal persistent memory. All BD players tested get the prompt to resume play before loading the disc top main menu except for the BDP-1400.

DISC FEATURES, BONUS MATERIALS, AND PACKAGE CONTENT WORTH NOTING

• Annoying Menu Button Sound or Option Yes, audible only in stereo or PCM mode.

• Secondary Audio No

• Skip Previews "Shortcut" No

• Resume Play Yes (All Except for the Samsung BDP-1400)

• Bookmark No

• Disc #1 Main Feature (BD) • Extraction IME Mode - This is not a BonusView 1.1 feature.

• Disc #2 Special Feature (BD)
  Behind the Story (Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious (44:29) & Inception: The Cobol Job (14:33)) • Project Somnacin: Confidential Files • 5.1 Inception Soundtrack (We Build Our Own World, Dream is Collapsing, Radical Notion, Old Souls, 528491, Mombasa, One Simple Idea, Dream Within a Dream, Paradox, Time) • Extras (Conceptual Art Gallery & Promotional Art Archive).

• Disc #3 Main Feature (DVD)

WHADABOUT THE MOVIE BARNEY?

Boomoo Rent-O-Meter
Boomoo Collection Worthiness
Overall Home Theater Experience

Barney's Comment on the Movie

Movie: Stupid [ So-So ] Spectacular

It all started when someone, who shall not be named but his initials comes after bb , said this is a "mind-blowing" type of movie. So if you're like me, you want to go see this movie well prepared and your mind consciously charged razor sharp. Be forewarned! That's exactly what you don't want to do. You don't want to see Inception with your brain cells fully loaded. Kill some off with a 12-pack Red Oak or Those-Sexy's (Dos XX's) and then you probably can get duped into Nolan's storyline. This is very crucial to consider. The moment the movie started, is the moment when it all went to la la land/lamebo land for me. I did not fall for the ridiculous idea of a well coordinated dream within a dream... and then a dream within that dream. How lame is that? And to add insult to injury, you actually have a team of dreamers, 6 to 7 people coordinating and interacting with each other in one of those guy's dream? Really? And how in the world did you carry a sedative from the real world to not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 damn levels of dreams and not all participants are aware of what it is? C'mon, man! I was born at night time, but that doesn't mean I fell off the bread truck last night staying at the Holiday Inn Express... or something like that. At least in The Matrix they were linked by the receptacle in the back of their neck. Course the red or blue pill option was just an appetizer for the total BS that you can believe in.

Aside from Nolan's full of Sugar-Honey-Ice-Tea, I was more into the secondary plot of Inception. It is the mystery behind Cobb and his estrange wife, Mal. To me, I was more captivated by their story. I also have to advise those who have not seen it, that the message can be subliminally disturbing. You don't want kids to get some stoopid ideas that whatever dream state you're in, you can get out of it by killing yourself. Especially psychosis behavior can't differentiate between reality and dreams. Nolan and Warner Bros. have to be careful about this. Nuff bout that. Inception was not a total nightmare train wreck. As much as Nolan hates to do visual effects, Inception has some of the most impressive VFX there are. The Paris dream with exploding dream objects is quite remarkable. The bending of several city blocks is comparable to something you see in Minority Report. And lastly, despite whatever you think of the leading character (from all of the DiCaprio haters out there), Leonardo DiCaprio did a tremendous job. He was perfect for the leading role in Inception. Don't even bring up Bale coz that A-hole aint got didly squat on DiCaprio.

Barney Rating the Video
The picture quality of Inception has some minor flaws. Lighting, especially in dark indoor scenes, was very limited. This makes the picture less sharp and sometime too soft. So inhibiting, that one can not appreciate the HD quality of close-ups and action sequences. Color is also overly saturated in indoor scenes versus outdoor scenes. Compare the opening limbo scene where Saito in his golden ages is asking Cobb if he's gonna kill him to the Tom Clancy Ghost Recon outdoor snow scene, the difference in color saturation is night and day. I did not penalized the transfer too much because I believe this was Noland's chosen style. Blackness level has room for improvement. Overall, an average HD video encode on BD for Inception.


