The Prestige 4/5 review by Chris

All Christopher Nolan does is make great films. In fact, two of his great films appear in my favorite 20 list. I think I’m in love with him. Really hard.

The Prestige

-Now in theaters-

IMDB synopsis:
Robert and Alfred are rival magicians. When Alfred performs the ultimate magic trick, Rupert tries desperately to find out the secret to the trick.



Chris’s review:
This is the film that The Illusionist was trying to be, but failed. As I said, I love Christopher Nolan and once again he has crafted a magnificent movie. This will join the ranks of his other great works like Memento, Insomnia, and Batman Begins.

Once again Christopher teams up with his brother to write a brilliant script which he then brings to the screen with his masterful directing talent. Add to the mix a stellar cast delivering outstanding performances and you have a nearly perfect film.

The story centers around two magicians that were at one time associates but due to a twist of fate and a freak accident become bitter rivals. Both men show signs of obsession with the other’s success and failure while continually making attempts to further the latter. The plot throws many twist at the audience but I never got the feeling that the Nolan brothers were trying to “trick” us; unlike the terribly overrated M. Night Shamalamdingdong. Instead, the wonderfully crafted story uses twists and turns to explore the depth of the characters and when the final, big, reveal comes, I feel like it wasn’t meant to be a huge surprise, as it is eluded to from the get go, instead you find yourself wondering over the more subliminal twists that are subtle and much more complicated. At least that is MY take. I did walk of the theater hearing other patrons talk about how confused and blindsided they were by the finale. Then again, the average movie audience is stupid. This is not your generic “trick ending” movie that so often gets huge pub but ends up being ridiculously disappointing to anyone with half a brain. The point is not the trick; the real magic of the film is the story and the characters.

Do you like all of the magic speak? Pretty crafty if I do say so myself.

I won’t talk too much more in-depth about the actual story as I want you to experience it with an open mind, not expecting anything. You will find it much more rewarding that way. I will, however, allude to one spoiler so beware…
Still reading?
Ok, Christian Bale’s performance is quite wonderful when you pay close attention to the subtleties of the way he plays his “character.” I can’t say much more, but when all is said and done you may not be AS surprised if you were watching closely. He makes it relatively clear what is going on by the way he plays his scenes. A WONDERFUL performance!

Visually, not surprisingly, Nolan delivers a beautiful looking movie. Period pieces are tricky. If you under-do the theme you lose the feel and end up with an ambiguous looking film that has no real setting. If you over-do it people get distracted by ALL of the old-timey looking things and you lose your story and characters under a mass of crazy looking dresses and horse-drawn carriages. The Prestige finds a great balance, pulling from the time period but not beating it in to your head to notice it. Regards to the wardrobe folks on that point as well. The costumes were very sharp.

This is a tough movie to review because so much of its greatness is based on your own experience of it without knowing too much. And let me tell you it IS an experience. You are completely wrapped up in the story, so much so that you hardly notice the 2+ hour run time. I’ll stop there before I really give anything away, but also note that Andy Serkis is in the movie and how can you not go see a movie with the guy that played Gollum? COME ON!

Chris’s recommendations:
See this movie if…
-You felt ripped off by The Illusionist as it COULD have been SO good, but in actuality really, really sucked. This is the movie you were looking for.
-You enjoy thinking during your films and don’t mind the AWESOME occurrence of coming out of a movie with questions that you can’t wait to talk to someone about. Not unlike Memento or Donnie Darko.
-You think magic is cool.

Don’t see this movie if…
-You liked The Illusionist. I can tell you right now you are too dumb to enjoy The Prestige. Disagree? Email me, I love to debate.
-You are looking for “Batman vs. Wolverine” as I have heard some people refer to it. That is also dumb, though kind of funny.
-You think the “twists” at the end of any M. Night Shamawhatever’s movies are really all that twisty and really all that good. On second thought, GO SEE this movie if that is the case…you’ll learn how it SHOULD be done!

