6th: The Illusionist
The Illusionist is a mystery drama movie set in Vienna at the end of the 19th century, with magic on show and a royal who doesn’t like it much. The movie is an interesting one, the plot is very intriguing and really makes you think quite a bit about what will happen next. We think the movie also stays with you afterwards as you fully realize what has happened in the movie, a kind of nice after taste if you will.
Smart plot
It has a smart plot and feels even smarter as the credits roll, there is no doubt this will please many, many fans but we did feel this movie thinks it is much smarter than it is. Now it is not that the film has been done before necessarily, it is just that the plot when thought about is good but in truth you can see the producers really wanted people to leave and think “Wow that was amazing!” and try to win you over on only one element of the story.
Cast
The movie is well acted all round and the cast are picked well, Edward Norton is fine as our main character Eisenheim and he manages to confidentially play out a difficult role. Paul Giamatti as Chief Inspector Uhl is good as well, the way in which his character has two faces in a way really makes this a defining role for Giamatti in cinema.
Jessica Biel is fine as the Duchess and although she isn’t great, her role is very important in the end, with Rufus Sewell’s portrayal of the Crown Prince Leopold also a very fine and important role all together too.
Neil Burger writes and directs the movie and he does both well mixing together elements which haven’t been done before and bringing in the tried and tested to create an all round good film. Above all he directs well here and it is one of the best things about this, Burger manages to bring not only the most out of the characters but also true emotion and it can’t be said that you don’t feel for the characters if not a little by the end in anyway.
The film is even well researched, it goes well with a true story in history about the Crown Prince and the duchess and takes a new, if not absurd, spin on the story, well for some, maybe it is absurd. We liked the setting of the movie. Vienna provides a beautiful backdrop and one of the defining things about this is the architecture, it may make you want to go on holiday there after viewing I have no doubt.
Overall
Overall it is a good piece of cinema and one that will be remembered. As we said it thinks it is smarter than it really is so some may watch this and really love it like a lot. It is though a smart plot in fairness and a smart movie all round, the cleverness of the team in directing and writing and also the acting makes this a fine movie and one that may have some calling for why certain actors didn’t get award nominations.
5th: Fight Club
Movies absolutely do not get any better than this. This is one of the best book-to-movie adaptations of all time, to the point where the author of the novel that it is based off of says that it is an improvement on his book.
Unique Dark movie
Fight Club is a uniquely dark (but not that all depressing) film that immediately pulls you into its world with well written narration that shows you an interesting perspective on the world as we know it. This perspective comes from the main character (no, I’m not going to say his name) who happens to be a narcoleptic, insomniac, middle class man with an OK desk job at a car company.
The story takes a turn for the interesting when he befriends a strange yet interesting man names Tyler Durden. The two become great friends and later form “Fight Club”; a club made up of men who feel enslaved by consumerism and just want a good outlet. And for the sake of spoilers, that is all I can tell you about the story.
Spectacular quality
As far as movie quality, it is spectacular. The movie has extremely well written and well acted characters, with a spectacular cast that fits perfectly into their roles. The dialogue is amazingly well written and it manages to be funny, witty, and non-cliché at the same time.
The story is interesting throughout, without a single dull moment (thanks to David Fincher’s directing). The musical score is one of the best musical scores ever written, setting the mood perfectly in every scene and making every moment intense- feeling. And even the little details re-noticeably good, like the cinematography, special effects, and even the lighting.
But of course, what this movie has become most known for is its ending. We will not spoil anything, but this movie has the most beautiful and satisfying ending that, to this day, we have ever seen in a movie.
Overall, we would say that if you enjoy good acting, directing, story, dialogue, and etc, DEFINITELY see this film.
4th: Inception
Christopher Nolan’s Inception is a movie that leaves its rivals miles away with the acumen and stunning visuals.
The story
The movie takes place in the near future, where Leonardo DiCaprio‘s Dom Cobb steals secrets by infiltrating his victims’ dreams. Saito (Ken Wantanabe) hires Cobb to pull off an infinitely more difficult mission of ‘Inception’, the planting of an idea into someone’s (Cillian Murphy playing Robert Fischer) head in such a way that it seems to have been created naturally.
If that’s challenging enough, it gets even trickier. To accomplish the task, Cobb collects a team of experts: Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), his partner-in-crime, Ariadne (Ellen Page), the architect who creates the dream-world, and Eames (Tom Hardy) and Yusuf (Dileep Rao), who handle other parts of the process. The team has to penetrate a labyrinth of dreams within dreams, meeting ever more, more dangers at every step. To say anymore would be criminal but what was mentioned above is just one layer of this absolutely enthralling plot.
Brilliant tour-de-force
As the director, Christopher Nolan manages to produce a brilliant tour-de-force. Nolan does just what the characters of Inception had set out to do – sowing the seed of a premise and concept that holds so much promise and then delivering that promise with such panache, so much so that you’ll want to continue living in that world created by the cognitive senses by interpreting what’s on screen, then fantasizing on it a lot more with the subconscious.
Nolan juggles all of these intricate layers very prudently to make them connect. Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb – the emotional core of the film – shows you exactly why he is lauded one of the best actors working in the industry today.
Inception is a lavishly deceitful thriller, with levels upon level of subconscious diving. It’s a bold, unflinching movie of hitherto seemingly impossible technical brilliance.