You think this is going to last… There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends had better batten down the hatches. Because when it hits you’re all going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.

That not only sounds like a threat (notice how Wayne backs away in shock) but an awful lot like the direction in which Barack Obama is taking his re-election campaign. Obama is all about Occupy Wall Street, class war and envy, and pitting the haves against bitter and, at times, violent have nots.

Is that what “The Dark Knight Rises” is about?

—–

In 2008, Nolan’s blockbuster and unqualified masterpiece, ”The Dark Knight,” was openly embraced by conservatives who saw the film as a thinly veiled, intelligent, and very welcome allegory sympathetic towards America’s and George W. Bush’s role in the War on Terror.

Andrew Klavan:

There seems to me no question that the Batman film “The Dark Knight,” currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.

And like W, Batman understands that there is no moral equivalence between a free society — in which people sometimes make the wrong choices — and a criminal sect bent on destruction. The former must be cherished even in its moments of folly; the latter must be hounded to the gates of Hell.

Though Nolan wisely refuses to comment one way or another on the political subtext of his creation (another sign he is a true artist) and will likely take the same course here, unless a curve ball is waiting in the wings, one has to wonder if the above trailer isn’t about explaining the motives of film’s … villain. 

Obviously, Catwoman is famous for working both sides of the law, so many surprises surely await, but with a July 20 release date, “The Dark Knight Rises” could prove to be the most timely of blockbusters as it will hit thousands of theatres less than five months before the 2012 presidential election and only a few weeks before the campaign really starts to heat up in earnest after Labor Day.   

Is Nolan, whose “Dark Knight” embraced the Bush doctrine regarding terrorism, about to slam Barack Obama and OWS in the biggest movie event of the summer?

If so, cue the crybaby elites in the entertainment media. Just as the spoiled, entitled left is completely unable to deal with one conservative-leaning cable news channel in an ocean of MSM leftism, just the hint that “Dark Knight Rises” might not be everything they claim to embrace — rebellious, anti-establishment, iconoclastic, a finger in the eye of those who hold power –  is sure to get their 1% left-wing teeth gnashing.

Christian Toto contributed to this report.

A prologue to director Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises” will hit theaters Dec. 21 in front of the new Tom Cruise feature “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.”

Nolan says the upcoming film will be set eight years following the action seen in “The Dark Knight,” according to TheWrap.com.

Nolan told the British film magazine that the prologue is “basically the first six, seven minutes of the film” and will serve as “an introduction to [the villain] Bane, and a taste of the rest of the film.”

“The Dark Knight Rises,” the third and presumably final film in Nolan’s Batman trilogy, will hit theaters July 20, 2012. The new film stars Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway and Marion Cotillard.

‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ the anticipated third chapter in director Christopher Nolan’s Bat-saga, is expected to start shooting in New York City at the end of the month. And, if the Occupy Wall Street crowd isn’t dispersed by then, Nolan might find his meticulously planned sequel held hostage by the movement.

Under its code name “Magnus Rex,” the Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures production will arrive in the nation’s biggest city for 14 days starting Oct. 29, according to a casting notice recently issued by producers. And, according to a person briefed on actors’ schedules who requested anonymity because production details were being kept confidential, cast members have been told the shoot could include scenes shot at the Occupy Wall Street protests.

Some actors have been all too eager to support the OWS movement. But will their attitude change if the group starts affecting their precious product?

‘The Dark Knight’ cautiously courted the right by acknowledging the need to fight back against evil with brute, unflinching force, what some took as a War on Terror metaphor. What did Alfred the butler (Michael Caine) tell Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) about his own experiences smiting an intractable foe?

Because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

If Nolan and co. bend to the whims of the OWS crowd, or even let them have a positive cameo, they could dampen the Right’s enthusiasm for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ considerably.

Unfortunately, they chose to fight for the other side.

