>> LEMIRE: Hi, you guys, and welcome to What the Flick?! I am so excited to have you here.
This is the day we've all been waiting for, for a very long time. We're talking about
Inception today. We're going to spend the entire show only on Inception, ballsy, unprecedented
one movie. But what you're going to see is kind of worth it. I'm Christy Lemire from
the Associated Press. I am filling in today for Ben and Cenk. Cenk, if you have not heard
is off unraveling in daddyhood probably getting sleep in little two hour increments. He and
his wife had young Prometheus Maximus Uygur over the weekend. That's really his name.
>> ATCHITY: Now, I want to be very clear here. And that I think that the less you know about
this movie, the better off you are, the better inexperience you're doing to have. But if
you've watched it in the previews, if you've seen any of the surrounding material, you
know that's it about Leonardo DiCaprio's character as a corporate espionage agent. But he doesn't
steal secrets from buildings, he steal secrets from people's dreams. And he gets hired to
do one last big job, one big heist. And on a certain level, this movie is kind of a heist
film, but that's about all I'm going to say because they're in people's dreams. And to
really say anything else, it's going to give too much away. So that's, you know, we should
probably watch the trailer because it will give you a better sights.
>> DOMINIC: We create the world of the dream. You bring the subject into that dream and
they feel it with their secrets. >> ARIADNE: Then you break in and steal it?
>> DOMINIC: No. It's not strictly speaking legal. That's called inception. I'm ready.
We can found the way home. And this is the last job. That's how I get there. Dreams feel
real while we're in. Until when we want to wake up that we realize something was actually
strange. This is your responsibility. We were not prepared for this. The dream's collapsing.
I have it under control. >> ARTHUR: I'd hate to see it out of control.
>> ATCHITY: I like this movie. I liked it a lot. It's, you know, it's what I hope for.
It's a real mindbender. I'm the one person who--well, I won't get in discursion, yeah,
because I don't want to spoil that part either. No, I thought it's a fantastic movie. It's,
you know, Christopher Nolan who's had such a terrific track record. He's done both the
Batman movies. He gave us Memento. He gave us Insomnia. He gave us The Prestige.
>> KIM: Which I think is incredibly overrated. I think The Prestige is a terrific movie.
>> LEMIRE: I mean, underrated. >> ATCHITY: Underrated.
>> KIM: Underrated, yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah. >> LEMIRE: I think...
>> ATCHITY: No. The Prestige is a fantastic movie.
>> LEMIRE: But, I think, comparably, it's kind of the weak link.
>> ATCHITY: Probably it's the weakest one of the pantheon but, boy, it's...
>> LEMIRE: Oh, nice piece of pantheon. >> ATCHITY: Thank you. Thank you. There will
be more. >> LEMIRE: Hurray.
>> ATCHITY: There will be more Greek coming up later.
>> LEMIRE: Nice. >> ATCHITY: No, it's a fantastic movie. And
one of the things that I really loved about this is that it is so intricate and it is
so smart and it really does keep you thinking. This is not a silly action movie where you
go and turn your brain off, absolute not. This is the kind of movie where you need to
be paying attention. And even if you are paying attention, you may not really--there's so
many different interpretations. You may not really know what's going on. I like it. Now,
I will say, my one compliant is that, I feel like--at no point was I feeling any passion
for the characters. And that's my one complaint, is that Nolan is, I feel like, with Christopher
Nolan, we've got almost the modern-day Stanley Kubrick, and he's technically profession.
And his--what he does from a technical standpoint is excellent. And he--and somebody I worked
with was talking about one of the things he does is he moves his characters around like
chess pieces. And I think he's excellent at that but it can leave you a little cold.
>> LEMIRE: Okay. >> ATCHITY: And that's--that would be--my
only complaint is that I felt there was something, not that I felt was missing but it felt more--the
movie felt like more of an intellectual exercise than it was something that I would get passionate
about. It didn't move me emotionally. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it because I loved
the movie but I can't give it a perfect score because I felt like it didn't really move
me emotionally apart from, say, surprise. >> LEMIRE: Okay. Okay. And you, my friend?
>> KIM: Well, I really loved it. I mean, it makes me think of--I mean, I have to go back
to Toy Story in terms of a unique theater-going experience. And I went and saw a midnight
show of it last night, and people were laughing with derision at the trailers ahead of time,
which were like--for like serious movies. And so people were just like, "Oh, come on."
