| Author |
Message |
|
| marantzo |
 Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 9:40 am |
 |
|
|
Guest
|
| The Prestige was not a good movie. It was tricked out to the extreme and went completely off the rails by the end. It's not in the same ballpark as The Illusionist. The Illusionist was a very good movie. Well made, well acted and well executed. The Prestige was like some obnoxious kid showing off all his bag of tricks with no sense of how boring and contrived they had become. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:30 am |
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
|
marantzo wrote: The Illusionist was a very good movie. Well made, well acted and well executed.
Now that I don't agree with. It was predictable, the leads lacked chemistry, and the plot was slightly confused about what it really wanted to do. There was no magic in a movie supposedly about "magic." |
Last edited by lady wakasa on Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:32 am; edited 1 time in total
_________________
===================
http://www.wakasaworld.com |
|
| Back to top |
 
|
| Trish |
| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:31 am |
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2438
Location: Massachusetts
|
marantzo wrote: The Prestige was not a good movie. It was tricked out to the extreme and went completely off the rails by the end. It's not in the same ballpark as The Illusionist. The Illusionist was a very good movie. Well made, well acted and well executed. The Prestige was like some obnoxious kid showing off all his bag of tricks with no sense of how boring and contrived they had become.
I disagree strongly of course |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marc |
| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:43 am |
|
|
Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
|
| THE PRESTIGE was a confusing mess that featured unlikeable characters. I didn't give a shit about any of it. Even Christian Bale was boring. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Kate |
| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:01 am |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 1397
Location: Pacific Northwest
|
lady wakasa wrote: marantzo wrote: The Illusionist was a very good movie. Well made, well acted and well executed.
Now that I don't agree with. It was predictable, the leads lacked chemistry, and the plot was slightly confused about what it really wanted to do. There was no magic in a movie supposedly about "magic."
I am in complete agreement Lady W. At the end, I felt cheated. The characters were uninteresting and Norton was especially dull.
Spoiler:
And the "Aha" moment of Giamatti's at the end was ridiculous.
End spoiler.
I really did not like this film at all.
Edited to include mini spoiler tag. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Melody |
| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:55 am |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2242
Location: TX
|
I prefer The Illusionist over The Prestige, although they're ultimately attempting to achieve two different things. The Illusionist is going for an old-fashioned, old-timey movie feel, which I liked. Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Rufus Sewell were convincingly rooted in their period film, much more so than Jackman and Bale and *ick* Michael Caine in The Prestige.
I also liked that The Illusionist didn't sneak over into sci-fi territory, but remained firmly grounded in trickery and illusion, which is sort of the point of a movie about a magician, and what irritated me about The Prestige.
Although you gotta love a David Bowie cameo, there's a whole 'nother movie to be made about Tesla and his coils. Are there still conspiracy buffs out there concerning Tesla's mysterious death? A buddy of mine back in the '80s was obsessed with him. Of course, he kept his money inside a glass pyramid and ultimately ended up doing salvage work in Los Alamos, so.... |
_________________
My heart told my head: This time, no. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:28 pm |
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12944
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
marantzo wrote: The Prestige was not a good movie. It was tricked out to the extreme and went completely off the rails by the end. It's not in the same ballpark as The Illusionist. The Illusionist was a very good movie. Well made, well acted and well executed. The Prestige was like some obnoxious kid showing off all his bag of tricks with no sense of how boring and contrived they had become.
I totally agree with you. I thought The Illusionist worked well as a historical piece and a romance. According to one reviewer I read, the love story is not part of the original. It's hard to believe since it fits in so seamlessly into the movie. |
_________________
Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:03 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
The fight of the week is Prestige vs Illusionist.
We will see if Prestige's wild free swinging style can overcome Illusionist's structured defense and calculated offense.
Round I:
Prestige races out of his corner and throws a barrage of wild hooks and overhands. Illusionist picks them off and counters with a steady pop of left jabs punctuated by the odd straight right.
Prestige already has blood in the corner of his mouth and is showing frustration. He lunges forward and throws a looping overhand right which Illusionist avoids with a bob of his head. Prestige is bent and opened after the punch and Illusionist lands a solid short right to the head. Prestige hits the canvass face down and out! It's all over ladies and gentlemen. 1:12 of the 1st Round. Not much of a contest. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marj |
| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:27 am |
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
|
I suppose this was bound to happen. I'm only surprised it took this long.
Both films are period pieces and both involve magicians. Both films IMO fall short in their so called twists, but as Trish pointed out The Prestige is more gritty.
I love period pieces so s'cuse me if I revel in these kinds of movies. I loved the aesthestics of The Illusionist. I mean it was filmed in Prague for crissakes! And it used no CGI. What a feat! To top that off it boasted two excellent performances. That of Edward Norton and Paul Giammati.
The Prestige is more of a mystery that veres off into the super natural. It's also about a fierce rivaly which ultimately presents two unlikable characters. Still we are gripped by the story. Or perhaps the puzzle.
So you pays your money and takes your choice. One doesn't have to hate one to like the other. But maybe it is too bad they came out so close to each other so they're bound to invite comparisons. Which is too bad. Each had their failing and each had some excellent points. I liked them both but for entirely different reasons. I also was disappointed in both. Again for entirely different reasons. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| ehle64 |
| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:46 am |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
|
| I had the most sublime DoubleHome FeatureViewing Toodles tonight, Shortbus, followed immediately (and somewhat awkwardly) by Jesus Camp. Hugest question I have @ the mo. . . which one was the documentary? |
_________________
It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Rod |
| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:02 am |
|
|
Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
|
More John Carpenter: Big Trouble in Little China was a favorite film of this errant youth, and it still holds up with Raiders of The Lost Ark as one of the reasons '80 Hollywood film existed; the film's often gut-bustingly hilarious spin on macho heroics and cultural cliches haven't aged at all, Kurt Russell, Dennis Dun, Kim Cattrall, Victor Wong and James Hong all perform with graceful gusto, and the film is correct to the spirit and imagery of the Chinese genre films it honors. The scene where they drink the magic potion still renders me paralytic.
My mind insistently cross-referenced with A Chinese Ghost Story I & II, and also the wonderful whacko Albert Zugsmith film Souls for Sale (Confessions of an Opium Eater).
Paying attention I realised a particular strength of Carpenter's golden era films; almost all of them - Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, Escape From New York, The Thing, BTILC, take place within compressed time-frames, usually a day or two, all formidable examples of construction and editing for natural flow. |
_________________
A long time ago, but somehow in the future...It is a period of civil war and renegade paragraphs floating through space. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:39 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
|
marantzo wrote: The fight of the week is Prestige vs Illusionist.
That's not really true. Several comments were about one of the movies, not a comparison. |
_________________
===================
http://www.wakasaworld.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 11:34 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
|
BTW, Pedro showed up this morning, about 20 minutes after I read the email saying it would take 1-3 weeks to appear.
Yay! |
_________________
===================
http://www.wakasaworld.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Ghulam |
| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:20 pm |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
|
| I do not feel inspired to see either the Illusionist or the Prestige. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Melody |
| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 4:24 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2242
Location: TX
|
lady wakasa wrote: BTW, Pedro showed up this morning, about 20 minutes after I read the email saying it would take 1-3 weeks to appear.
Yay!
I meant to post earlier this week that I got Pedro about a week ago. What a beautiful boxed set! I'm glad you and Wade got yours, too.
It feels a little like stealing -- but I haven't bothered to email or call them about their boo-boo, so ... |
_________________
My heart told my head: This time, no. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
