Inception Movie Preview

Christopher Nolan is my favorite director of the past ten years. Not only are his stories fantastic, but he has gained his great reputation by simply not patronizing his audiences. Even his take on the Batman franchise has been a milestone in getting audiences to take a vigilante who dresses like a bat completely seriously. He also holds an outstanding track record in that in the 12 years he’s been releasing movies (6 in total, with a bun in the oven) none of them have been bad. This is a great track record for any director. His new film, Inception, looks like it will maintain that track record, but Peter Travers of Rolling Stone recently reviewed the film, and had this to say about it: It’s good, but might be too smart for audiences.

My response to that generalized statement is simply “Who cares?”. When was the last time an audience was intellectually challenged by a director? It can be argued that the last time that happened was in 1999 with the Matrix, but I say you have to go back to Stanley Kubrick’s films (any of them done after Lolita) for an answer. Let’s face it and admit that audiences have become dumbed down somewhat lately. I’m not saying that with a snarky elitist sentiment. I don’t really view myself as particularly of intellect, but I’m certainly not the dumbest creature on Earth. The problem is that intellectual films in the past twenty years haven’t been successful because, to be honest, they’re not all that entertaining. So hats off to Nolan for finding a way to make the audience think without boring them to death.