The Prestige

The Prestige

By KaijuFMTV & Film
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The Prestige episodes

  • 2.14 - THE EVIL DEAD (1981) & The Unknown

    We kick off this year’s Hallowe’en festivities — a week to go! — with a classic horror franchise, starting with Sam Raimi’s 1981 classic THE EVIL DEAD. Rob and Sam discuss innovative cinematography and narrative, take a rather long diversion on gender politics in film, and talk about hubris and the ‘rules' of horror cinema.

    STAY TUNED FOR MORE HORROR GOODNESS, LATER TODAY.

    As you can tell from the apostrophe, Sam wrote this.

    Except don’t, because this isn’t twentieth-century radio.

    This Week’s Watching

    DESIGNATED SURVIVOR (2016—): David Guggenheim, Kiefer Sutherland, Natascha McElhone
    PADDINGTON (2014): Paul King, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins

    Recommendations

    THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999): Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez, Heather Donahue
    NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968): George A. Romero, Judith O’Dea, Duane Jones
    DELIVERANCE (1972): John Boorman, Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds
    DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978): George A. Romero, David Emge, Ken Foree HELLRAISER (1987): Clive Barker, Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins

    Footnotes

    Sam mentions one of our favourite dramatic touchstones, Chekov’s gun. This article provides an interesting overview of gender in cinema in the 1970s and 80s; although Molly Haskell’s book first came out in 1974, the second edition covers the period in question here. This is a good list of horror ‘rules’, and Rob mentions H.P. Lovecraft in the course of his discussion of these.

    31 min
  • 2.13 - THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS (2003) & Choice

    This week, we conclude our focus on the Matrix franchise with the Wachowskis’ 2003 conclusion to the trilogy. We talk about exile, decisions, sympathy versus empathy, and what the series boils down to.

    This Week’s Watching

    LUKE CAGE (2016): Cheo Hodari Coker, Mike Colter, Mahershala Ali
    THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY — PART 2 (2015): Francis Lawrence, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson
    HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING (2016): Tom Tykwer, Tom Hanks, Alexander Black

    Recommendations

    CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011): Joe Johnston, Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones
    2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968): Stanley Kubrick, Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood
    MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME (1985): George Miller, Mel Gibson, Tina Turner
    CITY OF EMBER (2008): Gil Kenan, Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadaway

    Footnotes

    (Audio issues abound this week, I'm afraid: there are gremlins on Sam's line, and then there's no audio clip of the film. Never mind. YouTube'll sort you out.) For more on the frankly bizarre reaction to LUKE CAGE as ''''racist'''' (there aren’t enough quotation marks in the world), see here. Covering what Sam mentions at the start of the episode, the website involving changed movie names and funny cartoons is here and the Jackie Chan video is here. The latter is well worth a watch for anyone interested in fight choreography, or even just in acting/directing more generally. Read more on ‘temet nosce’ here. Finally, the reference to the blinding of Neo opening up a whole world of allusion to Greek mythology is best explained by this. (And there’s the sex-changing aspect of this character, which is a whole different kettle of fish…but this episode was long enough without that particular rabbit hole! One last MATRIX reference for you, there.)

    30 min
  • 2.12 - THE MATRIX RELOADED (2003) & Free Will

    We continue our forays into the world of the Matrix, with the Wachowskis’ 2003 sequel. The reviews are unsurprisingly different, and we then get into some interesting discussions of viruses, narrative bloat, how much choice is involved in the narration (and indeed consumption) of the film, and why this movie becomes about love of different kinds (fatherhood has turned Rob into the sentimental type).

    This Week’s Watching

    ANTHONY BOURDAIN: PARTS UNKNOWN (2013–): Anthony Bourdain
    TRAVEL MAN (2015–): Richard Ayoade
    SICARIO (2015): Denis Villeneuve, Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro

    Recommendations

    IRRÉVERSIBLE (2002): Gaspar Noé, Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassell
    JUPITER ASCENDING (2015): Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, Channing Tatum
    V FOR VENDETTA (2006): James McTeigue, the Wachowskis, Natalie Portman
    JOHNNY MNEMONIC (1995): Robert Longo, Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren

    Footnotes

    The Wachowskis (see last week’s footnotes for a discussion of whether or not they were brothers at the time of these early films…) share their thoughts on the choices made by an audience here. Sam was about to go off on one about the dystopian depictions of Zion, Hieronymus Bosch, and Fritz Lang’s 1927 film METROPOLIS, before we had a recording malfunction; you can either offer thanks for the fact everyone was spared this, or read more here and here. There are some contributions to discussions on some of the themes of this week’s episode, of varying quality, here and here. Finally, names: more on 'Merovingian', ‘Persephone’ and ‘Morpheus’.

