Topic: The Prestige

This movie blows my freaking mind.

Excellent non-linear storytelling. Nikola Tesla. Andy Serkis. Magic. Drowning women. It's like they read my MySpace and made a movie just for me.

Eddie swings by for a little sex on the podcast, and we have an excellent discussion about the works of Christopher Nolan, the merits of the one-piece-of-screenwriting-magic, and about - well - magic.

Enjoy.

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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Re: The Prestige

The Prestige is one of those movies where I'm fascinated by the plot and premise, but the movie itself doesn't really grab me the way I whish it would. Good commentary though.

And I don't like that the machine works...

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Re: The Prestige

Terrific commentary. I enjoyed this on first viewing up to the end, which I felt just didn't make any sense.

I'm with Brian that the theme of the movie is what these characters will do for their art, which is fake magic. Introducing real magic undercuts that badly.

Ending on 75 water tanks full of dead Wolverines is just ridiculous. Even if you buy the unspoken premise that he'd never want a surviving copy (because of the problems with Root), he'd still just empty the one tank and reuse it.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries

Re: The Prestige

I had never seen the Prestige till last night (31st Jan) so I could listen to the commentary afterwards. I knew nothing of the film but I spotted the truth about 'Fallon' from the start. Not boasting or being smug, I'm really pissed off at myself that I did!

Anyway, I liked the film but I agree with Zarban's comments above. Plus, on the comm, you guys talk about the wife's knowledge of the scam but she obviously knew of the twins early on due to the fact that she helps with the cutting off the fingers. Great comm as usual guys, you magnificent bastards smile

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Re: The Prestige

Oh, huh. Need to re-watch with that in mind. Good call sir.

Thanks, magnificent bastards need love too.

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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Re: The Prestige

Here I thought I was the only one that had a problem with the machine just working as advertised. I had no idea it was such a widespread gripe.

I was afraid of being a lone voice in the wilderness, the victim of a pile on of everyone else singing Prestige's unblemished genius.

Had I known, I wouldn't have been so timid about it.

Ah well, screw "The Prestige." It's a stupid movie, devoid of all merit!

Re: The Prestige

Shifty Bench: When did the wife ever help with the cutting of the fingers? The actual cutting was just the brothers. I mean she was heping him stop the bleeding, but she just thought that the wounds had reopened. She had "no" (Notice the quote marks) idea that there was 2 of em.

ZangrethorDigital.ca

Re: The Prestige

That's correct, we only see her tending to his wound wondering why it hasn't healed as much as one would expect.

Of course, if she were tending to both their wounds on a regular basis, wouldn't she have noticed that it went back and forth repeatedly?

Re: The Prestige

Huh.

When we see the flash of the finger cutting it cut straight to the wife tending to his wound. I didn't think that was the same as when his fingers were shot off. If it was, her inclusion in that scene threw me off.  Darn Nolan and his sneakiness.

Remember, I posted right after seeing it for the first time, The Prestige is a film that demands more than one viewing to let bits sink in smile

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Re: The Prestige

@Brian: I always got the impression that they pretty much did it right after the first brother had to get them amputated. So that it would at least, to her, just look like the wound had just reopened and was taking a while to heal.
I don't think that they would have waited til it had healed fully to do it, one because of the whole wife thing, but then also because they are already so committed to the trick, that they wouldn't want to leave any discrepancy between them for too long.

ZangrethorDigital.ca

Re: The Prestige

Batman's real mistake was not letting his wife in on the gag. Magicians (and Batmen) do this all the time. After all, she's likely to figure it out eventually, in which case she'll be so angry she's likely to blab. Meanwhile, your life would be a heck of a lot easier if she wasn't constantly doubting your sincerity (and Fallon's beard).

It would even have worked thematically, since he was also fooling ScaJo. Nolan could have focused his angst about whether or not to tell the girl on that relationship, since Batman certainly can't trust her completely.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries

Re: The Prestige

Just so you know, it's CHUNG Ling Soo, not CHING.
"Ching" Ling "Foo" was a real Chinese magician that feuded with Chung.

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Re: The Prestige

Welcome to the forum, Greg. smile

And...uh. No. Hadn't thought of that. And that seems obvious in retrospect. God damn it.

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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Re: The Prestige

That's a really great point. The only real answer that I can think of is "He was obsessed. Shit happens." I'd never considered that aspect of his character in retrospect before, good catch.

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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Re: The Prestige

I do seem to remember something about Angier [paraphrasing] "finally getting his hands dirty."  I think it comes up in the graveyard.

Re: The Prestige

It's part of his character arc, when Cutter is demonstrating the new bird cage trick to Angier he implies that the new trick will kill the bird and that he will only get anywhere in this business if he gets his hands dirty (or something to that effect), Angier gives in and performs the trick, thinking that he is killing the bird. When he asks Cutter why, he says 'I just had to know you could". And this theme continues until we come to where he is at the end of the movie so obsessed with the new trick that he allows himself to literally be the bird in the cage that he kills in order for the trick to happen.

ZangrethorDigital.ca

Re: The Prestige

just re listened to this commentary on a flight and was reminded of this awesome bit from funny or die... it's Drunk History (most are pretty funny), but this one is about Tesla vs. Edison (and about what a dick Edison was).

http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/3wv0

(it looks like i'm not bright enough to embed this....but i'm going to blame edison for that)

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Re: The Prestige

Is that Crispin freakin' Glover!?

/Z

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Re: The Prestige

Jump to 5:40 for the Penn and Teller cups and balls trick, and Tellers fish bowl trick is right after.

Last edited by BigDamnArtist (2012-04-23 00:47:19)

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