7 Great Films You Likely Didn't Know Existed

Discovery was the main reason we started Rankography.  We thought that if lots of knowledgeable movie fans started ranking their favorite movies in different categories, then we could find great unknown movies.  Well, for me at least, that has been true in spades.  Since we launched in May, my Netflix queue has tripled in size and I have watched many outstanding movies that I found on others' rankings.

I thought I would highlight 7 of the best "unknown" movies that I found during the last several months.

Sin Nombre (2009 - Mexico)
Stark drama about two Honduran teenagers, strangers brought together on the epic journey to the United States through Mexico.  It is a graphic depiction of gang life in Honduras and the utter desperation to get to a better life in the US.  If you can handle stark gangland dramas, in the vein of City of God, this is a very good film.



The Thin Man (1934)
I have garv to thank for highlighting this Classic on several of his ranked lists.  This is a murder mystery comedy starring William Powell and Myrna Loy.  This pair had such great comedic onstage presence together that there were several sequels to this movie.  In total, the pair went on to partner for 14 films.  They are naturally funny together.  You will also enjoy the different attitudes toward drinking.  This movie came out right after the end of Prohibition and you can tell by this timely film that the country was ready for a party!




Eastern Promises (2007)
Many of you may have heard of this Russian mafia movie, but given that it only cleared $16 million at the box office it is probably new to most folks. I found it on the rankings of the best Gangster Movies and I was not disappointed. This is an unraveling story about a young girl that dies in child birth after a brutal beating from an unknown abuser. The cast is excellent, including Viggo Mortenson and Naomi Watts, but Armin Mueller-Stahl really steals the show as the cold-blooded family patriarch.




Meet John Doe (1941)
Talk about bad timing, Meet John Doe is a Frank Capra/Gary Cooper meeting that was released in 1941, the same year as Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, Hitchcock's Suspicion and How Green was My Valley. As a result, it has not survived in classic lore as well as many other movies, however this is one of my favorite Gary Cooper movies. The story is a bit of a feel good Depression-era film about how an unknown guy can change the world if given the chance.  If you like Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, I think you will also like this one.




Darkon (2006)
Okay, I am going a little off the beaten path for this one.  Darkon is a documentary about LARPers (Live Action Role Playing gamers).  I have never played these games and frankly watched this film because I wanted to understand what they people were thinking.  However, the film-making in this low budget documentary is so good, that I felt myself hanging on the outcome of a major fake battle between to opposing sides.  The camera angles, musical score and editing are very cool.  It creates an illusion of watching a real Fantasy Adventure movie.  You can watch this one on Netflix and its a fun watch.  I highly recommend you check out this hidden gem.




Runaway Jury (2003)
Runaway Jury is the biggest box office success in this list.  It grossed about $40 million at the box office, but that is still a paltry sum and means very few people have seen this excellent courtroom drama.  The cast is outstanding Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Weisz and John Cusack.  It is a look into the backroom drama in jury selection and jury management in the big class action personal injury lawsuits.  Gene Hackman is excellent as a ruthless jury consultant for the defense.  As if the acting and drama were not enough, the plot takes some interesting twists and turns that is very entertaining.  This movie is right up there in my Top 5 courtroom drama films.




And God Spoke... (1993)
And finally we end with a comedy way, way off the beaten path.  And God Spoke...is a hilarious mockumentary in the tradition of This is Spinal Tap.  It follows the drama of a film-making team as they try to produce their latest film with the same title.  There is a lot of the normal behind the scenes mockumentary comedy, but the characters carry the day.  Stephen Rappaport really stole the show for me.  His character is so over the top that you actually feel like he believes what he is saying at time.  It is amazing to me that he has not been cast in other comedic movie roles since this movie.  Andy Dick also has a very funny cameo appearance as Abel to Lou Ferrigno's Cain -- you can imagine where that is going.  I was laughing out loud by myself watching it on my computer through Netflix!  Unfortunately, there is not an embeddable trailer, but there are a couple of clips available on youtube.

Congratulations to Our Contest Winners

Well November has ended and so has our rankings contest.  Congratulations to garv who ran away with First Place in both the Total Ranked Categories and Incremental Ranked Categories contests for a total of $80 ($40 in each contest) in Amazon gift cards. Garv started the month with only 3 ranked categories and ended with a whopping 269 ranked categories.  WOW!  Here is a link to all of Garv's rankings

David_mikec pushed garv the entire month and ended in a fairly close second place in both categories with a total of 208 categories ranked. David joined Rankography during November so all his rankings were Incremental.  David won Second Place in both contests for a total win of $50 ($25 in each contest).  Here is a link to all of david_mikec's rankings

TheHollywoodRevue made a very respectable run at the contest and finished third with a total of 48 categories ranked.  Although she finished just outside the money, we have decided to give her a $20 Amazon gift card for her stellar effort.  Here is a link to all of TheHollywoodRevue's rankings

In total, we gave away $150 for contest winners.  Congrats to all three and thanks for the excellent effort.  We plan to run similar contests again sometime in the New Year, so stay tuned.

The best thing about the contest is the vast and deep knowledge that these three excellent film fans passed along to the community.  They added over 800 movies to the database and created almost 200 new categories during the month, such as:

Cary Grant Movies
Best Revenge Films
It Should have Won Best Picture
Most Deserving Best Picture Winners
Movies that Survived Keanu Reeves
Movies based on TV Shows

And many, many more.

They put a lot of thought into new categories and all their rankings and we will all benefit by browsing through their ranked categories.

The Rankography Team

November Ranking Promotion for Rankography Members

EXCITING NEWS!

We are giving away four (4) Amazon gift cards to certain members in a Rankings promotion during November. We know that increasing the total number of rankings per category increases the discovery value of the site for all users. We also know that our members' time is valuable so we are creating an incentive for you to rank more categories.

Specifically, we have created two member challenges. The first challenge is called The Total Challenge and we are giving two (2) Amazon gift cards to the two members with the most total categories ranked (with at least 5 entries per category) at the end of November. The first place winner of The Total Challenge will receive a $40 Amazon gift card and second place will get a $25 Amazon gift card.

The second challenge is called The Incremental Challenge and we are giving away two (2) Amazon gift cards to the two members that rank the most additional categories (with at least 5 entries per category) during the month of November (from and including 10-31-10 to 11-30-10). The first place winner of The Incremental Challenge will receive a $40 Amazon gift card and second place will get a $25 Amazon gift card.

