What’s the most resilient parasite? An Idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules. Which is why I have to steal it.

For last two days I have read around 20+ reviews about and around Inception.As a viewer it’s one of  the best experience and my feeling is that it will be a cult classic in future.I have many unanswered questions about Inception and it’s script.I found this great article which have possible theories about Inception.

SPOILER WARNING: What follows should only be viewed by people who have already seen Inception. It contains heavy, critical spoilers which will impact your viewing of the film. If you haven’t seen Inception yet, stop reading and don’t come back until you do.

Writers are :-By Josh, Perri, Eric, Katey of Cinemablend

A Kick: By upsetting the equilibrium of a dreamer you can wake them from a dream and return them to reality. If you’re dreaming a dream within a dream, each level of the dream has to have its own Kick in order for the one on the higher level to work. So Arthur blew up the elevator to wake them up from the snow fortress dream so they could then be woken up by the car hitting the water.

First let us familiar with the most commonly used terms in Inception.

Limbo: A place where dreamers may end up if they go too deeply. It’s a place where time runs quickly and people seem to forget reality. We’re told a person flung there might burn out their mind, though somehow Saito, Cobb, and Mal all survive it and escape. Because of the drugs used in the dreamers in Inceptions final mission, we learn a dreamer can in this one instance also be flung into limbo if they’re killed in the dream.

Inception: The practice of entering dreams and planting an idea in someone’s head. Normally Cobb and his team only invade dreams to steal secrets and they aren’t sure if Inception is really possible.

The Architect: The person who constructs the dream world inside the mind of the Dreamer. In the final dream of Inception, Ariadne (as played by Ellen Page) is the architect.

The Dreamer: The person whose dream you’re actually in. When creating a dream within a dream, each level must have a different dreamer. In the final sequence, Yusuf dreams the first level, Arthur dreams the second one, and Eams dreams the third level with the snow fort.

The Subject: The person whose subconcious is actually brought into the dream, usually for the purpose of extracting information from them or on rare occasions in order to plant an idea in their mind. In the final sequence, Fisher Jr. is the subject.

Totem: An object constructed by someone who plans to invade a dream, whose exact weight and composition only they know. This object can be used to help verify whether you’re in the real world, or the dream world. Cobb uses a top which, when spun inside a dream never stops spinning. Ariadne constructs a chess piece, which she plans to use as her totem.

Projection: A person created by the subconcious mind of the subject. Projections are not real. They function like white blood cells and should the subject begin to realize that the dream he’s in isn’t his, Projections respond violently and attempt to seek out the Dreamer and destroy him.

Now here are the questions which might be bubbling in your mind.

How did Mal get involved in all the dream invasion stuff to begin with?
A: It’s seems pretty clear from the context of the movie that Mal and Cobb were married and engaged in legitimate dream exploration together before Mal’s death. After her death, Cobb was forced to use his knowledge of dreams to become a thief.

How do the never-ending staircases work, and how was Arthur able to use one without Ariadne, as the architect, there to alter the architecture?
A: The never-ending staircases are paradoxes (logical fallacies that can’t exist in reality). Though Ariadne designed the levels and probably designed the staircase, in the level where Arthur uses it he’s the dreamer. Similar shortcuts were worked in, in advance, to the snow dream by Eams. Ariadne tells Cobb about them when they need a faster route to the fortress.

What causes the loss of gravity in the hotel dream world?
A: As it is in real life, the dreamer’s dream can be affected by things happening outside the dream. If it gets cold while you’re sleeping, sometimes people dream of ice or snow. If a person falls out of bed, sometimes they’ll dream of skydiving or falling in their dream. So when the van in the dream level above the hotel falls off the bridge, the motion of those inside the van is thrown off, and that feeling of falling carries over into the dream, making it as though there’s no gravity in the hotel level below the van. This effect does not, however, seem to extend any further than one level in a dream within a dream within a dream.

