Marion Cotillard, left, and Leonardo DiCaprio are shown in a scene from ‘Inception.’

“Inception” (Science Fiction/Drama: 2 hours, 28 minutes); Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Marion Cotillard and Michael Caine; Director: Christopher Nolan; Rated: PG-13 (Violence and profanity)

Movie Review: The mind is a powerful aspect of humanity. Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) knows this better than anyone. He and his deceased wife, Mal (Cotillard), lost themselves in their own mind’s creation. New technology allows people to have shared dreams, a non-physical place where multiple people can experience each other via mere thought. The problem is Mal is now disrupting Cobb’s shared dreaming experiences with others.

As Cobb tries regaining the life he had before his wife’s incident, he receives a job from Saito (Watanabe), a wealthy businessman. Saito wants Cobb and his shared-dreaming team to help persuade Robert Fischer Jr. (Murphy), another business executive, to sell parts of his father’s larger assets. Saito wants Cobb’s team to do this via entering Fischer’s mind and altering his thinking processes. The intrusion into Fischer’s mind is the process of inception. Access to a person’s mind is easy for Cobb and his team, but expecting the unexpected is no easy task.

Inception means a commencement or start of a conceptualization. This concept is a pivotal part of the film.

Think of it in this manner. A person dreams he or she is walking through a shopping mall when they notice everyone gawking, whispering and laughing. Soon, the person discovers the subject of everyone’s attention. The person looks down, and they are nude or wearing only underwear. The problem is once the person awakes from the dream he or she cannot tell how they got to the public place without noticing exposed body parts.

This mind play is the game of “Inception,” and Director Nolan, the gentleman responsible for “The Dark Knight,” the best of the Batman films, and the artful and excellent “Memento,” makes it all fascinating. Nolan has proven himself a worthy director with only nine films to his resume. Here, he writes and produces as well. Nolan is a true renaissance man when it comes to cinema. He knows his craft. More important, he knows how to pen a script without making a mess of a complex plot.  

“Inception” is a mixture of “Total Recall” (1990) and “The Matrix” (1999), yet it is more intricately perplexing while remaining gratifyingly charming. This is a psychological science piece.

It succeeds by making reality a non-constant, where time, space, the physical and thought are manipulated to an extent while in another’s psyche.

The CGI, special effects and stunts are visual treats. The complex nature of this photoplay is a brain game. It is a film requiring a thinking audience. That is its best feature. “Inception” keeps you thinking in an entertaining vortex of sweet eyecandy and bold science-fiction concepts.

Even more, the cast is superb, containing award-winning or highly thought of actors. DiCaprio gets better with age. His pairing with Gordon-Levitt (“500 Days of Summer”), Page of “Juno” fame, and Hardy (Star Trek “Nemesis”) is brilliantly executed. Oscar winner Cotillard, who played Edith Piaff in “La Vie an Rose,” is masterful, and Watanabe is cunning as always. Throw in Academy-Award winner Caine, Dileep Rao (“Avatar”), an apt Tom Berenger, and superb Murphy (“28 Days Later…”) and this is one of the best ensembles of the year.   

“Inception” is not the film to see if in a vegetative state, but it works as science-fiction with action and nice dramatic moments.

The rumor is Director Nolan spent a considerable amount of time writing this screenplay. He is worthy of accolades for his pensive concentration alone. Complex screenplays are not an easy feat. This film should win a number of technical awards at the inception of the upcoming awards season.

As complex as this film is, the plot is personable, but the characters not as much. “Inception’s” flaw is its plot and large cast distract from getting to really know and have compassion for the characters. Still, hats off to Nolan, the entire cast and the crew for delivering a complex cinematic feat, an engaging intellectual headache.

Grade: A- (A dreamy film.)

 

“Standing Ovation” (Musical: 1 hour, 47 minutes); Starring: Kayla Jackson, Joei DeCarlo, Sal Dupree, and P. Brendan Mulvey; Director: Stewart Raffill; Rated: PG (Rude behavior)

Movie Review: “Standing Ovation” is a lukewarm musical about a tween girl group called 5 Ovations. They sing, dance and hope to become big stars one day. Before they can become stars, they must first accomplish one small task. They win a dance-singing battle against the Wiggies, a musical group whose father figure is Mr. Wiggs (Dupree), who cheats to make sure his daughters win every competition.  

This is an adventurous family, which turns into a nice adventure. It is enjoyable and perfect for tweens needing to get out of the heat this summer. While good for younger audiences, older viewers should find the catfights and child antics mere drollery that is easy to watch.  

To that extent, “Ovation” is easy to watch. The musical numbers by tweens are noteworthy distractions, even if the acting and plot are lacking. A plus for this production is Joei DeCarlo. She is a spunky young lady who brings a little life to this to screenplay’s youthful innocence. Consider this a milder, younger sister act.

Grade: C (Applause, OK. Standing ovation, no.)