inception

I love doing something that I think will be OK, and then have it turn out to be unpredictably fantastic. It's not really something you can plan, which makes it even more special when it does happen.

I am usually satisfied that I got my money's worth if I walk out of a movie theater having been entertained by a movie that turned out to be moderately smart, decent to look at, and not terribly inane. I am occasionally pleased if a movie exceeds that standard and is either smarter, prettier to look at, or more clever.

It is very rare, only once every few years, that I walk out of a theater thinking that perhaps I ought to have paid more, and that perhaps I ought to go see it again, because I probably missed a lot the first time around, because it was all so smart, beautiful, and clever, that I couldn't soak all of it in at once. Last night was one of those nights, and I won't say anything else about Inception, because part of the experience is watching it without having any idea what's going on, but it was smart and beautiful and clever, and we walked out of it and talked about it for at least an hour afterwards. The special effects, chases, and fight scenes were well done, but instead of being the main players in the movie (as is the case with so many movies now), they were just supporting members to the brains of the movie -- the ideas, the plot, the characters. It was just amazing.

I'm not a big movie person, but it's movies like this one that make me think, "Oh, I can see why some people love movies so much, it's because of movies like this." Completely entertaining without being dumbed down, with lots of things to think about afterwards, so that it keeps you entertained for a long time after the movie is over.