star mind trip We can begin by announcing, with great relief, that all the hype is justified. Writer-director Christopher Nolan's first film since “The Dark Knight” is a stunningly gorgeous, technically flawless symphony of images and ideas. “Memento,” the mystery-in-reverse that put Nolan on the map a decade ago, looks almost quaint by comparison. The cinematography, production design, effects, editing, score, everything down the line — all superb. But unlike so many summer movies assigned that tag, “Inception” is no mindless thrill ride. It'll make you work, but that's part of what's so thrilling about it. Even from the very beginning, you may feel a bit off-balance, with Nolan jumping around in time before dropping you into the middle of a tense conversation between Leonardo DiCaprio as dream thief Dom Cobb, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as his right-hand man, Arthur, and Ken Watanabe as one of their clients. That's part of the game, though: making us question what's reality and what's a product of sleep, right alongside the characters. At its core, it's actually a heist movie — the tried-and-true One Last Job, to be exact — but Nolan takes these elements and combines them in a way that is daringly, dazzlingly his own. DiCaprio's Dom Cobb is an extractor, a sort of master thief who enters the mind while a person is dreaming to steal their secrets. Watanabe, as the powerful businessman Saito, hires Dom and his team for a different kind of crime: sneak into the subconscious of a competitor (Cillian Murphy) and implant an idea that will ruin his empire. In return, Saito will help Dom clear his name for a crime he didn't commit, one that's torn him from his wife and two young children and forced him to go on the run. And so, as in any classic caper, “Inception” provides the anticipation of watching Dom assemble his crew and map out his scheme, with each person performing a specific function. But when they all fall asleep and dream together, both as practice and during the real deal, forces from their own subconscious states enter the picture — namely Dom's wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard). Here's where DiCaprio infuses the character with vulnerability to complement his drive. You've seen the big set pieces countless times in the commercials: a freight train plowing through downtown traffic, DiCaprio and Page sitting calmly in a cafe surrounded by explosions, Paris folding over on top of itself, Gordon-Levitt floating through a hotel corridor. You haven't seen anything until you've seen them on the big screen. They're enormous yet intricately detailed, tactile while at the same time ... well, dreamlike. It's all part of one of the year's best films, one that will surely get even better upon repeated viewings. Four stars out of four. ‘Despicable Me' is cool-looking but slight Despite some clever moments and colorful characters, “Despicable Me” could have been called “Forgettable Me” instead. It has a pleasingly off-kilter look about it - the work of a French animation house - a strong voice cast led by Steve Carell as the bumbling bad guy Gru and a delightfully cruel sense of humor. It's actually darker and odder than most family-friendly animated fare, and that's a good thing - until it goes predictably soft and gooey at the end, that is. But what's mainly missing from this first animated 3-D offering from Universal is story. There's just nothing to “Despicable Me,” and that becomes glaringly obvious when you compare it to this summer's “Toy Story 3” in particular. Here, the look of the film is what makes it stand out amid the glut of summer cartoons. The characters are cute in their weirdness, down to Gru's shaggy, growling dog. Even the trio of spunky orphans crucial to Gru's latest diabolical plan - Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) - are adorable in an unusual way. The scene-stealers, though, are the Minions: tiny, yellow, pill-shaped creatures with one eye and sometimes two who carry out Gru's evil deeds. At least, they try. But they're also super-cute: bouncing around, reveling in mischief and babbling to each other in their own gibberish. The heavyset Gru, with his hunched carriage, indeterminate Eastern European accent and environmentally unfriendly vehicle, hatches a plan to steal the moon. Who cares that doing so will throw Earth out of whack? He figures this is the best way to compete with Vector (Jason Segel), a hyperactive, up-and-coming villain whose retro-cool lair resembles a boutique hotel. But Vector has the shrink ray Gru needs to zap the moon down to a manageable size, so he adopts the trio of plucky young orphans and sends them into the house under the guise of selling cookies as a means of gaining access. He also gets some vague help back at his own evil-doing compound from his elderly assistant, Dr. Nefario, whose hearing problems lead to some unfortunate mix-ups. (Russell Brand voices the character in a surprisingly understated way.) Naturally, the girls will melt Gru's icy heart, especially as it becomes more apparent that his villainy is a reaction to his impossible-to-please mother (voiced with perfect dismissiveness by Julie Andrews). That much is obvious from a mile away, so the final-act threats to keep them apart don't seem quite so menacing. Two and a half stars out of four.
