HERO ACADEMY is a turn by turn strategy game, in which you select your team and battle it out on a map with a 5 by 9 grid. Depending on the team you select you will have certain strengths and weaknesses, so be wary when facing an opponent from a different race. Each member of your team can be upgraded with items, moved around and can of course attack the enemy team. You can also cast some spells around the battlefield, but during a game you will only get a few chances to do so, so plan accordingly!
The goal is to either defeat all the heroes of the opposing team or destroy their crystals. When you submit your turn, you can just put down your phone and go on with your (social? / online?) life. The moment your opponent submits his/her move, you will get a message one your phone, telling you it is your turn. This principle isn’t new, we have seen it with other games like the popular WORDFEUD, but WORDFEUD always has been a game not meant for me. Not to mention, nowadays even my little nephews and nieces use cheating programs to beat others. (I mean c’mon, have you ever seen your 11 year old nephew put down words like “quizzify” or “whizbang”?)

One step down, two steps left now zap that b*tch

So why write about a game, which is based on a relatively simple principle? Well the game brings back nostalgia. Back in college we all used to play HEROES OF MIGHT & MAGIC, also a turn based strategy game. You entered your move, hit alt+tab and continued with your college work or lecture. The moment your classmate was done with his move, you just jumped back into the game and followed with your moves. If I compare HOMM with HERO ACADEMY, I’m seeing similarities especially looking at how combat works. For me this is the main reason to play this game. Combine it with the fact it is Free 2 Play, you really cannot go wrong here. I however payed €0,79 to unlock the Elven race and remove the ads, but this is optional and when I look back at the many many and I mean many hours I have put in this game already, €0,79 equals to pretty much nothing.

The developers are trying to steal your money with avatars, color schemes or the ability to taunt. These are all aesthetic and not required to enjoy the game. So as is with any other F2P game, play the game, only spend money on the things really worth it and ignore all the rest. And if you really do not want to spend money, the game by itself is great fun already.

The developers are planning to release the game for the iPad and eventually for Android and Windows Mobile devices. I can’t wait for the latter to happen so I can expand my domination towards some of my other friends. So got an iOS device? Install now and feel free to hit me up. My nickname is (you could have guessed) NrFive.

Some sites are at the moment “black”, meaning it isn’t showing content as usual. The reason behind is, are the SOPA and PIPA, which is a bad future for free internet. To make it relatively easy for what this means for criticasm.com:

• We cannot link to movies on YouTube without risking to be banned.
• We cannot link to images for our items without risking to be banned.
• We cannot even vent our opinions on certain developments concerning hacking or copying information without risking to be banned.

These are just a small few things which can cause a big problem for us, a little site trying to give some insights on things we like writing about. So it is important to show your disagree with these recent developments. You can do so by heading to AmericanCensorship.org, even if you do not live in the USA. We (simple EU folks) have signed it as well.

If you want to read more about SOPA and PIP, you can head over to a special page created by Wikipedia or the information given by Google.

With 2012 I personally doubt more postings will be done, though we will try to aim to post more than 2011. In the years of 2012 and early 2013 I’ll be focusing on my studies, trying to be the best I can, and being the best you can means sacrificing a lot of time to write.

But to not let 2011 go out with a sizzle, I’ll try to summarize the most important things in media, gaming and events worth mentioning. And no I will not be talking about the Arabian Wars or the Economic Crisis, expect to read things about Steve Jobs, DOTA 2, DRIVE and perhaps a little Harry Potter.

We’ll start with cinema:
Looking at a list I found on internet I must say that 2011 has been quite a decent year for moviegoers. Some great flicks like CAPTAIN AMERICA, DRIVE, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2, WINNIE THE POOH, X-MEN FIRST CLASS, CRAZY STUPID LOVE, PAUL, HORRIBLE BOSSES, PAUL, PUSS IN BOOTS and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL. (That’s quite a list already isn’t it?)

