Review: Inception

There are few films that can appeal to a wide range of film audiences, both the casual blockbuster kids and the hoity toity cinephiles, but Christopher Nolan's 'Inception' has done just that. This 2010 follow up to 'The Dark Knight' is something of a modern masterpiece and a cultural phenomenon.

The film is set in a world where it is possible to enter peoples dreams and steal their ideas, in the hands of another director, this plot wouldn't be taken as seriously (in the hands of Uwe Boll it would've been horrendous), but Nolan creates a serious realistic world, the only over the top action sequences occur in the dream world. The plot itself is something complex, which is what appeals to the arthouse audiences, the idea being that there're several layers of dreams and inception (implanting an idea in someone) can only occur in the lowest level, therefore the dreamer believes that the idea is deeply his. The plot follows Dom Cobb and his team of experts trying to carry out inception, the dream world and limbo (a world if uncontrolled dream space) carry certain conotations of a religious afterlife, again appealing to the arthouse audience. This proves Inception to be an intelligent story arc, along with a roaring action film.

Because there are dream worlds, this permits the characters to engage in gun battles, car chases and to blow shit up (from a hotel to a mountain army base). The action sequences are well built up and don't take up too much of the film as to not deter from the plot, the scale of the sequences are mind-blowing and are a way of cementing Nolan as the best action director (move over Cameron). To counteract the action we have a nice mixture of wry dialogue (an example being the verbal barrages of Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon Levitt) and heart wrenching drama as Cobb is portrayed as a man still hurt by the loss of his wife as it manifests into his criminal career. Both the action and drama are well set with Hans Zimmer's amazing score which captivates the audience into the action.

The performances are pleasing, Leonardo Dicaprio as Cobb is possibly one of his best performances, mere facial expressions and tones of voice convey grief, sadness, anger and purpose, something is not easy for any actor. Other performances are simply standard as Levitt and Ellen Page give decent enough goes, although are outshined by Leo, the only other noticable performance is Tom Hardy as the smart mouthed Evees, who always has something depricating to say, making him memorable.

With a complex plotline and powerful drama mixed with edge of your seat action, Inception is a film that appeals to all mediums of audiences, something directors can only dream of (not trying to be funny), this is a film that will leave puzzled, thrilled and exhilerated, I know the decade just about began, but no one would blame me if I named this film of the decade.

Push it to the Limit!

There are moments in time when wrestling events make you remember what it's like to be a fan, to make you remember why you fell in love with the genre, although the first half of WWEs Over the Limit couldn't make me give 5 fucks about wrestling, the final 3 matches made the ppv worth watching and had me on the edge of my seat, I will spend this review critiquing all the matches on the card and giving them a score out of 10. The only words I can say for now is that if I were you, I'd skip to the last 3 matches.

1. R-Truth vs Rey Mysterio

personally I think R-Truth is wrong for his current role, his mic work makes me cringe everytime I hear it and I feel like turning off everytime he's on, the character he's been given is fine, it's just the wrong man for the role.
Anyway, this was good match to start things off, nothing special but it kept my interest, Rey can carry a good match, which is why it was a shame Truth won, that means we'll be seeing more of him...SHHHIIIIIIT!
Score: 7/10

2. Wade Barrett vs Ezikiel Jackson

I honestly didn't expect much of this match, although Jackson held up his part as the powerhouse, whilst Barrett caried the match and kept it decent with a suprising pump-handle drop, the classic mid-rope elbow and some spots with the ring post. I'm glad Barrett got disqualified, it had him keep his belt which he's only had for 2 months now and it kept Jackson as a credible threat and kept the fued going.
Score: 6/10

3. Sin Cara vs Chavo Geurrero

This was a pretty fun match, it showcased Sin Cara as a human highlight reel (you'll be hearing from Jericho's lawyers) and showed how underated Chavo is. Sin Cara had the majority of the offence which is understandable considering that Chavo's been on the lower end for so long. We saw all sorts of awesome moves from Sin Cara, making him look strong and making the match strong, however, a few botched moves, including a messed up finish dampened the match.
Score: 7/10

