BRINGING SEXY BACK.
So first off, I was modeling for animation class' figure sketching last night. In varied attempts to create poses which would be dynamic and interesting for my classmates to sketch, I do believe that I've injured my right shoulderblade from when it was resting underneath me while overextending my left hip. The small of my back is killing me too, which I'm certain I did a number of things to in my contortions -_- Serves me right for trying that kind of shit when I don't take yoga or.. whatever you do that makes this sort of thing normally possible.
Later on, rather than go work on our first animation projects, a bunch of us from class (Fred, Booker, Roger, Ben, chasiewbao, and I) went and saw The Prestige that was showing at the theater right by school.
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Mmmmm'kay, fangirlish squeeing out of the way first: JIJFOAL CFDJFJSHIFUHJBJFH FKJOdiosjafojs fajkfhasoifjopkf on a pogo stick, I thought my eyes would fall out of my head. Hugh Jackman really, really, REALLY pulls off high class turn of the century fashion well, which I love enough on its own ANYWAY, but he was IN them and that's a joygasm of top hats and waistcoats and fluffy silky ties that-should-NEVER-have-gone-out-of-fashion in every scene. Woof. Christian Bale wasn't exactly hard to look at either, mind, but he wasn't so much the fashion plate in this movie, which is a pity. Unnnnnnf, and those shoooooooes T____T *wibble*
Right, now I'm done and won't mention it again for the rest of this review. Promise. Not really.
All that said, everyone in this movie is a terrible, terrible person in some way, except for the occasional innocent bystander, like Borden's wife and daughter or, uh, Angier's .. blind stage hands. But for characters who all initially come off as very sad, sympathetic figures, the way they both get swept up in one-upping each other at the expense of what they had even begun the fighting for ("I don't care about my wife, I care about his tricks") reaaaaally threw both magicians out of the running for much audience sympathy. .. if "both" is really the word I want here, but if we overlook technically and truly assume both brothers were Borden, in a sense, you could count 'em as one. Surprisingly, even though I found it hard to sympathize with either of them on a moral level, I still cared about both characters, which really is a credit to the writers and Jackman and Bale for still being palateable even while showing themselves to be capable of truly despicable acts. It never hurts that they're hot. Sorry.
Also: SQUEEEEEEE DAVID BOWIE!!! XD How FAB was he? Not even big-wigged and flamboyant, but understated and flaring at the eyebrows and cooly obsessed and still on top of things. Oh god Bowie, you're awesome.
It hurt watching the other people who cared about the magicians getting caught in the crossfire. Angier's wife didn't particularly count just then, though it was still tragic. (Boy, those axes never were any good for anyone, were they?) Borden's wife was unbelievably sad, and more than a little disturbing--she couldn't have possibly known for a fact what her husband was, but sensed a clear dichotomy? Probably. I can't say it was all for the best, the method she chose to remove herself from a worsening situation, but I'm sure it saved her from furthur grief at the least. One can only hope her daughter was young enough not to be too damaged by all the shit her parents were going through. And I was really very fond of Cutter, by far coming off as one of the more sane and well adjusted characters in the movie, but by the end? Yeah, he sucked too.
The last shot of the movie perplexed me. The way in which the dead Angier double in the tank was filmed felt like it was done in such a way as to convey something new to the audience. Surely it wasn't to clarify that "yes, Angier planted a water tank below the machine in every act to do away with whichever unlucky Angier happened to be above the trapdoor" because the audience was already aware of this fact (right?) and I didn't get the sense that it was intended for Borden's sake, either. He hardly looked at it--he may have already figured it out himself already. I felt like the soggy-Angier body was supposed to just make us wonder, "if even for a moment", to lend some credence to Angier's Death Monologue. Or maybe I just want to believe that somewhere floating out there, in response to a Borden who will probably never do magic again, is another Angier--both miserable and devoid of furthur desire for either magic or revenge. But then I like the idea of balance.
Of course, we could also just assume that "Borden" died with some finality, and the remaining brother just isn't "Borden" without the other, and a single Angier dying is therefore completely appropriate and in balance. Or almost 100 Angiers dying. I think I just confused myself again.
