Inception Trailer # 3

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    The Pitch:

Leonardo’s character is some kind of conscience or dream prowler.  He says that he can perform different tasks inside one’s sub-conscience.  Is it legal? Is he good or evil?  Apparently he is lost or exiled and can return home with this proverbial ‘last job’. What happens when the dream collapse? When you enter a dream unprepared?

The View:

Conroy-  First, I am always in love with the way Christopher Nolan shoots his movies.  I love the vivid imagery and that loud subliminally thrilling music (especially that tuba!).   The movie starts that way but quickly becomes purposely perplexing. They did a great job of explaining the who, the why, and the where but suffered with the how.  Even though the ‘how’ was slightly insignificant to the development of the story it was irritating to wondering and curious minds not to know as the movie progressed;   Plausibility, to me, suffered because of that.  At times, I felt that the story tried too hard to be arcane.   Ken Watanabe’s (one of my favorite actors) English was difficult to understand and I fear that I missed some key information that was pertinent to the story.  A few of the decisions made in the movie made it hard for me to really get lost in the story because I felt “Hollywood-ism” reared its ugly head one time too many times.  Ultimately, I wasn’t too disappointed but felt that the movie left a lot of potential on the table.  Leaving the theater there was a mixture of applause and grumbling.

This is a deep movie so do not go if you are not in that “deep” mood.  I give it a very tentative “Worth Watching” letter grade: C+... this one could grow on me the more times I watch it.

The Worth

$$$

Despicable Me - Official Trailer #4: Minions Steal YouTube

The Pitch: 

A movie with a reverberated view about a super-villain. "Just because he's a bad guy, doesn't really mean that he's a bad guy" flick.  Enter three cute little girls, and an army of even more cute, non-threatening, high yellow minions [each with it's own personality]  and a badder guy inflicting more evil upon the earth.

The View:     

Conroy-  Basically, I felt that I may have saw this story already just in a different movie.  So instead of assessing a familiar plot I want to evaluate how much fun I had getting from point "A" to a predicted point "B".  Speaking of the  word "B" I gave this flick a solid "B".  With movies like "The Incredible  and more recently, "How to Train your Dragon" the bar is set relatively high for an 'A'.  Obviously, Gru, the main character, has to "soften" up because of the three girls.  It's inevitable!!!  That process, even though you see it coming, was still pleasant, warm and funny.  Although it won't tug at your heart-strings as much as it's predecessors it is still effective and essential for a good story.  I really liked it.  Being a huge Steve Carell fan, I would of probably like it regardless although in here I try to stay as unbiased as possible.  His Ukrainian-ish accent and the manor of which he is drawn makes it impossible not to have a smirk on your face before he even does anything... those little minions help too.  

The Worth: $$$