If our history is written by honest brokers, this generation of Hollywoodists will be remembered as those who openly enabled evil and spent hundreds of millions of dollars making bombs for the enemy — box office bombs. Over a dozen of them, specifically engineered with equal parts lies and hate and propaganda to undermine morale at home and on the battlefield in the hopes that we would lose this war.

Never forget the crime committed in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon on that terrible day.  And never forget  how Hollywood turned on your country.

There were some exceptions, however, and chief among them was Joel Surnow, the co-creator of “24.” Each week, for eight seasons, he gave this country a hero who openly loved America, did what was necessary to protect her, and who was willing to pay a terrible price for it. ”24″ also delivered the goods. Cathartic, exciting and righteous without being self-righteous, the addictive adventures of Jack Bauer became an oasis in a cesspool of Hollywood product delivering the exact opposite message.

As the face of the program, Surnow paid a price for his apostasy and because he’s a smart man who knows how the world works, my guess is that he knew that someday he would. We all watched as some of the biggest forces in the world of entertainment and politics ganged up to exact their revenge with “The Kennedys.” Don’t believe for a second that wasn’t a form of payback.

For whatever it’s worth, we thank you, Joel Surnow.  You can’t imagine what it meant to millions of us  to have something to count on over those weeks and years — something that told us we weren’t crazy and we weren’t alone.

And thank you to the subversives who used their art and magnificent artistry to take our side through thinly veiled allegory. Thank you Frank Miller and Zack Snyder for “300.” Thank you Christopher Nolan for “The Dark Knight.”

There were others. Men like Gary Sinise who tirelessly support the troops and David Zucker who took the fight directly to that anti-American pig Michael Moore. There is also Robert Davi, Jon Voight, Kelsey Grammer, Michael Moriarty and those like them who have bravely and eloquently spoken out against the talking points issued by their Hollywood Overlords.

For fear of missing one, I won’t attempt to name everyone in Hollywood who did the right thing, who openly supported our military and refused to participate in the resume-enhancing undermining of our country. Within the context of the whole of the entertainment business, however, they make up a heartbreakingly short list. But you know who are and we know who you are and we thank you.

The rest of you can burn in Hell.

Here’s Rupert Wyatt, director of the blockbuster movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes in a recent interview:

“(The script) had become very different and much more exciting to me. It became less a story of domesticization of a pet and more about an uprising and a Che Guevara story.” 

Here’s the Associated Press review of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”: “Raised much like a human child by a researcher, with help from a veterinarian, Caesar becomes a Che Guevara-style revolutionary, leading a rebellion of apes against their human oppressors.” 

Ground control to Director Wyatt: In fact the only genuinely popular rebellion in Cuba in the 20th Century was against Che Guevara’s regime, among the most oppressive in modern history which mandates ( under penalty of prison or firing squad) what its subjects, read, say, earn, eat (both substance and amount) , where they live, travel or work. Wyatt’s inspiration for a freedom-fighter co-founded a regime that jailed more of its subjects than did Stalin’s during the Great Terror and murdered more its subjects in its first three years in power than did Hitler’s in its first six. 

In 1959, with the help of Soviet KGB and GRU agents, Rupert Wyatt’s hero against “oppression” helped found, train and indoctrinate Cuba’s secret police. “Always interrogate your prisoners at night,” Che Guevara ordered his goons. “A man’s resistance is always lower at night.” In 1957 this worldwide symbol of “’anti-imperialism” (who often signed his letters as “Stalin II”) cheered the Soviet invasion of Hungary with its wholesale slaughter of Hungarian freedom-fighting guerrillas. All through the horrifying Soviet massacre, Che dutifully parroted the Soviet script that the workers, peasants and college kids battling Russian tanks in Budapest with small arms and Molotov cocktails were all: “Fascists and CIA agents!” who all deserved prompt execution. 

