"Inception" is a remarkable accomplishment in film, bringing together blockbuster elements (fights, car chases, shootouts, explosions, Leonardo DiCaprio) with art house sensibilities (complicated storytelling, moody lighting, trippy visuals, an ambiguous ending). Though that combination certainly looks troublesome and complicated on paper, "Inception" scored big at the box office, bringing home $60 million and easily topping the more audience-friendly flick "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."
One of the key elements of "Inception" is the sound design, which is absolutely incredible. Hans Zimmer's score jumps between lovely, sweeping passages and blasts of foghorn-like noise and savage crescendos. Save for one instance, there isn't any popular music slipped into the film. (The one tune that does show up is Edith Piaf's "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien," which translates to "I Regret Nothing" and may or may not be a nod to the fact that "Inception" star Marion Cotillard won an oscar for playing Piaf in the 2007 biopic "La Vie En Rose.") The flick really revolves around Zimmer's score, which is equal parts beautiful and alarming, blissful and jarring.
In fact, Zimmer's work most resembles the work of Icelandic rockers Sigur Ros, who have built up a career crafting songs that borrow from traditional rock, prog, orchestral drones, Icelandic folk and whatever else happens to dance through their spacey heads. Though frontman Jonsi does contribute significant vocals, he does most of his singing in a language of his own making that he calls "Hopelandic" (which combines his native language with English and straight-up gibberish) and the band gets more of a reaction from their hair-raising crescendos than from any sort of singalong chorus (they have been known to inspire fans to sing along with the drones and hums in the music during live shows, which is sort of remarkable). So as you contemplate "Inception" (or before you go to see it for the first time), warm your brain up with Sigur Ros' "Vidrar Vel," a chilling cut from their debut album Agaetis Byrjun.
For a second straight week, 
