The following podcast contains explicit language.

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carbonite.com, and that offer code is Slate. I'm Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture

Gap Fest, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, Edition. It's Wednesday, July 21st, 2010,

and on today's program, we're going to talk about the would-be mind-blowing blockbuster inception, Apple Steve Jobs, and the iPhone 4, and the old Spice Man. Joining me today are Slate's deputy editor, Julia Turner. Hello, Julia. Hi, Steve. I should say hello, ladies. Hello. Is that going to be your new thing? That's my new thing. Since people seem to be creeped out by the way I say hello to you to begin with, why don't I push that on and fill up as far as it can go and see what kind of emails we get. Anyways, hello, Julia. Hi, Steve. I don't even know how to respond now. Maybe I should change it up. Greetings, Stephen. That peachy blush is response enough. Thank you. And our film critic, Dana Steven Taye Dana. Hey, Dana.

Um, That peachy... Greetings, Stephen. That peachy blush is response enough. Oh, good.

And our film critic, Dana Stevens, hey, Dana. Hey, Steve. I have to say, I have no idea... Well, now, it's not true. I read your review, Dana. I know what you thought of this movie. Julie, I have no idea what you thought of Inception. I'm not 100% sure. I know what I thought of this movie. This is, we should say, Chris Nolan, who's the director famously of Memento, a super inventive indie movie that then catapulted him to sort of A-list

director status, confirmed by his huge success with the Batman franchise. He has a new

blockbuster at One's weekend. It looks like it's going to be huge. But it's not a simple,

it's not a simple, it's not like the Dark Night movie that just came at you like a steamroller with a certain inevitability. This is a seriously ambitious movie. What do you make of it?

Okay. I have to warn you. There are a few slight spoilers ahead. So if you haven't seen Inception, you should probably skip ahead to 14 minutes into the podcast.

I'm torn.

Oh!

I'm sorry to not be decisive in one direction or the other.

I really enjoyed watching this movie.

I thought it was really interesting.

I thought it was visually beautiful. I thought the plot was intricate and held up. I didn't think it was long, actually. A couple of people in the slate editorial meeting yesterday were complaining that it was long. And someone was like, man, and by the time they got to the snow level, I was like, geez. And I was like, oh my God, stop spoiling the movie. And any conversations about this movie when you haven't seen it sound inherently ridiculous because you talk about. It has snow in it. You're talking about like jumping levels and they meant whatever anyway. And by the time I got to the snow level, I was briskly caught up in the story.

And then the snow level came in.

I was like, really?

Someone was bored by this point in the movie?

...