On 12.31 a “remember Inception?” trailer will be shown in “key” movie theaters around the country (i.e., not located in Waco, Tallahassee and/or Dubuque) and will appear online. The purpose will be to remind folks that Chris Nolan‘s film, which has been available on DVD/Bluray since 12.7, “is every bit the artistic achievement that its rivals are, and that it deserves to be part of the Oscar conversation,” writes Popeater‘s Jeff Labrecque.

The trailer tells me the following: (1) The highest-ranked honor that Inception can hope for is a Best Original Screenplay Oscar — it’s also a shoo-in for VFX, score (Hans Zimmer), sound design/editing, etc; (2) Nolan looked like a Best Director lock last summer, but right now the likeliest finalists are David Fincher (The Social Network), Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), David O. Russell (The Fighter), and Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) — Nolan might squeak in ahead of Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right); (3) Many of the more dazzling visual mind-benders were created on a sound stage with real organic elements, and it doesn’t matter because nobody trusts what they see in a film these days; (4) Tom Hardy is a much more interesting actor playing quiet and contained than when he’s bare-chested and bellowing and flexing his muscles.