Inception is one of the three movies I saw in 2010, and to get to three I’m counting a showing of Avatar that I took in post New Year’s Day. It was, as everyone agrees, really great.

On first viewing, I was blown away by the writing, in particular (1) the Nolans’ ability to convey scores of pages of exposition in a fully engaging and plot-directed manner; and (2) the way in which they were able to sustain enormous dramatic tension across three separate, concurrent plot-lines in the second half of the movie. I’ve literally never seen a movie manage to hold three ropes completely taut at the same time without ever allowing the tiniest bit of slack.

On second viewing, however, I’m struck by another writerly accomplishment: the way Nolan uses revelation to subtly reorient the audience throughout the movie. The best example of this is how they reveal information to us about Mal. Here is what we learn about Mal in the course of the movie’s first 40 minutes:

* There’s a beautiful woman who knows Cobb, and surprises him at a party.

* The beautiful woman is named Mal, and she is an adversary trying to derail Cobb’s mission.

* Mal is Cobb’s wife.

* Mal is dead.

* Mal was actually a “lovely” woman.

* Cobb is wanted for Mal’s murder.

In the hands of a lesser writer, we would have been given all of this information nearly at once. It’s not hard to picture how Michael Bay might have written it:

Nash: Who the hell was that?

Arthur: It’s Cobb’s dead wife, Mal. She’s always haunting him in his dreams. She’s why he can’t go home–the cops think he killed her.

Nash: That’s fucked up, man.

Instead, Nolan parcels each of those six pieces of information on their own  (actually two of the revelations–that she’s dead and was lovely–are delivered at the same time) in such a manner that each one reorients the audience in how they view both Cobb and the entire world of Inception.

That’s awfully elegant stuff.

(Another thing which really impressed me this time around is how Inception features four, honest-to-blog leading men. It’s like a thinking man’s Ocean’s 11.)

Galley Friend A.K. sends this Deadspin link, which features an exchange of letters from 1974. In the first, a Browns season ticket holder, who happens to be a lawyer, makes a particularly silly complaint to the Browns front office about fan behavior and hints at future litigation should the organization not humor him. The Browns respond by telling him to fuck off.

Viewed contemporaneously, the two letters show a glimpse at America’s past and into America’s future.

It’s kind of depressing. Very few American businesses–and certainly no NFL teams–would dare send that sort of liberated, common-sense response today.

Is Black Swan the greatest film ever made? I don’t know. I haven’t seen it and there have been plenty of really good movies made over the last 80 years, from Casablanca and Citizen Kane to the 400 Blows and the Godfather.

But in answer to the original question: Yes.

A year ago Fox Sports Radio killed what was–hands down–the best sports-talk show in America: Steve Czaban’s First Team. They replaced Czaban with all-purpose buffoon Stephen A. Smith.

First, Smith was fired from the Philadelphia Inquirer. (Which was then forced, through arbitration, to rehire him. Unions are awesome!) The reason for his firing was that his Inky gig had basically become a no-show job because he was spending most of his time with various jobs at ESPN, where he was a frequent guest, analyst, and host–and even had his own short-lived show. Then ESPN fired him.

Then MSNBC hired him and started grooming him to move from sports to mainstream news and political punditry. But that got cut short because Fox Sports Radio had to rush out and throw money a guy who was a national laughingstock and give him his own morning drive-time show.

Well, that experiment is over now. After just one year, FSR is pulling the plug on Smith. I know–who could have possibly foreseen that he would be a failure!

But don’t worry. Surely somewhere else in America another media executive is preparing a lavish offer-sheet for good ol’ Stephen A. After all, Mark Levin loves him!

Hey, I have an idea: The Atlantic is super-profitable right now and David Bradley doesn’t mind closing his eyes and letting people take his money. Why not give Stephen A. Smith a spot next to Andrew Sullivan? By comparison, he’d look pretty smart.

Steve Sailer tosses out this monumental awesome in a throw-away line. What gives?

Behold: The Power Point Gettysburg Cemetery Dedication by Abraham Lincoln

Galley Friend K.T. sends us Law and the Multiverse, a blog about the legal realities of the superhero world. Sample awesome:

* How supervillains can procure a secret lair.

* Does “killing” someone with a healing factor (ie Wolverine) constitute a crime?

* How might the ADA be applied to superpowers.

It’s all crazy, fantastically good. Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics levels of good.

Galley Friend C.L. suggested that if I put an Amazon Associates search box on the site, then readers who wanted to help me buy comic books pay the mortgage generate revenue for the site could do their Amazon shopping here, and I’d get a kick-back of some sort. Rock on.

So, if you do Amazon shopping through this portal, thanks in advance.

There’s more on the American Narcissus front. Also, I’ve written a slightly technical piece on what governments could do to shut down Wikileaks, if they really wanted to.