When Inception started, I've never been in an audience where people have been thinking
so hard. >> LEMIRE: You could hear it?
>> KIM: You could hear it. >> LEMIRE: You could feel the heat in the
room? >> KIM: You can feel that--yeah. The room
got steamy from the steam coming out of people's eyes as the, you know, as the wheels were
turning around. And it was really--it was really kind of incredible. Like, I admire
Chris Nolan so much for making this movie, for bankrolling it $160 million movie that's
this complex. >> ATCHITY: Right.
>> KIM: It makes me think of a movie like Fight Club where after you watch it, like,
"I can't believe the studio made that. And we were talking about with the kind of emotional
resonance. I feel like I kind of--I felt like I was there for that. I mean, obviously, Leonardo
DiCaprio's, you know, he's the most emotional of the characters. But the other ones are
good because they're the role players on the team, you know. And I feel you learned a little
bit about them just in their interactions with each other that I thought was interesting
that filled out at least their personalities. So, but it's a movie where you're--you never
know what's going to happen next, which is so rare in any movie.
>> ATCHITY: Which is great. >> KIM: And it's like--not only it it's like
a dream within a dream within a dream, but it's a time--ticking time bomb within a time
ticking time bomb within a ticking time bomb. >> ATCHITY: Right, right.
>> KIM: And... >> LEMIRE: But they're all in different timeframes,
which we'll get to you later. >> KIM: It's like--like my heart was racing
at the end where I was just like, "What had happened?"
>> ATCHITY: No. And I was tensed. Don't get me wrong. I was really tensed with it. And
I was very much feeling the excitement the way it with any particularly well-executed
heist film, which is I think there's a lot of kind of the classic heist film in this.
But I wasn't feeling a passion for the characters. There wasn't anything that I felt that, you
know, there's a distance, I feel that Nolan can keep with his character sometimes. I mean
like with Memento, right? I think Memento is a fantastic movie. But at no point do I
really feel for Guy Pearce's character the way I would in something--you know, it's not
like watching a Spielberg movie where he can have you in tears about the character. You're
really feeling their heart. You feel like you know them. This one I feel like it's a
little bit an arms like, then, again, I don't--I'm not--I don't want to make it sound like I'm
complaining about the movie, I'm not. It's just the only thing that I think is a little
bit missing there. But, you know, that being said, you see stuff in this movie you've never
seen before. And it's not unlike the experience of watching Avatar where you go and you see
Avatar. And once you got presented by Jim Cameron's Avatar, it's nothing that anyone
had ever done onscreen. Same thing here, this is completely, completely new. And it's so
refreshing in, you know, considering the last few summers, there had been sequels and adaptations
and remakes. It's so refreshing to see somebody do something new.
>> LEMIRE: Yeah. And this summer, I think this is part of why we all love Inceptions
so much is that this summer has been like particularly lackluster like.
>> ATCHITY: Yeah. >> LEMIRE: Everything has sucked except for
Toy Story 3, except for some cooler little things, so...
>> KIM: So they make some sequels... >> LEMIRE: Right.
>> KIM: ...and this is so completely like outrageously original.
>> LEMIRE: It is and yet there are a lot of elements here of like Eternal Sunshine of
the Spotless Mind. I mean the fact that it is like you'd say at its core of classic heist
movie where Leo is assembling his team. >> ATCHITY: Right.
>> LEMIRE: And each person has a very particular function.
>> KIM: The Mission Impossible. >> LEMIRE: Well, it is. What's fun about it,
is it's fun that they're all great heist movies to watch them to make the plan, to watch them
assemble the team, watch them to make a plan, and watch them to try to execute it.
>> ATCHITY: Right. Right. And watch things go wrong.
>> LEMIRE: So it--right. >> ATCHITY: And watch them trying to roll
with that. >> LEMIRE: And then it's thrilling. There's
a lot other movies that reminded me of. I mean, it reminds me of--there's a Wizard of
Oz moment at the end. >> ATCHITY: Yeah.
>> LEMIRE: I mean, I don't know if the Toy... >> ATCHITY: Right. There's the 2001 reference.
>> LEMIRE: Yeah. >> ATCHITY: There's all kinds of crazy reference.
>> LEMIRE: I don't know if the Toy is original but having said that, it is totally his own.
>> KIM: Right. >> LEVINE: I mean the way he takes pieces
here and there and makes them something new. I would agree with you.
>> KIM: Yeah. There's touches where, obviously, the matrix is a big kind of touchstone.