4. Kane/Big Show vs CM Punk/Mason Ryan

This could've been a t.v match, there were few highlights as Punk was made to look weak and Ryan is still slightly green. Other than a cheeky Macho man tribute by punk, this was standard.
(earlier however, there was a segment where Otunga and Mcguilicutty were found beaten up, apparently by Show and Kane, while Ryan showed compasion towards his fallen team mates, Punk just told them to 'Walk it off', this was great heeling by Punk but made Show/Kane questionable as faces.
Score: 6/10

5. Brie Bella vs Kelly Kelly

To be honest, I spent most of this match reading Empire magazine. All that happened was a stinkface, talking about Kelly being in FHM, 'twin majic' and an X-factor, Nothing to see here folks!
Score: 4.5/10

6. Randy Orton vs Christian

This was as phenominal as AJ Styles, these 2 put on a clinic. So many counters, Christians rope punch countered with DDT counstered with rope punch, corner kick countered with DDT etc. So many reversals and near falls had me jumping out of my chair, thinking to myself 'I love wrestling!' This may well could be a match of the year candidate and I hope this leads to more matches.
Score: 9.5/10

7. Jerry Lawler vs Michael Cole

I actually liked the Wrestlemania match these 2 had, not from a wrestling point of view, but from a comedy point of view. This match provided Jim Cornette style comedy and the perfect climax to this fued. It all started with Cole trying to get out of the match with a doctors note, but the ref started the match. Things didn't start promising with Lawler landing non-conecting punches, but it got better when Cole slipped outside, sending Lawler into the steps and unvielimg the worst athletes foot I've ever seen. But my sides split when Cole went crashing into the Colemine, after a fist drop that was it. The after match segment was the icing on the cake as appearences from Eve giving Cole a moonsault, JR squirting Cole with BBQ sauace and most awesomly, Bret Hart hitting Cole with a sharpshooter made my day and bought tears to my eyes.
Score: wrestling: 3/10 entertainment/joy: 9/10

8. John Cena vs The Miz

This match told a great story, with Miz revealing that since it's no dq the A-Ry could participate. This lead to most of the match being Miz and A-Ry beating the holy crap out of Cena, with fun spots with belts, Kendo sticks, stairs and a young Cenation member at ringside.
Most of you will probably wonder how the hell Cena managed to win after a 20 minute beatdown but I suppose that if you gave your opponent 90% of the offence then you deserved to go over. Fun for the Cenation as they saw their hero win after insumountable odds and fun for the Cena haters as they got to see Cena get beaten like a government mule for 20 minutes.
Score: 8/10

Full House

It is often in the world of television when just one character makes the show essential viewing. As is the case with the show 'House' and it's misanthropic main character Gregory House, but is this also a detriment to the show? In this review I'll discuss this and other points, on how the show functions.

The show follows a seemingly regular pattern when it comes to episode plots. Before the credits we see some random person have some sort of grotesque physical breakdown, this results in doctor House, the head of the diagnostics department and his interchangable team spending most of the episode trying to figure out the problem, mis-diagnosing more times than is believable, with numerous sub-plots involved, either the comical hijinks of the team or a study of Houses character. This premis causes the show to fall into a trap, as audiences expect the same thing every week and to lose interest, as what happened with the A-Team. The show combats this through numerous means, such as every so often changing the perspective of the show to that of one of the minor characters, or basing the episode around something else, e.g the 2 parter where House was detoxing in a mental hospital. But the reason why the repetitive premise works is because of the connotations the situations and cases have on certain characters and the consequences made from them. Take for example the episode where the team had to treat an African war lord, this resulted in Chase, a member of the team, euthanising him in order to prevent bloodshed, this turmoils Chase's conscience and results in his wife leaving him. Things like that peaks viewers curiosities on how this case will affect those solving it.

Many will agree that the main attraction of the show is the main character, played perfectly by Hugh Laurie. He is probably one of the best characters on t.v, a miserable person, who cares little about his patients well being (for the most part) and more about finding out what's wrong with them. He's abusive and snarky towards his patients but is the best doctor in the hospital, this raises the question of whether a nicer or efficient doctor is prefered. He is a man tortured by a leg injury, drug addiction and heartbreak (at different points), this makes him a complex character to study, but is also fun to watch as he enjoys pushing his team to the limit with abuse and mental tests to analize their worth and character.