Now there are a couple of rules you need to be aware of in these Challenges.
1. Only category rankings with at least 5 movies will be counted as a ranked category. We prefer that members fully rank a category with all of the movies they like that applies to a category, but you must have at least 5 valid movies in a ranking to be counted.
2. Your rankings will not count if it is clear that you are just randomly inputting movies or using the same movies on all your rankings just to increase the number of ranked categories. We understand rankings are subjective and we will allow latitude if it is clear you are making an effort to create actual rankings for each category, but we reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to disqualify any member that we believe is trying to thwart the spirit of the contest to create bulk rankings with bogus rankings.
3. Rankings that are clearly copies of another member just to increase rankings will also be disqualified. That is not to say that you can't have the same rankings as another member because we know that will happen. But if all of your rankings appear to be simply copied from one or more members in order to quickly increase your total rankings, you run the risk of disqualification, again at our sole discretion. Bottom line, just make an honest and valid effort and you shouldn't run into trouble.
4. You do not need to be an existing member to participate, but you do need to sign up and start ranking categories if you are not yet a member because several members have a head start on you.
5. You still need to adhere to the normal Terms of Service of the site. So, please take a read through those Terms to avoid running the risk of disqualification or losing your account.
6. Several members that are affiliated with the site are not participating in the promotion and they include Tonto, brooklyn77, CallingDrBombay, brewster, Roundersbuzz and Keysersoze.
7. Winners may not request substitutions of prize winnings. All winners are solely responsible for any and all taxes and/or fees as well as all additional costs that may be incurred.
8. In the event of a tie for any of potential prizes, the member with the most total movies included on all of their ranked categories will be deemed the winner. In the event there is still a tie after all the movies are tallied, then the member that has been a member of Rankography the longest will be deemed the winner of said award.
9. See below for some additional contest terms.

Note:  Please do a keyword search of the existing categories (on the Categories page) before adding a new category because often times there is a similar category already.  We want to avoid duplicate categories so that we can calculate true Composite Rankings.

Below we have included a benchmark of rankings as of October 30th for calculating the results of the Incremental Challenge. October 31st will be considered the first day of the Challenge and any rankings today will count toward the Incremental Challenge. This also gives you an idea of current Leaderboard for the Total Challenge. MDotMovieMan has set the ranking bar at 22 categories, but that is a very reachable goal with a concerted effort during the month.

So here are the number of ranked categories for members (with at least 5 ranked entries) as of the end of October 30th. All members not listed below or in Rule 6 above does not currently have any qualified rankings (with at least 5 movies) as of the end of October 30th:

Categories Ranked as of 10-30-2010
MDotMovieMan 22
filmforager 12
john49 8
MosaicMan 7
Pokernutz 7
BigThoughtsFromASmallMind 5
blogcabins 5
Evil Dead Junkie 5
LolitasClassics 5
TheHollywoodRevue 5
DEMayo2 4
DVDSpinDoctor 4
goodoldparanoia 4
hal0000 4
rebzombie 4
Red 4
AaronIMTV 3
filmgeek 3
garv 3
Izzy 3
mugison 3
nicola-t 3
bitchinfilms 2
Clarabela 2
Dancinghotdogs 2
eangevine 2
GloriaOliver 2
J_Jammer 2
Joeeholman 2
MyFilmHabit 2
TheOpinionatedB 2
utsav 2
amiableamy 1
anfieldreds09 1
Chase Kahn 1
daphnelaura 1
IHateFilmDotCom 1
Jack 1
jejozi 1
Joel Gunz 1
June Zach 1
jw1023 1
Katie 1
KidReviewer 1
Lady Horror 1
littlemisszombie 1
loisgrl 1
Mattsuzaka 1
Movie Muse 1
moviesatmidnight 1
mylastoscar 1
Taliesin_ttlg 1
TheMike31 1
TotalBurke 1

Best of luck everyone and get ranking!!

Additional contest/promotion terms and conditions:
10. Rankings after 11/30/2010 will not count toward the promotion.
11. JT Webmedia Inc. and its site, Rankography.com are not responsible to any interruptions of internet service either for the Rankography.com website or any of its members access to the internet. In the event of such an outage of service for Rankography.com, such time will be lost from the promotion and NO additional time will added to the promotion.
12. All winners will be notified via the email address provided during site registration. If the winner does not respond within five (5) business days, another winner will be selected. Failure to respond to the notification email within five (5) business days shall mean that the winner forfeits the prize.
13. You acknowledge and agree that JT Webmedia Inc and Rankography.com have the right to publicize the winners of the promotion awards using the Usernames registered on the Rankography.com website.
14. The contest is null and void in any jurisdiction where prohibited by law.
15. JT Webmedia Inc. and Rankography.com reserve the right in their sole and absolute discretion to terminate any contest at any time without prior notice.
16. JT Webmedia Inc. and Rankography.com reserve the right in their sole and absolute discretion to alter any contest rules at any time.
17. By entering a contest, you conclusively are deemed to have agreed to be bound by these contest rules and terms and conditions as well as by any rules specific to such contest. This is an irrevocable condition of entry.
18. No purchase or payment of any consideration is necessary to enter the contest.
19. JT Webmedia Inc. and Rankography.com reserve the right to require the winner to execute an affidavit of eligibility as a sworn document and provide other proof of eligibility as a condition of receipt of the prize or award.

Six Classic Halloween Favorites

Happy Halloween, Rankography! I'm sure you've read plenty of lists about horror films this year, but what's the harm in one more?

1. Nosferatu (1922): This is one of the most genuinely creepy movies I've ever seen. If the Maltese Falcon is the stuff dreams are made of, Nosferatu is the stuff nightmares are made of. The scene where Nosferatu is coming up the stairs and all we see is his shadow is just so incredibly eerie, I just love it.

2. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931): Fredric March was simply brilliant as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! Miriam Hopkins was fantastic as well. Not only does it have great performances, it's got great special effects. Gotta love the scenes of Dr. Jekyll turning into Mr. Hyde. And if you like pre-codes, there are some incredibly pre-code moments worth watching for here.

3. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962): Because let's face it, few things are more disturbing than watching an aging Bette Davis singing "I've Written a Letter to Daddy" while wearing little girl dresses and hairstyles.

4. I Walked With a Zombie (1943): This is a pretty unique horror movie. You expect a horror movie to be full of screaming, violence, and blood, but you never actually see any blood, the only violence happens off-screen, and there's only one scream in the whole movie. And even though it's a movie about a zombie, this isn't a zombie like you'd see in Night of the Living Dead. But despite all this, it remains wonderfully atmospheric and eerie.