NEW FEATURE:
You’ll like this movie if you liked…
Memento, Batman Begins, The Usual Suspects, The Count of Monte Cristo
or anything else dealing with obsession, revenge, or has a cool twisting plot.

A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints 4/5 review by Chris

The fun thing about movies is that at times you will be completely surprised. I was not expecting much from this film as I was going to see it for free thanks to my job at the radio station, but hey, who can pass up a free movie right? Boy, I’m glad I did not.

A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints

-Limited Release-

IMDB synopsis:
The movie is a coming-of-age drama about a boy growing up in Astoria, N.Y., during the 1980s. As his friends end up dead, on drugs or in prison, he comes to believe he has been saved from their fate by various so-called saints. *(Chris’s note: This synopsis was written by someone that has not seen the movie, I guarantee it.)



Chris’s review:
Now, where to start…this movie is GREAT! Let me warn you though, greatness does not always equal watchability in my book. This is a great movie, but it is tough! I took my lovely sidekick Taryn, as always, and I don’t remember the last time she cried so hard in a movie. She came out all red and puffy faced, which I’m sure she would kill me for saying, but since she is a jerk and doesn’t read these reviews, I think I’m safe.
So, that is your warning. This is a VERY well crafted film, but it has some emotional punch to it.

Let me elaborate on the synopsis above. This movie does something that I love, but feel not enough movies tackle anymore, the theme of growing up and breaking out of the standard path of your life and reaching for something more. In this case, Dito lives in Queens in the 80s where your life is little more than wandering the streets with your friends, causing trouble, maybe doing some drugs, drinking, hooking up with girls, etc. until you get old and eventually move out to live on your own, still in Queens, or you waste away in your parent’s place until THEY die and you inherit their place. A trap, a cycle of life…that is just how it is.
Dito wants out. But not in the sappy Disney movie way, where he has a dream of being an artist or a writer and he knows if he just tries hard enough he can make his dreams come true. This movie is not about dreams coming true and happy endings. It is based on the book by the real life Dito, who, coincidently, also wrote and directed the movie. This is an autobiography that does not ever pretend to have any life altering truths to pass on, or massive revelations to impart. This is simply Dito’s life.
The title may give another false illusion. This movie IS about the way everyone in your life helps shape you. It does NOT, however, beat this theme in to your head. I expected a lot of narration and corny lines like: “I realized my Dad was one of my saints because he always loved me even though I never saw it.” You will NOT hear that line in this film (thankfully). As I said, this is simply Dito’s life, all the ugly parts laid bare, and it is up to the audience to sort through the meanings and emotions involved.

Now that I’ve told you why the story is so compelling, I’ll briefly touch on the elements of craft that make this a strong work.
I had trouble accepting the fact that this was the debut of a first time writer and director. The film has the feel of a seasoned film maker with a wonderful sense of the strength of visuals. Further, there was no proof of an unsure rookie maybe trying TOO hard to get a point across either through the dialogue, acting, or cinematography. Impressive poise and subtlety instead were the overwhelming traits. You hardly notice that you are watching a film as much as you feel you are on the streets of Queens taking it all in with the cast.



Next, the performances deserve mention. I have to give props to Taryn for “discovering” a young fellow named Shia LaBeouf brimming with potential on the sad Disney sitcom Even Stevens. She saw something in him, and I’d have to say he is certainly earning her early belief. He carries himself wonderfully in this role. The supporting cast is just as impressive, with a great performance from Chazz Palminteri, of The Usual Suspects, as the father.

Here is to pleasant surprises. Go see this movie.

Chris’s recommendations:
See this movie if…
-You like your movies with more craft than flash.
-You ever felt trapped in your life and wondered if you were the only one.
-You love 80s clothes.

