Movie #396 - Layer Cake

Layer Cake2004 - Rated R - 1 hr 45 min
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Michael Gambon, Tom Hardy, Colm Meaney, Tamar Hassan, George Harris

Pre-Bond Daniel Craig is fun to watch in this movie about a drug-dealer trying to get out of the business.  Based on the book of the same name, the unique narration style and larger-than-life characters make a tired premise fresh.  Craig's character puts up with a lot, gets stuck in a lot, and manages it in a cool, collected way. He really just wants to sleep with Sienna Miller, guys. Really.

I won't give away the ending -- which is just awesome, if you like sick twists the way I do -- but it makes the whole movie that much better.   With a great cast, and enough twists to keep you on your toes, it's definitely worth a watch.

Movie #304 - Inception

Inception
2010 - Rated R - 2 hr 28 min
Director: Christoper Nolan
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Marion Cotillard, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael Caine

This movie seems to be quite polarizing, at least in my opinion.  People either love it or hate it.  I happen to love it, mostly because I love a good "thinking" movie that sparks hours of debate when it's over.  Sure enough, everytime we watch this movie, the debate starts up all over again.  And every viewing also brings additional information to the table through new discoveries.

If you haven't seen it, I won't spoil anything for you.  Suffice it to say, Leonardo DiCaprio and friends know how to go into peoples' dreams and extract information.  The premise of this movie - the concept of inception - is a little harder than that.  With inception, the team must plant an idea seamlessly into someone's mind, making it seem as though it were there all along.  As DiCaprio's own past starts to catch up with him, Ellen Page tries to help him root out the truth and confront his guilt.  What happens to DiCaprio - and the end of the movie, in particular - is the subject of the debate.  Is it possible to lose track of reality when you jump through dreams for a living?  Makes sense to me.

Anyhow, I really love this one.  If you don't, I'd love to hear why not.  Plot too convuluted, overall movie too artsy, characters too flat... whatever.  I certainly wouldn't object to another debate on this one.