The motif of the spinning top is precisely to force the viewer to think along the two lines of whether Cobb’s world is populated by dreams or realities. It is not a cheap twist ending, it beautifully summarizes the movie’s theme of an indistinct separation of reality and imagination. If the top does keep spinning, it opens the possibility that the wife and children that Cobb strives for are mere ideas.

I repeat, Inception is a movie for smart people, it works on several levels, is ripe with possibilities and forces the viewer to think. You clearly went in expecting a mindless summer thriller, but came across an intelligent movie and were unable or unwilling to appreciate it.

You go to large sites like Huffingtonpost you have to adhear to standards of conduct or the moderators will delete your posts. It’s MY site, I’m not obligated to keep dumb insulting posts or any posts on my boards, it’s not some right you readers have to come on my site and call me names or let you ridicule and belittle me or make it an uncomfortable place to be for people who do want to have a good dialogue. If you don’t like that policy then leave, I don’t care. I thought your harangue was well written so I hope you stick around. If I’m approached with an intelligent well thought out critique then I try and respond in kind.

Also no, I don’t follow every little twist and turn in a film’s production cycle and I try to avoid most hype regarding movies. I try and go in as cold and with as little expectation or information as possible (other than my standard bias).

I typically stay out of fights or respond to what a reviewer has said about a movie, unless I feel really strongly about something or I notice that he or she has missed something that might either make the movie more enjoyable or make them look at it in a different way.

This is not one of those cases, however. I read your review and I was, like, okay, no big deal. Unlike others, I don’t think you didn’t like the movie just so you could write the title as “Inception, Michelle not Impressed,” because quite frankly, I don’t think that’s clever or catchy. It’s an attempt to be one of those things, but I’m not sure which … it doesn’t really roll off the tongue, nor is it a play on words, utilizing the word “inception” as the catalyst for a jab at the film or a bad pun. So I have no idea why people are attacking the title of this article, because it doesn’t truly mean anything.

But before I get to the nitty gritty of why I’m even writing this, I will give my opinion on your review, since I’m already taking the time to post. To start with, I don’t think the movie was trying to fool me or keep me guessing. In fact, it was pretty straightforward. It even set up the rules quite nicely so that we could follow them. At no point, until possibly the last shot, is anything questioned too much. I was just along for the ride. And I don’t think you absolutely HAVE to commit to anything … Memento sure didn’t … either does The Usual Suspects … and if you want to get down to it, even High Plains Drifter doesn’t. There’s nothing wrong with that … it doesn’t always work, but I don’t think that was the real intent here … until maybe the very end, as I said. I will also say that I have no idea how you could say that the last 30 minutes are a complete mess … the idea that Nolan was able to have three or four realities going at once is pretty damn impressive. Obviously, you have no idea how hard this would be. I’ve written things taking place in two realities and that’s difficult enough … and the structure has to be pretty spot on to work out and not confuse people. And a blatant rip off of Call of Duty? That’s rather silly … why don’t you just say that it’s a rip off of GTA while you’re at it? You know … guys chasing you down, multiple types of weapons, vehicles crashing into each other, etc. Did you say that because it took place in the snow and had guns and stuff? Ever seen James Bond or the beginning of True Lies? Ugh … I really hate the word “rip off” when it’s used to describe a source material that is reminiscent of previous incarnations, but whatever. I might go so far as to say that you invoked Call of Duty to show your readers how hip you are … “A girl who likes Call of Duty? Wow…” I hope that’s not the case, though.

Anyway … the real reason I am posting is not because of your review, but for the insulting, belittling, childish way that you have chosen to respond to your readers.

You attack them for comparing how you judged other movies, and you treat this like a huge, unorthodox action. You do realize that Rotten Tomatoes, where I found this review, specifically allows you to see all the reviews by a certain reviewer, right? Everyone does this. It’s a natural thing. When you bash a movie they love, they want to see what else you like … and if you give a terrible insult to movies (or women in general) like New Moon or a horrific movie like Transformers a higher rating, of course they’re going to respond. They want to know if your reviews are consistent. I’ve seen posters check past reviews in that way and then post much more calmly, because they realize that the reviewer simply didn’t like THIS movie for whatever reason, but that the typically like quality movies.

What really bothered me, though, was your venom spewing hatred of fanboys. First of all, everyone is a fanboy about SOMETHING. So when you attack fanboys, you’re attacking everyone. And not only that, but you’re attacking the very people who make your job possible in the first place. Plus, surely you know that a lot of posters are teens, right? So here you are, who I’m guessing is a grown woman, spewing hatred against fifteen year old boys. And you called them IDIOTS? Really? Is that how you always regard your readers?

