Living With Movies

No more!

micfive93.9@gmail.com (Taaron Gorbahn) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 11:46:20 PDT

So I will no longer be broadcasting on 93.9 fm CICK. I have recently quit. The podcast will still be going though so don't worry.

"We should've done our research...."

micfive93.9@gmail.com (Taaron Gorbahn) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:37:52 PDT

So we realize that we forgot to talk about The Prestige, so in return for our stupidity we post this review by Roger Ebert...

The Prestige

/ / / September 7, 2007

cast & credits

Robert Angier: Hugh Jackman
Alfred Borden: Christian Bale
Cutter: Michael Caine
Julia: Piper Perabo
Sarah: Rebecca Hall
Olivia: Scarlett Johansson
Tesla: David Bowie
Alley: Andy Serkis

Touchstone and Warner Bros. present a film directed byChristopher Nolan. Written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, based on the novel by Christopher Priest. Running time: 130 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for violence and disturbing images).

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By Roger Ebert

Christopher Nolan's "The Prestige" has just about everything I require in a movie about magicians, except ... the Prestige. We are instructed at the outset, in a briefing by Michael Caine, that every magic trick consists of three acts: (1) the Pledge, in which a seemingly real situation is set up, (2) the Turn, in which the initial reality is challenged, and (3) the Prestige, where all is set right again. An example, one not used in the film, would be (1) a woman, and it's always a woman, except with Penn and Teller, who is placed into a box; (2) the box is sawed in half, and the halves separated, and (3) magically, the "victim" is restored in one piece.

The pledge of Nolan's "The Prestige" is that the film, having been metaphorically sawed in two, will be restored; it fails when it cheats, as, for example, if the whole woman produced on the stage were not the same one so unfortunately cut in two. Other than that fundamental flaw, which leads to some impenetrable revelations toward the end, it's quite a movie -- atmospheric, obsessive, almost satanic.

Houdini in Shackles, by Bruce Elliott, 1999.
((Collection of Roger Ebert))

(Enlarge Image)

It takes place in Victorian London, at a time and place where seances and black magic were believed in by the credulous. Somerset Maugham's novel The Magician captures that period perfectly in its fictional portrait of Aleister Crawley, "the most evil man in the world," who created the illusion that he really was an occult practitioner of dark forces. He had a gift for persuading women to materialize in his bed. These days, when most of us are less superstitious, it is the technical craft of a David Copperfield that impresses us. We see the trick done, but do not for a moment believe it is happening.

Houdini, the great transitional figure between "magical" acts and ingenious tricks, was at pains to explain that everything he did was a trick; he offered rewards, never collected, for any "supernatural" act he could not explain. The Amazing Randi carries on in the same tradition, bending spoons as easily as Uri Geller. And yet in Houdini's time, there were those who insisted he was doing real magic; how else could his effects be achieved?

Daniel Mark Epstein wrote about the Houdini believers in a 1986 issue of the New Criterion, which I read as I read everything I can get my hands on about Houdini. The thing was, Houdini really did free himself from those fetters and chains and sealed trunks dropped into the river, and survived the Chinese Water Torture (an effect used prominently in "The Prestige" night after night). But there were those who argued his tricks were physically impossible, and thus must be supernatural.

Houdini would have been active at the time of "The Prestige," but his insights would have been fatal to the movie's plot, which is the problem with the plot. We meet two apprentice magicians, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), who work as fake "volunteers" from the audience for Milton the Magician (the invaluable Ricky Jay). They assist in tying up a helpless damsel, in reality, Robert's wife, Julia (Piper Perabo), and lowering her into the Chinese Water Torture box. Concealed by curtains, she somehow escapes, as Houdini always did, but one night, Alfred ties her knots too tightly, she cannot escape, and by the time a manager (Michael Caine) rushes onstage with an ax, it is too late to save her from drowning.

Jackman as Tesla.

(Enlarge Image)

This sets off a lifelong hatred between Robert and Alfred, during which the frigid and ominous Alfred rises to the top of the profession. The hapless Alfred (now in love with his new assistant Olivia, played by Scarlett Johansson) falls to the bottom, is reduced to performing in flea pits, and yet presents an illusion named the Transported Man in which he walks into a door on one side of the stage and instantly emerges from a door
at the other. How is that physically possible? It's the sort of thing that made his fans claim Houdini was supernormal. Robert becomes obsessed with finding the secret of the trick.

Tesla as Tesla.

(Enlarge Image)

But magicians do not explain their illusions, not even to their peers, unless money changes hands ("The trick is told when the trick is sold"). The Transported Man begins, you will agree, with a terrific Pledge. Now how will Robert ever discover the secret of the Prestige? He treks into the snows of Colorado to visit the hidden laboratory of the (real-life) Nikola Tesla (David Bowie), who may have manufactured the trick for Alfred. Tesla, the discoverer/inventor of alternating current, was believed at the time to be capable of all manner of wonders with the genie of electricity, but how could AC, or even DC, explain the Transported Man?

You will not learn here. What you will learn in the movie is, I believe, a disappointment -- nothing but a trick about a trick. With a sinking heart, I realized that "The Prestige" had jumped the rails, and that rules we thought were in place no longer applied.

I have been in love with magic all my life. I'm no good at it, even though I bored my friends for years with cheesy illusions, and even today can make a dime disappear from your forehead. These days I am most impressed with the skills required for close-up magic. Teddy Nava, the son of writer-directors Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas, can make cards change while I am holding them in my hands. Now how does he do that? Not through divine intervention, I am fairly sure. But I was holding them! The trick is told when the trick is sold. Yes, but what if it takes months of practice after you're told the trick? Nikola Tesla isn't going to help me then, by running alternating current down Teddy's arm and up mine.

