Please try to keep the reviews spoiler free until July 16th. Continue pre release discussion and speculation here.

Movie
Inception (Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Wantanabe, Marion Cotillard and Cillian Murphy)

Release Date
7/16/10

Running Time
148 minutes (2 hours, 28 minutes)

Rating
PG-13 (for sequences of violence, gratuitous Leo facial hair shots, lofty expectations, unfair comparisons to Dreamscape, and continuous mind raping through out.)

Meta Critic
73 Meta Score as of 7/14/10 (28 Reviews)
Link

Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh:98 Rotten:18 (85% as of 7/15/10)
Link

Trailer
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Poster

That poster looks kind of James Bondish, I like it.

This will make the third movie that I see in theaters this year (along with The Crazies and The A Team). Normally, I go to see anything remotely interesting. But it's been the "must haves" this year. I may even run over and see it at midnight.

i was gonna go with:

Rating:
PG-13 (for sequences of violence, gratuitous Leo facial hair shots, lofty expectations, unfair comparisons to "Dreamscape" and continuous mind raping throughout)

Wait, it was all a dream? Dammit!

I like yours better. Fixed it.

http://nymag.com/movies/reviews/67155/

First negative review, many more to follow, I'll bet.

The review's description of the dream world as depicted in the film sounds even sillier than I thought it sounded from the trailers. And the whole idea of a "dream team" made me laugh.

I'm sure there will be plenty more negative reviews, especially considering the hype. Far too many perfect and near-perfect reviews so far for it to actually live up to expectation.

As long as it keeps up with the last few Nolan flicks I'll be happy (more so Batman Begins and Prestige).

I enjoyed Inception but need to see it again to properly digest everything. Still not sure exactly what I saw. The various dreamstates get kind of confusing at times.

I will be shocked if this doesn't top my favorites of 2010 list (current top 5 are Shutter Island, Kick Ass, Youth in Revolt, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and Leaves of Grass).

Definitely planning on this to be #1. All it has to do is be better then Ip Man 2, which I gave 92%. I'm confident it will beat it.

Personally thought it was amazing and I'll see it (and need to) a couple more times, likely in theaters.
It's definitely a mix of The Matrix and Ocean's 11 and sets up enough of a world to be both perplexed by and help you understand it.

Leo was actually impressive.
JGL is the man and is on the cusp of being a mega star.

Nolan knows what he's doing, trust me.

I'm hoping it's at the very least equal to The Prestige, if it doesn't outright top it.

Wow, Osiris, we're pretty much on the same wavelength, since three of the films you listed are in my top 5.

And you don't have to worry, Inception will be right up there. I'm still trying to collect my thoughts from the screening last night.

"Christopher Nolan's Inception is a dream that I don't want to wake up from."

wow - that's a tough one.

Equal to The Prestige?

Well, Inception is more ambitious than the Prestige, that's for sure, and it attempts to juggle the action requirements of a summer release with its voracious demand for story support due to its multi-layered structure.

My prediction is that you will not think Inception is equal to The Prestige, since the latter did what it did a bit more successfully and elegantly than Inception does.

I'm seeing this for one reason, and one reason only: JGL.

My ranking of Nolan's movies:

1. Inception
2. The Dark Knight | ****½
3. Insomnia | ****
4. Memento | ***½
5. The Prestige | ***
6. Batman Begins | **½
7. Following | **

I'll play along.

1. The Prestige
2. Batman Begins
3. Insomnia
4. The Dark Knight
5. Memento

I've yet to see Following or Inception.

Saw this last night.
It's so dense with complicated, heady ideas; it's like the anti-Michael Bay blockbuster.

Negatives:
--The movie has almost no humor. The few light moments elicited guffaws from the audience as if they were desperate for an opportunity to laugh. Ellen Page has one great dead-pan joke and the movie definitely could have stood more of that.
--No emotional connection at all with any of the characters. Seriously, when the story reached its emotional climax for Leonardo's character, I couldn't have cared less.

Positives:
--LOTS of incredibly staged action sequences. Shoot-outs, fight, and chases galore!
--Fantastic, dynamic visuals. The movie is a great technical achievement.
--Great use of sound. [The theater had speaker problems, so when the sound system was working properly, it really became apparent how effective the sound design was.]
--It sure ain't dumb-downed for the masses.

You know that if she joked anymore, people would be pissing crazily in Gotham Reservoir more so than before cuz she's in it.

I've gotta go with-

1.) The Dark Knight- 94% (A)
2.) Batman Begins- 92% (A-)
3.) Memento- 89% (B+)
4.) The Prestige- 80% (B-)
5.) Insomnia- 78% (C+)
6.) Following- 74% (C-)

I'll update it on Friday to include Inception.

This could be one of those movies that makes audiences think critics have no grip on what a good movie is, when in fact the opposite might be true.

The audience at my screening seemed to eat it up. It was very satisfying to see how engrossed they became, how much they responded to it.

Since I can't elaborate on Inception, I would like to say that people should totally pick up the Insomnia Blu-Ray (with a free ticket) and give it another look. I think it's got all the directorial punch of Nolan's bigger work, and it's Al Pacino's last great, honest performance. It feels very overlooked in his filmography, and not, I think, for good reason.

Agreed. I enjoyed Insomnia quite a bit. But a lot of people who liked the original didn't like Nolan's version which is the cause of it being considered one of his lesser works.

I think critics will react positively to Inception because they won't be able to deny how effective it is as an action movie, and how fantastic the visuals are on the big screen. And in a world where the Transformers movies make billions of dollars, critics will want to support an effects-heavy actioner that never insults the viewer's intelligence.