Inception (2010)

Unconventional, intelligent heist thriller about a team of "extractors," thieves that specialize in psychically removing information from unconscious, dreaming minds. The less that is known about this film, the better, for one of the great joys of the film is watching the various pieces of the patchwork plot come together; this is more Memento than The Dark Knight. The cast is terrific, with special mention going to Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy for their badass psychic operators. The visuals of the dream-worlds, ranging from bending cityscapes to gravity-void hallways, are masterful, although, surprisingly, not taken to the lengths I would have hoped; it feels like Nolan expected this to have a lower budget, and only wrote in more ambitious set-pieces once he started to have Cameron-like credibility at WB. Regardless of its intricate plotting and ambitious thematic content, the film is ostensibly a crowd-pleaser, using the oft-used elements of the heist and the "one last job" to keep the audience on a familiar level while challenging them at every possible corner. The crowd I saw it with walked out with a very resounding "what the fuck" reaction among them; after the obvious and contrived horseshit that's come out this year, I was very grateful to be one of them.

Highly Recommended for fans of Christopher Nolan and/or intelligent heist or sci-fi films. Among the titles that come to mind with this one are eXistenZ, Strange Days, and the Matrix; not a shabby list to be included in, by any means.