Bygone recent cinematic outings

They’ve been out of the cinema for a fair few weeks now but the other day I saw a teddy bear (admittedly brown in colour) tied to the radiator grill of a dustbin truck and I’m sure the driver of this vehicle has seen Toy Story 3. The film sequel was cut above most popcorn fare, being a well-structured, character-driven plot with those of the population asked to make personal choices about what path they wish to follow and then to reconsider, apart from the heroic Woody who is entertaining all in himself. There are many humorous moments and tense situations. Overall, very enjoyable. However, the first two films analysed what is was to be a toy through the implicit prism of human philosophy. Toy Story 3 lacked the depth of its predecessors though was still a good-natured romp. When one of the good guys makes an impassioned political defence of democracy, it may be appropriate that she is wooden in a literal sense, but even with an ironic nudge and a wink, it felt stilted and out of place without any back story that she would be so intellectually inclined. So, overall, it didn’t reach the heights of its predecessors, but still worth the viewing.
Altaa and I saw Inception for a second time and things were added by going again, as well as getting pleasure from the atmospheric sound track. Saito calling Cobb’s first heist on himself ‘an audition’ suggests that the company Cobb is working for is actually owned by Saito, though middle management may be unaware of who controls its upper echelons. Also, I think apart from Cobb and Saito, they all wake up when the effect of the sedation wears off, for they had oxygen canisters prepared in the van for when they went into the river should the kick not wake them up straightaway (though it contradicts a certain explanation earlier in the film about being unbalanced). As for Cobb, even if he isn’t awake, he still gets to be with his kids and we are informed in the film, he will grow old with them (as he did with his wife, though how they spent 50 years in dreams and only a few hours in real life goes against the maths of how long dreams last alluded to elsewhere). If he isn’t awake, then his kids will grow up without him, but he himself in his dreams will at last be happy, unlike Saito in his lonely fortress. As I’ve said before, Christopher Nolan is too canny a director to say one way or the other, though when the picture fades to black and we hear the last few scratchy revolutions of the spinning top, it suggests that Cobb is awake, but we, being adults, are given the choice to make up our own minds.