5. Freaks (1932): Even though I don't think I'll ever fully understand why this was such a controversial movie, I do know that all the freaks banding together to take down Cleopatra is quite scary. It's the classic "outer beauty doesn't always equal inner beauty" message with a horrifying twist.

6. Halloween (1978): Like I Walked With a Zombie, the original Halloween was made on a pretty small budget. These two movies are proof that you don't need a big budget to become a Halloween classic.

Want to rank your favorite classic horror movies or want to see what other people had to say? Head on over here and go to town!

Shocktober: 5 Horror Films Worth a Watch

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Growing up, October was always Shock-tober - a time when the whole family gathered around to watch classic (and not-so-classic) Horror films. Instead of blogging about the best Horror movies of all time that we all know - Halloween, The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Shining, Psycho, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Omen, Friday the 13th, etc. - I thought I would cover five 'modern'/post 2000 Horror films worth checking out.

The House of the Devil (2009): I was a bit skeptical upon learning of this homage to kitchsy '80s horror movies, but this is surprisingly well done -- it is respectful to the genre without being overly tongue in cheek...it is fun to look at, supported by a terrific soundtrack (putting to excellent use "One thing leads to another" by the Fixx), and is well cast with unknowns to support the illusion of a straight-to-video horror flick. "House of the Devil" does boast one well-known face: character actor Tom Noonan, best known for his portrayal of Francis Dollarhyde in Michael Mann's "Manhunter." There are some genuine scares in this one, but it is particularly memorable because it is one of those rare examples of a "tribute" movie that is actually better than what it is setting out to honor.

The Strangers (2008): Yikes. I do believe that this will become a horror classic. This startlingly simplistic, yet original, scarefest does not leap out at you with ghosts, creatures from the beyond, aliens, or the demonically possessed. Instead, it unmercilessly attacks you with your worst fears -- psychopaths without a motive, assaulting you at their own pace in the middle of nowhere. If you have no patience for a feature length horror flick, but still want to be frightened, just watch the two-minute trailer and you will leave your lights on...indefinitely. Unfortunately, this chiller ultimately derails with the unnecessarily brutal and unredeeming ending...which keeps it from being perfect.

Vacancy (2007): Much like "The Strangers," Nimrod Antal's "Vacancy" relies on our worst fears, our fellow man, to scare the bejeezus out of us...this time, the setting is in one of those ramshackle flea fests of a motel that one often passes on a road trip... and then makes a mental note to never run out of gas. Ever. This was Antal's first English language film and I expect bigger things to come. Unlike "The Strangers," the ending makes for a very satisfying revenge flick. Starring Luke Wilson (surprisingly effective in a non-comedic role) and Kate Beckinsale.


Joy Ride (2001): Joy Ride - directed by John Dahl ("Unforgettable", "Rounders") - is a taut thriller about 3 twenty-somethings on a roadtrip who mess with the wrong truck driver. This highly entertaining film crisscrosses several genres and, at the end of the day, works well as a straight up thriller (with elements of a psycho slasher on the loose). Much better than similar road trips from hell (e.g., "The Hitcher"...both original and remake), this is one of those films that plays with our psyche because the events that transpire are not entire implausible and there is enough comic relief (delivered by Steve Zahn) to lighten the load. Also stars Paul Walker and Leelee Sobieski.

From Hell (2001): Detroit-brethren the Hughes Brothers ("Menace II Society," "The Book of Eli") deliver with a creepy thriller investigating the Jack the Ripper murders in 19th century London. Not surprisingly, Johnny Depp puts on his best period face and acting chops and helps carry the trite Heather Graham. Moody, suspensful, atmospheric, and terse. For an evening of films in the same vein -- I also recommend Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow."
Finally, I have a bit of a soft spot for Rob Zombie films - his remake of Halloween is definitely worthy of a watch as is The Devil's Rejects (as we all know how white trash can make me shiver in my boots). Just stay away from Rob Zombie's Halloween 2...terrible.

To rank your favorite Horror films or check out other user rankings, go to Rankography.com.

The 7 Best Baseball Movies

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In tribute to the baseball playoffs which are in full swing, I thought I would highlight my favorite seven movies about baseball and the fall classic.  If you want to add your own two cents, you can rank the category here.  And also check out our member rankings for other great Sports Movies.

Before I get started, lets talk a little bit about criteria.  I was looking for the baseball movies that gave me the best appreciation of the players that played the game and/or made me feel good about the game.  These are not necessarily the most technically accurate or most humorous, but rather these are Movies that embody the spirit of the game.


7.  Eight Men Out - We start with a downer film, but yet a very good movie that honestly portrays the early days professional baseball.  Eight Men Out follows the story of the infamous 1919 Chicago White Sox, nicknamed the "Black Sox", who threw the World Series for a big payday from gamblers.  Feeling spurned by a miserly owner, most of the players on the team conspired to lose the Series that they were heavily favored to win.  The film also follows the brilliant play of Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was part of the conspiring group but who chose not to cooperate and actually had a brilliant series.  It is a very good period piece on the early years of professional baseball.


6.  Bull Durham - This hilarious romp follows the players at the Durham Bulls minor league ball team, in particular an up and coming Pitcher (Tim Robbins) and a washed up Catcher (Kevin Costner).   Then you throw in sexy Susan Sarandon trying to woo both players and it makes for a fun filled romp around the bases.  


5.  A League of their Own - Following the All American Girls Professional Baseball league which was formed during World War II, this poignant film is both funny and touching.  Tom Hanks is brilliant as a "has been" alcoholic Manager that inherits a girls team, the Rockford Peaches, near Chicago.  It follows his transformation from reluctantly accepting the "insulting" job to gaining respect and admiration for his team of female players.  Geena Davis plays the teams star and Lori Petty is outstanding as her "overshadowed" younger sister.  The cast includes Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell and Jon Lovitz, who all give their career best performances in this one of a kind classic.


4.  Bang the Drum Slowly - One could call this tear-jerker a Brian's Song for baseball.  The movie includes a young and unknown Robert DeNiro as a rookie catcher who has been diagnosed with Hodgkins disease and is playing in his last season and Michael Moriarty as a veteran pitcher who befriends him during this sad but beautiful movie.