    29 min
  • 2.11 - THE MATRIX (1999) & Spectacle

    The band’s back together…After last week’s interlude, franchise season continues with the Wachowskis’ 1999 movie THE MATRIX. Both Rob and Sam have a different take on this film than their teenaged selves; we talk technical experiences, cinematic turning-points, and dystopian worlds.

    This Week's Viewing

    ROLLERBALL (1975): Norman Jewison, James Caan, John Houseman
    MEMENTO (2000): Christopher Nolan, Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss
    MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–): Joss Whedon, Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen
    HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE (2001): Chris Columbus, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint

    RECOMMENDATIONS

    AVATAR (2009): James Cameron, Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana
    BOUND (1996): the Wachowskis, Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon
    GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995): Mamoru Oshii, Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Ōtsuka
    FIGHT CLUB (1999): David Fincher, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton

    FOOTNOTES

    First of all, Sam would like to make it clear that any mention of the Wachowskis as 'brothers' on his part was a reference to the pre-transition state in which they lived while the first film was being shot. For more on their status as Hollywood's first openly transgender directors, see here (number 2) and here. Sam starts the episode by mentioning a stunning comic about film history and technology (it’s a whole lot better than that makes it sound), Edward Ross’s Filmish (2015). The Wachowski Sisters have stated their indebtedness to Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacres et simulation (1981) — this isn’t just Sam drawing unfounded academic conclusions; Neo actually uses a copy of the book as a hiding-place at the beginning of the film, and you can read about the directors insistence that all the actors familiarised themselves with the work, here. If it really tickles your fancy, here’s the original. This article has an explanation of the ‘bullet time’ effect we discuss. And finally, this is a thorough analysis, including references to many interesting aspects of the film.

    32 min
  • Reviews with Friends II: 21 Years of SE7EN

    This week, Rob’s on fathering duties, so Sam is joined by Tiernan Douieb (from the ‘Partly Political Broadcast’ podcast) and Mat Wandless (‘The Longest Pleasure’). We have a chat about a film released twenty-one years ago this week: David Fincher’s SE7EN. What have been its influences in pop culture? From where has it drawn inspiration? Do we miss having someone on the podcast who’s actually seen some films? (Yes, definitely. Come back, Rob!)

    Footnotes

    Here’s a list of the films/tv mentioned this week (^deep breath^):

    THE BIG SLEEP (1946)
    SAW I—VII (2004–10)
    LAW-ABIDING CITIZEN (2009)
    LETHAL WEAPON (1987)
    SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
    CRIMSON TIDE (1995)
    TERMINATOR 2 (1991)
    SIN CITY (2005)
    CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER (2014)
    CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016)
    FARGO (1996)
    THE GODFATHER (1972)
    COMMUNITY (2009–15)
    STAR WARS IV: A NEW HOPE (1977)
    RESERVOIR DOGS (1992)
    HOUSE OF CARDS (2013—)
    THE USUAL SUSPECTS (1995)
    GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (1992)
    SWIMMING WITH SHARKS (1994)
    AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999)

    You can find and download Mat’s podcast here (do, it’s really good — particularly the musical interludes...). He’s on Twitter as @TLPPodcast or @mojopriest. Tiernan’s similarly excellent podcast is here. He’s @ParPolBro or @TiernanDouieb on Twitter. And you can download his latest stand-up show at his website; either fall on your keyboard and hope you hit the right vowels, or go here.

    29 min
  • 2.10 - JASON BOURNE (2016) & the Mainstream

    The last in the Bourne franchise (for now, at least) is this week’s topic. A couple of epic rants are followed by some more reasoned discussion about why films get made in the way they do, what makes a movie ‘mainstream’ — and why this isn’t good for the Bourne films.

    This Week’s Watching

    HOOK (1991): Steven Spielberg, Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams
    PRISON BREAK (2005–09): Bobby Roth, Dominic Purcell, Wentworth Miller

    Recommendations

    SALT (2010): Phillip Noyce, Angelina Jolie Pitt, Liev Schreiber
    THE DANISH GIRL (2015): Tom Hooper, Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander
    LA HAINE (1995): Mathieu Kassovitz, Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé
    ELEMENTARY (2012–): Robert Doherty, Jonny Lee Miller, Lucy Liu

    Footnotes

    The interview in which Steven Spielberg explains that he is interested in going back to see if there’s anything he actually likes about HOOK is here (the relevant part starts about 19’20”). The review of JASON BOURNE that Sam first mentions, referring to Damon’s character as both a quasi-superhero and a psychological mess, is here. And this is the second review, which describes the plot of the movie as basically an extended HR exercise. Finally, here’s the CGP Grey video that’s the source of Sam’s Las Vegas trivia.