Arthur blows up an elevator to create a Kick in anti-gravity. How does that work?
A: Since there is no gravity, Arthur disconnects the elevator from the cables and then uses an explosion to propel it, as it would be propelled if there were gravity. When it hits the bottom they’re shaken around, creating a Kick. Arthur uses the elevator because he needs a way to insure that the Kick occurs quickly and to everyone at once so he doesn’t have to do them one at a time, in much the same way the falling van drops them together.

After he’s shot and killed, they resuscitate Fisher Jr. Why couldn’t they save Saito in the same way?
A: This one had us stumped but Max Miller offers this explanation in the comments below: “Saito is shot on the first level of the dream, but doesn’t die until the third. If they resuscitated him on the third level, it would only bring him back to the second where he was still dying, and if he survived that, then it would only bring him back to the first where he was dying the fastest anyway. Meanwhile, since Fischer was shot on the third level and sent to Limbo, his “bodies” on the other two levels were totally fine. The kick from the defibrillator timed correctly with the falling sensation he experienced after Ariadne pushed him off the building was enough to bring him back to normal level 3 so he could complete the mission. If she had just shot him again down in Limbo, he probably would have woken up for real and the mission would have failed.”

Aren’t you supposed to be alone in limbo? Why are Cobb’s projections of his wife and kids there?
A: Our understanding is that limbo only contains things you’ve built in it, which could explain why Cobb’s limbo has so few projections. The projection of his wife is something he tells Mal at the end that he’s tried to recreate over time, so it could be that she’s more than a projection and is actually an intentional creation of his. Similarly, Saito could have created the guards which populate his limbo.

If the world with crumbling buildings is Cobb’s limbo, what is the place he ends up in with Saito?
A: Two different theories possible, let’s break them down one at a time:

Theory 1 The simplest answer here would be that this world isn’t actually limbo but a deeper level which perhaps Cobb has mistaken for limbo or misrepresented as limbo. You have to die to go to limbo and neither Cobb nor Ariadne dies in the ice fortress, they merely go to sleep again and enter Cobb’s dream, which only resembles the world he and Mal built in limbo because Cobb has created it. (Their kids weren’t with them in their original limbo, so if this were limbo again, why would they magically be there with them to live happily ever after?) Also, Cobb could have deliberately been planning how the whole level worked out – he used it to detach himself from Mal, create a projection of Fischer to compel Ariadne to get out and not go into limbo and stayed as the whole thing crumbled to get to the real limbo to help Saito. And maybe that’s the reason Fischer can be revived. He wasn’t really shot dead.

Theory 2 But since Ariadne tried to kill herself to escape it, and we know that killing yourself in any level but limbo will only send you to limbo, it seems as though Ariadne must have believed she was in limbo. If the crumbling city level really is a form of limbo, could that mean both Cobb and Saito in limbo, but in different limbos? If dreams are the machinations of the subconscious, and limbo is the subconscious that Cobb has built, the locations are one in the same. It’s the same reason why Cobb can no longer work as an architect. Perhaps Cobb and Saito’s final locations are the same place. If so, how does Cobb find Saito’s fortress? How does he end up on that beach? We’re full of questions on this one, but given the context of the movie this theory seems like the most likely of the two.

Why is Saito so much older than Cobb in the final dream level?
A: It’s likely that Cobb and Saito are in limbo for the same amount of time, however Cobb knows he’s in limbo, so perhaps this keeps him from aging visibly. Saito on the other hand seems to have forgotten where he is, and so the passage of time (which could have been decades since time runs faster the deeper you go) has more of an affect on him. Similarly, the first time Cobb and Mal end up in limbo they aged because they’ve forgotten where they really are and accepted it as their reality.

Does Cobb’s totem keep spinning at the end or is it about to fall off the table?
A: The fact that the film cuts away before we know for certain suggests that they want us to keep guessing. But we think it kept spinning. Here’s our reasoning: Note that at the end of the film Cobb’s kids haven’t aged. They match exactly his memory of them. A memory which must almost surely by now be out of date, since he’s been away from them for many months. Though he finally sees their faces, otherwise they look exactly as he envisioned them. They’re even wearing the same clothes. In reality, his kids would now be older and different than his memories of them. This could suggest that Cobb is still in the dream and the top does indeed keep spinning after the credits roll.