3.  Pride of the Yankees - I don't know what it is about Gary Cooper but I just love watching his movies.  There is a comfortableness in his roles that is just a joy to watch.  Of course, then you give Gary Cooper the role of Lou Gehrig, one of the greatest stories in baseball history, and it is a combination that is tough to beat.  The film follows Lou Gehrig's rise from a shy rookie to the baseball legend that he became.  Cooper delivers Gehrig's famous farewell speech, after learning he has an incurable degenerative disease later named Lou Gehrig's Disease, with such grace that you really feel as if you were there.


2.  Field of Dreams - I am not a huge Kevin Costner fan, per se, but this is Costner's seminal work -- in Field of Dreams he paints his masterpiece.  I love this movie and frankly it was really hard to pick a number 1 and a number 2 between my two favorites.  The movie follows the life of a couple in Iowa struggling to save their family farm but it is really much more.  The film is an exploration of four "unfulfilled lives" seeking one last shot at redemption, the tragedy of Shoeless Joe's brilliant career tainted by the Black Sox cheating scandal and of course America's love of the game of baseball.  The final scene in which James Earl Jones delivers his oration on America and baseball is also one of my favorite movie scenes ever.  The richness of his phenomenal voice, the cadence of his voice...I can listen to it over and over.  "If you build it, they will come Ray...they will come, Ray...they will come to Iowa for reasons they cannot even fathom..."   You can listen to this beautiful speech on Youtube.


1.  The Natural - From a baseball perspective, this movie has it all; a young star, scandal, an amazing comeback and all the while great baseball.  Ultimately, I chose it over Field of Dreams because it was more fully a baseball movie than Field of Dreams.  What an intriguing story, Roy Hobbs, once a great young prospect that only plays briefly in the majors because of a shadowy scandal with a woman (Kim Basinger) ending in his being shot.  Then Hobbs attempts a comeback 14 years later to try to save a franchise from an "evil" owner.  All the story elements are there and then a brilliant cast including Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close and Wilford Brimley carry it home.  I can still call up the song every time I think of Hobbs climatic home run...Da Na Na...Da da duuuu.  It is a must see for any baseball fan.


Enjoy the playoffs and the World Series.

Take the DiCaprio Quiz

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Take the quiz to see how well you know Leo and come see member rankings if you are looking to find the Best Leonardo DiCaprio Films.

Young Dicaprio

Leonardo Dicaprio

The Not So Hot Top Ten of 2010

The Not So Hot Top Ten Of 2010
The summer is officially over and so the summer of 2010 movie numbers are finally in. While the Summer movie offering was way under par from what we have come to expect in recent years, we still recording one of the largest money making Summer’s when it comes to movies in 2010. There are plenty of reasons why this was able to occur and yet it occurred for all the wrong reasons. It was 3D movies that seemingly resurrected the summer movies from a horrible and painful death all together. It seems that flash and loud noises still seemingly win 9 times out of 10 over movies with an interesting story or substance. That being said a few movies that made this years top ten were very notable and worth the money spent on them. However the dismal results were a result of lazy filmmakers trying to do what they can to cash in on fads, rather then take a chance on interesting story lines.

Why Did This Fail?
There were movies that came out this summer that managed to fail when it came to money making at the box office. Most notably would have to be the Michael Cera movie “Scott Pilgram vs The World”. The movie had a unique and interesting premise, plus the movie itself was by far one of the more unique movies that have been released in 2010. Why exactly did the movie fail, well first of all the movie aims to please comic books fans and movie geeks like myself more then it attempts to serve as a mainstream movie. When you market a movie to a core audience then chances are you are likely to flop a little. I would not say like others that Michael Cera is not capable of opening a major summer blockbuster; I would say it was just not the right movie for the general public. The general public were more concerned with watching Stallone still attempt to become an actor.
There were also some indie films which hardly saw too much attention at all. I have yet to see some of them but I took the time the other day to watch the Ben Stiller movie “Greenburg”. Ben Stiller to this date is one actor that I almost can not stand to watch any movie that he is a part of. With that being said I actually really enjoyed watching “Greenburg”. In fact the role portrayed by Stiller in this movie reminded me that once and a while actors like Stiller can surprise and pick up a worth while role for themselves. Stiller in Greenburg reminded me a lot of when Adam Sandler took on roles in movies such as “Punch Drunk Love” and “Spanglish”. That being said movies with any form of substance never seem to hold their head above water in a market crowded by simple minded movies.

A Rundown Of What Made Money In 2010
Well you are likely wondering to yourself which movies did land some large numbers and you may also wonder if you have not already seen them if they are worth your time and money to see them when they make their way to DVD and Blu-Ray. This list here is as follows:

10. Salt $113.3 Million – The movie stars Angelina Jolie and managed to garner some mixed reviews from critics and movie fans alike. I have heard some great things and also been told some bad things about this particular movie. I have not yet taken the time to watch this movie and I would have to admit that it is not on my list of movies that I am dying to see. I will take the time to watch this one in time, but as of yet I am unable to report on whether or not this is worth the time.

9.The Last Airbender $130.6 Million – The latest from director M. Night Shymalan was reviewed as one of the worst movies of 2010 summer season. I have enjoyed and defended the directing ability of M. Night Shymalan now for years, but yet I stayed clear of this movie simply because the reviews kept me from spending the excess amount on this particular movie. I will get around to seeing this eventually, but for what it is worth I have been told this is not a movie that is worth your time to even bother with.

8.Grown Ups $159.4 Million – Adam Sandler made his return to the comedy big screen this summer with a movie that contained absolutely no laughs at all. In fact the only thing that was remotely funny about Grown Ups was that someone green lighted what will go down in my humble opinion as one of the worst comedies I have ever had to suffer through. The talent in this movie you would think could draw at least a laugh or two, and yet I found myself disgusted and frustrated as I watched this movie. Sandler needs to have someone tell him that tasteless jokes and slapstick comedy do not always make for a good movie.

7.The Karate Kid $175.9 Million – As the remake fad continues in Hollywood we found ourselves positioned with having to accept Will Smith’s very annoying son as the lead role in a movie that I truly do not understand the purpose for remaking. The original Karate Kid was fun, comical, and worth the time. The new Karate Kid while not nearly as bad as I would have expected still did not manage to do anything to make me really enjoy it. I will give many props to Jackie Chan for his role in the movie which is what I feel saved this particular movie from total and utter failure. I want for Will and Jada Smith to tell young Jayden that acting like a 10 year old version of your fathers Fresh Prince character will not make audiences enjoy your acting ability at all.

