The Prestige

The Prestige

By KaijuFMTV & Film
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The Prestige episodes

  • 3.4 - THE HURT LOCKER (2008) & Individualism

    Our final Kathryn Bigelow offering is the 2008 multiple-Oscar-winning THE HURT LOCKER (2008). After initial (and not entirely favourable) reviews, we discuss the film’s sparse qualities, the way in which Bigelow subverts expectations, and one particularly…interesting stylistic choice. We conclude with a look back at her filmography, as explored over the past month, focusing on the various ways in which she has explored the ‘individual versus the world’ theme.

    This Week’s Media

    TRAINWRECK (2015): Judd Apatow, Amy Schumer, Bill Hader
    BAYWATCH (2017): Seth Gordon, Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron

    Recommendations

    THE ENGLISH PATIENT (1996): Anthony Minghella, Ralph Fiennes, Juliet Binoche
    MAN ON A LEDGE (2012): Asger Leth, Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks
    LOCKOUT (2012): Luc Besson, Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace
    BLACK HAWK DOWN (2001): Ridley Scott, Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor

    Footnotes

    First, here’s our TRAINWRECK small-batch episode, from a couple of years ago: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/small-batch-trainwreck/id990653468?i=1000382263538&mt=2. Then, here’s a link to the IMDB pages of the (delightful) Mark Boal, and the film itself (containing some interesting trivia): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1676793/?ref_=tt_ov_wr, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0887912/?ref_=nm_knf_i1. This is more on the actual term ’the hurt locker’, which Rob mentions in passing, but we don’t actually explain: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8555318.stm. This is the game Eldridge plays (we’re completely not advocating this, but its levels of violence are very interesting in the light of what this film says about war): https://gearsofwar.com/en-us. And finally, here’s that Dustin Hoffman speech against the idea of individualism in the film industry, which seems a nice place to end our mini-series on Bigelow’s artistic endeavours (skip to about 3 minutes in to get past the nominations): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhDmNRQgKLM.

    38 min
  • 3.3 - K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER (2002) & Camaraderie

    Our latest Kathryn Bigelow offering is the 2002 thriller based on a true story, K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER. We discuss its editing, pacing, and narrative, in a discussion that ranges from the way in which Bigelow tries to tease out relationships on different social levels to more on her depiction of masculinity, particularly in a military context

    This Week’s Media

    THE PINK CHIQUITAS (1987): Anthony Currie, Frank Stallone, Bruce Pirrie
    ATONEMENT (2007): Joe Wright, James McAvoy, Keira Knightley

    Recommendations

    THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (2016): Antoine Fuqua, Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt
    MADMEN (2007—15): Matthew Weiner, Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss
    NKNOWN (2011): Jaume Collet-Serra, Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger
    THE CONSTANT GARDENER (2005): Fernando Meireilles, Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz

    Footnotes

    Firstly this week, here’s a link to the historical narrative adapted into Bigelow’s film (the ’Nuclear accident’ section is particularly relevant): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_K-19. Then, here’s a fairly basic piece explaining the building blocks of camera technique, a number of which KB uses in the cramped space of the submarine: http://www.elementsofcinema.com/cinematography/camera-movement. This is an interesting book collecting some essays on post-World-War-II nuclear diplomacy: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=79RJheQYvq8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR8&dq=russian+cold+war+party+camaraderie&ots=gOKV934XTD&sig=qVst45eyi3bXblB66eDeVVnY9yg#v=onepage&q&f=false. This gives a better explanation of a ‘match cut’ than Sam offered! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match_cut. And finally, here’s more on the composer who did so much to help build tension aurally in the film (Sam meant to wax lyrical about him, and forgot): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Badelt.

    28 min
  • 3.2 - THE WEIGHT OF WATER (2000) & The Past

    Season 3 continues with the next in our Kathryn Bigelow mini-season: 2000’s THE WEIGHT OF WATER. One of us is more in favour of the film than the other, but we settle into a good discussion of the representation of past events on film, novel—movie adaptation, and valuing ‘a valiant effort’ above ‘safe and uninspiring’ when it comes to films that don’t quite hit the mark.

    This Week’s Media

    SELFLESS (2015): Tarsem Singh, Ryan Reynolds, Natalie Martinez
    GAME OF THRONES, Season 7 (2017): George R.R. Martin, David Benioff, Peter Dinklage
    BLADERUNNER (1982): Ridley Scott, Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer

    Recommendations

    THE WOMAN IN BLACK (2012): James Watkins, Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds
    21 GRAMS (2003): Alejandro González Ińárritu, Sean Penn, Naomi Watts
    GO (1999): Doug Liman, Taye Diggs, William Fichtner
    EDTV (1999): Ron Howard, Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman

    Footnotes

    We start with the obligatory Chekov’s gun (or ‘Chekov’s flaming bazooka’) link: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChekhovsGun. Here a couple of interesting articles on the use of black and white photography in cinema: https://www.infoplease.com/features/movies-tv-and-music/movies-and-film-aesthetics-black-and-white-and-color and http://www.unl.edu/english/black-white-cinema-colorful-history-monochrome-movies. Rob uses the phrase ‘in medias res’ in passing, and if you’re not familiar with it this might be worth a look: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InMediasRes. Finally, this is an explanation of the Anita Shreve with which Bigelow was working: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weight_of_Water (complete with reference to the Janeses’ ambiguously named child!).