Alternate Theory Aaron points this out in our comments section: “In the opening moments you get a glimpse of Leo’s hand. Specifically, he’s wearing his wedding ring. Now, if you follow the rest of the movie keeping an eye out for this you will notice that he only has the ring on when he’s in the dream world. At the end of the movie he isn’t wearing the ring.” If the ring only appears when he’s in a dream and he’s not wearing at the end of the film, that could be confirmation that in fact, the top does stop spinning after the credits and Cobb is at last in the real world.

If the top really does keep spinning at the end and Cobb’s reality really is a dream, then why didn’t it keep spinning when he tried it earlier in the film?
A: Assuming for a moment that Cobb is still in the dream when the movie ends, it doesn’t necessarily mean he was in a dream for the entire film. The Cobb we see at the end could in fact be a man still trapped in limbo. This seems unlikely though since the film seems to indicate that Saito and Cobb killed themselves to escape it, right before waking up on the plane. See alternate theory.

Alternate Theory Ivan in the comments below suggests that it’s still possible that the entire movie could be a dream because the totem may only work to ensure you’re not in someone else’s dream. “Think about it, YOU know your totem’s trick exactly so if you were in your own host dream then you could replicate it perfectly. It is only when you are in someone else’s dream that your totem does not behave in it’s trick form since that host cannot architect it so. This is why nobody knows the trick functionality of anyone else’s totem!”

How do Cobb and Saito survive limbo for such an extended period of time? Isn’t your mind supposed to burn out in there?
A: The film never actually says your mind will burn out there, merely suggest that you’ll become lost there and be unable to find your way out. The real obstacle to getting out of limbo seems to be realizing that you’re in limbo. At the end of the film, it takes an appearance by Cobb to remind Saito that the world he’s in isn’t real, and once he realizes Saito reaches for a gun and, presumably, shoots himself in order to escape. It could be that your brain only actually is damaged out if you stay in Limbo for the full term, or if you stay there after the machine connection powering the dream is disconnected.

If the dream they enter at the end of the film belongs to Fisher Jr., then why does Cobb enter the limbo he built with his wife? Shouldn’t it be Fisher Jr.’s limbo?
A: The snow fort dream is not Fisher’s. That dream belongs to Eams. Each level is dreamt by a different member of Cobb’s team, and then Fisher’s subconcious is brought in to fill it. The first level is dreamed by Yusuf, who then stays behind to drive the van and initiate a kick to bring them back. The second level is dreamt by Arthur, who then stays behind to put them in the elevator and initiate another kick. The third level is dreamed by Eams, who again stays behind to plant explosives on the building, which drops them and initiates another Kick. The final level is Limbo. Limbo is a shared environment not limited to a single subconscious. Limbo contains nothing, excep the remnants of whatever might have been built by someone who has been there before. Cobb has been there before, so limbo contains the buildings he and his wife built over the 50 years they spent there.

If Mal and Cobb grew old together in Limbo, and we see them as an elderly couple, why are they young when at the end of the time in limbo they kill themselves on the railroad tracks?
A: The most likely explanation for this is that Cobb’s memory of their youth was merely a fantasy of his, and in truth they aged together as we saw. This is supported by the film. The first time we see Cobb envisioning them killed by the train, they’re young. A close up shot of their hands clasped reveals their hands to be young as well. Later when Cobb tells the real story of how they escaped limbo, we see their hands clasped on the railroad tracks and they’re older and wrinkled, just as Cobb and Mal are when we see them walking through the city while Cobb talks about them growing old together. It seems likely this is the true version of the story and the version in which they’re younger is part of the delusion Cobb constructed which was visited by Ariadne.