6.Despicable Me $236.3 Million – Well here is a movie that I wish I could say that I got around to seeing as I have heard so many great things about it. This movie not only managed to get some fantastic critical acclaim, but again it proved that well thought out cartoons tend to be more entertaining then the majority of live action movies that crawl their way to the big screen these days. Despicable Me will be at the top of my list of movies yet to see this year.

5.Shrek Forever After $238.1 Million – Now here is the perfect example of when and how cartoon movies do not work. Shrek Forever After is by far the worst of the Shrek movies, and that is a sad title to hold seen as past the first Shrek movie they really did not have a leg to stand on. When will Mike Myers learn that people eventually will get sick of your boring repeat characters. Yes Mike you can be a funny man, but now e do not need anymore Shrek movies, or Austin Powers movies, or Wayne’s World movies, or well I hope to god that he never makes a follow up to the Love Guru. Mike Myers it is time to find yourself an all new role to take on and quick. Shrek Forever After plumits what was once a unique film into the realm of “WHAT WERE THEY THINKING”

4.Inception $270.5 Million – It goes without saying that when you mix Christopher Nolan and say anyone with acting talent then you are bound for greatness. Inception was in my opinion the best movie of the summer and at this point is the best movie of 2010. Leonardo Dicaprio is a lead man that draws a crowd, and well simply put he is worth the money spent. Leo has come a long way since his debut on the big screen, but he continues to deliver magnificent roles that we continue to love to watch. Inception was brilliant on so many levels and if you still are having trouble figuring out what was going on in the movie then please refer to another post of mine Christopher Nolan Think Therefor He Is…Brilliant! which I had posted over at Rankography Movies.

3.The Twilight Saga: Eclipse $298.0 Million – Sadly enough I have seen all the movies in this series. My girlfriend Shaunna enjoys watching these movies and so together we have seen all three of them. While the third installment of this horrible series was probably the best of the three, it really does not say too much. The Twilight series is about as interesting as slow drying paint on the walls. The acting is terrible, the directing is equally as bad, and the scripts well I almost wonder if they actually had scripts or whether they just allowed these actors to ramble on their psycho-babble. Eclipse does not deserve to have ever made its way in to a top ten list of any sorts, unless it is the top ten list of movie sequels that are bad and yet still outshine the other dribble in their series of movies. The Twilight Saga needs to be introduced to Garlic, Holy Water, and a Stake To The Heart so that we can finally put this melodramatic teen franchise of glittery Vampire to rest once and for all.

2.Iron Man 2 $312.1 Million – A movie that was not quite as good as the original but yet managed to keep itself just interesting enough to hold its own. I was impressed by the direction of the movie which chose once again not to go down the same road as many Superhero sequels and make an attempt to contain more story then what would be expected from a movie such as this. Iron Man 2 also held its own with a cast that makes it worth the while, plus Robert Downey Jr. is pretty much box office gold at the moment.

1.Toy Story 3 $405.7 Million – If it were not for Inception I would consider Toy Story 3 to be the best movie of 2010 so far. The third installment of the series from Pixar Animation was a strong entry and amazed audiences worldwide. The team at Pixar should be proud of their continued ability to produce superior movies. It is not often that a film company does everything right for this many years. Hopefully the trend of originality and unique movie making continues for Pixar over the year.

The Future of Movies In 2010
Now that the summer is officially over it is time to start looking to the dramatic and Oscar worth movies to start making their way to the big screen soon. Hopefully for the sake of movie geeks like myself the best of 2010 is yet to come. This time last year I could name you a list of ten movies from 2009 that I enjoyed and would recommend, this year I am having trouble even outing together a top 5 list.
It will be a year to forget when it comes to movies unless something comes along soon to save us from this horrible dry spell. I am anxiously awaiting the fall/winter season to see if we can still yet get a list of movies that is worth our time and money.
In a movie season that was dry and boring I could only imagine that even a documentary about my mindless rants would come across as a more award winning feature this year. Ladies and gentlemen then Academy goes to “Good Job Rob!”

Rob Munson (MDotMovieMan) is the author of his new website Good Job Rob which can be found at robmunson.blogspot.com. If you like what you read please comment, if you don't like what you read also comment because Rob always wants to get as much feedback as possible.

You + Me & Rankography Movies Make 3

You + Me & Rankography Make 3
It is not too often that I am going to spend my time writing an article about another website, well not a website in full. However this website is not just any old website that I have come across on the internet. A little while ago now my former website (MdotMovieMan Reviews) caught the attention of the team over at Rankography Movies. I was asked to join this unique website and at first I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it.

Rankography Movies is a web site designed for movie reviewers and movie fans to take the opportunity to rank their favorite movies under user defined categories. I joined the site and immediately came up with some new categories to rank such as:
Best Of The Bad
Political Views

It was not long after this that my addition to the Rankography Movies became more apparent. The user friendly interface of the site make it easy for reviewers to add lists of their all time favorite movies as well as add movies to the database so that as a collective the site will end up with one of the most complete, interesting, and unique movie databases on the world wide web.

The staff at the site make things that much easier and more enjoyable to the users of the site as well. I was given the privilege of being able to guest blog over at Rankography Movies website. I have managed to post about four different blogs on the site including the first post from my new website Good Job Rob. As a guest blogger I am able to get my reviews of movies and the entertainment business out to a larger base of potential readers and it helps increase the traffic to my own site.

In return for the mass amount of traffic that gets to find its way over to my site, I am doing this review to also send traffic back to Rankography Movies. When you have the opportunity to do so, please take the time to read and discover their website, become a member, or even go about telling your friend and family about the site. I think you will soon find that you will find a slight addiction to Rankography Movies, and will soon be posting about it on your very own blog or website before you know it.

Many thanks go out to the hard working staff at RG for allowing me to not only be a member, but to also allow me to be a guest blogger on their site. I will continue to support RG and will frequently post blogs there tat are also found on my own site as well. Please continue to read my site and theirs as well.
It may be simple to shout out my way “Good Job Rob!” but in this case I believe the Good Job shout should go out to those behind the website Rankography Movies.

Rob Munson (MDot MovieMan) is the owner and operator of the website Good Job Rob located at robmunson.blogspot.com. Rob has been involved with the movie industry on and off camera now for over ten years. Please check out robmunson.blogspot.com for frequent movie and entertainment blogs, as well blogs that deal with everyday life.

The Enjoyment Of A 3D Remake!

