Illusionist a Mesmerizing Fantasy

The Illusionist is at times a mesmerizing retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story about a magician separated by class from the woman he loves. The fact that the young duchess is engaged to the Emperor's son only serves to complicate matters for the love-struck conjurer.

In a controlled and understated performance, Edward Norton is convincing as Eisenheim the Illusionist, who must cross swords - and match wits - with Crown Prince Leopold in order to be with the woman he loves. Leopold's jealousy prompts him to order the chief of police (Paul Giamatti in a wonderfully annoying performance) to shut down Eisenheim's theater.

High production values and solid performances compensate for a script that is not without flaws. But the film looks great, the illusions are imaginative, and in the end my friend Mike and I were glad we shelled out our ten bucks.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rest in Peace, Miss Moneypenney

Image
Lois Maxwell, 1927-2007. Her credits include: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy and A View to a Kill.
Read more

Operation Finale Aims High, Misses the Mark

Image
Operation Finale (2018) ★★ ½   Oscar Isaac, Ben Kingsley, Lior Raz, Mélanie Laurent, Nick Kroll, and Joe Alwyn; directed by Chris Weitz with a screenplay by Matthew Orton. Operation Finale is based on the true story of Israeli Mossad and Shin Bet agents who, in 1960, tracked down and captured Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust and one of the world’s most wanted Nazi war criminals. It’s a story I have always thought would make a great movie, and director Chris Weitz ( The Golden Compass ) sets out to do just that, though the results are mixed at best. Ben Kingsley as Adolf Eichmann in OPERATION FINALE. Metro-Goldwyn-Ma yer      The cast of Israelis, let by Oscar Isaac, is sufficient though not brilliant. Ben Kingsley, as the enigmatic Eichmann, is superb. What suffers here is the script, which not only takes some liberties with the facts, but fails to deliver the level of high-stakes drama found in films su ch as Steven Spiel...
Read more

Captain Marvel Makes Her Debut

Image
Captain Marvel (2019) ★ ★ ½ Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, Annette Benning. Captain Marvel burst onto the big screen in a big way this month, with a post-credits sequence setting up the titular character as a major force to be reckoned with in the upcoming Avengers: Endgame .  Having never liked the comic book, this was one Marvel movie I was not looking forward to. Having seen it, I am pleased to report that I liked it better than I thought I would, but not as much as I had hoped. Here’s what I liked: Annette Benning, chewing the scenery and looking great; Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury with two good eyes; Goose the non-cat; Agent Coulson; the sinister and creeping-looking Skrulls; Stan Lee’s inside-joke cameo as himself (the year is 1995 and Lee is seen on a train reading the script to Kevin Smith’s Mallrats , in which he had a cameo); and Brie Larson, a talented actress who holds her own in a performance with dangerously high fanboy expecta...
Read more