“Caesar is shown to be compassionate, forbidding his followers from killing innocent humans. “ (Wikipedia on Rise of the Planet of the Apes) 

Ground control to Director Wyatt: “When in doubt—execute! “raved your inspiration for compassion. “Judicial evidence is an archaic bourgeois detail. I don’t need proof to execute a man. I only need proof that it’s necessary to execute him. We execute from revolutionary conviction! To establish Socialism rivers of blood must flow!”

Now here’s Andy Serkis, with the leading role in Rise of the Planet of the Apes:  “I play the character from a child through to a Che Guevara type–How cool is that!” 

Ground control to Andy Serkis: Che Guevara had a very bloody (and typically cowardly) hand in one of the major anti-insurgency wars in this hemisphere. Most of these Cuban anti-communist guerrillas were executed on the spot upon capture, a Che specialty. For my book I interviewed several of the lucky (genuine) rebels who managed to escape the slaughter. “We fought with the fury of cornered beasts,” I titled the chapter, using the phrase one used to describe their desperate freedom fight against the Soviet occupation of Cuba through their Stalinist proxies the Castro brothers and Che Guevara.

Mass murder was the order in Cuba’s countryside. It was the only way to decimate so many rebels. These country folk went after the Castroites with a ferocity that saw Fidel and Che running to their Soviet sugar daddies and tugging their pants in panic. Carlos Machado was 15 years old in 1963 when the bullets from the Communist firing squad shattered his body.  His twin brother and father collapsed beside Carlos from the same volley. All had resisted Castro and Che’s theft of their humble family farm, all refused blindfolds and all died sneering at their Communist murderers, as did thousands of their valiant countrymen.

“Here’s one other thing that sets Rise apart: it’s smart. This isn’t just an angry ape who wants more bananas, but a brave and canny hero who, having been given super intelligence by his scientist guardian, resolves to use it for the advancement of his species. He’s a rebel, a fighter, a simian Che Guevara.”

Ground control to Director Wyatt: the men who captured your “canny” hero with “super intelligence” in Bolivia seem convinced he was unable to apply a compass reading to a map. Under Che’s own gun dozens of defenseless men and boys died. Under his orders thousands crumpled, mostly bound and gagged. At everything else Che Guevara failed abysmally, even comically. During his Bolivian “guerrilla” campaign, Che split his forces whereupon they got hopelessly lost and bumbled around, half-starved, half-clothed and half-shod, without any contact with each other for 6 months before being wiped out. They spent much of the time walking in circles and were usually within a mile of each other. During this blundering they often engaged in ferocious firefights against each other. “You hate to laugh at anything associated with Che, who murdered so many defenseless men and boys,” says Felix Rodriguez, the Cuban-American CIA officer who played a key role in tracking him down in Bolivia. “But when it comes to Che as “guerrilla” you simply can’t help but guffaw.”

Here’s Rupert Wyatt from a recent interview: “I think the (film directors) Christopher Nolans of the world have really allowed filmmakers to explore things in a more…thoughtful way. If I have the opportunity to make further films, the hope that I have is to really explore wonderful themes.”

Ground Control to Director Wyatt: Thank your lucky stars you were born in England in 1972 instead of in Cuba around 1940. Your symbol of freedom jailed and exiled most of Cuba’s best writers, poets and  filmmakers while converting Cuba’s press and cinema–at Soviet-gunpoint–into propaganda agencies for a Stalinist regime.

Is Hollywood still angry at Nolan for making that near-billion-dollar-grossing ode to George W. Bush we call “The Dark Knight”? Maybe. It’s more likely, though, that the snub has to do with professional jealousy. Nolan seems incapable of making a film that isn’t heralded by some segment of the move-going population as some kind of masterpiece. With a number of bona fide classics already under his belt, he’s something so many directors wish they were but simply aren’t: a true auteur who delivers truly original stories in unforgettable ways. Furthermore, Nolan was able to do something so few can anymore, he was able to convince a big studio (Warner Bros.) to back his big vision (“Inception”) and ended up with huge box office ($823 million) and a Best Picture nomination.

