I've got a couple quick movie reviews to throw out here. The first is for Borat. I finally got around to watching it, and I have to say that despite some funny moments, I found it disappointing. The longer I watched, the more I felt like he was just being a jerk to people who were trying to be nice to him. Most of the people in the movie were generally good natured people who were trying to be friendly and helpful to what they thought was a foreigner on vacation, and while Sacha Cohen could have had fun and made some jokes without being rude, I felt like he was just trying to piss people off. And the scene which just pushed me too far was the disgusting nude fight scene he had with his obese friend. There isn't enough money in the world that would convince me to let a fat naked man sit on my face.
On the other end of the scale was The Prestige. This was a movie I absolutely loved. I am now officially a huge Christopher Nolan fan. In addition to The Prestige, he also directed Insomnia, Memento, and Batman Begins, all of which I loved. He brings a certain dirty, gritty reality to his movies, and this is no different. I think he achieves this by using a lot of muted colors and natural lighting, as well as using hand held cameras which always seem to be moving. I kind of liken it to the way Star Wars broke the sci-fi mold by having things look dirty and used.
Anyway, since this is supposed to be a review of The Prestige, and not Christopher Nolan, I'll try to get back on track here. In addition to the wonderful cinematography, the acting was top notch. I thought the whole cast did a first rate job. I'm a fan of Hugh Jackman and Michael Caine, and adding the stunning Scarlett Johansson as some eye candy was a nice touch. I loved the story of two rival magicians trying to one up/sabotage one another very interesting. It is more a movie about obsession and where it lead these characters. But what I really liked was the way the story was told. It was told like a magic trick in that everything is shown to you from the start, and through misdirection, I really didn't know where the story was going even though I should have. I really want to watch it again and see how I view it with a new perspective, knowing how things turned out. I give The Prestige a score of 9/10. This is a wonderful example of how films should be made. Also check out Christopher Nolan's other films if you haven't already. He's got 2 more that I haven't seen yet but just put in my rental queue.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I found The Prestige to be an okay movie. It wasn't what I expected. The Illusionist on the other hand was what I hoped The Prestige would be which really surprised me since I don't like Jessica Biel. Thanks for the heads up with Borat though, I won't waste my time or money.
See, that's where you're wrong Lyndsay. The Prestige was a much better movie than The Illusionist. I thought the Illusionist was a little slow and they could have easily cut 15 minutes from it. Also I found it predictable. The ending turned out exactly the way I thought it was going to from very early on.
Post a Comment