I was curious, too. Seems the Saudis kept him on a stipend to keep him quiet because he was "hurting Islam." Hmmm. [link]
A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything.
Wash ,'The Message'
Buffista Movies 5: Development Hell
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
flea - Oct 16, 2006 6:11:55 am PDT #4744 of 10001
information libertarian
beekaytee - Oct 16, 2006 9:20:00 am PDT #4745 of 10001
Compassionately intolerant
Huh. I guess it worked, considering the dimness of my memory of any mention of him during that period, but still. There is conveniently quiet and then there is paid his debt quiet.
Beverly - Oct 16, 2006 3:36:10 pm PDT #4746 of 10001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
Not a movie, so forgive the momentary lapse, but Beej, MacAvoy was also wonderful in Shakespeare Retold's Macbeth on BBCA recently.
beekaytee - Oct 17, 2006 5:03:19 am PDT #4747 of 10001
Compassionately intolerant
I'm sooo tracking THAT down, Beverly! I introduced Fela to Children of Dune over the last two nights and he was just as taken with McAvoy as I am. Such presence. (a bit too with the scrawn for my tastes, but oh, those eyes and that delivery...)
Jessica - Oct 17, 2006 5:15:26 am PDT #4748 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Saw The Prestige last night...I wanted it to be better than it was. I think Nolan was just so much in love with the cleverness of the structure that he lost track of the movie within it.
beekaytee - Oct 17, 2006 5:40:51 am PDT #4749 of 10001
Compassionately intolerant
Oh nooooo. I skipped The Illlusionist in favor of patiently waiting for the Prestige. I just assumed it would be a better movie.
Strega - Oct 17, 2006 5:42:40 am PDT #4750 of 10001
But... Bowie! As Tesla! Sigh.
I wanted it to be better than it was.How good did you want it to be? Okay, what I actually mean is: is it reasonably entertaining but not amazing, or is it too busy being clever to even be entertaining?
beekaytee - Oct 17, 2006 5:46:13 am PDT #4751 of 10001
Compassionately intolerant
But... Bowie! As Tesla!
This!
Mikey - Oct 17, 2006 5:52:07 am PDT #4752 of 10001
All this time, I thought Hunter was a bitch. Turns out she was just hungry.
Beej, Edward Norton. The man doesn't make that many movies these days. (Who knows? You might enjoy both movies anyway.)
Jessica - Oct 17, 2006 5:52:20 am PDT #4753 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Bowie! As Tesla!
In latex that hides his cheekbones and a mustache hiding his upper lip! It's criminal, I tell you!
is it reasonably entertaining but not amazing, or is it too busy being clever to even be entertaining?
It's reasonably entertaining, but it spends so much effort making sure you know that this is a movie structured like a magic trick and will have a twist turn and a reveal prestige JUST LIKE A MAGIC TRICK that, if you're paying any kind of attention at all, you'll be able to figure out both tricks pretty early on.
What's really well done is how intense the rivalry between Jackman and Bale's characters is -- when they don't back down, they really don't back down, and I appreciated how far the movie was willing to take it. Mostly, I wish less had been explained. The third act is painfully drawn out, and depends on the audience not having figured out either trick to be interesting.