Dream Control

The clip of Neo bending the spoon does, in fact, illustrate a central tenet of dream control, which is the realization that in a dream nothing exists. Grasping that concept makes manipulating the dream world much, much easier. Don't think to yourself "I can bend this spoon because this is a dream," but rather "I can bend this spoon because this spoon doesn't exist." It's the same idea that goes with failing an RC in a dream (thank you Shift). Take the common RC of pushing a finger through your hand. In a real life you can't do this because of the skin, bones, muscles and other tissues occupying the space that you are attempting to put your finger into. However, in a dream, not only do the skin, bones, muscles and other tissues not exist, but the hand and and finger do not exist, therefore you can completely control both of them to do whatever you want them to do, since they are solely creations of your unconscious mind.