With a market flooded by 3D movies and remakes 2010 has been without a doubt the worst year for movies at the box office in a long time. Movies in 2010 have been boring, dismal, and nothing to tell your friends about. There have been a few gems in amongst the garbage pile, but there just has not been enough movie magic to keep audiences from yawning their way through the summer.

3D or Not 3D, That Is The Question
It seems more so this year then any other that the popularity of 3D movies has exploded beyond anyone's imagination. It is incredible to think that rendering images in a third dimension, a technology which has been around in some form since the 1950's. 3D in fact shared a popular trend during the 1980's up to the early 1990's when suddenly the fad so to speak completely died off. Now suddenly with digital film and increased budgets, more and more studios are starting to deliver their movies in 3D.

Is This What You Wanted?
These days I start to look at 3D as nothing more then a lazy way for studios to accommodate for their absolute lack of originality. When movies like Alice In Wonderland, Clash of The Titans, and The Last Airbender draw audiences solely for their 3D imaging then it really send the wrong message to studios that this is what the movie going public are looking for in their movies these days. No need to worry about a storyline, good acting, or anything resembling originality because we can always just go back, render the images in 3D and charge audiences 3 dollars more to go and see these lackluster movies.

Back To The Drawing Board
When all else fails these days with movie ideas, then it seems like studios have come up with the latest craze of remaking older movies for a new generation. Movies like A Nightmare On Elm Street and The Karate Kid are flocking the market and really offering up nothing new to the original ideas. In fact if you are going to go through with a remake that offers nothing new then the least they could be doing is making the movies fun to watch. The Karate Kid was all but boring with the exception of the acting from Jackie Chan which saved this dull remake from the dark abyss of forgotten movies. Mind you the movie along with many other remakes will soon be nothing more then the 3.99 purchase from the bargain bin at your local Walmart store.

A Guilty Pleasure
So take everything I have just written and call me an absolute hypocrite if you must because what I am about to say goes against everything I have been preaching. Last night my girlfriend Shaunna and I found ourselves at the theater to watch Piranha 3D. This movie is not only a 3D based movie, but it is also a remake on top of it all. The worst part of it all is I did not dislike the movie, in fact I found it rather entertaining to be perfectly honest. Piranha 3D which is written and directed by Alexandre Aja who you may know from his remake of The Hills Have Eyes or more recently Mirrors. It would appear to me that Aja had a very good understanding that the material he was working with was not going to ever be taken seriously, so when in doubt embrace your audience. Piranha 3D as a result of some quick thinking by Aja becomes very comical, graphically violent, and uses an over abundance of cheesy 3D effects to shock the audience. I mean where else can you see a fish swallow male genitalia on screen?

I walked away from Piranha 3D thinking to myself that at least if nothing else Alexander Aja understood that he was making a movie for audience wanting to have fun at the movies, as a result the movie worked on every level and achieved what most 3D movies do not, and that is to entertain the audience. If your core audience is paying that much extra to see your movie then you need to give them enough to walk away satisfied. Piranha 3D is by no means for everyone, and nor is it about to turn any heads in terms of originality, but if a person wants to go to the movies and have a good time then I would have to recommend Piranha 3D solely for that purpose.

Originality
It is tough for me to preach originality and then also to attempt to explain my guilty pleasure of enjoying Piranha 3D but I hope that many or all of my readers will understand where it is I am coming from. Also if you are tired of the lack of originality in Hollywood then try to limit the movies you attend in theaters. Wait for video releases, Netflix rentals, etc or simply wait for the movies to come on to the television and watch them with family and friends at that point. This will force the overall Hollywood numbers down and hopefully get the studios to consider picking up some new and innovative ideas. I don't want to condone illegal downloading of movies on my site but I do feel that if studios want to avoid having this issue then they truly need to work on their original content to draw back their core audiences.

Also write letters, emails, and make your voice heard to sites and studios so that they start to get the message about their ability to fail the movie going public. There are some young new and ambitious film makers out there these days who are dying for the opportunity to get noticed, all we need to do is start directing our attention over to the lesser known movies.

Together we can make the movie world a unique and beautiful work of art like it once was.

Thank you for listening to my rants, please leave any comments if you would like to discuss this post further.

My name is Rob Munson and I say what I think and what I feel, and as a result the people always reply "Good Job Rob!"

Rob Munson (MDotMovieMan) is the former operator of the website M Dot Movie Man Reviews. Rob's new site Good Job Rob! is aimed more at articles revolving around every day life and life in the Hollywood scene. You can check out Rob's blog over at robmunson.blogspot.com. Rob has spent over 10 years working with movies behind the camera and on camera.

Quintessential Modern Movie Soundtracks

Utilizing the recent Rankography's Best Movie Soundtracks Composite Ranking list as inspiration, I felt compelled to highlight my top modern (post 1990s) soundtracks. For me, the best soundtracks manage to play like a favorite mixtape: While each song should contribute to the picture as viewed, the album should also stand alone as an exciting auditory experience.

Three contemporary directors stand-out as having keen taste in music: Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola and Quentin Tarantio. While many directors may not be involved with the soundtrack process (typically giving music directors 'free rein' to produce), it is clear that Anderson, Coppola and Tarantino have had strong direct and/or indirect influence at crafting their movie's musical experience. (And, why not given the strong (emotional, intellectual) impact music can have on the story?) Therefore, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite soundtracks from each of these auteurs.

Wes Anderson/Rushmore (1999): Rushmore is my favorite soundtrack of all time; great for almost any occasion, though highly recommended for road tripping cross country. While the original Rushmore soundtrack concept = 100% The Kinks, the final version included one Kinks track with a number of fantastic 1960's and 1970's songs. Most of the songs are by well-known bands - Faces, Chad & Jeremy, John Lennon, Cat Stevens, The Who - with some lesser-known artists - Unit 4 + 2, The Creation and Zoot Sims. Moreover, Mark Mothersbraugh's score elements are effortlessly woven within the 60's/70's pop music.

Other great Wes Anderson Soundtracks: The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Sofia Coppola/Marie Antoinette (2006): Marie Antoinette is a double-disc with amazing musical range: rock and electronic atmospheric music, 1980s new wave and post punk rock/pop, with a dash of period baroque pieces. The music - specifically the 1980s stuff - juxtaposed with the film elements (18th century France) is aesthetically brilliant. The Maria Antoinette film teaser-trailer (Age of Consent, New Order) is my vote for the most innovative and interesting use of music in a recent trailer.

