Weird sidebar, but oddly enough we also rented Renoir's The Rules of the Game this week and Bob Bob had a hard time with it because he thought the characters were reprehensible. Neither of us had that reaction to The Prestige, though we could have. I think if the repeated sabotages had any point it was to show how they were habituating to becoming evil characters. Tesla, OTOH, didn't have much justification, and he bothered me for that reason.

Ziggy Stardust helps Wolverine beat Batman using the AWESOME POWER OF ELECTRICITY.

Don't forget, Ziggy's assistant was played by Gollum. While Batman's assistant was, um, well, Batman's assistant, unless you're willing to say he was also Carter from Get Carter.

More spoilers:

I disliked that The Prestige had to use Real Actual Magic to get out of the corner it painted itself into. I didn't like The Illusionist because the central trick seemed callous and obvious, but the Prestige was more callous, more obvious, and the only thing surprising about the reveal was that they had to violate all natural laws to get there AND they'd already shown you that they were willing to do so. Blah.

While Batman's assistant was, um, well, Batman's assistant, unless you're willing to say he was also Carter from Get Carter.

Alfie or Alfred, Michael can just can't keep way from that name.

It's better than that-- Wolverine's assistant was Batman's butler. Batman's assistant was Batman.

Weird sidebar, but oddly enough we also rented Renoir's The Rules of the Game this week and Bob Bob had a hard time with it because he thought the characters were reprehensible.

Really? That's one of my all-time favorite movies, and I think the exact opposite of the characters. They do act reprehensibly sometimes, but they are fundamentally forgiveable and human.

I liked them too. And I think Bob's work on evil makes him oversensitive to everyday evil. But I see where he's coming from-- casual infedelity (accompanied with social acceptance of hiding it from the wife), the hunting scene, the murder, chasing someone around a party with a gun that no one seems to mind, and the General, who at one point laughingly recounts a story where someone dies of a gunshot wound and later dismisses the murder of Jarieu-- all of those things made him hate these people. Not only that, I am sure Renoir wants us to judge those characters for their casualness about the consequences of their lifestyle, even though they are portrayed charmingly.

I was bored to tears by The Prestige. i've had The Illusionist to watch for a while, but haven't gotten around to it. i suspect i'll like it more because of my affection for Edward Norton.

Am now convinced that all magicians are absolutely amoral jackholes and need to be shot.

Heh. A friend of mine was cuckolded by one of the big names in the biz (Lance Burton, I think), so I can't really argue against that interpretation.

Not only that, I am sure Renoir wants us to judge those characters for their casualness about the consequences of their lifestyle, even though they are portrayed charmingly.

I'm split on how Renoir feels about them. There's so much wrong with their lives (and you've nailed exactly how Renoir shows it, especially the hunting scene), but I think the warmth with which he exposes their inner lives means that he isn't sure himself whether to judge them for playing the games of their social class. That ambiguity is one of the best things about the movie. I think Rules shares a certain affinity to Altman's best movies: where Altman thinks of people as petty and self-destructive, but loves them anyway, Renoir is more inclined to love people, but think of some of them as petty and self-destructive, anyway.