Summer movies have been a huge disappointment so far.  Not merely in quality, but also in selection.  I haven’t been eager to see any films outside of the annual Pixar voyage demanded every summer.  Not so with “Inception” – a thrilling, psychological, science fiction, heist flick blend that had me glued from the first frame.

The story is this – a team of mental ninja’s (led by Leonardo DiCaprio) are commissioned to go into the minds of others and extract information.  In addition to extraction is inception, a nigh impossible technique where said team of ninja’s go in and implant ideas into the mind’s of others.  I don’t want to say more – the less known the better.

Let’s talk the good, firstly being the structure of the story.  If you are going to introduce new rules of reality, make sure the audience gets it, and we get it.  I have never seen a film like this before, but Nolan and company do an excellent job of setting up the parameters, the rules, and show us how they work in the first hour or so.  The second half or more of the film is the team of mental con artists playing by the rules.  In terms of genre I have a positive bias towards heist flicks, especially the “one last job” noir style tragi-drama.  “Inception” is a great heist flick.

I’ve been catching up on movies lately, so unfortunately the bulk of my recent viewings have occurred at home, not in theaters. Regardless, here are some thoughts on what I consider an outstanding flick:

In “Shutter Island,” man couple Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio team up again to tell the humorous story of finding love where you least expect it in a foreign country. Or not. DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo are federal agents investigating the disappearance of a patient at Shutter Island, an intensive inpatient mental hospital that houses only the most dangerous and violent of criminals. Through the film, the two dig and dig to find the truth of what happened to their missing subject.

There are 2 things inherent in any Martin Scorsese movie, especially if it was made in the last 15 years or so – everyone on screen is going to act their best, and it’s going to look first rate. Editing, cinematography, and Scorsese’s specialty – character – are all trademark excellent. Not one frame is wasted on anything dull in spite of a running time of just over 2 hours.