The Prestige 🎩
Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. Since there wasn’t anything important going on this weekend like a sports match I caught up on WandaVision, which is terrific. At the not sports match, the trailer for Falcon and the Winter Soldier dropped.
The Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards announced their nominations last week. I’ll break down what it means for the Oscar race on Thursday.
🍿 Today’s movie: The Prestige
Today’s movie is Christopher Nolan’s mystery drama The Prestige starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. Nolan wanted to shoot the film after Insomnia but postponed it when he agreed to make Batman Begins. It was a smart move that allowed him to get huge talent like Jackman, Bale, Johansson, and David Bowie (!!!) onboard.
The Prestige follows two magicians bonded by tragedy and sworn enemies in life and in trade. Over the years in the 1890s, they battle for magic supremacy by outdoing the other’s tricks and sabotaging each other with deadly consequences. [Trailer]
Why you should watch it: Lean in and listen closely, you’re about to see a magic trick. Well, a magic trick in a magic trick in a magic trick. Christopher Nolan is often his own worst enemy, as we saw with last year’s Tenet — which quite literally had several characters say “don’t worry about it” when things got confusing.
With The Prestige, he handles his high-concept ambitions with incredible grace as the weaving narrative gives you the tools to solve the mystery. But like any magic trick, you’re looking at the wrong place for the answers. As much fun as it is to watch Jackman and Bale as dueling magicians, the trick beneath it all is what makes it great.
Once you watch it, here’s a great breakdown of how the movie tricks you.
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Runtime 130 mins
Year 2006
Mercury is in retrograde. Be careful out there and have a great week!
See you Thursday —
Karl