The titles I mentioned here are those I all saw and thought were worth my time. Some of these movies I even watched several times even though they will probably not win any awards. I will not go through them all, but will mention a couple which you should definitely watch if you ever come around to it. I’m quite sure many of them will be on TV in the coming year.

First movie I want to mention is DRIVE. This movie already won many awards, but I want to tell you why I think this movie is so great. Nowadays when an action movie is made it has lots of special effects and they tend to show you a lot in very few seconds. Like cars exploding, some briefcase being grabbed and the main character shooting down a dozens of bad guys. This is your average action sequence in a random action movie. With DRIVE you are looking at an action sequence in which nothing happens, really nothing, but you are on the edge of your seat waiting, watching and wondering what will happen. Ryan Gosling does an excellent job in playing the dark and mysterious guy, fighting for a righteous cause.

Yeah I'm a serious driver

Second movie worth your time is HORRIBLE BOSSES. I have seen this movie two times and during the first screening I really did not like the movie to be honest. But during a flight back from my vacation I decided to watch it again. Looking at the movie again I could understand why people like it so much. Everything which happens to the three employees most of us will recognise in their own work. If you have experienced similar situations, you will love this movie, if not you will probably see it as a cliche comedy offering nothing special.

Last movie I want to mention is CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. Looking at the trailer and movie description most of you will judge this movie as your average standard romantic comedy. And yes this movie is just that, but the story being told is a good one. In CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE we follow Steve Carrel while his life goes down the drain, losing his wife, house and connection with his kids. He then is given a choice, start a new live as a playboy (with the help of Ryan Gosling) or fight for the love of his wife. The reason I would recommend this movie is because of the truth it contains. I often hear couples ending their relationship saying “yeah the love was gone”, but remember you always have a choice to fight for it instead of just starting over (or being unfaithful).

My penis is indeed in your face

Next up games:
Even though I play my fair amount of games, when it comes to 2011 I hardly played any new games. The ones I can recommend are SKYRIM, DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, PORTAL 2, L.A. NOIRE and BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY.

Other games worth checking out are of course MODERN WARFARE 3 and/or BATTLEFIELD 3 if you are into those kind of games. STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC – the new MMO of EA – is my honorable mention for this year, since pretty much everyone I know and their dog is currently playing and enjoying it.
You might ask then “but NrFive what do you play then?”, well good that you asked. Some of you might know that Hi-Rez Studios bought the Tribes IP from GarageGames and have released a beta of TRIBES: ASCEND. My other site (www.gameshrine.org) focuses on Tribes: Ascend and leading a community requires you to play the game and since we know and love the Tribes franchise since 1999 we are forced to play this game and give the developers our feedback. With the little time I have left to even play games, this time is divided between STARCRAFT 2 and random single player games like PORTAL 2 and BATMAN.

Discover if the cake still is a lie in Portal 2

Last but not least, major events:
One of the biggest events this year was the gaming convention in Leipzig, GamesCom. The reason I want to mention this event was the tournament hosted by Valve for their upcoming game DOTA 2. Even though the game was still in an alpha stage and buggy as hell, the amount of attention it gained was enormous. Everyone was talking about it and everyone wanted to see how the game looked during real competitive play. In my honest opinion Valve dropped the bomb on us and the entire gaming community by staging such a tournament, kudos to them.

Hackers are among us, yes it felt like the movie HACKERS with Angeline Jolie all over again this year, but 2011 will go down as the start of an online war. The fall of many regimes in the Middle-East also contributed in the uprising of many hacker-groups, but the hack of PlayStation Network was the most noticeable one, leaving the network down for months. Now I do not approve what hackers do, but the reasons behind their doings are (mostly) the right ones. The problem with society as it is now, is that nobody can really stand up against the greedy corporations who think they can pretty much do anything they please. Like LinkedIn suddenly using pictures without your permission, or Sony stating that they cannot be sued even if they are wrong. I know many people will say “ you are not forced to use their products”, but remind yourself that as time goes on you are eventually forced to use their products since alternatives do not properly exist. Yes we are still talking about luxury products here, but this does not mean that companies (and even governments) can do as they please. As a consumer you should always be aware for what you are signing up, what information you are putting online and with what products you want to work with. As time goes by we can only hope for proper alternatives so consumers have a choice.

