Have some fun at the movie theater

Before the movie started last night, I couldn't remember the title...The Privilege? The Proximity? The Proxy? A-ha! It's called The Prestige. Try to remember the name because if you're looking for an entertaining movie this weekend, The Prestige is it.

Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale play Victorian-era magicians trying to out-showman each other. The story jumps around time; it's complicated and full of tricks and satisfying tied up in the end. Hugh Jackman plays the magician who knows how to sell a show; he's got that Broadway flair that can make a small trick like a disappearing coin look graceful. Christian Bale is the devoted craftsman. He can make the greatest trick ever look like nothing. He doesn't have the sizzle. Bale's blind quest to do every trick perfectly unwittingly leads to a grudge match with Hugh Jackman.

Jackman seems too affable at first to be half of a blood feud, but he finds the egomaniac underneath it all necessary to fuel an entertaining two hours.

There's not much else to the movie beyond plot; maybe a small fable about the dangers of shooting for perfection blindly. But for the most part, the movie is all style. Thank goodness, it doesn't need anything else.

The magician behind it all is co-writer and director Christopher Nolan. He loves a plot twist (he made Momento and Batman Begins - both of which walloped the audience in the final act.) But unlike his contemporary M. Night Shamalyan, he knows how to make a surprise seem satisfying and complete. Even if you figure out some of Nolan's secrets ahead of time, the emotional complications from them can only be revealed by the expressions on Jackman and Bale's faces.

Stephanie, thanks for the flag on this one. We did go see it and it was everything you said it would be and more. The more? Michael Caine who still works more than the average movie actor and David Bowie as Nikola Tesla...weird but it worked.

It was a smidddddge too long for my party but enjoyable.