Inception

I have yet to walk out of a Christopher Nolan film saying, "Well that sucked!" Considering how much I love his work so far, I really hope I never will. What Nolan does so well is that he tells a great story while dazzling us with great special effects. That is never more apparent than in this film, where the topic of entering people's dreams allows computer technology to have a field day making these imaginative worlds come to life. Then we get into dreams within dreams. Everything goes much faster the deeper you get, allowing for certain ideas to be implanted into one's mind without the dreamer noticing these are not truly his original thoughts.

This has been a good year for Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred in the also quirky Shutter Island. I liked Shutter, and I think I liked Inception even more. DiCaprio has a great character to play, dealing with the loss of a his wife, whose memory sabotages his dream extraction missions. One day, he is offered a job that will clear him of murder charges and allow him to see his kids. Does he succeed and see his family? I won't reveal it here of course, but the ending, like Shutter Island, is one that will have its audience members talking. An early candidate for one of my top ten films of the year.