Power to the People (or something like that)

This also brings us to the last big thing I want to write a little about, which is the death of Steve Jobs. Many of us suspected his demise for months / years, since he was on and off again, showing up thinner each time a keynote presentation was held. Though many will like the way he did things, nobody will deny the impact he had on the technology sector. He inspired new generations of hardware and even though the only thing of Apple I own is the iPhone, holding any of their products really is a joy. Going through his biography and following the rumors, Apple is on the verge of causing another stir in the tech-world. First it was the MP3, then the Phone followed shortly after with tablets, the next step… the TV?
All I can say about Steve Jobs is that he really pushed the boundaries of technology development, even though the way Apple work isn’t always nice, the enormous drive to keep improving is always a good one.

2011 was a year in which a lot has happened and 2012 is looking like it will continue the way 2011 is ending. I hope everyone will be able to withstand the crisis, survive the several ongoing wars and try to stay positive whenever possible.

On behalf of criticasm.com we all wish you a Happy New Year and try to be safe when shooting them fireworks.

Back in the days... 3D was just red and blue

Remember AVATAR? That 500 million dollar movie with those blue freaks trying to save their home planet? That was one crap movie wasn’t it, poor story, really bad acting? But on one thing all the critics agree, the graphics were impressive. They were even so impressive, people became depressed with the real world and committed suicide. So one can only assume that the 3D graphics and technology used were pretty darn good. And this is were it all went wrong…

Everyone and their purple monkey realised James Cameron achieved something great. People were into 3D and were even willing to pay the extra fees associated with it. This sometimes resulted in double the ticket fee and with fans even going several times to go and watch the movie. Was and perhaps is it worth it? Well only you as an audience can decide if this is the case. I myself have watched AVATAR twice at my local cinema and enjoyed the effects on both occasions. So this new technology gets a big thumbs up for me.

Yeah you would flinch when that arrow got pointed at you!

However because of this, everyone now wants to cash in on this so called 3D hype. So many movies get a last minute conversion to 3D or are entirely shot in 2D and get a conversion later on. Now don’t get me wrong, I do not mind if those movies get converted. But when they do convert it, the effects better be good and worth those extra euros (or dollars) you have to cough up when you go to the cinema. Well has this been the case?

Of course not, how often have you watched a movie in “3D” only to get out with a headache and not seeing a single 3D effect. I’m talking about movies like THE GREEN HORNET, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES and the latest CAPTAIN AMERICA. O wait I got to take that back, there is this one scene in which Cap. throws his shield at the audience, but that is it.

Now the 3D hype has crossed over to other devices like TV and handhelds. For those not familiar the new Nintendo 3DS has a 3D screen which does not require glasses. The LG G-Slate tablet is a 3D tablet which requires passive glasses and the LG Optimus 3D is another 3D handheld, but also does not require glasses. Everyone who has held such a device says the same: “Great feature, but just to show off, no proper use for it…”

Perhaps the only 3D device with proper 3D

As it stands now only movies (and perhaps certain TV shows) are worth your 3D time and dime. But with content still being very rare, I want to warn you all not to get sucked into the hype. Often a cinema shows both the 3D and the non-3D version of a movie. Do some research before going to see a movie, you will often find whether or not a certain screening is worth that extra cash. For me I have not yet stumbled upon a movie worth it, with AVATAR being the one and only exception.

