THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE & INCEPTION

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE

It is surprisingly good. As a major advocate of Stieg Larsson’s trilogy I counted the days before I saw “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, my expectations were met and exceeded by the film. “The Girl Who Played with Fire” is the weakest of the trilogy, so I went with limited anticipations. What a delicious surprise; like looking at something unappetizing and with the first bite realizing you are swallowing a taste of heaven.

“The Girl Who Played with Fire” is better than the novel; it is pared down, the supercilious erased, the action mesmerizing, the actors flawless in their characterizations; even the villains exude enticing evil.

The glue, cement, the major component of the plot is the concrete performance of Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander; feel Larsson had her image in mind when he created the character. Her strength of body and mind; her uncompromised principles; the intensity of her desires and the single-mindedness in which she executes her missions equal a heroine of unusual and undaunted proportions. A feared inexorable force.

Michael Nyqvist as the journalist Mikael Blomkvist (loosely based on the dead novelist, Larsson) garnishes accolades for his shy and sensitive demeanor, his agility, wisdom in climbing into the psyche of Lisbeth and uncovering her location; their relationship and its vicissitudes, the yin and yang add a tremendous seductive allure to the story.

Be prepared for two and one half hours of immense entertainment.

THREE &1/2 STARS!!!

INCEPTION

The gluttonous hype of Christopher Nolan’s (“Dark Knight”) had thousands line up at theatres around the country for the 12:01 AM showing on Friday, July 16th! This critic waited for the noon viewing, a sensible and pragmatic decision.
My normal agenda is to wait a few days before putting my thoughts into print; the films and my insights manifest a defined clarity after the marinating process. In this case I had a lightening bolt epiphany. “Inception” is a movie for the video game generation; Half Life lovers will be salivating through every convoluted, senseless, inane but disturbing beautiful scene. They will immediately “take a leap of faith” (oft repeated line in the movie) and not try (as obtuse thinkers did) to decipher the difference between actuality and the dream state. After thirty frustrating minutes I joined the crowd and enjoyed watching in triplicate the gorgeous actors; three of Leonardo DiCaprio, awake, asleep or dreaming he is a constant banquet for the eyes; Marion Cotillard (Academy Award Winner, La Vie en Rose. Edith Piaf’s song resonates throughout the film) ethereally enchanting and perpetually dreamlike; Cillian Murphy’s (“ Breakfast on Pluto ) beauty is mythical and worthy of a fourth dimension; small and talented Ellen Page (Juno) still in the embryonic stages; three of her was two too many; Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer) is the most aerobic and floats rhythmically in three different spheres. A future “Dancing with the Stars” candidate.

“Inception” is a 160 million dollar ambitious idea gone awry; bifurcated by the digitalized world of contemporary technology.

FOUR STARS!!!! (15-35 YEAR OLD AUDIENCE)
TWO STARS!! (36 AND BEYOND)

For Now……………..Peneflix