Episode 5 - The Films of Christopher Nolan

micfive93.9@gmail.com (Taaron Gorbahn) — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 22:15:10 PDT

Kai and Taaron discuss the films by British film maker Christopher Nolan including Memento, Batman Begins and others. We decided not to talk about Inception as 1) it would take too long and 2) it's too recent. Enjoy!

Episode 4 - Predators/The Last Song

micfive93.9@gmail.com (Taaron Gorbahn) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:18:08 PDT

We finally have a new episode up! Sorry about the delay. We talk about Predators and the Last Song as well as a couple old ones. In addition, we talk about some horrible movies that we've seen i.e. Avatar and Knocked Up.

The lost podcast...

micfive93.9@gmail.com (Taaron Gorbahn) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 01:16:24 PDT

So I recorded a new podcast with Kai but unfortunately the podcast was lost on my laptop... It makes me mad because it was a very good show... I'll record a new one and it will be up soon!

Living With Movies Podcast Update!

micfive93.9@gmail.com (Taaron Gorbahn) — Fri, 28 May 2010 12:43:17 PDT

Hello my droogies. So the podcast has been going through some changes right now and it is now part of my movie review blog. So you know the same thing! The last three episodes (or all of them I should say...) have been under different titles. Gorbahn and Gorbahn and the Film Buff Podcast. We changed them for a number of reasons but it now part of this blog!

Episode 3 - Robin Hood/The Road

micfive93.9@gmail.com (Taaron Gorbahn) — Fri, 28 May 2010 12:33:30 PDT

Kai and Taaron talk about Robin Hood, The Road, Derrick Comedy's Mystery Team and discuss their favorite best picture winner.

Episode 2 - Kick-Ass/Hot Tub Time Machine

micfive93.9@gmail.com (Taaron Gorbahn) — Fri, 28 May 2010 12:33:30 PDT

Kai and Taaron go back in time to a time that they weren't born in! They chat up about Kick-Ass and Hot Tub Time Machine. They also say, of the ones they could think of, which action movie they truly enjoyed.

Episode 1 - Date Night/Bad Lieutenant

micfive93.9@gmail.com (Taaron Gorbahn) — Fri, 28 May 2010 12:33:30 PDT

First episode! Taaron and Kai talk about Date Night and Bad Lieutenant along with some oldies and our favorite movie that made us laugh!

Eyes Wide Shut - Movie Review #1

micfive93.9@gmail.com (Taaron Gorbahn) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:59:00 PDT

So because I never wanted to do a crappy movie for my first review I decided to review my favourite movie, and that movie would be,

Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT

Now I'll just give a bit of background to the first viewing of this movie.

I was introduced to the movie by my older brother, Kai Gorbahn, I put off watching the movie for a while. Then one day, as I got home late one night - around 2 am - I thought, "What the hell" and I watched it.

This movie blew my mind. Never in my life have I experienced anything like Eyes Wide Shut. It felt to open so many doors that I had never even knew existed. The mysteriousness was enlightening. The raw human emotion of both Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

The story is that of a doctor [Cruise]. His wife [Kidman] - after smoking pot with him - reveals that she had once contemplated an affair while they were on vacation. During her confession he is called with the information that one of his patients died. This event eventually sparks off an evening of sexual frustration ending with his infiltration of a masked orgy.

The job a a director is tough, you can throw a movie together or you can put thought and care into it. Being a theatre director I know what it means to put real thought into a production. Stanley Kubrick does this with an amazing amount of talent. Throughout Bill's eventful nights he feels to go through one dreamlike scenario after another.

The writing for the film - also done by Kubrick - is simplistic and bold. One scene that deserves real credit is the scene in which Bill and Alice smoke pot. Beginning with high ramblings and ending in a powerful monologue delivered by Nicole Kidman.

The book at which this movie is based on is called Dream Story. The film is so dreamlike it is hard to completely comprehend. For example, there is a part in which a model who is hitting on Bill at a party says. "Don't you want to go where the rainbow ends?" and later on, Bill enters a costume shop called 'Where the Rainbow Ends'. At the party there are lights hanging from the walls, also at the costume shop, were the same lights hanging from the ceiling.

One thing that really gave off the 'dream' essence was the fact that at 0ne moment, Bill exits a shop, enters a taxi, and gets off at his stop. It is implied as he traveled a distance, but in the background of the next shot, the shop that he just left is in the background.

You wouldn't notice this if you were just watching the movie, as a matter of fact it doesn't even play it like a 'dream' but instead like a story. One might put the fact the the shop was on the other end of the street off to bad directing but Stanley Kubrick doesn't make mistakes. He means for these things to be in the final cut of the film.

Stanley Kubrick's directing is of the highest out there. His long shots and intricate blocking tells the story without putting right in audiences hands.

I have talked to many adults who have strongly disliked this film. As a matter of fact, my own parents walked out of the theatre for this movie. They have all not ever been able to say why they disliked the movie. I believe it is because of the subject matter and these adults may have experienced the same frustration. This movie is real. The sexual frustration is something that everyone has felt, but the moral of the film is to be able to know where to channel that sexual energy.

Eyes Wide Shut, with it's colors, storyline, acting, writing, directing, set design, has earned it's place as - in my mind - the greatest movie of all time.

5 out of 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIAneEiWEJ4
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120663/