In Jim Jarmusch’s latest feature THE LIMITS OF CONTROL the underrated Isaach De Bankolé is playing an unnamed  lone wolf assassin purposefully on a mission that throughout the film will remain almost completely unintelligible to the viewer. Right from the start it’s made clear this will not your typical killer-for-hire plot. De Bankolé’s modern day sharkskin suit wearing cowboy is seen gliding through Charles de Gaulle Airport, where he gets his mission instructions from two peculiar gangsters uttering cryptic phrases such as “Everything is subjective,” “The universe has no center and no edges; reality is arbitrary,” and “Use your imagination and your skills”. Our protagonist seems to access the unexplained mission and sets out for a journey to an undisclosed destination, meeting up with a variety of very out equally peculiar people in cafes and on trains along the way.

Never order two espresso's, before you know it you're trading matches with a stranger

These meetings are the core of the film and each one follows the same basic pattern. The Lone Man simply orders two espressos (No, not one double espresso, TWO separate cups of espresso!) and waits for his contact to arrive and ask him ““Usted no habla español, verdad?”, to which he stoically responds “No”. This then leads to the contact telling him some peculiar story and ends with them exchanging matchboxes. A code hidden on a small piece of paper inside each matchbox is quickly memorized and swallowed with the remainder of his second espresso. These coded message together with the cryptic phrases uttered by the strange characters somehow seem to lead The Lone Man onwards to his next rendezvous. Occasionally he will make curious trips to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, where he seems to be able to make sense of some of the code words he received by looking at pieces of modern art.

Throughout the movie Lone Man travels through some of the Spain’s most beautiful locations (Madrid, Sevilla and finally Almería), but he never is distracted by his surroudings or the people he meets. Not even by a gorgeous horn-rimmed glasses wearing Paz de la Huerta, who has apparently carved a nich for herself in today’s Hollywood as the go-girl for roles requiring carefree nakeness. Our protagonist always sticks to his mysterious assignment and never forsakes it or his daily routine of Tai Chi, which we are shown every time without fail. In fact, the whole movie is full of these constantly recurring moments and Jarmusch never discrupts them. Together with the breathtaking images shoot by Chistopher Doyle (known for his work with Wong Kar-Wai and Gus van Sant) and an atmospheric soundtrack courtesy of Japanese drone gods Boris it allows the film to convey a pleasant “groove” that can totally absorb the viewer. This is definitely a movie that one needs to want to get lost in, and like a great piece of music you might just need to let go and follow the vibe, absorbing Jarmusch’s conjured up sense of tension and space.

Although far more more enjoyable then the suspiciously similar themed, but in this writer’s opinion far inferior, Anton Corbijn/George Clooney flick THE AMERICAN, watching these kind of films can still be a trying experience for some viewers. That said, even for the most impatient of viewers there is more than enough to enjoy. Jarmusch’s famous iconic deadpan humour as known from GHOST DOG or DOWN BY LAW is again in full-display here. And while THE LIMITS OF CONTROL sometimes can feel like an excuse for Jarmusch to have his best hipster friends (Tilda Swinton, Gael García Bernal, John Hurt, among others) come over to Spain, get dressed up in weird outfits and talk philosophic trash, their monologues are mostly funny enough to ignore the glare reflecting off their designer sunglasses.

With THE LIMITS OF CONTROL Man Jarmusch has delivered us somewhat of a modern day western or gangster film, one that respect the iconic traits of the classic genres but challenges then as well. As the Lone Man De Bankolé is every bit as self-surviving as Lee Lee Marvin’s Walker in POINT BLANK or Clint Eastwood’s Joe in A FISTFULL OF DOLLARS, but as far as I know The Man with No Name never spent his time admiring the works of Antoni Tàpies and Juan Gris or doing daily Chinese martial art exercises. Jarmusch effectively plays with our expectations of the genre and by playing homage to films such Orson Welles’s LADY FROM SHANGHAI Jean-Luc Godard’s CONTEMPT with our knowledge of cinema as a whole as well.

