The Prestige Review
The Prestige stars Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as the two leading magicians and they do absolutely amazing jobs in their roles. In fact, the entire cast is terrific and all of the characters are brilliantly developed. Props to Christopher Nolan for crafting one of my favorite films of all time.
I love how terribly flawed our protagonists are and how accurately this film portrays obsession. Unlike The Illusionist, The Prestige breaks down all of the tricks so that we as an audience can follow along with Borden and Angier's rivalry. Not only that, but the film itself is like a magic trick. The answers are right in our face and yet we are so consumed with the illusions of our characters that we cannot see it.
There is an elegant yet mysterious aura about this movie which makes it quite spectacular to watch. Nolan doesn't treat his audiences as intellectually inferior and this movie is proof of that. If you don't like it, it's because you aren't paying attention. The Prestige, without a doubt, earns itself 5 out of 5 stars. (A Must See)
Captain Phillips Review
I enjoyed this movie a lot and definitely think it should be up for nominations. The performances were top notch from the entire cast. Tom Hanks really brought it in this and so did Barkhad Abdi, who played the leader of the pirates. The complexity of the characters really added to the story. We could see how desperate all of the characters were and why they did what they did which was much more interesting than if there were just bad guys and good guys.
There was a little bit of shaky camera at first which kind of bothered me but it was only in the beginning. Once the plot started, I was so fully invested that I hardly even noticed the long length, however I do realize that some will. Other than that, I don't think there was much else to critique. This movie is solid from beginning to end and I look forward to buying it on DVD. 5 out of 5 stars! (A Must See)
Gravity Review
I went into Gravity with a pretty hyped up expectation of it. The reviews were crazy good and people were even saying it was likely to be up for Oscar nominations. While I did like Gravity, it wasn't exactly what I expected.
The cinematography was so richly striking that if anyone could walk away from this and say there is no God, they are deluding themselves. The sound and score were also amazing. If this isn't nominated for special effects I would be really upset.
Clooney and Bullock give very solid and realistic performances, however the movie was more plot driven than character driven so sometimes I found myself wishing it had more layers.
I did expect it to be far more intense and scary and it was in certain parts, but after a while you get used to it and it loses a bit of tension until the end.
Gravity is a very good piece of art technically and is elegantly filmed, but I don't know if I'd be excited to see it again. I'll give Gravity 3.5 out of 5 stars! (Worth Ticket Price)