But Nolan’s biggest sin is likely something worse than his refusal to work on the liberal plantation when it comes to his ideas and themes or his winning the “Inception” gamble both creatively and financially. His biggest sin is that he’s only 40 years old, a whippersnapper in comparison to those aging Boomer directors, most of whom lost their mojo long before completing a canon of classics to match what Nolan’s already racked up after only a decade.

As a film lover who’s legitimately heartbroken over the creative crash this industry is experiencing right now, as a film lover who’s turning more and more towards this new golden age of  television were currently in the midst of in order to receive a steady fix of new, compelling dramatic stories and characters, Christopher Nolan is the brightest spot in Filmdom’s universe  – a shockingly gifted and original storyteller determined to dazzle with every new offering.

There are other filmmakers who excite me: Zack Snyder, the Coen Brothers, David Fincher, and Matthew Vaughan immediately come to mind — but Nolan is the gold standard, the one to beat, and one of the primary reasons I admire him is the respect he has for the intelligence of his audience. Never forget those elitist critics snickering over whether the great unwashed would “understand” the oh-so complicated “Inception.” Nolan, on the other hand, had faith that challenging us would ignite our imaginations as his layers of spectacle unfolded, and he was absolutely right. It took two viewings for me to finally and fully appreciate “Inception,” but that’s been the case for most of Nolan’s films and in the end this unique quality only makes them better with each subsequent viewing.

Whenever I see a big budget film with some pathetically artificial scene set in a moving vehicle that was obviously filmed in the air-conditioned comfort of a studio in front of a green screen — a scene created by filmmakers who have become so lazy they can’t even be bothered to strap a camera to an actual moving car — I say a little prayer thanking the movie gods for Christopher Nolan. CGI, contempt for the audience, and fear of originality is killing cinema. I’m not sure Nolan is the cure — we’ll see who the next generation of filmmaker’s emulate (please not Scorsese … again) – but at the very least he is an oasis that doesn’t fade soon after the lights dim.

He’s the real deal and any Hollywood era would’ve been lucky to have him, we’re just damn lucky.

Then, alas, came word that the script for the film was “a mess.” The oddly named “Vulture” dropped the bomb that Snyder had been hired because the studio wanted a director capable of putting together a hacky “rush job” so Warner Brothers could keep the rights to the Man of Steel. Director Darren Aronofsky, fresh off the buzz of his upcoming film “The Black Swan” passed on the project because it was in such disarray and reeked of a studio cash grab…. Great Ceasar’s ghost, what’s going on here?

If you haven’t been reading Big Hollywood, or living on Planet Earth, you might not know that Hollywood has a leftist bent to it. You also may not know that the Hollywood press is just as corrupt, self-serving and leftist as their cousins in the mainstream media. The reports of “Superman’s” death are greatly exaggerated. This is nasty spin, aimed to take down two of Hollywood’s new school power players while boosting up a critical darling who has little appeal outside the coastal critics community. It also has a lot to do with politics and ideology.

One has to feel for Darren Aronofsky. I like his films to a certain degree, but don’t think that he is a ground-breaking visionary the way that many film students, mainstream critics, and hipsters claim him to be. “Requiem for a Dream” is not some seminal milestone in the history of film. I do think he is capable and incredibly talented. He has been attached to several high profile projects, and it seems that whenever a film is hunting for a director, his name pops up. He was attached to “Batman” before Nolan and has long been rumored to be the man behind the camera for the “Robocop” reboot. Yet, instead of those films, he continues to do well received, smaller, art house projects like “The Wrestler” and “Black Swan.”

Toiling in the indie world may be emotionally and creatively satisfying, but it doesn’t satisfy a thing called your wallet. Reports indicate that he didn’t take a salary in order to get “Black Swan” made. If you are his agent or manager, you’ve got to be dying. IFP spirit awards, cocktail parties, and glowing reviews from the Village Voice don’t help pay off your Mercedes SUV. Simply put, Aronofsky needs to prove that he can handle a blockbuster. He needs the paycheck that goes along with that task.