>> LEVINE: Very much, though. >> KIM: At times where I felt a little bit
of kind of like a David Lynch of that kind of weird dream world sort of thing and being
kind of tormented by your memories and not being sure what's real or not. And, I mean,
I think, you know, in terms of like a neoclassic, it kind of reminds me how I felt when I came
out of Se7en where I was like this is the movie people are going to watch for a long
time. >> ATCHITY: Yeah. And it's a movie that people
are going to discuss over and over and over again because they're trying to figure out
what happened, what's real, what's not real. There's a lot of levels to this film. And
what's great about it is this is a very intricate, very intelligent film and yet completely accessible.
This isn't talking over anyone's head. I don't think it expects too much out of an audience.
It does--one of the things that I think Nolan does very effectively is shepherd you along
the different levels so that you kind of can follow what's going along, right, so that
you've kind and can follow what's going along, right, it's...
>> LEMIRE: And that's Ellen Page dysfunction. >> ATCHITY: ...as right.
>> LEMIRE: Being the new person in the crew. >> ATCHITY: Right.
>> LEMIRE: She's sort of like our eyes and ears and our guide for it, yeah.
>> ATCHITY: Right. >> LEMIRE: I'm--it's not accessible as Dark
Knight of course. And then... >> ATCHITY: Right.
>> LEMIRE: And because, you have this enormous amount of expectation. I really wonder how
it's going to do because you're not going to have like the record breaking Dark Knight
number. It's not going to be, you know, you think people will go and see over and over
again if they didn't love it at the first time, you know.
>> KIM: Well, what I think it's interesting about this like with the Batman movies, it's
like, "Oh, he's big action movie director who does good characters stuff." But then,
when you look at Memento and the Prestige and this, "Oh, this is the guy who can tell
a really twisty story that really shocks you at the end."
>> ATCHITY: Right. >> KIM: Right. And the way that you didn't
see coming, you've never know what's going to come and I think it's really great to remind
people of that. And it makes me wonder, "What the hell is Superman going to be like?"
>> ATCHITY: Yeah. Exactly, you know, that's one of Nolan's great strengths, right, is
that he can lead you along different, you know, Memento, he tell us story backwards
but he doesn't need narration as such to do it apart from Guy Pearce's character explaining
what's wrong with them. You know, and something like The Prestige or even Batman Begins, he's
jumping back between at least three timelines. And at no point, do you even need anything
onscreen, saying, 20 years earlier, 3 years later, you know, or anyone's--he's very effective
at making those distinctions without having to beat you over the head with it.
>> LEMIRE: Right. I think, he gives the audience a lot of credit. I think, he makes us work
with this but I like to working and I like that he gave me credit...
>> ATCHITY: Right. >> LEMIRE: ...for being able to work.
>> ATCHITY: Right. >> LEMIRE: I mean, that's--you have to give
your bearings every once in a while. And so, so the staff and go, "Okay, where are we now?"
But I love that about it. It is gorgeous. I mean, production value wise, it is flawless.
It's just looks so substantial. It has so much have to it and yet, that it is really
cool. I hate to use the word dreamlike but it is dreamlike, sort of the ethereal quality
too, the gorgeous scene where they're floating in the hotel corridor.
>> ATCHITY: Oh yeah. >> LEMIRE: And I've seen million times in
the trailer and it took my breath away. I mean, the fun part of it is you see these
fantastic images in the trailer and in the T.V. ads. But until you see them on the big
screen, you see like there's so tactile. They're even from the very first moment, you see Leo
washed upon the beach. >> ATCHITY: Right.
>> LEMIRE: And you see the water pounding against the rocks.
>> ATCHITY: Right. >> LEMIRE: And the sand and its fingers then
it's like... >> ATCHITY: Right.
>> LEMIRE: ...it's immersive. >> ATCHITY: Right and you could feel the sand.
>> KIM: Yeah, the water is going over his face and everything you could feel the salt
and everything. >> ATCHITY: Well, right. I should mention
I have the opportunity to see this in IMAX which is absolutely the way to see it...
>> LEMIRE: Yes. >> ATCHITY:...I think. There's so much going
on onscreen. It's a great way to see this. >> LEMIRE: Yeah. Very cool. Now...
>> KIM: And I mean, one thing that's interesting like last week I reviewed Predator's here
with Ben and on YouTube, he was like, "Why can't you just enjoy the movie for what it
is," because I say, "I didn't really like it that much." And but the thing--I think,
what this movie because it was like the action scenes in these are not like intellectual
action scenes necessarily. There's a lot of running and shooting in snow mobiles.
