Inception
This film is a mindfuck, but an exciting and enjoyable one. Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Dom Cobb, leads a team that extracts information from people’s subconscious while they dream. Cobb is offered a job of planting a thought into someone’s mind. Infinitely more difficult than extraction, the inception requires a larger team of accomplices and multiple levels of dreams. The crux of the movie is the confusion between reality and dreams. How does the audience determine what they've seen is the truth?
Inception is well written, directed and produced by Christopher Nolan. The topic and scenarios could have been confusing, but Nolan’s skills present them in a straightforward manner. So many aspects – from production design, editing, special effects, etc – of the movie needed to be well planned in order to pull it off as successfully as it did. The cast, which also includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, and Marion Cotillard, was equally superb.
Wheels in Spin: 
The Fall | DVD
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On Demand
The screen tells us that The Fall takes place “once upon a time” in Los Angeles. Based on its film references and design style, it becomes apparent that this movie takes place during the early days of Hollywood. Lee Pace (who is best known as the piemaker in the unfortunately short-lived show Pushing Daisies) plays a stunt man named Roy Walker who injured himself on his first stunt. Laid up in a hospital, Roy meets another patient, the five-year-old Alexandria, who is charmingly portrayed by Catinca Untaru. Roy tells Alexandria a fantastical story that captivates her imagination. Through the lush depiction of Roy and Alexandria’s story, the reality of Roy’s life slowly unfolds.
This film was short in over 20 countries and has fantastic cinematography. The story, as seen through the young girl’s imagination, and the style with which imagination and reality are interwoven both play out beautifully. The dedication that director Tarsem Singh gave each detail made the movie a unique storytelling journey.
Wheels in Spin: 
Solaris | DVD
Solaris begins with Kris Kelvin’s last day on earth. He is to determine if scientific research should continue at the Solaris space station. Strange and unusual reports from the crew combined with a lack of scientific research have created concern with the Russian government about the continuation of the project. Shortly after Kelvin arrives at the Solaris station, he begins to understand why the crew is standoffish. The properties of the station, that also affect Kelvin, allow the crew’s subconscious to take on physical manifestations.
As an early 1970s science fiction film, Solaris is on par with 2001: A Space Odyssey, while being a very different film. This is the first movie from director Andrei Tarkovsky to tell a metaphysical drama, a style that became the focus of his remaining films. This psychodrama is set in a futuristic space environment that was created with remarkable production design. After four years in production, Solaris demonstrated the “used” future that George Lucas became popular for five years later with first Star Wars film.
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