Tag Archives: Inception

A&E, Christian DiMartino

Films that got away: Memento

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By Christian DiMartino

Title: Memento

Genre: Mystery, Drama

Release Date:

Film rating: R

Leads: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Ann Moss, Joe Pantoliano

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writer(s): Christopher and Jonathan Nolan

Christopher Nolan’s first major film, Memento, is one that really shows his roots as a filmmaker. Nolan went on to direct Inception, and both movies display his true talent: thinking. If you’re into that movie, then you cannot resist Memento. Nolan has a talent for invoking deep thought in all his movies, and this one is no exception.

The film centers around Leonard (Guy Pearce), a man with a strange memory disorder: He does not have amnesia, but he cannot make new memories. In order to remember, he is forced to take pictures of certain events and get tattoos of important facts. Leonard is on the hunt for his wife’s killer, but in his case, who is there to trust?

Pearce does his best performance in this film, and that is probably because it is one of the few movies where he is the main character. Typically in supporting roles, Pearce proves that he can carry his own movie. Carrie Ann Moss is fantastic as a Natalie, a waitress that isn’t what she seems, and as is Joe Pantoliano as a supposed “cop” who joins him on the journey.

Memento sounds a little like your typical thriller, but it takes the genre one step further: The entire movie goes backwards. Memento literally starts from the end, and it is all leading up to the beginning. Most thrillers are like puzzles, whereas Memento really is one. Nolan challenges his viewers by letting them piece the mystery together scene by scene.

There have not been many movies quite like this, and the only one that is nearly as clever is Memento. Nolan and his brother Jonathan are practically the owners of a brain factory, and they wrote a movie deemed to challenge. You can take or leave it, but I love it.

Memento was nominated for two Academy-Awards including Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing. It did not win either? Are movies better edited? Are movies more original? When was the last time a movie was told backwards? Memento, that’s when. It should have been nominated for best picture (and won, because this is one of the great films of the past decade).

Unlike Leonard, you will be able to remember this movie. It is one that truly burns in your memory and stays there long after you see it. But not many people have seen it, so that is why it is the one that got away.

A&E

‘Inception’ boggles mind

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By: Amanda Millea

            In a world where reality and fiction collide, an innocent dream can become a nightmare. “Inception” may be the title of this mind-boggling movie, but in the movie, inception is actually the premise of extractor Dom Cobb’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) job. Cobb, through the power of extraction is able to steal other people’s secrets from any individual’s subconscious. The problem is that the job proved to be more dangerous than the extraction team had bargained for.

            A simple slip of reality into the dream can inhibit the team’s ability to tell what is real and what is a part of the dream state. This one job is Cobb’s last chance to make up for his fugitive charges, but throughout the extraction process, his goal changes from stealing an idea to placing one in the figment of the mind.

            Oscar nominee Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight”) wrote and directed “Inception.” Aside from an award winning director, the cast includes academy award nominees DiCaprio (The Aviator), Ken Watanabe (“The Last Samurai”), Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”), Ellen Page (“Juno”), Michael Caine (“Cider House Rules”). Other stars include Joseph Gordon- Levitt, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Dileep Rao.  The musical score was written by none other than the famous Hans Zimmer, who also worked with Nolan in “The Dark Night”. The music really added to the intensity of the action sequence and at times was the only thing heard in the film, and at times caused the audience to jump.

            DiCaprio truly draws the viewers into the story line with his character’s pressured lifestyle. The movie begins with his character washed up on a shore of an unknown place. From the very beginning of the movie, imaginations are set up to wonder what is and what could be really happening. “Inception” is one of those movies that requires a large attention span, or the viewer will be completely lost. This movie involves a lot of thought or it will make no sense.

            After this movie, there was a significant change in the way I dreamed. The night after I saw this movie, I went to bed just fine. However, waking up the next morning I felt almost disoriented. Thinking about this movie, there are still more questions arising every day. Just when it seems like the movie makes perfect sense, the human mind starts coming up with even more possibilities. I think the movie’s tagline says it best : “Your mind is the scene of the crime.”

                                                            Rating : 4/5 stars