The Prestige - Christopher Nolan - 2006

★★★★★-"Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because, of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out. You want to be fooled." OMFG. This blew my fucking mind in when I saw it in 2006. Knowing the twists and stuff just made it more mind-blowing this time around. Holy shit, this is a great movie, and Christopher Nolan is fucking sick. 

Gist of the movie is Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale play magicians in late Victorian era England. They start out as friends before becoming rivals. It all starts when Jackman's wife, played by Piper Perabo--who will always be the Coyote Ugly girl to me, dies in an on-stage accident. The bit is one where Bale and Jackman tie her up, and she is submerged in a tank of water. They do this bit a lot, apparently, but this time something goes wrong, and she can't get out and drowns. Jackman blames Bale. It starts this whole thing that keeps escalating. Meanwhile, they are both creating the ultimate illusion ("they are illusions, Michael, a trick is something a whore does for money"). 

The cast is fucking sick. Not only do you have Bale and Jackman, but you also have the ever-lovely Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Andy Serkis, David Bowie (perfectly cast as Nikola Tesla), and Michael Cain (who's always bomb). 

Movie is completely fucked. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale's characters are fucking horrible human beings. Dudes that hate each other so much that they would rather see the other fail than live happily. What the fuck, man? Get over your shit—some Cure at Troy type stuff. Jackman definitely distances himself in the all-time prick department, though, come the end of the movie. 

Ok. Fuck it. Huge spoiler. Dude gets a machine from Tesla that was supposed to teleport Jackman from one place to another. Instead, it clones whatever is in the device. So Jackman starts cloning himself for the trick. How does he deal with all these clones of himself? He kills them. Every night. Kills a clone. It isn't super clear, but he might be killing himself and letting the clone live. It's weird. Anyway, this eventually leads to him setting up Christian Bale for murder. Also, there are two Christian Bale's living one life. This movie is a huge mindfuck, and you can never be sure which version is which, but one of the Christian Bales, I'm pretty sure, is evil. All the Hugh Jackmans are evil, though. This movie is crazy and fucking genius. Also, seriously complex. If you want your mind seriously fucked, watch this and try to figure out which brother is which at different points in the movie. 

Rewatching all of his flicks again, sort of in order. All of them are great. However, so far, this one is my second favorite, after Interstellar. 

Asteroid City - Wes Anderson - 2023

★★★★★-Since The Royal Tenenbaums, I've been all in on Wes Anderson, seeing every film opening weekend. He is one of maybe 10 directors who I'm going to make a spectacle of when they have a movie come out. Have I had a great seeing all of them? Fuck yeah, I have. Asteroid City is no exception, though I am not sure if I really understand it. 

The film is pretty complex in the way that The French Dispatch is complex. Where we get the story of a publication in The French Dispatch while we are also given some of the best stories to come out of that journalism, in this movie we are told about the production of a play, showing that play, and weaving other stories within them. 

This is what you call a metatextual approach, yeah, I went to grad school. First the movie gives us a broadcast of the story behind the play which segues into the first act which follows people as they arrive at a Junior Stargazer convention. Between acts, we are then given behind-the-scenes moments with the actors, director, writer, broadcaster, so forth, who are giving this production a life of its own while offering the audience (real [us viewing the movie] and imagined [the 1955 television viewer]) a glimpse into the creative process. Beyond this, not to give too much away, the film is really, deep down, a lighthearted search for meaning, complete with nuclear testing, alien encounters, and ray guns. And that is just within the play. 

Cast includes most of his usuals and some newcomers to his universe. They include: Adrien Brody, Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell (loved him in this, by the by), Hong Chau (she the front of house manager in The Menu), Margot Robbie, Matt Dillon, Hope Davis ( The Daytrippers, American Splendor), Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Rupert Friend (he's one of the stars of the show Homeland), Maya Hawke (nepo baby child of Ethan Hawke and Uma, she was in such flicks as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Fear Street Part One: 1994, Do Revenge, she also played the part of  Robin Buckley in Stranger Things), Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman, Liev Schreiber, Fisher Stevens (he's the white guy playing the Indian guy in Short Circuit, he's also in Succession), Tilda Swinton, Tony Revolori (he was the bellboy, the lead, in The Grand Budapest Hotel), Edward Norton (who looks pretty exactly like William Faulkner in this), Steve Park (he is probably most remembered for being the Asian guy on In Living Color, he was also in Do the Right Thing, Falling Down, Fargo, and The French Dispatch among other things. I suspect this might be a breakout role), and Jeffrey Wright. Also, a bunch of children, Anderson loves him some witty wiz kids. Among them, the main one, this kid Jake Ryan, is the most notable and is probably destined to be in all kinds of Wes Anderson future projects. Also, Sophia Lillis from It, and this Grace Edwards girl who plays ScarJo's daughter. 

I love a meta movie, and I love some Wes Anderson. This one is full of his signatures and feels like the culmination of his work. Not sure if I'll like it more or less with more viewings, but more viewings are definitely required. Didn't crack my top three Anderson movies, (The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Royal Tenenbaums) but right now I'd put it at about four. We'll see if I feel better about it down the road.