Inception 10 years on.

I re-watched Inception last night after chatting to my mate Kazz, it's her favourite movie, it had been a while since I'd last seen it so it was almost like viewing it with fresh eyes.

The first thing I'd like to say is how well it's aged, it could have been made last year, I had forgotten a lot about the movie and as such it had me on the edge of my seat, though I did remember the dream within a dream within a dream bit so it was easier to understand.

You can read 100 different theories about the ending but here are a couple of points that are important:

1. Christopher Nolan told Michael Caine that his scenes were all based in reality.

2. The spinning top is not Cobb's totem, it's Mal's, the wedding ring is his, and he's not wearing the wedding ring, he only wears a the ring in dreams.

Result = Cobb gets his happy ending, but you're welcome to ignore Occam's Razor and follow the convoluted theories of fans and "experts", there are plenty!

Now some (hopefully) fun facts:

1. The Snowbound scene was based on On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Nolan is a massive Bond fan.

2. Leonardo DiCaprio was the only choice for Cobb.

3. Nolan's characters in the team were based on a film crew, Cobb the director, Arthur the producer, Eames the star, Ariadne the production designer, Saito the studio executive and Fischer is the viewer.

4. There are very few visual effects, where possible practical effects were used including that train, even though it wasn't a real train it was an 18 wheeler made up to look like a train.

5. Joseph Gordon-Levett did all his own stunts. 

6. Hans Zimmer used a slowed down version of Edith Piaf's song "Non, Je Ne Regretta Rien" as the main theme, the song is of course used as the "kick" to leave the dream.

7. Marion Cotillard, who played Cobbs wife Mal, starred as Piaf in "La Vie en Rose" and won an Oscar for that role!

8. Inception runs at 2 hours 28 minutes, Edith Piaf's "Non, Je Ne Regretta Rien" runs at 2 minutes 28 seconds, coincidence, nope, nothing is with Nolan.

9. In Yusuf's dream the licence plates on the car are marked with "The Alternate State" at the bottom.

10. Numbers appear and reappear throughout the film, 

a. Arthurs totum, the die, always lands on 5, his fight scene in the revolving corridor takes place on floor 5

b. In Yuluf's dream the taxi is number 2053 and the train is 3502 (this is the same train that Cobb and Mal used to escape limbo)

c. The code "528491" the Fischer gave the team to open the safe pops up a couple of times, it's on the napkin the women gives Fischer in the bar, 528 is the hotel room number where the team sleep and 491 is the room number directly below it.

11. Cobb's wife Mal plays a classic femme fatale role in the movie, and as an aside mal in French means bad or sad.

12. Satoshi Kon's anime classic Paprika was a big influence on Inception, and it's well worth checking out and you see a lot of influential point within it.