Blessings #21

Mount Eerie - Clear Moon (2012)

After the fall, he wandered around for awhile. There weren't very many people left so he didn't have much trouble staying out of trouble. I guess, for once in his life, it was beneficial to be so anti-social. He never saw the thunder rays that caused all of the damage. For three days he was locked in his basement going over a new proof that he was to present at a conference up north in San Francisco. Those calculations were the furthest thing from his mind now and it had only been a few months since the world had changed. He noticed the environment now, the world had expanded overnight. The long mornings when the gray fog covered the inlet to the lake. The mountains when it rained, silver light dripping from the foliage. The sun beating down hard on everything turning the steam into fire. The dark purple shadows as night set in and caused his heart to fall into whisper. He loved that he now had the opportunity to see it. There were no distractions. No voices pushing him further into himself. It was quiet all around, which allowed him a peace that was meant to be known.

Inception - Christopher Nolan (2010)

Do you notice how there are films where the director just seems to do something original? Our civilized experience is a constant massive changing entity, so there are constantly new stories to be told. That's why it is so frustrating to see remakes or sequels flooding the market year after year. That's why I have no tolerance for generic films. Often these original expressions in film only hit the smaller screens, the independent movie theaters viewed only by the die-hard film buffs. Inception seems to be one of the few films where everyone gets it. After flashing some heavyweight success with his Batman franchise, Christopher Nolan decided to transform that power into one very unique conceptual vision. Inception descends into the realm of sleep to harness the power of dreams in order to affect the outcome of everyday life. If you haven't seen the movie then, no, that wasn't a metaphor. That is probably the one line synthesis told in the Hollywood board room when the film was green-lighted. It's a sprawling display that warps around every corner, as the players in this game go further and further into people's dreams and cause more and more damage. There are a few clunky plot links that could destroy the mirage but the visual stimulation that moves you along outweighs any of those feeble attempts to disconnect you from the story. This movie is fun and interesting and outlandish, everything we wish for as we sink into our cushion seats and the lights go down. We wait and hope that when the projector turns, the images spooling forth will be just as magical as that first time, long ago in our youth when every tale was new.