    31 min
  • 3.1 - POINT BREAK (1991) & The Female Gaze

    We kick off Season 3 with a fresh approach: we’re going director-by-director, for four weeks at a time. The subject of our first four weeks — the director of our first four films — is the fêted director of ZERO DARK THIRTY, subject of an early PP episode, and the forthcoming DETROIT: Kathryn Bigelow.

    We’re starting at the other end of Bigelow’s career, though, with her 1991 breakthrough POINT BREAK. A surprisingly progressive film, given its era, we talk about the particularly ‘female’ way it’s shot, the breathless editing style, and how the characters may be archetypes that reach beyond the movie itself.

    This Week’s Media

    DESPICABLE ME 3 (2017): Pierre Coffin, Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig
    MULAN II (2004): Darrell Rooney, Mark Moseley, Ming-Na Wen
    GHOST IN THE SHELL (2017): Rupert Sanders, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Carmen Pitt

    Recommendations

    SCRUBS (2001–10): Bill Lawrence, Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke
    TOMBSTONE (1993): George P. Cosmatos, Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer
    TANK GIRL (1995): Rachel Talalay, Lori Petty, Ice-T
    THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (2001): Rob Cohen, Paul Walker, Vin Diesel

    Footnotes

    On the subject of Kathryn Bigelow, here’s our ZDT episode, from Season 1: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/zero-dark-thirty-the-other/id990653468?i=1000382263499&mt=2. To make up for the fact that Sam got the lead actor confused, here’s a link to this summer’s ATOMIC BLONDE: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2406566. (Though, on a side note, if they were going for 80s pop chic, why does the trailer use a Eurythmics song rather than the open goal of Blondie’s ‘Atomic’??). Here’s a whole book on the ‘hard body’ action films of the 80s: https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Bodies-Hollywood-Masculinity-Reagan/dp/0813520037. These are various editing tips, some of which — as explained this week — chime with KB’s work: https://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/12-tips-for-better-film-editing. For more on gender studies and ‘the female gaze’, the work of Anneke Smelik (as advocated on previous PPs) is a good place to start: http://www.annekesmelik.nl. Finally, this is a good primer on the historical (but quasi-folkloric) figure of Johnny Appleseed: http://mentalfloss.com/article/62113/9-facts-tell-true-story-johnny-appleseed.

    35 min
  • 2.49 - 100 - THE PRESTIGE (2006) & Misdirection

    To mark our 100th episode, we go back to the film that in part gave the podcast its name: yes, it’s The Prestige on The Prestige! We talk about how this film works as an allegory for a magical illusion, some theories about how the movie might represent parts of Christopher Nolan’s psyche, and how this technique really works in this film whereas in others it probably/definitely (depending on whether you ask Sam or Rob) doesn’t.

    This Week’s Media

    DHEEPAN (2015): Jacques Audiard, Anthonythasan Jesuthasan, Thomas Bidegain
    BABY DRIVER (2017): Edgar Wright, Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey

    Recommendations

    MEMENTO (2000): Christopher Nolan, Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss
    LABYRINTH (1986): Jim Henson, David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly
    CARRIERS (2009): Àlex Pastor, David Pastor, Lou Taylor Pucci
    THE USUAL SUSPECTS (1995): Bryan Singer, Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne

    Footnotes

    A lot of what we talk about this week has the idea of meta-cinema behind it, which we’ve talked about a lot before: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacinema. (We do so most obviously in the last episode of Season 1, on JOHN DIES AT THE END: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/john-dies-at-the-end-and-meta/id990653468?i=1000382263507&mt=2). Sam’s fact about jump-cuts in the film comes from the IMDB page on the film, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571, which also has the (quite short) section on production gaffes. This is a good article about some of the cinematic trickery of the movie: http://www.avclub.com/article/prestige-plays-trick-its-audience-hiding-secret-pl-232247. Finally, here are a couple of videos: an interview with Nolan himself about the film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOD4d--mztc, and a longer ‘making of’ video, taken from the DVD extras: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOD4d--mztc.

    30 min
  • 2.48 - THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003) & Openendedness

    We’ve done it! It’s the end of the franchise season! Peter Jackson’s fantasy behemoth comes to a close — or does it? We talk about that feeling of ‘what now?’, the way in which the narrative shifts perspectives, and the visual cinematic genius of Jackson.