Overall Picture Quality Rating

Picture Clarity and Sharpness
Color Richness and Saturation
Picture Detail and Definition
Lighting
Blackness Level

Barney Rating the Audio
The audio aspect of Inception was well put together by Nolan's team. Highlighting the richness of depth is the haunting dramatic bull horn scores, much like Shutter Island. I would say it is sooOOooo over-the-top dramatic! Surround sound showed signs of activity and movement. Dialog was discernible. LFE was plentiful and applied at the right amount. Overall, an excellent strong dramatic surround sound mix for Inception.


Overall Audio Presentation Rating

Dialog Clarity
Balanced Volume
Detail, Integrity, Resolution, and Definition
Dynamics (Bass, Treble, Separation, and Transition)
Ambient Background Music and Soundtrack
Low Frequency Effects


Reference Listening Volume : 58.0 db (abs)

Barney's Recommendations
To buy or not to buy Inception, that is the question. I've already stated that depending if you're stoopid enough to believe in coordinating a dream within a dream BS, then yes the movie is quite entertaining. One may consider buying when it's on sale. I bought Inception because of the bonus feature stuff. I wanted to know from the horse's mouth, Nolan himself, the meaning at the end. Not the spinning top scene, but the one they all awoke in the airplane. Ever since I've seen it at the local IMAX, my interpretation has always been different from everyone else's. Needless to say it was disappointing not getting the word from the man himself on that. Guess now it's just an instance of "mind over matter" (never mind, it doesn't matter). Looks like there are a lot of stoopid people since it did very well last week topping all sales... for the Barney's folks, yaw gotta see it by renting it!

[Disco Batman]

So when's the next 5 star review for a Twilight film.

[Barney_DaPurple1]

When the estrogen level gets high enough, buddy.

[Disco Batman]

When the estrogen level gets high enough, buddy.

HAHA

[BUYLONGTERM]

Nice review and I couldn't agree more with you.

[Barney_DaPurple1]

Nice review and I couldn't agree more with you.

Thanks buddy! Wait till you get a load of Salt.

[Barney_DaPurple1]

Inception Being Converted to 3D Blu-ray? They're also thinking about other titles such as Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Wrath of the Titans at WB.

I didn't want to convert, but Warner Bros. showed me how far conversions have come. You've got Chris Nolan doing Inception, converting the DVD, you've got Harry Potter being converted, Star Wars being converted, so the conversion process has improved dramatically in the past two years.

Article

[CC]

Yeah, im going to agree with Barney here. I dug the movie, but I didn't love it, and the comparisons to Kurbrick are laughable.

[Barney_DaPurple1]

Yeah, im going to agree with Barney here. I dug the movie, but I didn't love it, and the comparisons to Kurbrick are laughable.

I wouldn't trash it totally tho. Inception itself has some good visual effects, a haunting soundtrack, and an interesting concept. Those who are not into challenging the technicality of the film's premise will likely enjoy it.

[Disco Batman]

I wouldn't trash it totally tho. Inception itself has some good visual effects, a haunting soundtrack, and an interesting concept. Those who are not into challenging the technicality of the film's premise will likely enjoy it.

Any sort of fantasy film requires suspension of disbelief. You don't go into Lord of the Rings arguing whether Orcs are real, or whether a ring can control the fate of man. Or Blade Runner arguing whether human synthetics are possible. If you look at every film that way nothing but droll dramas will ever be enjoyed. And everyone knows vampires don't sparkle like diamonds, so Twilight can't possible be enjoyed by people. Toys can't possible talk and live their own life while we aren't around. This could go on and on.

This is just a silly reason to hate a film. And a silly argument all together.\

Movies don't have to wrap everything up in a pretty little bow to be enjoyable. I prefer a story that leaves things to interpretation. One's that let you decide certain elements.

Hell Blade Runner, widely considered to be the best Sci Fi film ever leaves the biggest question of the whole film up to interpretation. Is Deckard a replicant or not.

