Amanda Hocking

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Inception was a pretty good movie but Robin Williams as Riddler is the worst thing in the world

July 18th, 2010 by
This post currently has 4 comments

I’m in love with Joseph Gordon-Levitt this week, and you’ll all just have to deal with it.

To be fair, my Joseph Gordon-Levitt crush has been brewing since Angels in the Outfield, but it intensified after I saw The Lookout  a few years back (side note: I’ve put the The Lookout in the top fifty movies I’ve seen in the past 10 years, and I’ve seen a lot of movies in the past ten years – it’s very, very good. You should go watch it. Right now.) 
I got annoyed with him after 500 Days of Summer. I’m not going to go into my issues with that film or Zooey Deschanel or Michael Cera, because it’s too much work and vaguely confusing, even to me.

Anyway, I saw Inception last night. I won’t give away any spoilers (mostly because it would be too long to explain it) but here’s my general thoughts: 
Leonardo DiCaprio’s role in the film should’ve been lessened. Also, he’s being typecast lately, but I can’t tell you how, because that would ruin the end of the three movies he’s being typecast in – but here’s a hint: Revolutionary Road, Shutter Island, and Inception are the three movies doing it.

Also, Ellen Page was oddly intrusive. She was. I enjoy her and all (although, her indie quirkiness felt out of place in a crime thriller – which is essentially what this) but her character was awfully pushy for someone that just met Leonardo DiCaprio. 

And now I’m going to say something I don’t want to say – there’s a problem with all of Christopher Nolan’s movies. Not a big one, and it’s small enough where I can overlook it and love his films. He’s still pretty brilliant. But his plots are so intricate and detailed they don’t allow for much character development. I watched a nearly 3-hour movie. I only know five characters names, and I only really know details about Leonardo DiCaprio. And some about Cillian Murphy, but for the most part, those were brushed under the rug. 

Also – Eric had read somewhere that Christopher Nolan uses woman as an afterthought in his films. So I got to thinking about Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige, and the Batmans. And you know what? That is a 100% accurate. It’s bothered me that I never really liked Rachel Dawes in the Batman movies. Even in The Dark Knight. I love Maggie Gyllenhaal. Why don’t I care about Rachel? At all?

Because she’s not a character. She’s a prop. So was Scarlett Johansson in The Prestige, Carrie Ann Moss in Memento and that chick I hate in Insomnia. None of them are developed. They’re just plot devices.  

To be fair, a lot of Christopher Nolan’s characters are underdeveloped (with the incredible exception of Leonardo’s character in Inception who might be the most overdeveloped character in the history of the world). But a lot of time, he hits the mark right for the men. Again, with the exception of Inception. But the ladies never, ever are. 

Overall, I did really enjoy Inception.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s fight scene is pretty phenomenal, and I’m considering seeing the film in IMAX just so I can watch that in all its glory. Hans Zimmer’s score is stupendous. No other composer can bring tension like that. Cillian Murphy is pretty, as usual. Michael Caine had more of a cameo than an actual role in the movie, but I liked it. The ending was perfect, too. 

Tom Hardy – who I’d actually never heard of before – was the real charmer of the show. He stole most of the scenes he was in. He was delightful. 

Despite a few plot holes and a boring subplot that overshadowed the more interesting real plot, I’d still give it 4/5 stars. I really liked it, and I will buy the DVD. 

But what happened after the film is the most fun. A rumor on the internet is that Joseph Gordon-Levitt might be the Riddler in the third Batman film. I think this is the best idea ever. 
Well, after watching Inception, I went out to the bars with friends to celebrate my birthday, and I had a few too many drinks. I came home, a little drunk, talking about the movie and Batman, etc. My roommate told me that he’d read somewhere that they might be considering casting Robin Williams as the Riddler in the new Batman movie instead of Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

I spent the next hour drunkenly sobbing about that choice and how it would ruin the movie. My roommate taped me on his phone, so I got to a watch video of it today, and it was pretty sweet. 
He asked me why I was so upset about it, and I said that it was the last time Christian Bale would be Batman and I didn’t want Robin Williams to ruin it because he doesn’t know what funny is. I then began to wail about how horrible Terminator: Salvation is.
It doesn’t sound funny, but it was pretty hilarious. Well, today it is. I’m not sure if it was fun last night when roommate had to listen to it. Although, in all fairness, I think he kept egging me on about it. 

And, Robin Williams really would ruin the movie. Really.



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  • Moe says:

    Tom Hardy is a definite charmer. I first fell in love with him in Star Trek: Nemesis where he played a cloned Jean Luc Piccard (?sp). I would highly recommend watching him in the movie Bronson just to see his freakish talent from a new angle.

  • ME TOO! I have loved Joseph Gordon Levitt since I first saw him! Also, that Tom Hardy was indeed delightful. AND I now have an appreciation for Cillian Murphy. Something about those freckles and his eyes…Really, movies are all about who can I have a crush on for me, but this movie was incredibly enjoyable to me. Especially when JGL was doing things. I also wanted to cry when Ken Wantanabe would start coughing up blood. Just to throw that in there…and now Wesley and I are in an argument over what the ending was…happy or not, dream or life, etc. And I was impressed because Gregg doesn’t know who Christopher Nolan is, but he said that he really liked Momento, and I appreciated that he could make comparisons of movies and figure out that they were related. It is cute. And his favorite movie of all time IS The Dark Knight…(I think, but it SHOULD be.)

  • Twimom227 says:

    Thanks for the movie talk. I’ve been trying to figure out this movie from the commercials, since I know I’ll never see it (I watch 3 movies a year, unless made for children under 7!) I love trying to figure out thrillers with twists from the commercials alone. I’m not going to be able to do it with this one.