The Prestige

Agreed. I just saw this film. It was great, very engaging with just the right twists and turns.

I'll tell you one thing, the people that greenlit that title should be shot. If I hadn't accidentally read what it was about I would have had zero interest. As it turns out, it sounds like something I'd really really like. Glad to hear good reviews.

B+ !

The theatre we watched it in was very subpar compared to Harkins (Dickinson!)

This is an excellent film. I suggest that you purchase the book by Christopher Priest. It is excellent and different enough from the film to give you a new experience. A lot from the book was altered to create the same feeling but with completely different scenes. i think the trick in the book was more amazing do to the different take on the prestige "materials".

This is good to hear.(the quality of the film, not the theater quality in NC). I've read only one review so far and it was negative, and I was thinking too bad, because the film sounded interesting. Now my interest is back-thanks Matt. This might be one of the rare films we see in a theater instead of at home.

Just saw it and I would agree; a very enjoyable twisting film. At the end you will be playing it again in your head.

Great movie. One of the best I've seen in a long time. Although I guessed certain things early on, no way could I put it all together until the end.

Tremendous movie...give Bale an oscar right now...he deserved one for Empire of the Sun ,American Psycho, and the Machinist!

Fun movie...needed a wee bit more Bowie perhaps

Bale is seriously underrated and underappreciated...he is one of the best actors of our time (and he can play the best Batman!)

I saw it last night with my buddies. A very entertaining film with a very unexpected "Victorian Science Fiction" plot element. Oddly enough we didn't discuss the film for very long afterwards, preferring to watch the final World Series game while discussing politics. This one is what it is - a straightforward and authentic costume drama with well-done plot, good acting, and an unforseen twist at the end.

Edit: Oddly enough, I did not recognize David Bowie in his role, although the face was familiar and I should have. At the time I just could not place him.

Gary

Matt, you need to head over to the Raleigh area

My wife figured out the twist regarding Bale's character about an hour in. She absolutely never picks up on things like that.

I didn't much care for the sci-fi elements at the end, but the movie prompted me to do some reading on Nikola Tesla, who it turns out was an even more bizarre personality in real life.

Saw this yesterday with the wife. I also picked on the Bale twist early on, but the truly artful storytelling and interwoven clues/revelations create a very tasty tapestry. This movie will stick with me for a long time. Very entertaining with very good performances from the entire cast. I don't go to the movies much anymore, but this one was worth it.

Nolan is a gifted director. Memento was a revelation. The Prestige is fun, entertaining, full of atmosphere and intimate in a foreign and exotic way.

I didn't really like any of the characters in the movie, except the one played by Caine. That usually means I won't like the film, but that wasn't the case here. The story intentionally keeps the viewer from identifying a winner, but that only added to the mystique and my enjoyment of this film.

Nolan enjoys the kind of cinematic sleight of hand that keeps an audience reeling. What's going to happen next? What the heck is going on here?

Both magic and movies add mystery to our everyday lives. Both catch us up for a moment. Neither should be fully explained.

And remember, the best explanation for a trick can be found in Occam's razor

I saw this yesterday and I too was impressed. It has been a long while since I have seen a really good movie. Prestige restored my faith in Hollywood and temporarily negates my wanting Hollywood to take a sabbatical.

Finding out the twists still didn't explain it all to me or friends who discussed it with me in length.

Saw this today; nice period-piece....a plot-twist with a twist-ending. Not totally original, but very refreshing nontheless. Though I didn't think Caine's character needed to do that review at the end; we got it the first time.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Has anyone seen the DVD? Hows the Audio and Picture Quality?

Damn good.

Good to hear. I loved this movie and will be purchasing it on standard DVD this week.

The picture quality is excellent, no noise or compression artifacts. Spot on color, and contrast. It's refference quality. I can imagine the HD version[s] will look even better. Sound is rather flat and "muted", nothing like Nolan's Batman Begins. I'm sure it was by design. However dialog sounded "muffled" at times, and soundstage was narrow, like a mono track. It had a few momments though when it was needed however. Like others I kinda knew what's gonna happen, and yes "puffy face" was obvious too. Still worth a rental IMO.

agree. Picture quality was one of the better recent SD DVDs lately. Highly recommended.

Great movie! I had to turn up my center speaker a bit to clearly hear some of the speaking.

I'll dissent. Mystery + fantasy is a hard combination, because when anything is "possible", nothing is plausible. It's like writing an intricate story where in the end the little boy wakes up and it was all a dream.

Here we have about three impossible things happening to the same set of people at the same time.

Now: I agree it was clever to plot the movie as the three stages of a magic trick as explained at the outset, and the Nolan scrambled time tracks is always interesting. I also appreciate that they used a little bit more actual stage magic (with Ricky Jay!) than the recent THE ILLUSIONIST, which was all studio FX.

-Bill

I had this problem too, and it was the first time since we built our dedicated room two years ago that I've noticed a low center speaker volume.

But it did NOT detract from the movie, and in fact, the extract loudness serves it well. Instead of just turning up the center, and I just pumped up the main volume to great effect. Sound was great. I loved it.

Good movie, but the ending was extremely predictable. Made for a pretty boring last 45+ minutes knowing exactly how it would end. They should have not made any comments about the hats and just had Hugh give them a puzzled look as he went by, thus alluding to "something" rather than spelling it out so clearly.

I felt the same way. The first 2 acts it was straight up about magic but then it became a sci-fi movie. I think it should of stayed with the magic aspect throughout. Overall, it was entertaining.

Maybe my expectations were too high after reading the comparisons with the Illusionist but I thought the movie was just ok. Agree about the sound level - even after adjusting the center channel it was hard to hear voices. I enjoyed the side story about Tesla and Edison and the very dramatic use of some of his equipment; great stuff. The emotional range of the actors used in the film was pretty small; there were several places that had potential for emotional involvement but it just wasn't there. All in all, too much suspension of disbelief for me. I much preferred the Illusionist. Norton on stage was just captivating.

I thought the movie was very good. I had no problem with the sound track and the picture
quality was very good. The only disappointment I felt was how totally different the story
line was from that of the book. It's obviously impossible to tell the same story in just two hours, however, the ending, beginning and much of the middle of the movie was so removed from what I was expecting to see that I must admit I was surprised and some what disappointed. That being said, I still like the movie. Not as much as 'The Illusionist' but
with Caine, Bale, Johansson and Jackman all putting on strong performances, it was hard not to be entertained.

I agree. I also liked "The Illusionist" bettter as well.