>> LEMIRE: Chasing. >> KIM: Things like that. But it's just that
you can have a movie that has big damn crazy action without the movie itself being damn.
>> ATCHITY: Well, but I don't think the action of this is damn, right. I think that it could
actually. >> KIM: Oh yeah, it's not [INDISTINCT], and
it's very... >> ATCHITY: Well, but it serves to drive the
story, right. There's nothing, you know, sometimes you get fight scenes or action scenes...
>> LEMIRE: Right. >> ATCHITY: ...in movies that are there, just
because of it's expected, right. "Oh, we've got to do a fight scene between these two
characters, we just have to, that would be cool, little more cool."
>> KIM: Hmm. >> ATCHITY: At this point, all of it is the
way it should be. All of the chase scenes, all of the fight scenes happen because they're
necessary to the story. There's none of [INDISTINCT] fad of this movie. As much as it's long, and
it is a long movie. >> LEMIRE: It's long. It's almost two and
a half hours long, yes. >> ATCHITY: Right. I don't think that there's
anything that needs to be cut out. >> LEMIRE: Yeah.
>> ATCHITY: There's nothing useless. >> LEMIRE: And it never dragged. As I was
saying earlier that you have to stop bearings in once in a while. Christopher Nolan won't
let you, because the story will keep pounding along with this tremendous momentum to it.
>> ATCHITY: Right. >> LEMIRE: Like he want to stop and go, "Okay,
where are they now?" But you can't and to say, to think about it afterwards.
>> KIM: And I think it's nice because also with his track record that he's earned our
trusts, well, you're talking about Nolan's shepherding you through. It's a movie where
you would definitely occasionally be confused. But there--but in a lot of movies when you
confused, you trap right out. But in this select, we're going to get there, like, we're
going to figure this out. I can feel it coming together. I can feel, you know, I'm starting
to get to sort it out. And that's a great feeling, you know, because like I said, do
not know what's going to happen next. Most movies you see the trailer and you know how
it ends. And this one, like, how--when it ends, you're still kind to figure it out how
it ends. >> ATCHITY: Right.
>> KIM: You know, which is like really a unique [INDISTINCT].
>> ATCHITY: Right. Well, one of the things I should mention too is that even if you,
you know, one of the great things about this movie is it keep you guessing it. And if you're
the type of person who thinks they know what's going to happen in the movie. Even if you
do guess the ending, you have--it doesn't matter, I could tell you the ending right
now, having that scene and you still don't know yet how you're going to get there because
so many different things, so many twisty turny ways happen to make that--to get to that ending.
That even then, you're still going to be guessing. It's almost inconceivable how they would get
to, and you spoil, and then, you could think of, right. I mean, you could be watching movie
30, 40 minutes into it and think, "Oh okay, I got this figure out." But you don't.
>> LEMIRE: The jury is the destination. I want to [INDISTINCT] faster before we get
to the spoiler time. The rest of the cast is awesome. We're talking about later Leonardo
DiCaprio a lot, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays right-hand man, who--I love him in everything.
>> ATCHITY: Right. He was fantastic. >> LEMIRE: Tom Hardy who's starred in Bronson,
if you guys saw that little movie. He did it total bad ass. And like...
>> KIM: He's like a star turned. >> LEMIRE: He's a total star.
>> KIM: I've never seen that before. >> ATCHITY: Yeah.
>> LEMIRE: Yeah. >> KIM: And I was so impressed. And I think,
the relationship between him and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I thought it was really--it was interesting.
>> ATCHITY: Right. >> KIM: Because one guy is essentially sort
of very professional sort of right-hand man. And there are guys that kind of bad ass freelancer.
>> ATCHITY: Right. >> KIM: And they're kind of put on this team
together and they don't know each other and the kind of feeling each other out.
>> ATCHITY: Right, because none of the cliché of him being the lose can and one being the
straight arrow. It's all handled... >> LEMIRE: And it's [INDISTINCT] anything.
>> ATCHITY: Very intelligently. >> LEMIRE: Yeah. He is great, he's a hugely
charismatic. He's the--I can't say what he is but he has a job on the team. And then,
Dileep Rao plays another person on the team. He was in Drag Me to Hell. He was in Avatar.
Yes. >> ATCHITY: Right.
