day 2.235

inception delivers

chris nolan has done it again. and i say that without ever have seen the dark knight. yes, i'm one of (probably) two people on the planet who has not seen the dark knight nor avatar, though both are on my netflix queue. anyway, i digress. nolan's latest theatrical effort, the leonardo dicaprio thriller inception, does anything but disappoint at the theater. the movie follows leo and 500 days of summer's joshua gordon levit as dream hackers, a duo who go into peoples' dreams to steal information. the duo are offered the chance to carry out an inception, rather than an extraction, where they are to plan an idea in someone's subconscious rather than take one out. leo and levit are joined by ellen page as their "dream architect" and a couple of
comrades to get into cillian murphey's head and tell him to break up his family business, all at the hands of ken watanabe, a businessman desperate to end his competition's domination of the energy industry. complicated enough for you? just wait until marion cotilliard is thrown in as leo's unstable wife who haunts not only his dreams, but the dreams he travels into. inception is everything you want and more in a summer thriller, but runs a little (and by "a little" I mean a
lot) long at 2.5 hours. the plot and inconsistencies amongst the dream worlds gets a little confusing, but you should get the gist. my biggest complaint is that dicaprio seems to have painted himself into a corner in the sense that this role is eerily similar to his turn in last winter's shutter island. none the less, still go and see it. and check out the trailer above if you have no clue what i'm talking about (read: you've been living under a rock).

day 2.283

even more new tv!

well, at least in theory. hbo has ordered a pilot for tilda, a new half-hour comedy about a much-feared hollywood blogger. and, no, it's not based on perez hilton. it's reportedly based on nikki finke, who founded and runs deadline hollywood. the show will star diane keaton in her first regular tv role. about time. if there's anywhere to transition from movie star to tv star, it's hbo. i think the "box office" part of "home box office" is the stars' way of justifying the change. keaton will be joined by another movie star, juno's ellen page. page will play a young assistant at a hollywood studio. page's character will have to decide whether she wants to continue on the corporate track or follow keaton's tilda, who has taken a liking to her. sounds good, but it will be interesting to see how this idea transitions into a series. but, that's getting ahead of myself. first we have to see if the show even makes it to series (though that's more of a likely than a long shot with keaton attached). just another show i'm looking forward to this fall. where will i find the time?

day 242

barrymore's whip it
drew barrymore forays her career into directing with this comedy starring juno's ellen page. the film follows fish-out-of-water bliss (page) as she discovers she can "whip it" as one of the stars of a local roller derby league. cue lesbian jokes...now. from the looks of the trailer, the film looks pretty damn good - both in terms of writing and casting as well as cinematography and art director, which drew was in charge of. makes you think drew probably could have helmed at least one of the twilight flicks; maybe she'll take over the 4th and final (and allegedly most challenging piece) breaking dawn? with a cast including juliette lewis, kristin wiig, eve, and barrymore herself, i'm thinking the movie will do pretty well - maybe along the lines of a sleeper hit like juno or little miss sunshine? i hope so. the only problem facing the film is its october release - post summer and pre winter, that's kind of where movies go to die. most audience are too occupied with work/school/their television to make it to the theater. but, who knows? it could be the star of turkey season. the movie is adapted from a teen novel, derby girl, by the book's author - shauna cross - so the material should at least be true to form (ie if you've read the book, it shouldn't disappoint, though i don't know of anymore who has read the book). check out the trailer abovbe and see for yourself. i'm excited.