the prestige (2006). directed by christopher nolan.

Angier's ambition, we infer, is to transcend humanly created illusions by drawing on the powers of advanced science, and this takes us into the realms of science fiction and Frankensteinian hubris. The reserved, immaculately dressed Tesla is magisterially impersonated by David Bowie.

After a single viewing, I'm not sure I could describe the order of events in Nolan's film. Yet though one may be puzzled, just as one is by an illusionist, everything seems lucid and leads to a succession of revelations that left me stunned. I was still working out their implications long after leaving the cinema. The Prestige is a dazzling piece of work that left me eager to see it again and to read Priest's novel.

The film is immaculately assembled with magnificently stylised sets by production designer Nathan Crowley, acute editing by Lee Smith and wonderfully atmospheric but wholly unaffected photography by Wally Pfister. They've all previously collaborated with Nolan, in Pfister's case on all his pictures since Following, which Nolan himself photographed.

The performances of Bale and Jackman complement each other superbly and Caine brings a seriousness and dignity to Cutter, a role that combines the best aspects of his theatrical agent in Little Voice and his butler in Batman Begins. As in earlier Nolan films, the women's roles are unrewarding, though Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson do well enough as Borden's naive wife and Angier's duplicitous stage assistant.

If I have given the impression that the film is unduly cerebral or opaque, let me say that in addition to the intellectual or philosophical excitement it engenders, The Prestige is gripping, suspenseful, mysterious, moving and often darkly funny.

-as reviewed by phillip french, the guardian.

harsh times (2005). directed by david ayer.

i wrote this on the train.

comparisons have been made between harsh times and training day, but harsh times is about friendship, loyalty and ambition colliding with addicts, dealers, cops and regular ppl living up to the chaos of LA. yellow filters marked the seedy yellow streaks flashing across the city of angel.

one of them is jim, a walking time bomb waiting for the moment to explode. the odd friends that jim kept are addicts and dealers and a childhood pal, mike. they passed the day in the streets of LA like grown up children looking to steal a candy, supposedly looking for work but actually living a life of petty gangster. the story is sorrowful, the eventuality of self destruction isnt something that jim can avoid. he is shell shocked from the war he had been recently discharged, but refused to admit to it. the machismo front that he is trying to live up to doesnt help, constantly feeling the pressure even from the smallest of things.

christian bale is powerful as jim, too much a chameleon as the deeply unstable jim, posesessively dependent on mike for company. freddy rodriguez of six feet under fame is the loyal mike, who seems to need jim's friendship more than the love of his girl friend, charmed by jim's recklessness and bad influence that he mistakes jim's macho front as being ''a man''. the ending is tragic, and mike must learn to be an adult.

the story is yellow, too close to the audience. the intimacy is uneasy. the pursuit of happiness is a never ending quest, and those not looking for it is truly doomed.

lady in the water (2006). directed by m. night shyamalan.

i regretted not seeing shyamalan's movie lady in the water on the big screen. i've always enjoyed his other movies, and so far has not been disappointed in any one of them. the movie isnt linear in the strictest sense, and it's really rewarding for potential viewers to pay attention cuz this isnt a movie you can watch while eating (or doing laundry etc). what i like about shyamalan is his ability to present something, put it in such a way that is intelligent and more often that not, gives us a glimpse of originality when so many other movies are a concoction of the things that i have already seen (beware, i think it's a good sign you keep surprising yourself). and there are lots of nice shots, which is one of the things that i look out for, be it in the village, signs and unbreakable (to name a few).

he took his time to tell the story. and sometimes the camera is static, which i find particularly irritating in yasmin ahmad's movie.

it's christmas tomorrow. merry christmas.

the departed (2006). directed by martin scorsese.

scorsese is losing it.if the departed wins at the golden globe, then the standards has definitely sunk.the departed is no way comparable to infernal affairs, be it the plot, story telling, even the cast.

i personally believed there's a casting mistake in scorsese's adaptation of the hong kong mole game to the boston landscape. di caprio was too high strung for an undercover, and damon was too 2D, devoid of personal conflicts. casting jack nicholson is too overpowering, because he obtained the lot of the screentime, swallowing the movie and overshadowing the two main characters (of di caprio and damon). which is not the point. the point of infernal affairs was the conflict of 2 men living their lives in a way none of them wants to be. worse, the feeling is like watching a cut and paste job. 70% of the scenes are directly adapted from infernal affairs. the two are so close, yet couldn't be more dissimilar. one can say scorsese made a different movie, but the departed failed to raised to the occasion of previous efforts by scorsese, such as the goodfellas and casino. i have also watched infernal affairs part 3. what i like abt the first and third part is that both movies respect us as the audience. both never tried to overly explained anything, they left it to us to figure out what's going on and this is vastly helped by the good acting displayed (of leung chi wai and lau tak wah). it is subtle, but you cant missed it if you pay attention. i find the departed dwelling on some scenes for far too long than it needs to be as if scorsese wants to be sure that we "get it".

ps: bravo, hong kong films can be a better watch than hollywood stuff sans the gadgets and effects.