Inception

Inception

Wow. What a puzzle. What a brilliant puzzle.

It's also a puzzle how I can review this movie without giving away anything. Seriously, the less you know the better. I can give a very basic summary, but will make sure not to reveal anything that is not in the first five minutes of the movie.

Leonardo DiCaprio and his team are a group of corporate thieves, only instead of breaking into your office, they actually break into your dreams.

There you go. I've said too much already! The treat of this movie is not knowing where it is taking you. Writer-director Christoper Nolan (Dark Knight) has created one hell of a wild ride, a labyrinthine movie about dreams and reality. He populates his world with entertaining characters all played brilliantly by a superb cast. Seriously, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, Lukas Haas, Tom Berenger, there is not a single weak link among them. Seamless special effects, a solid score, beautiful production design, exciting stunt work...

Unless there is some sort of monster Oscar-bait movie on the horizon that I don't know about, look for Inception to be a front runner come Academy Awards time.

UPDATE: Okay, so in hindsight, it wasn't the front runner, thanks to The King's Speech and Social Network, but it still had a solid chance!!

Okay, so this is my spoiler free review.   For those of you who have seen the movie, check back either tomorrow or Wednesday for some detailed, spoiler-heavy comments (Click here). Mostly, I want to talk about the ending and see what everyone else thinks, too!

MVP: Christopher Nolan, without a doubt. What I like most about Nolan is that he proves that you can be artsy and deep and still create a studio film that is full of the Hollywood thrills. Every single one of his films has been challenging. And three of them (Memento, The Prestige, and this) have been tightly-wound and dense puzzles that you have to concentrate hard on to unravel. But these puzzles are never at the expense of the audience and never to the detriment of those who simply want enjoy a movie. Art and entertainment do not need to be mutually exclusive. That's Nolan's brilliance. Studios should take note - you don't need to keep depending on folks like Michael Bay for your blockbusters!

BEST LINE: "Don't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling."

TRIVIA: Apparently the studio tried to convince Nolan to convert the film to 3-D, since it is all the rage now. Nolan did attempt a few tests, but decided that 3-D was stupid and was actually detracting from the experience. Go Nolan!

OSCARS: Best Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects

OSCAR NOMINATIONS: Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Art Direction, Original Score