Overall THE LIMITS OF CONTROL is a lot of post-modern fun with a fantastic center performance by Isaach De Bankolé, quote-worthy cameos by Hollywood’s coolest cats and absorbing cinematics and score. It might be slow, but it is definitely worth making the effort and seeing it through so you might also understand where the limits of control really end.

When this movie aired here at local theaters I avoided it like the plague. Main reason? Justin Timberlake was playing in it, so I never bothered with it. Time goes by and suddenly one of my teachers mentions this movie during class and says I should watch it. It apparently was a good movie explaining how simple ideas can become great. So I eventually grabbed a copy of the movie, sat down and watched it.

Result?

A really good watch (except those scenes Timberlake talks to the other main characters, thank God those are only a few), many people will probably agree with me on this – seeing as how many scenes of the movie can be watched on YouTube – but is this movie really Oscar material?

The movie is nominated for the following categories:

• Best main actor: Jesse Eisenberg
• Best direction: David Fincher
• Best film edition: Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
• Best original song: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
• Best Film: Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael Del Luca and Cean Chaffin (producers)
• Sound mix: Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
• Photography: Jeff Cronenweth
• Text: Aaron Sorkin (adapted script)

Now the story isn’t really original as it tells (part) of the life of Mark Zuckerberg. Not to mention some facts aren’t correct and the movie is based on the book THE ACCIDENTAL BILLIONAIRES. But the way the story is being told is very enjoyable.

In THE SOCIAL NETWORK we follow Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Mark Zuckerberg, in how he created THE Facebook and how everyone wanted a piece of his work. Finally resulting in huge sums of money being paid to various people claiming they deserve it. Jesse plays the likeable bad guy with his excellent retorts and down to earth approach to various situations. The opening scene itself has over 4 pages of dialogues and I had to rewind several times to fully comprehend what was being said between the characters. I must say, I was impressed. So him being nominated for best main actor did not really come as a surprise.

Looking at the other categories the movie has been nominated on, I can understand the ones which support how the movie has been made, written and executed. To take the perspective of various lawsuits and use flashbacks to explain these lawsuits was very interesting to watch. It gave us some great scenes in which Jesse had the opportunity to show his witty responses.

As for the music and sound mix, I think these are the categories in which THE SOCIAL NETWORK will actually win awards. The sound which can be heard throughout the movie is really unique and it stays in your head like those annoying songs you here at Disney World. For me “In Motion” from the OST really stimulates me in doing something. With this music on the background I actually am writing this review, not to mention I redid pretty much all of the coding for one of my other sites as well. Good inspirational music it is indeed.

But it all comes down whether or not THE SOCIAL NETWORK is a true Oscar candidate to win many awards. Honestly I do not think so, I think there is a big chance they will win for original song and sound mix (though INCEPTION also is a big contender in my book). If they really are lucky they even might get one for how the movie is made / directed. I however do not think Jesse will win an Oscar for Actor in a Leading Role. Colin Firth has a bigger chance at that with his role in THE KING’S SPEECH, but these are the Oscars and I have seen odder people win those coveted statues.

As for the movie as a whole, I have to agree with my teacher on this. It really is a great watch and even though it is not a comedy, it will put a smile on your face on several occasions. Even more so if you have a technical background. Do not worry if you cannot follow these scenes though, they are not a requirement to enjoy this movie.

When looking at the numbers of movies, which have been released it has been quite a big year with the number passing the 600 mark. That’s almost 2 movies a day! With this many movies, we feel it is hard to write about all of them, so we pick them as we go. Besides that, we really need more time for writing!

My personal favorite for this year was INCEPTION and I believe many will agree with me on this. Also I cannot wait for the final chapter of the Harry Potter series, even though we all know how it will end.
For gaming my vote goes to STARCRAFT II, but I am biased on that. I have been a long time STARCRAFT I player and played quite competitively averaging 5 games a day at least!
When it comes to music, I didn’t really notice anything special, but perhaps you guys and girls have suggestions for me.

