The Prestige 2006

     At the end of the nineteenth century in London.  Robert Angier, his beloved wife Julia McCullough and Alfred Borden are friends.  They are also assistants to a magician.  Julie accidentally dies during one of the performances.  Robert blames Alfred for her death and they become enemies.  Robert and Alfred are both famous and rival magicians.  They begin sabotaging the performances of the other on the stage.  If Alfred performs a successful trick, Robert will become obsessed trying to disclose the secret of his competitor.  All this pushing each other back and forth leads to tragic consequences.
     This is a wonderfully entertaining film!!  It will keep you thinking the entire run time.  It’s very confusing but it is that way on purpose in order to keep you wondering.  The story is twisty with very good acting and the period details are also very good.  Some people complained that they didn’t like the ending?  Since this is about magic tricks, I can’t reveal what happens and how things are done!!  The photography is very beautiful and the period color tones are consistent with this time period.  Nicolai Tesla beings showers of discharging electricity into the mix.  Tesla is a much more familiar word now since the Tesla car came on the scene!!  4* (I really liked this movie)   
   
130 min, directed by Christopher Nolan and written by Christopher and Jonathan Nolan with Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johnansson, Michael Caine, Piper Perabo, Rebecca Hall, Samantha Mahurin, David Bowie, Andy Serkis, Daniel Davis, Jim mPiddock, Christopher Neame, Mark Ryan, Roger Rees, Jamie Harris.

Note:  Imdb 8.5 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes 76% critic 92% audience, Roger Ebert 3*, Meticritic 66 out of 100 with 36 critics (positive 26, mixed 9, negative 1) 8.9 out of 10 with 1179 user scores (positive 1102, mixed 56, negative 21), Deep Focus 4* Brian Eggert, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 1448 reviews, NowVeryBad.com 4*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Telluride, Colorado; Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Downey, Koreatown, Mount Wilson, Pasadena, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios and Universal Studios.   The word prestige originally meant a trick, from the Latin word praestigium meaning illusion.  The scenes of Alfred Borden’s infant were played by one of Christopher Nolan’s children.  Ricky Jay played a magician in this film and he coached Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale with their sleight-of-hand techniques.  The initials of the main characters spell ABRA (Alfred Borden Robert Angier), as in abracadabra, a common world used by magicians.