In short House is a great character, but what about the supporting characters? The Character of Wilson is one of the few who can be as interesting as House, he is House's best and only friend, his modus operendi is completely the opposite of House's, as he is someone who cares about peoples feelings and is generally a nice guy. Both question eachothers motives but stay together because no one else will befriend them. The Dean of medicine and House's on again of again flame is well played yet unremarkable, often just there to be either verbal fodder or emotional support for House. That leaves us to the team, those who work for the most difficult boss in the world, throughout the 7 series so far, you'll notice that members leave and comeback more times than you can count, this makes future departures and returns things difficult to care about if they've been done so many times before. Apart from a few minor storylines, the team have no major impact on the series, that appear to be just there for Houses amusement and to analize him, this makes the audience not care about their dilemas if they only contribute a few witty lines.

Overall House is a very entertaining show, it showcases drama, comedy and mystery all in one, it provides one of the most interesting characters on t.v and despite a few flaws, makes you want to tune in the next week.

Profile: Ric Flair

What is there that can be said about 'Nature boy' Ric Flair? Some would say he's a jealous, insucure bragot who's full of him self, others would say he's an old has-been who doesn't know when to walk away, me? I, and many others would say that Flair was one of, if not the, greatest wrestler (and entertainer!) in history, with a career spanning decades and the record for most world title wins (16, although it's disputed the actual amount), he has the respect of numerous pundits and wrestlers (I'll use that word until I die), so why is this?

Although only old timers and hardcore fans could see Flair in his rookie years of the 70s, it's gonna be dificult for me to profile his whole career, so I'm gonna study Flair in his prime, that being the early 80s to mid-90s. Some people say that wrestling isn't just about wrestling (oxymoron), that a true star needs charisma, great verbiage and presence, Flair had all those in spades. Whether it was during an interview, with his 'custom made suits' or during an entrance, with the sequin robes, he looked like a star, someone who was top of the world and looked like a champion. His large blonde hair was a look that got peoples attention, something that superstars need up their sleeves to become huge. His mic work was truely out of this world, personally I see Flair as the greatest talker of all time and it's hard to argue, everything he said, he said with poigancy and exuberence, his monologues had the audience in the WTBS studios screaming, on their feet and in the palm of his hand. His mic work was something that needs to be studied, someone who puts himself over, but with a degree of arogence to remain heel, who puts the company and the profession over, who makes the championship seem as valuable as it can be and makes his opponents look good, but good enough for the arogent heel.

Now to the crux of the matter, his in ring work, in 1975 Flair was in a plane crash that caused severe damage to his back, this would deterierate most wrestlers ring work, but all Flair did was do a more slow, methodical offence and be careful where he lands on his back. Flairs ring work has been in question for quite some time, some would argue that he was repetitive in his offence and selling, maybe, but was that all bad? Every wrestler has a set of signature moves they use every match, Flairs spits were always entertaining and good to watch (Flair flop divides some people) and this repeticism was more of an advantage than a flaw. When working with all sorts, from the Stings and Ricky Steamboats to the Lex Lugers and Hulk Hogans, the spots could work with any wrestler, Flair didn't use alot of power moves due to his back, so a match against a 300 pounder would have similer flow to that against a 250 pounder, this style was impregnable that he could have good matches against guys green as grass and stellar matches against those in his league, thus making him a good candidate for greatest wrestler ever. Classic matches against Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, Barry Windham, Sting, Lex Luger (see!) and Ricky Steamboat, made him probably the best wrestler of that decade and gaining numerous wrestler of the year awards.

But then the future came, age caught up with the nature boy, but again, the methodical style made his matches a decent effort, and with the right opponents (e.g Shawn Michaels) he could has pretty good matches for a man in his 50s, although he's faffing about in TNA (soon to be Impact) this doesn't negate what Flair was in his prime, and even now he could have a better match than those in their mid 20s. Flair has said that he would probably die in a wrestling ring, which would be the sign of the ultimate wrestler.

From a young, rich delinquent to a catty old man, somewhere inbetween he achieved creatness and set a standard that only the great could come close to, a man whose matches and promos I could watch all day, in the words of Flair himself "To be the man, you gotta beat the man" and if anyone could beat Flair in ring work, mic skills, presence and charisma, then they'd be the man in my book, I don't mean to be cliche but WOOOOOOO!