Don’t see this movie if…
-You cry easily (Taryn).
-You don’t think you can handle little, sweet, innocent, cute Shia LaBeouf using the F word A LOT!
-You are looking for a happy ending Disney movie to make you feel like all your dreams will come true and everything will be sunshine and gum drops if you just believe in yourself and try really hard. Go AMERICA!

Renaissance 3/5 reviewed by Ben

Corey once showed me the trailer for "Renaissance" and I was blown away by it--a fully animated feature in stark black and white--it looked to good to be true--like I was watching some of my favorite graphic novels in action. Indeed the visuals will rock your face off--too bad so many other elements pull this film down to a merely average level.

The movie is a French film, and thus takes place in an imagined future Paris. The story is a fairly generic crime noir tale--a girl is kidnapped, a "too tough for the rules" cop is called in to investigate, and gets caught up in a giant corporate conspiracy that threatens our very way of life.

The visuals are truly astounding--right from the first few shots of the city you'll be blown away by how freakin' cool everything looks. The attention paid to textures is amazing, and the way everything is rendered in only shadows and highlights is simply astounding. It's an amazing visual experience. However, there are a few nit-picky details about the animation that will bother some people. All of the characters were animated using Motion Capture technology thats been used in tons of animated films and videogames. While this technology is impressive, it's far from perfect, and the characters don't always emote, or "act" just right. Sometimes, there's some wierd shakiness to people, like the kind you see in videogame cutscenes. Most of the time, the motion feels natural, although, when people are running full speed, you can tell something's not quite right. As impressive as "Renaissance" is, the animation technology still has a ways to go before all the bugs are worked out of it. Some people have said that the stark contrast of the film gets old, or gets disturbing after a while, but I disagree, I loved the look of the film all the way through, although if you're not used to seeing this kind of art, which is popular in many graphic novels, then it might grate on you at first.

As amazing as the visuals are, the story is just dissapointing. It's just so... generic. This plot has been done time and time again in so many noir stories. It's full of cliches, and the twists are easy to spot long before they are revealed. The pacing, or complete lack of momentum, is also a problem for this film. The plot moves along at a snails pace, and theres almost never a sense of immediacy, or danger, like the best detective stories. Then again, these problems might be soley due to the odd soundtrack. The score itself is perfect--but in all the wrong places. Unimportant scenes have swelling orchestral movements, and crucial emotional moments are left blank. It literally seemed like a mistake. I got the impression that someone had taken the score, choppped it up, and redistributed it over the movie, putting the sharp emotional moments into the dull filler scenes, and leaving the critical moments empty. Not only is this confusing and disorienting, but it destroys the flow and momentum of the film. Maybe, with a better soundtrack, the movie would have felt paced better.

Another factor that really holds "Renaissance" back has to do with dialouge and voice acting--but before I complain about that, I want to say clearly that this movie is a dub. It was originally a french language film, and the version they are showing in theatres here is an english dub that features dry, clunky dialouge, and bad voice acting. It sounds like these actors were bored out of their skulls while recording this stuff. I'm incredibly eager to get the DVD and check out a subtitled version that retains the French voice acting to see if it's any better. I've never had good experience with dubbed movies, so it's possible that the dialouge and voice work is actually good in the original version.

Overally, the movie is a visual treat, and it's WELL worth your $8 just to look at it's beauty. I might even go again just to enjoy the art. I really wanted to give this movie a "4," but its story cliches, momentum issues, and dubbing problems really pulled it down into the realm of the average. But hey, it's still way better than most stuff out there now, so go check it out and treat your eyes to something astounding.

See this movie if:
-You enjoy breathtaking visuals, and want to see a new, innovative, and simply cool way of making movies.
-You like anything in the genre of crime noir detective stories, or you're into the "cyberpunk" sci-fi stuff
-You wanna impress your girlfriend by going to see a French film

Don't see this movie if:
-You're not into the Noir genre
-You're looking for a light comedy or romance movie. But you can probably tell that from looking at the poster.
-You're expecting an edge-of-your-seat action thriller