Other great Sofia Coppola Soundtracks: Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides

Quentin Tarantino/Grind House, Deathproof (2007): A while ago I caught the Sundance Channel's ICONOCLASTS with Tarantino and Fiona Apple. Given Apple's musical background, lots of the conversation revolved around Tarantino's extreme passion for music (and extensive vinyl collection). This is not surprising; the Pulp Fiction soundtrack seemed to revitalize the soundtrack genre in the mid 90s. The Deathproof soundtrack may be lesser know but is just as genius. Tarantino continues his trend of including audio clips from the film and focusing on just plain cool rock songs (mainly 60's and 70's). Some high points include: Jeepster (British Glam Rock Band T-Rex), Down in Mexico (The Coasters), Baby it's You (Smith (not The Smiths)) and Staggolee (Pacific Gas & Electric).

Other great Quentin Tarantino Soundtracks: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2

You can check-out Rankography for a full composite list of Movie Soundtracks and more...

The Art of Placing One Film Ahead of Another

When I was first invited to guest blog for Rankography movies, I wasn’t sure exactly what to write about.  So I went over to the website and browsed around for a little while, hoping to find something interesting that I could discuss.  Thirty minutes later I had looked at many lists of movies and had created two of my own. 

Let’s face it: ranking movies is fun!  The critics get to rank their favorites at the end of every year.  They all publish their top ten lists – although most of them look more like a Guide to This Year’s Oscar Contenders than a list of their actual preferences.  Here in the world of online film fanatics and movie bloggers, we’re not afraid to throw a “Watchmen” or a “Star Trek” onto our lists. 

The critics also place all their choices on a single Top Ten List.  How can you rank “Precious” next to “The Hangover” and not feel weird?  They’re different in every way imaginable.  Likewise, should you really be comparing animated films like “Up” with documentaries like “The Cove”?  Films with different styles and tones deserve different lists. 

At Rankography, we don’t just choose our favorite films, we categorize them for better comparisons.  So put “Precious” in Tearjerkers, put “The Hangover” in Funny Movies, and so forth.  There are all sorts of categories, from the broad (Animated Films) to the more specifics (Oscar Best Picture Winners) to the very specifics (rank the Rocky movies).

After you select your favorites in any particular category, you can compare them with the lists of others.  For example, I was glad to see that someone else thinks that “Blood Diamond” is Leonardo DiCaprio’s best film.  But in the Comic Book category, why did someone rank the average “Iron Man 2” ahead of its superior predecessor?  Of course, who am I to criticize?  I put Michael Bay’s “Pearl Harbor” on my list of favorite WWII movies.

There are many benefits to being a part of this community.  We can suggest to the world our favorite films, and in turn view countless recommendations from others.  We can see which members’ tastes in movies best match ours, possibly forming connections and perhaps even friendships.  We can also use the collective wisdom of the Composite Rankings to come to a consensus as a moviegoing community about which films truly deserve that number one spot. 

I have a suggestion.  It would be great to have a way for the Rankography community to engage in live interactive discussions – we could chat about the merits and flaws of various films, justify why this film made our list and why this film didn’t, and perhaps even have scheduled debates about which movies are the best.  Live interaction is much more appealing than exchanging posts on a forum.  Perhaps a more direct method of communication will be a reality for us sometime down the road.

Rankography celebrates the skill and talent required to construct a list of great movies and place them in the correct order.  I am very exited to be a part of this community and look forward to seeing it grow.  So join us, create your profile and start ranking movies.  When you do, look me up: my username is John49.

Introducing Composite Rankings!

We are introducing Composite Rankings for any category with at least five member-ranked lists.  We already have over 20 categories with Composite Rankings.

The Composites are calculated using a weighted scale, meaning that if a movie is rated #1 on somebody's lists it is going to receive more points than a movie ranked #5 on the same or another list.  So both the number of times a movie is ranked and the placement in the rankings are factors in determining the Composite Rank.

Here are the Composite Rankings for some of the most popular categories so far:

Comedies from the 80s - This golden age of the Comedy Movie yielded so many great movies that inevitably some really good movies get left of a list of the Top 30.  The Top 5 on the Composite currently includes Caddyshack, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Blues Brothers, This is Spinal Tap and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Animated Films - Animated films are no longer just chidren's movies, adults love them too.  Here are the Top 5 from the Composite for this popular category; Shrek, Up, Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and Wall-E.

Horror Comedy - Our growing list of movie blogger members created this category and have filled it with some outstanding ranked lists.  Proving their deep knowledge of movies, the movie bloggers' have created lists with many interesting movies that I had never heard of such as Otis, Machine Girl and Idle Hands.  The Top 5 on the list were Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, Re-Animator, Scary Movie and Fido.

Musicals - I have to admit I was surprised by the popularity of this category, but that is part of the charm of the site; users decide what is popular.  This category has an interesting blend of classic movies such as Singin in the Rain and newer cult classics such as Cannibal! The Musical.  The Top 5 Composite Musicals are Singin in the Rain, My Fair Lady, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Band Wagon and The Sound of Music.

It will be fun to watch how these Composite Rankings change over time as more and more members rank the categories.

Should we Blame Ourselves for the Lack of Originality in Hollywood?

My god I am sick of the remakes and endless cycle of sequels coming out of Hollywood the days.  It seems that for every truly original movie, such as Inception or Dinner for Schmucks, we have at least 4 or 5 remake/sequels.  Do we really need to remake a movie, like Halloween or Let the Right One In, that were both incredible the first time around.  What does the medium gain by doing it?  I would say nothing.

However, should we actually be looking in the mirror to find the reason for this proliferation of trash?  Is it the direct result of all these "free movie download" ads and links I see whenever I google the word movie?  I am not a free movie downloader - both out of principle and a supreme fear of spyware and viruses, but clearly thousands of web-users are.  I can't help but think that Hollywood's sudden aversion to risk is related to the increased activity in "free movie downloads".

I have not back-tested the data to compare the number of remakes and sequels in the last two years to that of 10 years ago, but it certainly feels like there are a lot more now than there used to be.  It is also a very popular topic in the movie blogosphere.  Whether or not the incidence has increased, one thing is for sure -- if the profit is driven out of the movie business, the quality of the product will suffer.

Some artists will continue to create movie masterpieces without a thought of earning a profit, but even they would not be able to lose money making movies over the long-term.  I am a huge believer in free speech, but not copyright theft.  I believe in paying fair value for a product and downloading movies for free is theft. 

