Idea IS the format

Welcome to a new series in which I lazily bundle together various items of rarefied coolness I’ve encountered over the last seven days.

First up, a ‘fan-made’ title sequence for AMC mini-series THE WALKING DEAD that prompted Damon Lindelof (Exec Producer, LOST) to note that “We are arriving at that unique moment in time where the term “fan-made” becomes moot. This is extraordinary.” He’s right y’know. On both counts.

Now for some pretty spectacular time-lapse photography set to a track from Hans Zimmer’s INCEPTION soundtrack. A beautiful series of moving images (although it must be said, footage of paint drying would look pretty spectacular set to Hans Zimmer’s INCEPTION soundtrack.)

Next up, a different kind of time-lapse..

And, if for no other reason than that I LOVE zombies and I LOVE infographics, a zombie infographic.

To finish, a good old-fashioned trailer for a good old-fashioned film. By the looks of it, a really very good old-fashioned film:

Join me again next week when I’ll be lazily posting a load more stuff without really doing it justice.

So, it’s official. INCEPTION is My New Favourite Movie™.

It joins a distinguished (if not altogether that exclusive) list of movies upon which this honour has been bestowed, going all the way back to COBRA (1986), a film that prompted a 10-year-old me to start dressing in black and chewing a matchstick.

To celebrate this not particularly extraordinary development I set about trying to write my first film review for over a decade.  The result was a pathetically earnest attempt to encapsulate INCEPTION within the confines of a long-forgotten critical methodology, all of which soon threatened to become incredibly boring for all concerned.

So I dumped all the pre-amble, and made a good old-fashioned list instead.  It’s a list of films that are like INCEPTION, but different.  After looking briefly at why each film is like INCEPTION, but different, there’s a little video clip, and a sublimely arbitrary verdict on which film is best.  All in all, it’s a bit of a shambles.

Needless to say, the rest of this post is up to its rapidly moving eyeballs in spoilers.  If you haven’t seen INCEPTION, I should look away now.  Even if you have, you probably have something better to do than carry on reading.

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Like INCEPTION because…

It’s a study of a man ready to put everything at risk, including his already fragile grip on reality, for the sake of rediscovering lost love.

Not like INCEPTION because…

Hitchcock eschews dialogue in favour of the film’s haunting score to guide us through a series of spell-binding sequences leading up to VERTIGO’s dizzying conclusion.  Nolan does not eschew dialogue.  Nolan has dialogue coming out of his ears. Which, when you think about it, is quite an achievement in itself.

Also, Hitchcock’s dream sequences are much shorter.  And a good deal odder.

Verdict: Don’t look down Chris.  INCEPTION is no VERTIGO.

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Like INCEPTION because…

A crack team, on a daring mission behind enemy lines… a snowbound fortress, built to protect secrets men will lie, scheme and kill for… an action-packed and unrelenting finale, beginning less than halfway through the film and not letting up until the credits are practically rolling.

Not like INCEPTION because…

It may have happened when I popped out for a wee, but I don’t remember the bit in INCEPTION where Arthur gets hold of two submachine guns and mows down a battalion of heavily-armed Nazis.  Whereas, of course… (skip to 5:55 for the gunny shot)

Verdict: INCEPTION is unabashed in the homage it pays to the gun-toting grandaddy of action-adventure. WHERE EAGLES DARE wins every time.

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Like INCEPTION because…

It’s a seminal one-last-job heist movie, featuring a pivotal sequence in which besuited men engage in a running gun battle through the busy streets of a major American metropolis.  It even has the same(ish) music playing in the background.

Not like INCEPTION because…

It’s not raining.

Also, HEAT is infused with moral ambiguity, as we find ourselves willing the outlaws to get away with it, even as we watch them mowing down the innocents that stand in their way.  Whereas, well, it’s much easier to side with the ‘bad guys’ when people in their way are just gun-toting figments of some rich kid’s imagination.

I couldn’t find the right clip, but I found the trailer. Watch it, and feel yourself making plans to watch HEAT again at the first available opportunity.