With 2011 some great titles are planned, think about DIABLO III, L.A. NOIRE and PORTAL 2 when it comes to gaming. As for movies part 2 of THE DEADLY HALLOWS has my attention and of course the latest movie by Danny Boyle 127 HOURS, which will be released in Europe early January.

So has 2010 been a year of great titles? And what has been your favorites? Let us know in the comments below. And of course with 2010 ending, careful when it comes to fireworks!

Most of you will know the movie as THE LAST AIRBENDER, as the prefix of AVATAR would just confuse a lot of people. No this time we are not talking about the blue guy below, but about Aang, the bold kid with the weird tattoos.

THE LAST AIRBENDER is a “legendary” tale of well… the last Airbender, called Aang. He has the powers to bend the element Air. Imagine you can boost some air below yourself which helps lifting you for a few meters, or pushing someone away. In the world of Aang there are more people who can bend elements like water and fire, quite of few of them actually. However Aang is the chosen one, the so called Avatar, who can control all the four elements – for those who skipped kindergarten – those are Air, Water, Earth and Fire. (And for those familiar with the animated series, will know there is a 5th bending for Energy)

Besides being the Avatar, Aang also is the last Airbender, which means he has no family or friends and is just a scared little kid all alone in the cruel world. Almost makes you want to shed a tear now doesn’t it? In this cruel world the Fire Alliance or Legion – or whatever these Fire people call themself – have taken over most of the world. The story shows similarities to other big tales in which a protagonist has to find its inner self so he or she can fight evil. So this is hardly original, but the world the writers created is quite decent and certainly worth some attention.

I’ll quote Wikipedia on the setting of this lore:

Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a world that is home to humans, fantastic animals, and spirits. Human civilization is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation. Each nation has its own natural element, on which it bases its society. Furthermore, people known as Benders have the ability to manipulate the eponymous element of their nation using the physical motions of martial arts. The show’s creators based each Bending style on a style of real-world martial art, leading to visual differences in the techniques used by Waterbenders (tai chi chuan), Earthbenders (Hung Ga kung fu, for the most part), Firebenders (Northern Shaolin kung fu) and Airbenders (baguazhang). Each country is also associated with a season: autumn for the Air Nomads, winter for the Water Tribe, spring for the Earth Kingdom and summer for the Fire Nation.

This is just a small part of the lore. The animated series is separated in 3 seasons and the first movie is basically the first season of the series. I recently got to it to watch the first few episodes of the animated series and I can understand why the fans love it so much. The setting is a lot better than the movie and completely different. This also goes for the various characters when you compare the animated version versus the motion picture. Of course there are similarities but those are very very little. So THE LAST AIRBENDER now results in pretty much a crap adaptation of a very popular animated series.

I really pondered when writing this review if I was being harsh or not, but I have to stand by my first opinion. The movie really and I mean really sucks. But in the end there is actually only one reason why the movie sucks so much…. no it’s not that they changed the lore so much, this almost always happens when series / games / books get filmed. C’mon we all know it… it’s the… yes… yes… the acting! Really, it was like watching wooden puppets go at it. I can honestly say I have seen better performance in your average X-rated movie.

The movie however does some things right, like the music and the special effects. I would expect no less from the masterminds of ILM (you know the folks who do the Star Wars FX as well). Also I – personally – do not mind the lore being changed to make the movie more appealing. Though I doubt this was really the case. The writers could have stuck a lot closer to the original if you ask me. But in the end it this does not help the movie one bit. The acting obvisously killed the entire movie.

Now with this being part 1 of the trilogy, can mister Shyamalan still set things straight? I think this really depends on whether or not they stray away even more from the lore and improve on the actors their performance. I am not even sure if it is still possible to improve, but most of the actors are still very young and there is room for improvement, so we can only hope for the best right?