How did Cobb and Mal end up in Limbo in the first place?
A: The movie suggests it was an accident, caused by Cobb’s desire to keep going deeper and deeper into the dream until he went too deep. Several different ways this could have been accomplished, perhaps they used the same type of sedation as Yusuf used and then intentionally killed themselves just to see what would happen.

Why did Cobb perform Inception on Mal?
A: Cobb and Mal were trapped in Limbo for 50 years, unaware that their world wasn’t real. Cobb eventually discovered the truth, but Mal refused to accept it. In order to get Mal to kill herself and return to the real world, Cobb performed Inception on her, planting the idea that the world wasn’t real in her mind. This worked, they killed themselves and escaped Limbo. Unfortunatley, the idea remained in Mal’s mind and once they returned, she was unable to accept that the real world wasn’t a dream.

Who were the dreamers for the different levels?
A: Level one, with the van, was dreamed by Yusuf (Dileep Rao). Level 2 in the hotel was dreamed by Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Level 3 with the snow fort was dreamed by Eams (Tom Hardy). The final level was Limbo and dreamed by no one, since it’s a place of shared consciousness.

How does the Architect have control over someone else’s dream?
A: The Architect designs the dream levels in the real world, and then teaches the level design to the dreamer.

How does the Forger work?
A: Eams is the Forger. This name has two meanings. In the real world he can forge identities using his contacts and his ability to fake documents. In the dream world, he can alter his appearance and take on the personality of someone else he’s studied, probably using much the same methods used to construct buildings.

Was Ariadne somehow aware of the numbers Fischer would come up with or did she change the hotel’s floor plan so that 491 would be below 528?
A: It seems impossible that they could have known in advance, they must have left a blank place in their design to be filled in with the numbers as they learned them. If anyone has any other theories on this, sound off in the comments!

Why did dying wake dreamers up early in the movie, but later in the movie it sent them to Limbo?
A: The film explains this as being due to the types of sedatives used on the dreamers during the final sequence. When normal sedatives are used, death wakes you up. But in order to go three dream levels deep, heavier sedatives must be used, causing this unwanted side-effect.

Why didn’t Arthur wake up when the van drove off the bridge?
A: When the van drives off the bridge, Cobb says they missed the first Kick. This is understandable since Cobb, Eams, Ariadne, and Fisher Jr. are two levels below it and can only be awakened by a kick in the level above them, where Arthur is. But Arthur is in the level directly below the vans, and the rules of the movie do seem to suggest that he should have awakened by that Kick. Perhaps experienced dreamers have some control over whether a Kick wakes them up? We’re a little baffled by this one, let us know if you have a better theory.

Alternate Theory CB reader Jordan offers this possible explanation: Ealier in the movie Arthur tells Ariadne that if Yusuf kicks too early then they won’t wake up. While normally in order to wake up you must recieve a Kick in the level above, this isn’t true when using the special sedative. Instead with the sedative it takes two synchronized Kicks. In order to be Kicked when under the sedative you had to be kicked in both levels simultaneously. Arthur didn’t have the second Kick ready when the van drove off the bridge, so he wasn’t awakened by the van falling off the bridge.

Why did Ariadne jump off the building in Cobb’s limbo if Eames was going to wake her up with his Kick in the level above?
A: Ariadne may not have been certain Eames’ Kick would work, so she was attempting to kill herself by jumping off the building. Even though we’d been told killing yourself inside the dream would only push you into limbo, Cobb has just told her that once he got to limbo with Mal they escaped by killing themselves so Ariadne knows that death is a way to escape, even though in this case it wasn’t necessary.

Alternate Theory Because of the sedative it may require two, synchronized Kicks in two levels to wake someone, instead of the single Kick normally used.

When Arthur plans his Kick, why is it important for everyone to wake up at the same time?
A: We’re not entirely sure it is. It’s more important that he wake them up quickly when it comes time for the Kick, to time it to occur at the same time as the Kick in the level above. By putting them in the elevator he can give them a Kick all at once, and synchronize it with the other Kicks.