Verdict: Yup, HEAT takes INCEPTION down too.  Takes it down to Chinatown. And leaves me starting to seriously question whether INCEPTION is actually half as good as I thought it was.

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Like INCEPTION because…

It gives us the play within a play.

Not like INCEPTION because…

It doesn’t give us the play within a play, within a play, within a play. Within a play. Maybe.

Ok, so a little spurious.  Probably listed here as much because it gives me all the excuse I need to include a clip of Charlton Heston in his pomp, allowing me to forget for a moment that he was such a massive wanker.

Verdict: It’s HAMLET, for fuck’s sake.  Of course it’s better than INCEPTION.

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Like INCEPTION because…

It’s comprised of a series of jaw-dropping action sequences, including ground-breaking gun-play and hand-to-hand combat, made possibly only by the suspension of the laws of physics as we would otherwise commonly expect to encounter them.

Not like INCEPTION because…

INCEPTION establishes these familiar mechanisms of action and adventure as a cogent and compelling reality, anchored in the all-powerful faculties of creativity and imagination, and the limitless reach and ambition of the dormant human mind.  THE MATRIX establishess the same familiar mechanisms of action and adventure as a considerably less cogent reality, anchored in a load of clever-sounding codshit.

Of course, THE MATRIX has this scene, meaning that all other sins are forgiven (even if someone somewhere has decided that I don’t get to embed it in my blog).

Verdict: Nolan spanks the Wachowskis.  INCEPTION is THE MATRIX for grown-ups.

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Like INCEPTION because…

It introduces a handsome but troubled central protagonist on a journey of enlightenment and self-discovery, mentored along the way by a sagely Michael Caine.  It was directed by Chris Nolan.  And it has Ken Watanabe in it, who’s really quite good.

Not like INCEPTION because…

Its handsome but troubled central protagonist dresses up like a bat.

Verdict: Nolan spanks Nolan, INCEPTION takes it.  The world needs all the original ideas it can get.

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So there it is.  If there was any doubt that INCEPTION is My New Favourite Movie™, this has surely put it to bed.

Which is where I’m going. Got a date with Kim Novak, in the dungeons of Schloß Adler. It was her idea. I think it was the matchstick.

Sizemore Ollie Relph and I are off to see Inception at Stratford East Picturehouse this evening. Fuck knows how they managed to secure a members-only preview two days ahead of release, but that alone was worth the (eminently reasonable) price of an annual membership.

As regular readers will be aware, this is probably my most eagerly awaited movies of 2010. I’ve been dodging spoilers left, right and centre, but also trying to keep a close eye on what I’ve already called out as one of the year’s best movie marketing campaigns.

So, with just a few hours to go, this is exactly the kind of thing I want to find online – a comic book prologue called The Cobol Job. (Anyone reading this on an iPad struggling to access the flash version of the comic can download all 25MB of PDF version here.)

It’s pretty timely really, given that the guys over at BBH have just posted the first of three installments of a conversation we had a couple of months back about all things transmedia.

BBH’s Mel Exon and Ben Shaw are both in the enviable position of having the mandate and the resources to really get to grips with this space, so I imagine they will be as interested as anyone to see that our first vaguely coherent glimpse of Inception comes in the form of a digital comic, exploring a strand of storyline which seems to lead seamlessly into the events of the film.

This is by no means the first time this kind of thing has been done – Warner Bros gave us a 3-part ‘digital graphic novel’ to tease us obliquely into the disease-ravaged world of I Am Legend, and there are numerous other examples of transmedia prologues and branching narratives delivered ahead of release.

I guess I just like the fact that, as will all things about the Inception campaign, this shows an acute understanding that less is more. And that timing is everything.

Because this is how a movie fan ought to feel six hours ahead of taking their seat in a cinema. Intrigued. Excited. Ready for a ride on the ultimate ghost train, into the inviting darkness of a world dreamed up by maybe the most exciting big money director plying his trade today.

See you on the other side.