    29 min
  • 2.9 - THE BOURNE LEGACY (2012) & New Starts

    We move onto the fourth in the Bourne franchise, 2012’s LEGACY. It’s one of those fun episodes where we have…differing opinions on the film, but we come together for discussions of Bourne films more generally, more on franchises, and why certain scenes left us wanting more. (This is Sam's first go at editing and uploading [ooh, the power] due to obvious recent Maythorne developments; go easy on him.)

    This Week’s Watching

    SUICIDE SQUAD (2016): David Ayer, Will Smith, Jared Leto
    APEX (1994): Philip J. Roth, Richard Keats, Mitchell Cox

    Recommendations

    MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL (2011): Brad Bird, Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner
    ABOUT A BOY (2002): Chris Weltz, Nick Hornby, Hugh Grant
    MAGNOLIA (1999): Paul Thomas Anderson, Jeremy Blackman, Tom Cruise
    PACIFIC RIM (2013): Guillermo del Toro, Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba

    Footnotes

    First of all, the overwhelming maleness of the films we mentioned needs addressing; 0 out of 18 names being female is pretty poor. Our fault, or that of Hollywood? Hmmm. This is a good review, encompassing both our perspectives on LEGACY: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/aug/09/the-bourne-legacy-review. This article has some intriguing information on the relationship between Greengrass and Gilroy (and Damon), dating from the release of the fourth film: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/matt-damon-bourne-identity-tony-gilroy-275137. And finally, here’s some good news on the depiction of women in films, which we mention at the end of the episode: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/movies/fall-arts-preview-representation-of-female-characters-in-movies-is-improving.html?_r=0.

    32 min
  • 2.8 - THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM (2007) & Tonal Shifts

    This week, it’s the third in the Bourne franchise, and Paul Greengrass is back in the saddle for the 2007 film. Sam is distracted by a roomful of boxes, but Rob keeps things on track with discussions of shifts in narrative tone, how this is a very different movie from the first one, and why the ending could have been edited better.

    This Week’s Watching

    MONEYBALL (2015): Bennett Miller, Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill
    STRANGER THINGS (2016): Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Winona Ryder

    Recommendations

    THE WORLD’S END (2013): Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost
    SUCKER PUNCH (2011): Zack Snyder, Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens
    DAREDEVIL (2015–): Drew Goddard, Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio
    FACE/OFF (1997): John Woo, John Travolta, Nicholas Cage

    Footnotes

    This book has a great chapter on ULTIMATUM, and connections with Alfred Hitchcock. It makes a great point about Greengrass’s use of CCTV at the start of the film, which we entirely failed to mention. Rob muses on whether it’s time to retire the ‘American officialdom = The Bad Guys’ trope; this site has a list of films where Americans really are the enemy. Finally, this interview has Zack Snyder talking about the ending of BvS.

    31 min
  • 2.7 - THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004) & The Art of the Sequel (II)

    Join Sam and Rob for a discussion of the next Bourne instalment: Paul Greengrass’s 2004 movie. We spend a while thinking about film technology (colour, tone, and use of cameras), before we think more about what makes a franchise, and end with some ideas about why this JB is the interestingly human face of black-ops spying.

    This Week’s Watching

    THE BFG (2016): Steven Spielberg, Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill
    EDDIE THE EAGLE (2016): Dexter Fletcher, Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman
    DOPE (2015): Rick Famuyiwa, Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori

    Recommendations

    THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (2011): George Nolfi, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt
    CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (2013): Paul Greengrass, Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi
    PROOF OF LIFE (2000): Taylor Hackford, Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe
    PLEASANTVILLE (1998): Gary Ross, Tobey Maguire, Jeff Daniels

    34 min
  • 2.6 - THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002) & Amnesia

    This week we embark on a new franchise. Is Doug Liman’s 2002 film a cultural game-changer, a weirdly paced mish-mash, a refreshing dose of reality, or all three?

    This Week’s Watching

    MR ROBOT, Season 2 (2016): Sam Esmail, Rami Malek, Carly Chaikin
    SHERLOCK, Season 1 (2010): Mark Gatiss, Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman
    THOR (2011): Kenneth Branagh, Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman

    Recommendations

    MISSION IMPOSSIBLE (1996): Brian De Palma, Tom Cruise, Jon Voigt
    BEFORE SUNRISE (1995): Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy
    RUN LOLA RUN (1998): Tom Tykwer, Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu
    SWINGERS (1996): Doug Liman, Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn

    Footnotes

    We talked a lot about the James Bond/Austin Powers link, which is a fairly obvious one; this link, though, has a comprehensive list of just how many pastiches there were in the AP films. Sam mentioned PTSD briefly when talking about SHERLOCK, and it also appears in BOURNE (towards the end, and in the later films); read more here and here. Finally, if you’re interested in soundscapes and film, then this is a good resource.

    29 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…