What did Cobb putting a spinning top inside the safe mean?
A: The safe is a creation of the subconscious that Cobb exploits, in this case Mal. The safes are constructed so that the dreamer believes that it is a safe place for them to store their secrets. The top is Mal’s totem, which she uses to determine whether she’s in a dream. If it never stops spinning, that tells Mal that she’s in a dream. By placing a constantly spinning totem in the safe, Cobb is placing an idea (and a very simple one) inside her subconscious. It’s not that she saw the totem spinning, but that it was always spinning in her subconcious mind. This is why she thought she was trapped in the dream world.

Why did Cobb need to use Inception on Mal to convince her to kill herself? Couldn’t he have simply snuck up on her and shot her?
A: Concievably. But perhaps Cobb, madly in love with Mal, simply couldn’t bring himself to do it. Remember, he was barely able to shoot a projection of her. It might be all but impossible to kill the real Mal, no matter how important he thought it was to do so.

Disclaimer:-The original article appeared in Cinemablend .You can check out all the Inception related articles from there.

Epic, a new web browser, made for India by a Bangalore-based start-up called Hidden Reflex, is making waves across the web.

Powered by the open-source Mozilla platform, the new browser will attempt to corner a slice of the online browser market that is dominated by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox, Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari. Other browsers that have carved a niche for themselves include Opera.

One of the most attractive features of Epic browser is that it has in-built anti-virus protection courtesy ESET. The browser has a sidebar with lot of widgets that are bound to appeal to Gen Y including maps, news, Gmail and yahoo.

With the click of a button, consumers can access the latest news from several well-known publications.  Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Orkut are pinned to the sidebar, which means users can log on to these sites, but continue working on the browser in an uninterrupted manner.

A free word processor, to do tool, snippet app and timer are also included in the Epic browser, which claims to have pre-loaded 1,500 free apps onto it.

Hidden Reflex says that the browser supports 12 Indian languages currently. “Epic provides a uniquely Indian browsing experience. Epic’s India sidebar supports Indian content by providing users access to the latest national and regional news from popular publications, live television channels, videos, stock quotes, live cricket scores, top music albums, and local events”, it added.

Indian themes and wallpapers can be customized for the browser. This includes themes centered on freedom fighters, cricketers and Bollywood personalities. Videos from YouTube can be watched in a small window so that other activities can proceed apace.

The estate of Jimi Hendrix, along with MCA Records and filmmaker Martin Scorsese have been hit with a lawsuit by Lonnie Youngblood, a saxophonist who befriended Hendrix in the late 1960s and collaborated with him on a couple of songs before the guitar legend’s death in 1970.

The basis of the lawsuit centers around one of the tracks, Georgia Blues, which was included on 2003 compilation Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: Jimi Hendrix, a soundtrack to accompany a documentary film series by the legendary director.

Youngblood alleges he was not asked for permission to include the track on the album and was not credited as a creator of the track, which he claims he released on the internet and copyrighted in 2002.

Bolstering his authorship of the composition, Youngblood points to the song’s lyrics. “I was born in Georgia 27 years ago.” Whereas Hendrix was born in Seattle, Washington, Youngblood was at the time a 27-year-old from Georgia. (You can hear the lyric in the above video, during the first verse.)

According to court papers, a lawyer from the Hendrix estate offered Youngblood $3,000 for rights to the song, which he refused. The now 68-year-old musician seeks unspecified damages for the song’s release. “It’s the principle,” he says. “I want my song back. They had no right to take my song.”

If you have not checked out isbn.net.in, its probably the most extensive price comparison site for books across all major stores in India. FlipGraph catalogue is included on isbn.net.in as of this Tuesday !!!! Flipping was never so much fun!!

Now a final stage is left and we will know who is the King of Football. As a fan we all know how heart beats start vibrating when someone is near the goal-post.We have lots of static but no meaning full representation of emotions regarding those emotions.

But we have some real talented people who are giving all statics some kind meaning. Graphic designer Michael Deal created these visually-pleasing infographics to help bring the soccer data from South Africa to life.

