Critics of Chris Nolan says he’s too mechanical, always putting plot trickery and impressive visuals over character development.  You’ll never believe this, but one of his great defenders is James Cameron.

“I loved Inception, and I wish that it had gotten more,” Cameron told THR Monday at the Hollywood premiere of Sanctum. “I wish Chris Nolan had gotten nominated for directing that film because I think that it’s the most astounding piece of film creation and direction of the year, hands down … but now it’s not even in the running. So I diverge from the Academy’s taste in a lot of ways.” [THR]

To be fair, if I designed an entire hallway that spun 360 degrees and shot a $160 million film in like 20 different countries, and they ended up d*cking me over for some guy who filmed a stuttering prince, I’d be pretty pissed.   Luckily, Chris Nolan is all polite and British.  Here’s what he had to say after Inception took home four awards from the Visual Effects Society:

“I’m often quoted in the press talking about visual effects like an actress talks about her use of botox… I know visual effects people pride themselves on doing the impossible. I’d just like to encourage you to say no to the unreasonable.” [Deadline via ThePlaylist]

That night: The VFX people clap maniacally at Chris Nolan’s humble wisdom.

The Next Day: James Cameron bursts in the door.  “Okay, guys, I’m going to need a hot pink rhino with leopard spots sliding down a purple mountain on snow shoes and three magenta tiger-striped pterodactyls shooting fireballs from their butt.  And of course I’m gonna want those fireballs in periwinkle blue.”

I SAW MOVIES THIS YEAR!  I HAVE OPINIONS ABOUT THEM!  BEHOLD AS I ARRANGE THEM NUMERICALLY!

Look, I’m not going to start by apologizing for the movies on the list.  We all know the idea of assigning movies numerical value is ridiculous, but that doesn’t stop us from reading lists, comparing lists, and arguing about lists.  It’s human nature, like love, or pooping.  At some point, you just have to sack up and commit to the format.  That said, it’s a truth critics rarely acknowledge: no one saw every movie that came out this year.  I saw fewer foreign movies than I usually do, and in retrospect, I should’ve spent more time watching those and less time on The Last god-d*mned Airbender.  Oh my God that was terrible.  People are entitled to their opinions, but anyone who liked that movie should be locked a cage and buried in the forest.

Anyway, enough foreplay, it’s time to drop your panties.  Here are my favorites of this year.  KNIVES OUT!  GRRR, MIXED METAPHOR!

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The Golden Globe nominations were released today, and I know what you’re all thinking: sorry, better luck next year, Channing Tatum. Anyway, I was all set to explain why the Golden Globes are a sham voted on by a shady group of foreign “journalists” who can basically be bought off with a nice gift bag, but then I noticed that among the nominations for best picture (musical or comedy) were Alice in Wonderland, Burlesque, Red, and The Tourist.  I mean, that pretty much says it all right there.

And of course Johnny Depp got a best actor nod for Alice, because if there’s one thing the Hollywood Foreign Press loves, it’s famous actors in silly costumes dancing.  Are the Golden Globes voted on by the same people who watch Mexican sitcoms?  Because that would totally make sense.

BEST MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
Black Swan (with obligatory picture)
The Fighter
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network

BEST MOTION PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Alice in Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are All Right
Red
The Tourist

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Personally, I feel like I’m all stocked up on Inception-related things.  I saw the movie.  I liked the movie. I don’t need to write a thesis on it.  That said, this Weikang‘s “Inception in Real Time” video is fairly cool.  Basically, it takes the dream levels, split-screens them, and then adjusts the speed so we can see what’s going on simultaneously in all the dream levels.  “Oh you don’t like cross cutting?  I guess I’ll just go f*ck myself then,” said DW Griffiths, when reached for comment.

Elsewhere and in related news, incontention dug up Chris Nolan’s original hand-drawn diagram (from the book Inception: The Shooting Script) of how the dream levels are supposed to work and all that.  It’s basically the same as the Inception Infographic from a while back, but straight from the source (and completely incomprehensible).  For me, it’s not so much that I need to understand the diagram, I just like that Nolan at least wanted his story to have its own coherent logic.  If McG had tried to diagram what happened in Terminator Salvation between when John Connor jumps out of an airplane into the ocean and when he ends up inside a submarine in the next scene, it would just be a drawing of McG holding a bong and giving you the finger.

[click to enlarge, right-click and select "view image" to embiggen further]

Inception is easily the artsiest movie I’ve ever seen and still thought, “Hey, this could totally work as a video game.” (Though I do enjoy a round of Pin the Scarf on Wes Anderson). Christopher Nolan recently reiterated what we’ve known for a while now, that an Inception video game is in the works.  Up up down down left right left right B A select (*BRAAAAAAHM*)

There will be a videogame: “I always imagined Inception to be a world where a lot of other stories could take place,” says Nolan. “At the moment, the only direction we’re channeling that is by developing a videogame set in the world.” He declined to elaborate on details or time table, only to say that he was developing the game with a team of collaborators and that it was “a longer-term proposition.”

My prediction?  A first-person shooter in which you control a guy playing a first-person shooter in which he has to control a guy playing a first-person shooter.  …I hate myself for typing that. I hope this is a dream.  But since Chris Nolan can’t take a leak at an Arby’s without the guy in the next urinal demanding he explain the Inception ending, he got asked that too.

But let’s get to the question we’ve been asking since Inception premiered last July and promptly cooked our noodle [guuuhhh. -Ed.]: Did the top stop spinning or what? “I’ve been asked the question more times than I’ve ever been asked any other question about any other film I’ve made,” Nolan laughs. “That’s definitely the question. It keeps coming back to that. What’s funny to me is that people really do expect me to answer it.”

“Haha, but seriously,” Nolan added, “you’re an imbecile.”  [Spoiler Alert, etc.]

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