Thread: Inception - A movie about Lucid Dreaming

Inception has the oddest review pattern I've ever seen. Started out with 44 fresh reviews about two days before release with only one negative, After that positive reviews slewed down and received about 33 bad reviews within two days after release. Now the last two days it received noting but highly positive reviews two days ago 160/33 now it's 190/33 with an average review of .82, It's actually tied with the adv review of Shawshank Redemption. My all time favorite movie.

I was supposed to see the movie today with a friend, but the last date for the movie was yesterday. Somehow we mixed it up, thought today was the last day. Fail.

Originally Posted by Silent_Lucidity

I was supposed to see the movie today with a friend, but the last date for the movie was yesterday. Somehow we mixed it up, thought today was the last day. Fail.

Where the hell in Sweden do you live? >_> Somewhere in the woods?

This movie was way too hyped for me. I went and saw it, and granted it was a good movie. Really good effects and it's pretty good at creating a dreamscape. But the way people made it seem, it was like it was supposed to blow my mind. I've already thought about things like dreams in dreams in dreams, I've actually had 2-3 false awakenings before in one dream. I thought the movie was actually really predictable after you knew what was going on. I'd recommend Science of Sleep more than Inception, even Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (though that's more about memories than dreams.) It was a good movie, but not mind blowing.

I'm glad I went into this movie knowing literally nothing about it. I was just invited by a friend to see some film so I thought, yeah, why the heck not. Leonardo DiCaprio you say? Bonus!

I started to realize the subtle dream themes at the beginning just thinking it was a coincidence. I couldn't remember the point I realized about lucid dreaming, but it definitely had me captivated from that point on.

The idea excited me. The idea that I was likely the only one at the screening who knew so little about the film, but I was the only one actually in know. I had actually "been there" so to speak. It also excited me that upon leaving many of those who saw this masterpiece may wind up here, as I did several years ago.

The film does however strike me as a bit of a double edged sword for the lucid dreaming community. With the film comes a potential boost in member numbers (and inevitably a boost in questions already answered innumerable times ) but are those members going to be disappointed after seeing the film? Inception puts some pretty tall claims out there which, frankly, anyone who comes expecting something even near the dream experience in the film are going to have them dashed pretty quickly. That could leave some pretty bitter bandwagon-ers at our doorstep.

Regardless, I'm incredibly happy with the film. It has rekindled my love affair with lucid dreaming once more. Hopefully it won't take Inception 2 to keep my interest this time

Other than the shared dreaming aspect, I'd say that real lucid dreams are actually a lot more interesting, fun and satisfying than they were portrayed in the movie. The kinds of dream control they exercised in the movie barely scratch the surface of what I've actually done while lucid, and additionally the movie doesn't fully capture the unpredictable, wondrous, and often nonsensical nature of dream plots, even lucid ones, which nowadays is my favorite part of exploring the dreamscape. I think that overall, people turned onto lucid dreaming by Inception won't be let down.

Yeah, I guess you're right. Well, I say you're right. When someone posts a thread asking for websites that sell dream-share machines I reserve the right to revoke that statement

Man I'm going to watch it now I have heard from many places its a great movie now I'm going to make some time for it.

Originally Posted by XeL

Where the hell in Sweden do you live? >_> Somewhere in the woods?

Hahaha, not quite. Boden, Norrbotten county. Why?

I saw this movie today and i thought it was good. It wasn't exactly like LDing but it reminded me alot of it. Like when the girl got attacked by the projections (Dream characters). I get attacked by DCs all the time in DCs. Great movie!

Originally Posted by Silent_Lucidity

Hahaha, not quite. Boden, Norrbotten county. Why?

I was supposed to see the movie today with a friend, but the last date for the movie was yesterday. Somehow we mixed it up, thought today was the last day. Fail.

That's what got me thinking.