1. Successful passes (green lines)

2. Alongside shots (blue triangles)

3. Goals (red circles)

Check out the picture below to see all the group matches in all their glory, looking more like a musical store than a football report.Right now we have report of all the 48 group matches Michael Deal will provide all other statics withing one or two days.

First thing he changed was personal computers (Mac)

Second thing he changed was Movies (Pixar)

Third thing he changed was Music (iPods)

Fourth thing he changed was Persona of Gadgets (Touch)

Fifth thing which is ongoing is Reading Habits (iPad)

So what’s next???

Check out some amazing facts about Steve Jobs.

A remark or expression characterized by cleverness in perception and choice of words,that’s how dictionary defines the ‘Witticism’.Judge yourself .

If all is not lost, where is it?

Funny, I don’t remember being absent minded.

Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip round the sun.

It’s not hard to meet expenses…they’re everywhere.

A closed mouth gathers no feet.

An unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys.

If you’re living on the edge, make sure you’re wearing your seat belt.

If God wanted me to touch my toes, he would have put them on my knees.

The only time the world beats a path to your door is if you’re in the bathroom.

Old programmers never die. They just terminate and stay resident.

Nostalgia isn’t what is used to be.

It was all so different before everything changed.

The first rule of holes: If you are in one, stop digging.

I went to school to become a wit, only got halfway through.

I started out with nothing…I still have most of it.

If I agreed with you we’d both be wrong.

Some people hear voices.. Some see invisible people.. Others have no imagination whatsoever.

A will is a dead giveaway.

To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

Bad spellers of the world untie.

My love for mafia movies started way back in school when i saw “Donnie Brasco”, obviously i had heard of the “Godfather” the novel but reading novel in the 8 th standard was never my thing. But after seeing the movie i was completely blown away  and i was  obsessed with the mafia world.

Anyone new to the mafia world will probably ask  “Is it like the army ?.. like a chain of commands.”

The best answer to this can be answered by the great Al Pachino “ It aaint nothing like the army.The army is some guy you dont kno sends you out to wack some other guy you dont kno.” – Donnie Brasco

The reason why i love mafia is the way it works, the clan hierarchy, the membership, the commission, the drugs/arms trafficking, protection rackets and of course  the awesome mafia slangs.

Here’s a  little inside look of how a mafia clan works :

The Mafia has controlled everything from the street corner drug trade to the highest levels of government. Glorified by movies and television, hounded by law enforcement officials, marked for death by their enemies, mobsters live violent and often brief lives. The Mafia at its core is about one thing — money. Still, there are secret rituals, complicated rules and tangled webs of family loyalty.

This is only the beginning, Watch these top 10 mafia movies to get a real insight on how this organised and dangerous clan works, its really fascinating. Its not Kaboom- crash hero saves the day kinda movie.

It doesn’t get REAL than this.

#10. The Departed

In South Boston, the state police force is waging war on Irish-American organized crime. Young undercover cop Billy Costigan is assigned to infiltrate the mob syndicate run by gangland chief Frank Costello. While Billy quickly gains Costello’s confidence, Colin Sullivan, a hardened young criminal who has infiltrated the state police as an informer for the syndicate, is rising to a position of power in the Special Investigation Unit. Each man becomes deeply consumed by his double life, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans of the operations he has penetrated. But when it becomes clear to both the mob and the police that there’s a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin are suddenly in danger of being caught and exposed to the enemy-and each must race to uncover the identity of the other man in time to save himself. But is either willing to turn on the friends and comrades they’ve made during their long stints undercover?

#9. Mean Streets

In a series of character-led incidents set against the background of New York City’s Little Italy, we follow the life of Charlie, a small-time member of the wiseguy community who collects protection money. His friends Tony and Michael are part of the community, but his other friend Johnny Boy is unreliable and therefore must be shunned. Charlie’s secret girlfriend Teresa has epilepsy, and so must also be shunned. When Charlie’s uncle Giovanni offers him a restaurant – the first step up the ladder – Charlie is forced to choose between his desire for power, his love for Teresa and his duty to protect his friend Johnny Boy.