>> LEMIRE: And Marion Cotillard has a totally pivotal role in Leo's life in the movie. She's
gorgeous. Ellen Page is really good in this. >> ATCHITY: Ellen Page is good.
>> LEMIRE: She's very kind Juno-like on smart-ass roles for her.
>> KIM: And I was [INDISTINCT] first when I saw her in the trailer because I was like
she just looks so young. It's like, is this really going to work, but her character is
supposed to be the young. >> ATCHITY: [INDISTINCT] young but yet very
smart, very competent. >> KIM: Right.
>> ATCHITY: Yeah. She told me words. And what little screen time Michael Caine has.
>> LEMIRE: He's enthusing. >> ATCHITY: He's great as always.
>> KIM: And as sort of full Asian points, Ken Watanabe is really...
>> ATCHITY: Oh, Ken Watanabe is great. >> LEMIRE: Yes.
>> KIM: ...he's so great in it because, I mean, he's kind of--he's sort of a character
who's--he's not really like a member of the team, he's sort of different. And he's older,
he adds a different kind of weight and heft to it. But really, really interest--they are
really, really fascinating character and I just get excited to see Asians, so, I mean,
it's... >> LEMIRE: No.
>> KIM: As we all are, I think. >> ATCHITY: But he's very--and, you know,
he's--you see, I think, as he's becoming more comfortable with English, because it sounds
really bad but as he's becoming more comfortable acting in English, he's becoming much more
effective, right. >> KIM: Uh-hmm.
>> ATCHITY: And so, in his past movies, not really got to double back his English dialogue,
or you can start to tell. And you can see this if you know what's you're really looking
for with guys like Jackie Chan, or Jet Li, you can kind to tell when somebody's coaching
you phonetically. >> KIM: Uh-hmm.
>> ATCHITY: Right. And this one I felt like, "Okay, I'm totally buying this dialogue. He
sounds much more natural than he's been before." And it's one of his, I think, better goals
in the English language movie. >> LEMIRE: Yeah. There's a [INDISTINCT] and
there's quiet dignity. He's great, anyway. >> KIM: He's like a bad ass in the different
sort of way than the other... >> ATCHITY: Right.
>> KIM: ...ones are kinds of bad ass like he's a professional in the different sort
of way. >> ATCHITY: Right. Cillian Murphy.
>> LEMIRE: Cillian Murphy, he's too, yeah. He is pivotal to--don't want to say why.
>> KIM: Like his [INDISTINCT] blue eyes. >> LEMIRE: Yeah. Doing an American accent.
>> ATCHITY: Right. A little bit pass a weight. >> LEMIRE: Like two seconds.
>> ATCHITY: Always free to see him. >> LEMIRE: Yeah. So, it's a great cast and
we all love it. >> ATCHITY: Tom Berenger.
>> LEMIRE: Tom Berenger and like two scenes but again, good. Because we give our scores.
Who wants to go first, Matt? Because... >> ATCHITY: I'm the first because I'm the
lowest tonight. I feel little embarrassed. >> LEMIRE: You should.
>> ATCHITY: I'm a little embarrassed. >> LEMIRE: You want to take it back?
>> ATCHITY: No, I'm going to take it back. >> LEMIRE: All right.
>> ATCHITY: I'm going to--go with there because was because again, it left a little cold so
I loose a little bit of points of me but not much, I'm giving them a 9.
>> LEMIRE: A 9, all right and you? >> ATCHITY: That's the lowest score.
>> LEMIRE: Okay. >> KIM: Well, I mean, I feel like I'm compensating
a little bit for not giving Toy Story 3 the full 10 but this movie was such a great experience.
It was so fun to watch, so challenging and--I mean, it's like making your brain do like
a triathlon, we're making Tetris. And just the crowd reaction, I thought, was just it's
so great. And it's--I think, it's, you know, I think, it's, you know, definitely nominated
for an Oscars especially in the field of 10 that we have now and speaking of 10, so I
gave it a 10. >> LEMIRE: I gave it a 10 too. Yes, unprecedented.
>> ATCHITY: Is that your first 10? >> LEMIRE: It's my first 10 because my first
four-star movie review of the year. I gave it four stars for the AP. So all of you who
think that I hate everything, you can suck it. I like it, stop it.
>> ATCHITY: Stop it haters. >> LEMIRE: I like this one. And I like giving
the grade, so I gave it a 10. Jonathan gives it a 10, Matt is the big [INDISTINCT] over
here, so our average is a 9.7, that's pretty high. We like Inception. We hope you do too.