So, when word breaks that he lost the job to Zack Snyder, his people have to go into full-fledged damage control mode. Especially when the follow up scuttlebutt is that he’ll be directing the much lower profile “Wolverine 2.” Much like the New York Times parroting Nancy Pelosi’s talking points, entertainment industry reporters and moles are all too happy to run wild with spin from a friendly source like Aronofsky’s people. Think about it. Only one person benefits from this story, and it ain’t Clark Kent.

On top of that, the entertainment press loves to attack both Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder. You can also toss Matthew Vaughn, Edgar Wright, and Sam Raimi onto that list. Just look at all the stories about “Inception” before it came out. All the prognosticating that the film was a huge “risk.” That it was stupid to make a smart film as a blockbuster. “Watchmen” was panned before they even started shooting it. And somehow “Kick Ass” is this monumental failure despite raking in over $100 million at the box office and DVD, despite having a production budget under $25 million.

These guys have all proven that they have little need for the traditional studio system. They are studios onto themselves, using complex financing mechanisms and tough as nails producing partners to bring their films to the screen. They have also managed to do what the studios have tried to do for decades and failed; to merge inventive and quality filmmaking with the “blockbuster.” Not since the heyday of the 1980s, when Zemeckis, Spielberg, Cameron and Reitman were cranking out tent pole films, have we seen so many big-budget action films that also deliver the goods on character and story. The list of directors above have brought us that rare thing, a “dumb” movie that wasn’t stupid.

And that, my friends, pisses off the mid-level executives at the studios. Their bread and butter is delivering notes and dictating the creative direction of genre films. Guys like Nolan and Snyder don’t seem to take these folks too seriously. On top of that, they’ve played their cards right and managed to financially insulate themselves from their influence. Think about it. How much fun must it be to give Brett Ratner, McG, or Paul WS Anderson notes? Nolan and Snyder take away their power, influence, and sheer joy of existence. These mid-level types are EXACTLY the same people who “leak” intel to the trades, blogs, and gossip rags. They are tight with the entertainment industry beat reporters. Christopher Nolan could care less what Nikki Finke thinks. Not so for a development person. So, it should come as no surprise that this cabal of entertainment reporters and business school grads who fancy themselves filmmakers would conspire to tarnish the reps of the only guys in the industry who “get it.”

Because the other people clearly don’t.

One should also consider what is meant by “the script is a mess.” If, hypothetically, the story didn’t fit into left-wing ideology, would that be considered “a mess” to the low-level development people and Sundance types? Let’s just throw it out there that perhaps, perhaps, the directors of “The Dark Knight” and “300” have cooked up something that will truly resonate with middle America. Something that is true to the original comic.

What if Superman travels the world as a reporter, then returns to Metropolis doubting his caped escapades? He realizes that since he can’t be everywhere at once, people have stopped trying to be self-reliant, believing that the messianic Superman will save them, rather than working to save themselves.

Enter General Zod.

Instead of waging war, Zod promises everyone that he, unlike the America-centric Superman, will be the world’s superhero. He will protect and provide for all, and all he wants in return is for you to surrender your free will and “kneel before Zod.”

Superman, knowing of Zod’s evil, launches unpopular attempts to warn the world and battle Zod. Being evenly matched, Superman must turn to an unlikely ally. The only man who has dedicated his life’s work to killing a Kryptonian: Lex Luthor.

In the end, Superman and Luthor wage a final battle against Zod before the United States, the last nation to submit, surrenders its freedom.

To a leftist, that movie isn’t a “mess,” it’s a full blown disaster.

And it’s exactly the kind of film we can expect from Nolan and Snyder.

Some very (to say the least) encouraging news from filmdom broke yesterday: “300″ director Zack Snyder will direct the new Superman film for Warner Bros., and as we already knew, ”Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan will oversee the reboot as a producer. You couldn’t ask for a stronger super-hero Dream Team, which is why I couldn’t disagree more with comments like this:

Snyder is all about style over substance, and I think that’s a big reason why Bryan Singer’s “Superman Returns” didn’t work, causing the studio to reboot the franchise just four years later.

Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen,” which will someday be recognized as the masterpiece it is, was twice as substantive and complicated (in the best way) as any film that came out that year. But even before that, with “300,” Snyder proved he understands and is uniquely capable of managing big, important, universal and timeless themes without hurting the overall story’s broader commercial appeal. And since this latest incarnation of the Man of Steel will be yet another reboot, Snyder is the perfect director to intelligently bring together all the necessary elements – mythology, character, action and excitement. 

Some leftist critics slammed “300″ as simplistic and stupid. Intentionally or not, they unfairly judged the film from a political point of view as opposed to an artistic one because they see the themes that drove “300″ — those of self sacrifice, what it means to be a man, live free or die, and opposing cowardly appeasers willing to enable evil in exchange for the “stability” of slavery – as simplistic and silly. While that may be their sophisticated and impressively nuanced political opinion, artistically those are far from simplistic themes and extremely difficult to pull off without resorting to the inane, on-the-nose political speechifying that’s plagued every anti-war film since Bush Derangement Syndrome ravaged the Hollywood Hills. 

Other than the terrible casting of Superman and Lois Lane, what undid “Superman Returns” was director Bryan Singer’s vision of Superman as an angsty alienated alien who seemed more interested in finding himself than fighting for truth, justice and all that stuff… “Superman Metrosexual” was all so self-consciously humorless, self-serious, dour and lacking in the heroism, spirit and romance that it completely missed the point of what made the first two Christopher Reeve films so timelessly entertaining. Oh, and it would’ve helped had Lex Luthor’s diabolical plot made a lick of sense. But if you boil it down, the problem with “Returns” is that Singer didn’t want to make a genre picture — which is what all great super-hero films really are.

As he showed with his terrific “Dawn of the Dead” remake and “300,” Snyder is the finest genre filmmaker to come out of the Double Aughts — which makes him perfectly unpretentious for this assignment. And with his two epic Batman films, Nolan proved you can portray a complicated and conflicted hero without ejecting the essential genre elements that make for great storytelling. The only thing that can hurt this film are expectations, which are now sky high, especially with the news that General Zod will be returning as Superman’s arch-villain.

But let’s not tiptoe around the elephant in the room, either. Another reason to be excited over the teaming of these two artistic giants is that they’re responsible for ”300″ and “The Dark Knight,” two of the rare films to come out over the last decade that we right-wingers could eagerly embrace and call our own. 

As the proudly un-embarrassed owner of more than 500 Superman comics and a worshiper of  Christopher Reeve’s iconic portrayal and an even bigger fan of Margo Kidder’s unforgettable Lois Lane, this is the absolute best news about a reboot anyone could ask for.

Nolan will oversee the film’s production and is currently looking at a short-list of potential directors:

Making the list are “Unstoppable” helmer Tony Scott, “Let Me In” director Matt Reeves, “Battle: Los Angeles” helmer Jonathan Liebesman (who tapped for “Clash of the Titans 2″), Duncan Jones of “Source Code” and “Sucker Punch” guy Zack Snyder.

Expect news of a decision to come sooner rather than later because Warner Bros. and Legendary need to get the picture made by 2012 because of a rights ruling that went against the studio and favored heirs of Superman creator Jerry Siegel and takes effect in 2013.

Though we will never enter into the business of second-guessing Mr. Nolan, we are lighting candles for Zack Snyder.

—–

2. ‘Twas political correctness that killed “Sex.”

[Chris Noth] told New York Magazine: “It’s over. The franchise is dead. The press killed it. Your magazine f**king killed it. New York Magazine. It’s like all the critics got together and said, ‘This franchise must die.’

“They all had the exact same review. It’s like they didn’t see the movie.”