Bear in mind they had to convince the mark he wasnt dreaming, and not do anything to wacky else his subconcious would turn against them.

the thought of limbo scares me. although i dont believe there is such thing with in lucidity, i can give its comparisons to the dreaded false awakening.

an eternity of false awakenings.... ooooooooooooooooooooooo.... (scary music)

Originally Posted by MidniteHazard

the thought of limbo scares me. although i dont believe there is such thing with in lucidity, i can give its comparisons to the dreaded false awakening.

an eternity of false awakenings.... ooooooooooooooooooooooo.... (scary music)

Theres a brilliant comic whose name escapes me were a baddy who kidnaps the king of dreams recieves this as a punishment...
I remember, its Sandman by neil gaiman!

Spoilers to follow








I'm glad this movie was not about some cliche "we're coming to get you in your dreams" nonsense. Granted the idea of PASIV makes absolutely no sense (the ability to share a dream with naught but an IV needle connecting the dreamers), I think the movie was well executed and was "realistic" enough for my taste. So my only beefs with this film is that PASIV made no sense, the dreams were stupidly stable, and "real life" rules seemed to apply more often than they would (dream characters die just as normal people would, guns always fire bullets, weapon optics work properly, their PASIV machines function perfectly from inside the dreams). Everything just worked out perfectly,which we know in dreams almost never happens.

Someone mentioned that they had to convince the mark that they were dreaming - this is false. The marks were unaware of the fact they were in a dream, except for Saito who figured it out due to an inconsistency. They had to convince their primary target that he was actually in a dream and not awake in order for him to cooperate.

Originally Posted by Advantageous Noodle

Someone mentioned that they had to convince the mark that they were dreaming...

There was a high chance that wouldn't have worked, because he wasn't aware from the beginning that he was dreaming. He'd already passed tons of dream signs and impossible situations, and he didn't notice anything. For him to be told he's dreaming... I'd have thought the idea would just pass over his head again, sort of like when we see dream signs sometimes, or when a DC tells us we're dreaming, and we ignore it.

Well i saw the movie today without any prior anticipation, me and my friend went on a whim. I had no idea what the film was about until i watched the trailer a few minutes before leaving - i wasn't too excited but im interested in dreams of course and wanted to see how they explored that field.

Now, im about as pretentious as Rex Reed so if a movie isn't shot under $10,000, has subtitles and features Turkish farmers pondering the existence of their cattle, i assume it'll be mindless junk designed for easy viewing and CGI wank bait with very little intellectual nourishment, and if it has any traces of intelligence ill say its just trying too hard and i can tell all my friends how i hated it in the hope they'll be impressed and feel inferior to my intelligence because i have crippling self esteem issues and i try to convince myself im more intelligent then i am because my mummy and daddy never provided positive influence on my character. I digress.

But the movie was surprisingly good, and it was pretty damn clever. The dreamscapes they create weren't too ambitious, but stillmade me more jealous because of my LD struggles . The people who have said "well if they're dreaming why dont they do more ambitious things" may have a point, but i think in terms of plot that was because the "Architect" had the main control. Thats why they treated the dreamscapes realistically, hailing cabs and stealing cars instead of conjuring up hovercrafts and bullet proof suits with their minds. Although, when the guy said "sometimes you've got to dream bigger" and pulled out the grenade launcher from nowhere implies that each individual had some control. I dont know, plotholes probably.

But yeah, entertaining movie, not really the kind film im into and i doubt ill ever watch it again, but still thoroughly enjoyable and rekindled my interest in LDing,from which i took a year long break from. Im also kind of disappointed and confused to why i didn't like it more considering it about a subject i have a very very strong interest in.

PS That Rex Reed review is the funniest excuse for criticism i have read for a long time. That man is such an old wanker, how he still gets published i do not know.
PPS I think i've just written a bunch of shit, but its 3:00 and im very tired so im not going to proofread even though i've probably just embarrassed myself. Who knows? Well, whoever read this will obviously.