Hao Tran

Went and saw Inception 2 weeks ago. Probably one of the most complex movies I've ever seen. Sorry about the delay:

How should I start explaining? The idea is that we have things locked away in our minds, and they are generally represented as a safe within our subconscious. It represents our innermost thoughts, and it can change the fabric of our very being.
The movie deals with shared dreaming, which is a collective subconscious of sorts (and interestingly enough, I wrote a paper about collective subconscious for my Science Fiction final 2 summers ago). It throws in aspects about dreaming, such as having the dream world be affected in some way based on what is happening to the body as it is sleeping, or having things being constructed/reconstructed in the dream state. One thing that's a little new is the idea of dream levels: while dreaming in a dream isn't something really new, the idea of forcing dreaming in dreams to reach lower levels or being stuck in dream limbo is an interesting plot device to introduce.
This is definitely a movie that warrants a lot of discussion, and would definitely be fitting for a science fiction class. That said, it's very enjoyable and thought provoking, but has good pacing, so you can stop every once in a while to rest and just enjoy some action before returning to the complex situation.
It's a wonderful mixture of action, comedy, drama, intrigue, and mental stimulation that fits in very well in the science fiction genre. I'm not very interested in lucid dreaming (I feel like I should let my subconscious govern that and get some insight that way), and while the very idea of inception (pun not intended) is a little terrifying, I think it'd be very interesting to deliberately be able to share a dream. It's almost the same idea as a time pod: you have all the time in the world (albeit the dream world) to do what you'd like, while still having your own time firmly (or not) planted in reality.

I definitely think it's worth watching a few times. You don't get a level of in-depth discussion with many other movies like you do with this one. :)

I just finished rewatching Book 1 of Avatar.

To compare with the "movie" (I'm still not really convinced it was a movie, instead of a series of barely-connected scenes trying to reference the show), I found it was a little more accurate, story-wise than I originally thought. Some of the things that happened did follow the show pretty well, so it raises my opinion of it by a few points. Only one or two though.

Given the short time-frame the story needs to be told compared to the amount of time for all of the episodes in the season (roughly 100 to 400), I can see why so many things were cut out. However, it doesn't make up for the poorly (re)written dialogue, the poor acting, some of the character changes (seriously, Zuko's scar is MUCH more prominent in the show), and how much disconnect there is. There also needed to be a lot more fun/silly moments. All of the characters and almost all of the scenes were so serious, you probably wouldn't have guessed it was based off of a children's cartoon series. Where's the fun? Where's the magic? (Also, to be nitpicky, I thought some of the form was sloppy; for example, I noticed the actor playing Aang was bending his knees too far when waterbending; in Tai Chi (as far as I know), which waterbending is based off of, you don't bend your knees beyond your feet/ankle (ends up putting strain on your ankles).

Anyway, stick to watching the show. It's much better. And if you have a Netflix account, you can watch all of the episodes through instant streaming! :)

This year, there just seems to be plenty of really good, touching animated movies. How to Train Your Dragon, Toy Story 3, and now Despicable Me.

This movie appealed to me in a lot of different ways. First off, it stars a supervillain, and while there are no superheroes in this movie (though, the upcoming Megamind will prove interesting in that regard), there is a another supervillain who appears to top him at almost every turn. Another point (or points, rather) are the cute little girls: Margo, Edith and Agnes. From the trailer, you could already see how Agnes, the youngest is so colorful and energetic. What you see less of in the trailer, and revealed in the movie, is how adventurous Edith can be, and how sassy (though protective) Margo can be. I was actually unaware until after the movie that Miranda Cosgrove voiced Margo, and while Margo already ended up being my favorite character of the three, the fact that Miranda Cosgrove voiced the character just added to that (I did enjoy her performances in Drake and Josh as well as iCarly). Finally, the minions. I think the first trailers for the movie, however long ago they were, actually only showed some situations involving the minions. They are definitely awesome little creatures (they remind me of the servbots from the Mega Man Legends games), and they do actually have the same yellow/blue color scheme.

The intro to the movie is pretty much exactly the same as one of the trailers: a supervillain has somehow stolen the Great Pyramid of Giza and replaced it with an inflatable replica. Soon after, Gru is introduced, and we see that while he is a supervillain, he's not a very "villainous" character. He's mean, selfish, a bit over-the-top sometimes, and he wants to commit crimes (usually involving stealing something). However, he's not evil. He's just mean. Without spoiling anything, he ends up having to take care of the 3 girls, which prove to be more of a handful than he originally thought it'd be.

I really enjoyed this movie, because I felt like I could relate to it. I enjoy the freedom Gru experiences (though, he has his own money problems to deal with; being a supervillain isn't cheap!), and to give a bit of info: Many times when I see on sitcoms about whether a parent would rather have a daughter or a son, I always end up siding with wanting a daughter. Considering how my love life (or lack thereof) tends to be, the chances of me getting married at some point is unlikely (though, every time I go down on a knee, even if it's just to tie my shoe, I think about how I would propose, which probably suggests to you how obsessive I am about these things). At this point, my only likelihood for children would be adoption, which wouldn't be so bad.....assuming I could even pass an adoption agency's test/standards.
Anyway, back to how it relates to the movie: the girls basically represent the type of children I would one day like to have: self-motivated, energetic (though that may end up exhausting me more often than not), creative, independent and respectful (while still questioning authority).

It's touching, and I was definitely close to crying (and this is after the fact that I tend to instinctively hold back crying in public). Also, I went with 3 good friends, and a good movie group always enhances the experience. :)