>>>>Has anyone seen Inception?
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>>>
>>>We all shouted at the end, when they cut away from the spinning top when it was about to tip over.... did it, or didn't it ??? Is it real, or is it a dream???
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>>I don't think there is a right answer. This is a movie that plays with your mind. It was maddening to me, too.
>>
>>Check out "Memento." It also plays with your mind but everything is sorted out by the end. You just have to watch very closely to catch some of it.
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>>When I was hanging out with the screenwriters "Memento" was one of the most discussed and debated movies. The only one I can remember discussed more was "The Sixth Sense." That discussion went on for weeks. I was really impressed by what the real and aspiring screenwriters noticed. These are guys who watch movies with stopwatches, measuring scene length, making notes. Did you notice he never touches anyone? The use of the color red. Settings and their meanings.
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>>The king of the Screenwriting forum was a guy named John Hill. He wrote a number of produced movies, "Quigley Down Under" with Tom Selleck probably being the best known. He also won an Emmy for his writing on "L.A. Law." He said it was in a closet but I bet it was right on the mantel. He shared his understanding of the biz tirelessly, often consisting of buckets of cold water. Some of it came from personal experience, I'm sure. He had been successful and was no longer in demand. When you turn 40 you're dead in this business if you don't have a recent box office success, he said. He sent me a number of private messages that persuaded me that I would be wasting my time. Write a novel, he said. He said you've got the talent, up there in the bleachers <g>. (He hated it when I griped about schlocky movies). Crank out a page a day and in a year you've got a book.
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>>What I liked about John was that despite his cynical knowledge of the business he was always a movie fan. And a fan of well written TV shows. Once he remembered, in that scene by scene way of his, an episode of "St. Elsewhere." There were two subplots. One was a patient who needed a heart transplant or was going to die. The other was the wife of a main character being killed in a car crash. The doctor said yes, take her off life support and transplant her heart. Late that night, no one else around -- hey, it's fiction -- he walks into the recovery room and holds his stethoscope to the patient's heart. Thump thump, thump thump, thump thump. Fade to black.
>
>Change of film question.
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>I've just read Elmore Leonards Out of Sight.
>
>There was a movie (Mr Clooney and Ms Lopez) .
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>My question .Not having seen the film, did it have the same end as the book ?
>
>I know Hollywood like to stick happy endings on everything.

It's been so long, I don't remember. Both of them were great. That opening scene of the two of them meeting in a car trunk was the epitome of meeting cute. The crook and the U.S. Marshal who was trying to catch him. Don Cheadle and Dennis Farina, a real Chicago ex-cop, in memorable supporting roles.

Time to watch the movie again. It's also on my desert island list. The sourpusses on the movie forum said George Clooney would never be a movie star. I guess they were wrong, weren't they?

It's funny because he works that shy downward smile the same way Princess Di did. I wonder if he stole it from her?