The artistically dreadful but stridently anti-American “Machete” scored a 73% at Rotten Tomatoes, the only marginally better Christian-bashing “Easy A” scored even higher with 85% – and so when Noth says the elite media killed the “Sex and the City” franchise, he’s exactly right. The sequel might not have been a perfect film, but it committed the mortal sin of having the balls to criticize and mock militant Islam. Among the Hollywood left, commandment number one is that you bow to multiculturalism, even if those you’re bowing before hold dear the most sexist, racist, homophobic, and theocratic agenda on the planet.

Worldwide, SATC2 made $288 million – more than all of those anti-American Iraq flops put together…

You know, the ones they keep making?

—–

3. Insufferably Precious But Still Confusing Celebrity Tweet of the Day: Deepak Chopra:

Don’t judge your life. Every life is a step toward unity with God.

Really, even Jeffrey Dahmer’s?

—– 

4. More on Tom Selleck’s “welcome” return to network television here.

The LA Times sees a lot of potential in his new show:

If it pulls off what it seems capable of doing, “Blue Bloods” should be both a good cop show and an evocative family drama. So something for everyone, just like a good Sunday dinner.

“Blue Bloods” airs Friday nights on CBS.

—–

5. Lindsay goes back to jail.

—–

6. Just when you thought the Lindsay Lohan story couldn’t make you care less about something, along comes this.

—–

7. How many Emmys does William Shatner have to win, how many hit series does he have to star in before the jokes about his talent stop? How many, dammit?

—–

8. Send Big Hollywood money and for every dollar we receive, two cents will go to the poor — making us twice as generous and effective at ending poverty as Bono.

Now, with a solid weekend at the box office and strong reviews, “Inception” (directed by Christopher Nolan, the director of “The Dark Knight”) might mark the beginning of a return to the smart special effects-laden blockbuster. ”Inception” is a smart thriller that shows that highly-anticipated blockbuster movies can have great imaginative stories to go with their eye-opening effects.

“Inception” tells the story of a team of experts who break into people’s minds to steal their secrets. “Inception”stars as Cobb, the leader of the team, who has spent several years studying how to infiltrate dreams and steal information from them.

Near the beginning of the film, Cobb is asked to enter a young businessman’s dreams, not to uncover information, but to inject an idea into the man’s mind. Cobb and his team must find a way to enter the man’s dream and deliver a thought into the man’s subconscious so that the man will wake up and make a business decision based off that idea. Along with some of his usual associates, Cobb recruits new members to the team, including a young student named Ariadne (played by Ellen Page).

Ariadne is introduced to the dream world by Cobb, who lets her into his own dream. In that scene, the concept of the film is explored in great detail. Ariadne can design mazes for the dreams and change the surroundings of a dream as it occurs. She wanders through Cobb’s dream able to quickly move streets around and create bridges simply through her own imagination. It may not be her dream but it is her world that the dream is taking place in.  

The cast of this film excels in this unique and thrilling film. Alongside film veterans like Michael Caine and Tom Berenger, this film features a lot of young capable actors who make the dream world seem both real and unreal at the same time. Leonardo DiCaprio is strongly cast as the emotionally-conflicted leader of the group and Ellen Page, Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt stand out as Cobb’s strong allies who use their unique skills effectively in the dream world.

As the trailer shows, “Inception” features terrific special effects. The dream worlds are beautifully created and the effects in them are often magnificent. This is a movie that is able to convey its vision of a dream world spectacularly well. Like “The Dark Knight,” Nolan is able to use special effects to enhance the story, rather than simply to replace the story.

One of the best surprises is how smart and well-developed it is. The dream world has some rules in it but they are explained well in the film. The movie has a strong sense of its elements and its purpose and never seems to lose sight of that, even though it can sometimes be confusing. It may have some obvious flaws, including an overlong climax, but this is a smart and engaging film nonetheless.

“Inception” is a thrilling unique cinematic experience that will likely be talked about for years to come. It is what a blockbuster can look like and may well be one of the best movies of 2010.