With THE LAST AIRBENDER you are stuck with nice effects in one hand and a big pile of flying bison crap in the other one. The fact I got charged an extra 5 bucks to see a 3D conversion movie didn’t help either. – Really people, why all this 3D movies when it has no added value?! – We can only hope that the 2nd and 3rd movie will have much improvement, else it is just best to avoid this trilogy and watch the original animated series.

O wait you have seen it… right? Good! Then you know that over 180.000 people have voted for this movie in a short period of time. Compare it with the number 3 on the list, which is THE GODFATHER: PART II with over 244.000 votes, not a bad result for director Christopher Nolan.

INCEPTION is a story about dreams, you know the ones you get when you sleep, or staring at the pretty girl (or boy) across the room. This is the very basis of the movie upon which it is built. Now this doesn’t sound as much, but hear me out…

Ever dreamt about dreaming? Waking up in the middle of the night, only to realise you are still dreaming? How about waking up from a dream, realizing this great idea or solution to a problem you have been struggling with for years! Lets go a bit further; create your own world, capable of moving the very fabric of the universe, only because it is in your dream. How about going into the dream of your enemy or competitor trying to figure out their deepest secrets so you can use it against them. Now let us push that last idea beyond bounds; what if you can use a dream to make the dreamer follow an idea or suggestion, like “when I wake up, I am going to …”.

The last example given above is called “inception”. According to the dictionary inception means: “The beginning of something, such as an undertaking; a commencement”. Put it into the perspective of the movie, this means inserting an idea or thought into the dreamers mind, making him or her undertake certain action or to start something.

If you can grasp this idea, you will see that the possibilities are endless. So when you are making such a movie, you have to convince the audience that the possibilities are indeed endless, but you also have to make sure not to lose yourself with too much details and complexity. Nolan created a perfect balance in this and he chose the right people to play the various parts.

INCEPTION tells the story of Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his crew, who specializes in stealing top secret information from people by entering their dreams. I will give an non-movie-related example to explain this.

To steal from a dream you first have to make sure your target falls asleep, you can do this with the help of heavy sedatives. You then make sure someone can create an entire world for the target to walk around in. This can be best done with the help of an architect. Now you will need some deception to convince the target something is happening and he or she has to give sensitive information. This requires some kind of conman or magician like character. You also have to keep in mind that the target will fight back in their dreams and you have to defend yourself against it, so some kind of weapon or demolition expert to go along, is a smart thing to do. And finally you will need people to coordinate everything and to assist in small tasks, like driving around. So you will need at least 4 people to follow the target in his or her dream and you have to make sure someone stays awake to watch over the several sleeping bodies. A lot of organisation required as you can see.

You still with me on this? Good!

To continue with the story; Cobb gets busted in one of his attempts to steal information from a target called Saito (Ken Watanabe). Instead of killing him, Saito makes Cobb an offer he cannot refuse. In exchange for his freedom he has to implement an idea into the mind of Robert Fischer, one of Saito’s competitors (Cillian Murhpy). He reluctantly accepts and assembles his team. The various roles are filled by Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, woohoo, I love this guy!) the demolition expert, Ariadne (Ellen Page) a talented architect student, Eames (Tom Hardy) the conman and Yusuf (Dileep Rao) an heavy sedation specialist.

The freedom Cobb is looking for is all related to Mal (Marion Cotillard), his wife. They both ventured into the dream world once, which made Mal go insane. She commits suicide and Cobb gets the blame for it. However Cobb feels responsible for the death of Mal, because he planned the idea of an ideal world into her mind (his first inception so to speak). It is this guilt, which is a red line through the story. Unstable emotions result in drastic results in a world where everything is possible.

Now combine these various story arches with some dreaming philosophy and you got yourself one intense movie. During the entire 148 minutes of film I was on the edge of my seat and kept me thinking for weeks after I have seen it. Especially the last scene stuck with me, as I was having a MATRIX déjà vu. The acting in every scene was great, the action was hectic and subtle at the same time and the special effects were brilliant. I simply cannot wait to watch this movie again to discover more small details, which Nolan always hides in his movies.