So please think about the future of the movie industry the next time you go to download a movie for free.  Whether your favorites are big-budget action movies or low-budget human interest stories, the quality will suffer if we don't let the artists make money.

Great Article 30 Things You Might Not Know about Caddyshack

Bill Murray as Carl Spackler in Caddyshack

It is the 30th Anniversary of Caddyshack, an 80's Comedy Classic and Erik Larnick did a great piece on this classic movie.  If you love Caddyshack as much as I do, you will love reading through his 30 tidbits about the movie that you probably did not know.   And if, god forbid, you have never seen Caddyshack...get it to the top of your rental list right away!!

Isn't it amazing how many of the great comedies came out of the 1980's; Caddyshack, Blues Brothers, Ferris Bueller, Vacation, Sixteen Candles, Ghostbusters, Airplane!, This is Spinal Tap, etc.  It was such a fruitful comedy time, that it has become one of the popular ranking categories on Rankography.  Here is the Composite Ranking (blend of all member rankings) for Comedies from the 80s.  Enjoy.

Christopher Nolan Thinks Therefore He Is.....Brilliant!

Christopher Nolan has cemented his name in the minds of many movie goers these days as he continues his strings of remarkably wonderful movies. This weekend saw the release of Nolan's latest piece of work "Inception" Inception takes the viewers through a dream world and leave us with much speculation of what is going on, and in the end what truly happened? The movie leaves many questions and room for debate. Like any great piece of art the viewer is capable of making educated theories on what the true meaning behind the work really is. This is definately the case with 'Inception"

SPOILER ALERT
I have to warn anyone reading this that my talk here may reveal spoilers of the movie and so for those of you who do not wish to have anything spoiled then I advise you see the movie prior to reading this article. I want to start this off by hopefully helping many of you out there that are scratching your heads over the movie to better understand some of the direction that Christopher Nolan relates his material to in "Inception".

The Philosophy
Nolan's body of work here can actually begin it's path down the road of History, more particularly looking back on the Philosophy of one Rene Descartes. Those of you who do not recognize the name may recognize the famous quote "I think, therefor I am". Descartes was a very unique Philosopher with many interesting theories on the brain. I could honestly bore you the reader to death with all of the elements surrounding the work of Descartes, but instead I am going to try to simplyfy the ideas that he presented in his Philosophies. The world around you right now you experience is all sensory. Everything you currently know and understand is experience through the senses touch, taste, smell, see, and hear. This information is collected and creates what we as humans know as reality. These sense are created though through nueral impulses produced by the brain. This has been left to much speculation that what we can touch, smell, taste, see, and hear are merely only a small fraction of a true reality.
If you could for just a moment imagine that you could start from scratch as a human being, your brain is not limited to the restraints that you are taught growing up. Imagine for a second that you did not know the worlds limitations such as gravity, pain, and general logic is it possible that you could be capable of being taught to do things that defy everything that we know? It would be like being awake inside a dream, almost say a dream within a dream? This would allow you to go beyond the narrow scope of reality that we are currently pleagued with and experience a different world then those around you. This is just a thought to ponder. Descartes compares himself to a prisoner who enjoys an imaginary freedom while asleep, and dreads waking. These same theories have been used in other such film productions as "Waking Life" and "The Matrix" and also in the literary works of Lewis Carol "Through The Looking Glass".
If you were to look at the work of Descartes then you would realize that it is possible for the human subconscious to continually be dreaming. Even when a person is awake their brain is in a dream like scape and this could possibly create the world around you.

"There is a dream inside a dream, I'm wide awake the more I sleep" -Marilyn Manson-

It is even evident in song lyrics that people have realized that everything that we preceive as reality may be nothing more then a deception to keep us further from the full potential of the world around us. Like we are being kept from a greater truth then we can truly understand.
Now I hope that so far I have you on all the same wavelink as me so that we can begin to talk about and relate these theories to "Inception". The biggest question on the minds of all of the people who have seen the movie revolves around the ending itself, the question on whether or not Cobb was in fact still dreaming. At this point in the movie we have witnessed four different levels of a dream all of which run concurrently. There is the car chase across the bridge, a hotel wing void of gravity, a snowy fortress, and desolate area. Is it possible then that there could have been a fifth level to the dream itself, was Cobb still inside a dream or was he in fact back in reality?

Wide Awake
Christopher Nolan has left the entire film open to interpratation from both perspectives and that is what is going to make "Inception" a classic in the long run. First of let us look at the idea that Cobb was not dreaming at the end of the movie. Nolan writes in the movie that we are not mentally able to articulate how we came to be in the situation. This is shown when Leo's character Cobb is sitting at the resteraunt with Ellen Page and asks her if she remembers how it is they got there. This is when Ellen Page becomes puzzled and realizes that she in fact is currently in a dream herself. When Leo wakes up from the mission in the movie though we get a very clear sequence of events, which would leave one to believe based on what we have been taught that this would have to be reality.

Is This A Dream?
If we look at things from the opposing theory we can look at soem of the facts here. It is told to us that Cobb has violated every single rule of an extractor and has in doing so blurred the line between memory and dream. There is a character introduced who claims to have seen a dream where only reality existed so one could debate the thought that Cobb himself could fall victim to such a seduction himself. Cobb is also known to have learnt everything that he knows about Inception from Miles, so it is entirely possible that Miles could be mastering the dreams of Cobb in order to settle his guilty conscience, and in the end that is the true Inception of the entire movie itself.
These are just some points to ponder when you are arguing for either side of the debate, however keep in mind that it might in fact take multiple watchings of this masterpiece in order to fully understand and see through to Nolan's true point. Then again Nolan may have intentionally left the questions there for us all to ponder just to keep talks of his own movie going on for years to come. This shows the true brilliance of Chritopher Nolan and my hat is off to him for creating a movie that far non is one of the best movies in recent memory. "Inception" is a rare gem in the movie world and should not be overlooked by those who do not care to follow along with the brain teaser of a plot. No matter which side of the debate you choose to sit on, the dicussions over "Inception" are sure to bring on some truly intelectual thoughts, and may just in fact open the minds of some people out there that not everything is exactly what it seems.

This blog has been written by Robert Munson(MDotMovieMan) www.mdotmovieman.com. Robert is movie reviewer who has been an avid participant in the film industry now for over 10 years. Whether behind a camera or reviewing the work of others Robert has always enjoyed the art of film. Please check out Robert's website at www.mdotmovieman.com.