    This Week’s Media

    MR ROBOT S2 (2017): Sam Esmail, Rami Malek, Charly Chalkin
    HAPPY ENDINGS (2011—13): David Caspe, Eliza Coupe, Elisha Cuthbert

    Recommendations

    TOY SOLDIERS (1991): Daniel Petrie Jr., Sean Astin, Wil Wheaton
    AUSTRALIA (2008): Baz Luhrnmann, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman
    STAR TREK (2009): J.J. Abrams, John Cho, Ben Cross
    CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011): Joe Johnston, Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones

    Footnotes

    Once again, our footnotes start with links to the Wikipedia and ‘Tolkien Gateway’ entries for the film. This is the video of Andy Serkis’s transformation for the new APES film (which really doesn’t look worth watching, except possibly for him): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeZ8BQBl8NA. There’s a sort of introduction to the ‘filmic language’ that Rob briefly mentions, here: http://learnaboutfilm.com/film-language. And finally, confused by the phrase ‘Dutch tilt’ or ‘Dutch angle’? Here’s a basic guide: http://www.videoeditingsage.com/camera-angles-dutch-tilt.html. (Every day’s a school day…)

    30 min
  • 2.47 - THE TWO TOWERS (2002) & Loyalty

    Our concluding franchise continues, with the film that’s a bit of a ‘difficult second album’. We get onto a theme much earlier, talking about who is loyal to whom, why the bad guys seem particularly unnatural, and links with other franchises: from K.K. Rowling to Ridley Scott.

    This Week’s Media

    MARS (2016—): André Bormanis, Jihae, Alberto Ammann
    THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (2013): Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Shirley MacLaine
    WONDER WOMAN (2017): Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot, Chris Pine

    Recommendations

    THE THIN RED LINE (1998): Terrence Malick, Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn
    CHILD’S PLAY (1988): Tom Holland, Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon
    THE AVIATOR (2004): Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett
    KING KONG (2005): Peter Jackson, Naomi Watts, Jack Black

    Footnotes

    Not much in the way of footnotes this week, though trawling the Wikipedia article for TTT is an enjoyable way to waste quarter of an hour. Should you want more detail, the ‘Tolkien Gateway’ can help. On a different note, referring back to ’This Week’s Media', here are a few glowing features on WONDER WOMAN: 1, 2, and 3. And here’s one of those ‘surprising information’ articles (although, if you’ve seen the film, several of the points aren’t really that surprising…). Finally, given all this, it’s fitting that this is the week that we have the highest number of women in our list of directors/actors (above); at 8 out of 21, though (38%), it’s still not amazing...

    30 min
  • 2.46 - THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001) & Industrialisation

    The last franchise of Season 2 is a bit of a behemoth: it’s the Jackson/Tolkien epic. We don’t get round to talking about our theme till very late on, but we do talk a lot about the mechanics of this film: including just what makes the ring itself so impressive.

    This Week’s Media

    THE CRACKED PODCAST (2013—): Alex Schmidt, Michael Swaim, Dan O'Brien
    I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO (2016): Raoul Peck, James Baldwin, Samuel L. Jackson

    Recommendations

    DEAD ALIVE/BRAINDEAD (1992): Peter Jackson, Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver
    A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (2005): David Cronenberg, Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello
    THE FIFTH ELEMENT (1995): Luc Besson, Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman
    MR HOLMES (2015): Bill Condon, Ian McKellen, Laura Linney

    Footnotes

    The episode of the CRACKED podcast Sam recommends is here. If you’re the sort of full-on fantasy fan (I won’t use the N or the G word, as everyone’s a bit like that…) who’s interested the nitty-gritty in authors’ world-building, then here’s an introduction to the nittiest of grittiest background works (that Rob briefly mentions): . Here’s quite a good basic introduction to the 3-act dramatic structure that we discuss this week. And here’s more on Tolkien himself, for those (including the two of us!) who might want to do some reading up on the author before we continue with the franchise.

    31 min
  • 2.45 - WAYNE’S WORLD 2 (1993) & Pastiche

    Here’s the sequel to the Spheeris/Myers/Michaels smash hit. Discussion ranges from movie references to franchise-level production decisions, via ‘good v. bad’ spoofs (yes, it’s another of Rob’s Theories…)

    This Week’s Media

    HOUSE OF CARDS, Season 5 (2017): Beau Willimon, Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright
    THE THREE CABALLEROS (1944): Norman Ferguson, Homer Brightmen, Clarence Nash

    Recommendations

    A VIEW TO A KILL (1985): John Glen, Roger Moore, Tanya Roberts
    WHIP IT (2009): Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden
    TRUE LIES (1994): James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis
    LOCK, STOCK... [TV] (2000): Ralph Brown, Daniel Caltagirone, Scott Maslen

    Footnotes

    There isn’t much in the way of footnotes this week, so here are a few references to some of the TV/films we mention: BATMAN; any John Hughes film; TERMINATOR 2; THE GRADUATE; and AIRPLANE!. Finally, a short piece on the story behind the film’s writing (though it’s surprisingly pro- the movie!).

    33 min

About The Prestige

From the publisher's feed

A podcast for cinephiles of all stripes. Join Rob & Sam, two life-long friends, one a veteran of the film industry, the other a Cambridge-educated writer on books, movies and graphic novels. Each…