#8. Casino

This Martin Scorsese film depicts the Janus-like quality of Las Vegas–it has a glittering, glamorous face, as well as a brutal, cruel one. Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro, mobsters who move to Las Vegas to make their mark, live and work in this paradoxical world. Seen through their eyes, each as a foil to the other, the details of mob involvement in the casinos of the 1970′s and ’80′s are revealed. Ace is the smooth operator of the Tangiers casino, while Nicky is his boyhood friend and tough strongman, robbing and shaking down the locals. However, they each have a tragic flaw–Ace falls in love with a hustler, Ginger, and Nicky falls into an ever-deepening spiral of drugs and violence.

#7. The Untouchables

1920′s prohibition Chicago is corrupt from the judges downward. So in going up against Al Capone, Treasury agent Eliot Ness picks just two cops to help him and his accountant colleague. One is a sharp-shooting rookie, the other a seen-it-all beat man. The four of them are ready to battle Capone and his empire, but it could just be that guns are not the best way to get him.

#6. Carlito’s Way

Carlito has just gotten out of prison due to technicalities with the help of his sleazy lawyer. After a life spent trafficking heroin he decides not to pursue the life of the streets. He buys into a night club and begins saving money to move to the Bahamas, but his presence as a known player makes it inevitable that he get sucked back into his violent former life.

#5. Scarface

An update of the 1932 film, Scarface (1983) follows gangster Tony Montana and his close friend Manny Ray from their trip on the Cuban Boat Lift for refugees to their arrival in Miami. After killing a powerful Cuban figure, Montana and company gain the ability to leave their refugee camps and roam around the U.S. After unsuccessfully trying to make it legitamately in the country, Montana and Ray resort to selling cocaine to dealers around the world. Tony’s rise is quick, but as he becomes more powerful, his enemies and his own paranoia begin to plague his empire.

#4. Donnie Brasco

This true story follows FBI agent Joe Pistone as he infiltrates the mafia of New York. Befriending Lefty Ruggiero, Pistone (under the name Donnie Brasco) is able to embed himself in a mafia faction lead by Sonny Black. Ruggiero and Pistone become tight as the group goes about collecting money for ‘the bosses’. Eventually, the group become big time when Black himself becomes a boss, all the while Pistone collects evidence. However, the trials and tribulations of the undercover work become more than Pistone can bear. His marriage falls apart and to top it off, the mafia suspect a mole in the organization. The real dilemma is afforded to Pistone, who knows if he walks away from the mafia, Ruggiero will be the one punished.

#3. Once Upon A Time In America

#2. Goodfellas

The lowly, blue-collar side of New York’s Italian mafia is explored in this crime biopic of wiseguy Henry Hill. As he makes his way from strapping young petty criminal, to big-time thief, to middle-aged cocaine addict and dealer, the film explores in detail the rules and traditions of organized crime. Watching the rise and fall of Hill and his two counterparts, the slick jack-of-all-trades criminal Jimmy Conway and the brutish, intimidating Tommy DeVito, this true story realistically explores the core, blue-collar part of the mob.

#1. The Godfather

This was the easiest choice for me – the Godfather has to be numero uno because it is unparalleled in this genre (and virtually all others). Vito Corleone is the aging don (head) of the Corleone Mafia Family. His youngest son Michael has returned from WWII just in time to see the wedding of Connie Corleone (Michael’s sister) to Carlo Rizzi. All of Michael’s family is involved with the Mafia, but Michael just wants to live a normal life. Drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo is looking for Mafia Families to offer him protection in exchange for a profit of the drug money. He approaches Don Corleone about it, but, much against the advice of the Don’s lawyer Tom Hagen, the Don is morally against the use of drugs, and turns down the offer. This does not please Sollozzo, who has the Don shot down by some of his hit men. The Don barely survives, which leads his son Michael to begin a violent mob war against Sollozzo and tears the Corleone family apart.