About a decade ago, I was working as a video store clerk, which every geek should do at some point, because its the best job ever to have. About the time I was working there, THE MATRIX (the first one, not the craptacular sequels) was due out on video. The store got a lot of promotional material to display for the upcoming release, and one day, while I'm working, a stoner-type comes into the store.

"Dude, is THE MATRIX out yet?"

"No, sir," I said, and told him the date it was due for release.

"Man, dude, have you seen it yet?"

"No, I missed it," I told him.

"Oh, man, dude, no...you have to see this movie," he says. "It will blow your mind."

"Really?"

"Dude, it changed my whole life," he tells me, which actually scared me to think what the movie would do to me if I watched it.

This past weekend, I paid to see the movie at a Saturday afternoon matinee, with my friends Angie K & Ted. And the theater was packed, which really surprised me! It was such a nice day here in Austin...didn't folks have anything better to do? There were also a few little old ladies handing out surveys for us to take, asking questions about the viewer and the movie. I was able to fill most of it out before the first trailer started.

INCEPTION is another one of those "blow your mind" movies. The basic story is about a group of specialists who are hired to entire the subconscious mind of an individual to steal or plant ideas at the dictates of their employer. What more would you need to know?

Okay, maybe a little more...

Leonardo DiCaprio's Cobb and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Arthur, his partner, are busted for trying to steal an idea from Ken Watanbe's Saito while Saito is sleeping. The two men entered Saito's mind, and tried to use shared dreaming technology. With the promise that Saito can help Cobb, the two men agree to attempt "inception" on the heir of a competing business. Inception is the opposite of what Cobb & Arthur do - instead of stealing an idea from the heir's mind, they have to plant an idea in it while in the shared dream. The heir is portrayed by Cillian Murphy. Cobb & Arthur put a team together that includes Ellen Page's Ariadne and Tom Hardy's Eames, with financial backing from Saito.

Layer after layer of dreaming reality are added as the team is forced to split up and go deeper into the heir's subconscious, from the reality of sleeping in an airliner bound for Los Angeles.

And they must also deal with subconscious security set up in the heir's mind while being pursued by a shadow from Cobb's own mind.

Michael Caine, Tom Berenger, and Marion Cotillard have strong supporting roles in the film 

Opera music is put to use on the soundtrack, signaling to each team member when to expect "kicks," or to wake up from their various locations.

And my favorite part of the film was, without a doubt, everything that happens in the hotel. I even found a screen-cap of it online and made it my new laptop wallpaper.

And, as with Christopher Nolan's THE PRESTIGE, I wanted to watch INCEPTION again right after it ended.

On the survey given, I checked the box saying I would buy the DVD/Blu-Ray release when it becomes available.

Highly recommended for every one to see. And take your friends. Get your mind blown.