The Prestige

Magic is a pleasure bred deep within us all. If for a moment we can be taken away from a world that has become normal, we call that magic. Reading a fantasy novel can be magical, seeing a wonderful film can be magical, noticing an intimate moment in the world can be magical.

The Prestige is truly a magical movie. While it's plot focuses on magic and illusions, the real magic comes in the portrayal of human emotions in this movie. The Prestige is a story of love; a story of obsessions, revenge, identities, and trickery all done in the name of love. Love can become obsessive at times. Love for another person or love for perfection.

The movie follows two rival magicians in London. Both are trying to achieve the ultimate performance. What starts off as a friendship ends in a competition so fierce that nothing is forsaken. Both magicians strive for the secret (or the prestige) of the others trick. What one has the other wants. I don't want to say too much more as I don't want to give away the movie for those who have not seen it. But it is wonderful, and I would recommend buying this one rather than renting it. You'll want to see it again as soon as it's over.

The acting was superb in this movie. I'm becoming more and more of a Christian Bale fan. I've always liked him, but I've only recently come to respect him so much as an actor. He was amazing in this movie. The surprise performance of the movie for me was David Bowie as Nikolha Tesla. He was wonderful! I expected his acting to be forced, but it was perfect. Nods to him. Hugh Jackman is wonderful as always, as is the gorgeous Scarlett Johansen. I've come to find that I like just about any movie that she is in. Michael Caine is wonderful as always and has that same charm that he always has.

The movie was filmed beautifully and captured the era perfectly. Every scene has a eerie yet comforting darkness about it and it is the total lack of special effects that makes this movie so wonderful and so authentic. The story relies much more on human emotions and interaction than the magic itself. I would've been happy with just a movie about magic, but what makes The Prestige so wonderful is that it does an amazing job at portraying the human psyche and the lengths that we go to for obsessions and for perfection.

Web Wanderings and Fun Finds

Plenty of fun stuff on the web today. I'll go down the blog list. In this post, Neil Gaiman talks about an upcoming issue (April 2007) of Fantasy and Science Fiction that is somewhat of a tribute to Gene Wolfe. He wrote an article about Gene Wolfe as did two other authors and there is something (maybe a short story) called Memorare by Gene himself. In the same issue, Charles DeLint does book reviews. I used to subscribe to Fantasy and Science Fiction a couple of years ago and I'm not really sure why I didn't renew. I think I just may have to once again.

Next up is the second entry in Literacy Chic's Lenten Meals series. In this entry she gives a delicious recipe for Shrimp or Crawfish jambalaya. I know her from living here in New Orleans, so I can assure you that this is a great, authentic recipe. I highly recommend that you try this one out for a taste of real New Orleans cooking, and use Louisiana crawfish if you can find them (much better than Chinese crawfish. We had boiled crawfish for dinner tonight and they were deeeelicious.

Lisa Snellings-Clark writes about an interview she did for Fantasy Magazine which I'm looking forward to. She also talks about Poppet Planet and mentions that the gallery will be open again around St. Patrick's Day. Can't wait to see the poppets for that (assuming she makes them). Neil Gaiman has also changed the Magnificent Oracular Journal to hold a Lisa Snellings-Clark poppet.
In Carl's Friday Favorites, he introduces us to an artist by the name of Raymond Swanland. His images are breathtaking and he has the ability to capture so much life in his paintings. I especially like the second one down by the name of The Golden Hills of Westria. Great stuff!

Subterranean Press offers their edition of I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury which looks wonderful. But unfortunately at $150 for the cheaper version, I will not be buying this one. If you have the money, I'm sure it's worth it though. It's numbered and signed by Bradbury himself.

Finally (in web wanderings at least) in his latest Uncle Orson Reviews Everything column, Orson Scott Card reviews a new documentary called Done the Impossible: The Fans Tale Firefly and Serenity. It is a DVD that captures the huge underground fan base for Firefly, in my opinion, one of the best shows ever on tv that was unfortunately canceled after only 12 episodes to make way for reality shows. This DVD looks great and I can't wait to check it out.

Enter the fun finds. While not as numerous as the web wanderings, still great stuff.

I got in my car today and caught the tail end of an ad on XM Radio for some new show with Orson Scott Card! I knew there was a reason I loved XM so much, they love my favorite author! I'm not entirely sure what it is though, and their website and a Google search did nothing for me. Anyone know about this? What I do know is that he will apparently have a show on Sonic Theater, XM channel 163. I just discovered this channel today after hearing the ad. It's so great! It's like audio books 24/7 and every night they play sci-fi stuff. How cool. Alot of these are the great old time sci-fi radio shows. Can't wait to see what Orson Scott Card is doing with this channel.

Finally, I decided to make a stop by best buy tonight and picked up a couple of goodies. The first is the soundtrack for Children of Men, and what I've listened to so far is great and just as haunting as the movie. I've been wanting this since I saw the movie. The music was great. Glad I finally bought it. I also picked up The Prestige on DVD. I haven't seen this yet, but I'm sure I'll love it. First of all, it has something to do with magic. Anything related to fantasy in some way is ok by me. Second, the actors are great. Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, David Bowie, and the smoking hot and still talented Scarlett Johansen. Can't wait to see this. I'm sure my review will be posted later tonight.