[Barney_DaPurple1]

Any sort of fantasy film requires suspension of disbelief. You don't go into Lord of the Rings arguing whether Orcs are real, or whether a ring can control the fate of man. Or Blade Runner arguing whether human synthetics are possible. If you look at every film that way nothing but droll dramas will ever be enjoyed. And everyone knows vampires don't sparkle like diamonds, so Twilight can't possible be enjoyed by people. Toys can't possible talk and live their own life while we aren't around. This could go on and on.

This is just a silly reason to hate a film. And a silly argument all together.\

Movies don't have to wrap everything up in a pretty little bow to be enjoyable. I prefer a story that leaves things to interpretation. One's that let you decide certain elements.

Hell Blade Runner, widely considered to be the best Sci Fi film ever leaves the biggest question of the whole film up to interpretation. Is Deckard a replicant or not.

You've gone totally off tangent. The movie is not about fatansy! It's a dream state for chist-sakes. You dream, I dream, everybody dreams. I can't have an opinion as much a Nolan has on his highly unlike 4 levels of dream? Give me a break.

[Disco Batman]

You've gone totally off tangent. The movie is not about fatansy! It's a dream state for chist-sakes. You dream, I dream, everybody dreams. I can't have an opinion as much a Nolan has on his highly unlike 4 levels of dream? Give me a break.

I disagree. It is fantasy. Just like the afore mentioned films and many others.

[davidjschenk]

Yeah, I never took it to be an attempt at a realistic depiction of anything; the whole premise is far too outlandish for that. I took it as sci fi. No?

Yours,

David

[Barney_DaPurple1]

No, yaw are missing my point. I'm not saying you shouldn't believe in the story 100%. It is part of the director resposibility to sell me his story. Space age Star Wars stuff, yea who gonna challenge the Jedi Mind Trick? Who's gonna say Superman can't fly? That's total hogwash, agreed! All of the films mentioned I don't disagree with story and I enjoy the show as the next guy.

Now take Inception. I dream everynight. This I know. So you telling me I can control my dreams and fully interact with all the people I dream about and they are also fully in control of their conscious simultaneously... and on top of that 4 levels of dream state while not even connected together physically or psychicly like The Matrix? That's stoopid! That is what Nolan did NOT sell me. Yea, the bending of the city blocks and explosions of the surroundings are all great visual effects. That is fantasy. I never questioned that. It is the director/storyteller's job to sell his story first to me then we can talk about believing in it or not.

[speedking]

No, yaw are missing my point. I'm not saying you shouldn't believe in the story 100%. It is part of the director resposibility to sell me his story. Space age Star Wars stuff, yea who gonna challenge the Jedi Mind Trick? Who's gonna say Superman can't fly? That's total hogwash, agreed! All of the films mentioned I don't disagree with story and I enjoy the show as the next guy.

Now take Inception. I dream everynight. This I know. So you telling me I can control my dreams and fully interact with all the people I dream about and they are also fully in control of their conscious simultaneously... and on top of that 4 levels of dream state while not even connected together physically or psychicly like The Matrix? That's stoopid! That is what Nolan did NOT sell me. Yea, the bending of the city blocks and explosions of the surroundings are all great visual effects. That is fantasy. I never questioned that. It is the director/storyteller's job to sell his story first to me then we can talk about believing in it or not.

Oh boy...Barn do you have any vacation time coming up?..I'd suggest a nice relaxing trip to a health spa..get a mud bath...get in touch with your inner self..a spa that doesn't have any video sources...let the force guide you...try yoga....be the ball Danny...just

LET IT GO

[Barney_DaPurple1]

What you talking about? This is actually therapeutic for me.

[speedking]

What you talking about? This is actually therapeutic for me.

hehe..well you got me on that one Barn...not much I can say

[Barney_DaPurple1]

Compared to what I have to deal with on a regular daily basis, this is a relaxing swedish massage walk on the white hot sandy beaches of the Bahamas.

..not like the crumbling city shores in Inception!