Hello everyone. Jesus it's been a long time. Not Jesus, it’s been a long time as in: "it sure has been a long time Jesus, how you been?" I mean hasn’t it been too long since I bothered my ass writing something for the website? For the last while I’ve just not felt like it and you shouldn’t say anything if you’re just blowing hot air. Although I’ve played fast and loose with that rule in the past. No longer. Well, we’ll i guess we'll see.

So I’m just back from watching Inception for the second time. I was lucky enough to be invited to the premiere (snuck in, teens and T-shirt, hate those things, and have only accepted the invitation to go twice, first for Spiderman 3 which we did some music for and second for Inception because I would have probably… actually I’ll not tell you what I would have done to get a ticket. It’s better you don’t know) a few weeks back and was blown away. I’ve been a big Nolan fan since Memento and I think the man is as good as any that has sat in a director’s chair. When I heard some friends were going to see it today I was keen to find out if I really did see the best big movie of our generation two weeks ago or I if I was mistaken. It turns out I was not. In fact I liked it better the second time. 

This movie is nothing short of a miracle. A blockbuster that delivers as much punch, explosions and gunfire than any trigger happy nonsense fest (I have to admit for all my talk of loving cinema, which I do, I can’t help but love a big stupid shoot em’ up sometimes) as any this summer has to offer but also, oh also, also, also, also it gives you so much more! It is a mind bending, nerve shredding, intelligent and heartbreaking love story that if put all in all could (and let’s hope it does) change the face of cinema for years to come. No movie that cost this much AND will earn as much (it’s already given DiCaprio the biggest opening weekend boxoffice of his career, a career don’t forget that includes Titanic) has this much heart and brains. If anyone can think of one then by all means try but don’t just say the first big movie that wasn’t entirely stupid that comes to mind, it has to tick every box imaginable. 

And this is why Inception is a brand new type of film. It simply has everything. No film has cut across gender, race and genre like this. At today’s screening (Tuesday afternoon in a BIG theatre. It was full) I saw many races and as many women as men. Insane. And about time. Maybe a whole new wave of young filmmakers will be inspired to make big movies for the masses that don’t dumb down or pull punches. Of course Nolan after The Dark Knight (which took over a billion at the box office. Only a handful of movies ever have) has been given the keys to the castle and can do whatever the hell he likes with no interference from the suits but the fact that he, not only, has not succumbed to the temptation to take the money and run and paint by numbers for his next movie he has also changed the game entirely shows that there are still people out there to which more money only means more invention rather than more houses and cars. That he has the drive to be better when he has already conquered the planet is beyond inspiring. Hopefully others will follow.

Sure I saw a few people walk out half way through (it’s two and half hours long) and not all the reviews have been glowing but fuck those guys, ha, sorry only joking (sort of), it does not matter if everybody gets it, it only matters that this can be made in the first place and executed with perfection. Think about the pitch meeting with the studio heads: “OK, I want to make a genre-humping, philosophical near 3 hour movie about dream thieves”?? Scratched heads all round… “Er, did I say there’d be explosions and Leo DiCaprio”. Ok, fair enough that may have sweetened the deal but still it’s immensely brave.

Brave and it will also be enduring and that is to be celebrated. Most revolutions in film are exclusive ones. They happen at first in boutique cinemas to a handful of diehard fans and the general public only notice when their influence filters through (via, in many cases, outright idea theft) in watered-down Hollywood abortions. I was born a year after Star Wars: A New Hope came out so knew nothing of it’s effect on popular cinema at the time but it is really the last big game changer that happened in plain sight (I’m not counting Tarantino’s Resoivir Dogs (and many more genius niche films besides) because it was an 18(UK)/NC17(US) and therefore had a more limited impact). 

I guess I’m talking rather big about this movie but as far as I’m concerned it’s the most important cinematic event of my (sentient) lifespan. Dare we hope for a future in which Hollywood delivers a summer of smart and profound blockbusters in which things still of course blow up and cars drive real, real fast but we also care about the characters and there is heart and life and intellect on the screen along side the pretty, pretty people and the chitty, chitty bang bang. Even if Inception was not really your cup of tea pray that the same care and love goes into any and all Hollywood movies from now on. I doubt it will be a new dawn but I sure do dream it is.

garyL, hopeful as ever.xx