And the fact that you call them idiots and then say the movie “isn’t as complex as you all try to make it out to be” when you didn’t even understand that the ending was definitely ambiguous … well, that sure speaks volumes to me.

But it didn’t stop at hatred. Oh no … you threatened to delete the entire series of postings if it didn’t stop, or at least the “vile” e-mails as if you were a mom chastising your kids. “Don’t think I won’t, (LITTLE BOY)!!!!!” LMAO. Because they attacked your grammar and/or intelligence? Did you just start reviewing movies yesterday? That’s just how it goes. Roger Ebert gets attacked constantly, but you don’t see him arguing with posters on his website. You end up saying that it was childish, but it’s much more than that. It’s downright unprofessional. And then you go on by saying that the posters should act like adults. Kettle black, much?

I loved your response when you said, “I honestly don’t follow movies closely enough to know if there’s hype or not.” Then, um … what the heck are you doing reviewing movies? That is most ridiculous comment I’ve seen in quite some time. That would be like ESPN hiring a guy to review football games who has never seen a game or even knows what a football looks like. That is utter madness. I don’t even watch television EVER … and even I knew there was hype around this movie. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t realize there was hype around the movie … just the fact that you admittedly don’t keep up with movies is preposterous. This alone is the one piece of true ammo that should be used against you as proof that your reviews shouldn’t be taken seriously. Because if you don’t follow movies, then you really have no business reviewing them … at least not for Eclipse. Maybe for Facebook or on a personal blog, but not professionally.

I have a movie listed on IMDB that several people have bashed and insulted … things like “the director should never be allowed to work again” and “the script was terrible.” Do you think I’ve responded? Of course not. That kind of stuff is silly. In every type of writing, which includes movie reviews, you are opening yourself up to EVERY person out there. If you can’t take the heat or the childish comments, then just stop reviewing.

I mean, come on. Saying things like “further prove my point about the intelligence level of fanboys…” and “you go through life knowing how dumb you are…” This is how you want to respond to readers (after you told them you would no longer respond, btw). Those readers shouldn’t be posting on the site … they should be flooding the editors of Eclipse magazine and complaining about your attitude and insults.

I loved this movie, but no big deal that you didn’t. Now, if you hadn’t loved “Kick-Ass,” then I’d have some bad things to say. Some really bad things. ; )

If you can’t argue that Inception is awesome without saying “Oh my god she gave Grown Ups, etc a higher Grade than Inception” (even though I trashed that movie as well and gave it a C-) then don’t bother to post. I’m sick to death of that old canard, I’m not comparing those movies to Inception so to act like I am is a false argument. At that point it’s obvious we don’t have the same taste, deal with it, move on.

I don’t mind if you want to rip apart my review or even talk about my lack of grammar skills – it’s an easy charge – we don’t have editors at EM, if you think you are so scary good drop me a line a volunteer to become the EM Grammar police. I don’t even mind if you want to point out how silly my comparison of Inception to Shutter Island is (a movie I ACTUALLY “compared” Inception to) – which is the one time when you can actually say “Oh my god she gave Shutter Island a better review than Inception” (which I didn’t).. But I don’t know how clearer I can be, I UNDERSTOOD everything in this movie, I said in the review they explained everything over and over. So don’t act like this movie is so scary complex.

But I do mind the personal attacks. So tone it down or your posts will get deleted. I’m trying to run a fun site that welcomes all opinions and views without people (namely me) getting personally trashed If that’s what you want to do take it somewhere else. Don’t be offended because I won’t let you act like an idiot on my site.

You clearly gained nothing from the film. Judging by your lackluster review and immaturity of even DEBATING with the so-called-idiots you claim; I don’t find it the least surprising. Whether the film was to your tastes or not, a ‘D rating’ of what is considered a masterpiece by those who understand it (let’s not have a PMS fit here) should make you re-think your case. I don’t encourage you to see the movie again or pick up on “what you missed” because you just won’t.

Everyone’s entitled to her own opinion, and I’d just like to share mine. You’re a moron.

Ivan

It is also quite undignified of a critic to get into slanging matches with people who question your reviews. Some posters clearly have a point when they notice the inconsistent history of your ratings. You may choose to ignore comments you do not like, or dispute them factually, but calling them misogynistic or stupid does not paint the picture of an intellectually deep reviewer, does it?

The only reason I went was because of L. DiCaprio who I believe is an excellent actor. He did his best in this tiresome movie. When things are SO confusing and irrelevant, then the audience simply does not care what happens. I continued watching because of some visual effects, but certainly not due to the premise of this movie. Total waste of time…reminded me of how bad Ishtar was.