Also, how classy is it that the movie itself followed the formula of all the great stage magic tricks? (Reiterated at the end of the movie yet again by Cutter, just in case anyone didn't catch it) .. well, I thought it was nifty. And, like Borden almost randomly having a double, even with hints and doubts peppered throughout the film--like Cutter says, it really is kind of disappointing when you know the secret. But it's awesome because it was following format. So. Like yay.
So, is anyone predicting some major grudge-fuck slash for this movie? Even Olivia said Borden and Angier deserved each other. And I know she said that in a bitter and not!slashy way, but really, if they just went at each other there certainly wouldn't be undeserving wives and mistresses getting caught up in the middle of their war. (Yeah right, my slashy ideas are so altruistic..) And holy GOD, the slashbunnies centered around Angier's duplicating machine alone have such insane potential I wouldn't know where to begin. WOULDN'T KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN. I don't care if that machine makes not a lick of sense, that machine is a vehicle for sheer kink. Egomaniacal doubles-sex (is that masturbation? I don't even know O_O) or an errant Angier kept around as a grudge-fuck!slave by whoever wants him but probably one of the Bordens. The possibilities are as varied and nonsensical as the machine itself! WRITERS: I WILL PAY YOU IN SKETCHES FOR THIS.
Anyway, it's a much better movie than my fangirlish squeeings made it sound, but then you ought to know that if you're reading this--otherwise I've just spoiled a shit ton of stuff for you ^_^;;
After the movie and an early early breakfast at Denny's:
chasiewbao spotted the incredible phallicicicity of it all--I just ran up to take advantage of what was being offered. I didn't even get his name, though. Very inconsiderate of me.
Later on, rather than go work on our first animation projects, a bunch of us from class (Fred, Booker, Roger, Ben, chasiewbao, and I) went and saw The Prestige that was showing at the theater right by school.
-----
Mmmmm'kay, fangirlish squeeing out of the way first: JIJFOAL CFDJFJSHIFUHJBJFH FKJOdiosjafojs fajkfhasoifjopkf on a pogo stick, I thought my eyes would fall out of my head. Hugh Jackman really, really, REALLY pulls off high class turn of the century fashion well, which I love enough on its own ANYWAY, but he was IN them and that's a joygasm of top hats and waistcoats and fluffy silky ties that-should-NEVER-have-gone-out-of-fashion in every scene. Woof. Christian Bale wasn't exactly hard to look at either, mind, but he wasn't so much the fashion plate in this movie, which is a pity. Unnnnnnf, and those shoooooooes T____T *wibble*
Right, now I'm done and won't mention it again for the rest of this review. Promise. Not really.
All that said, everyone in this movie is a terrible, terrible person in some way, except for the occasional innocent bystander, like Borden's wife and daughter or, uh, Angier's .. blind stage hands. But for characters who all initially come off as very sad, sympathetic figures, the way they both get swept up in one-upping each other at the expense of what they had even begun the fighting for ("I don't care about my wife, I care about his tricks") reaaaaally threw both magicians out of the running for much audience sympathy. .. if "both" is really the word I want here, but if we overlook technically and truly assume both brothers were Borden, in a sense, you could count 'em as one. Surprisingly, even though I found it hard to sympathize with either of them on a moral level, I still cared about both characters, which really is a credit to the writers and Jackman and Bale for still being palateable even while showing themselves to be capable of truly despicable acts. It never hurts that they're hot. Sorry.
Also: SQUEEEEEEE DAVID BOWIE!!! XD How FAB was he? Not even big-wigged and flamboyant, but understated and flaring at the eyebrows and cooly obsessed and still on top of things. Oh god Bowie, you're awesome.
It hurt watching the other people who cared about the magicians getting caught in the crossfire. Angier's wife didn't particularly count just then, though it was still tragic. (Boy, those axes never were any good for anyone, were they?) Borden's wife was unbelievably sad, and more than a little disturbing--she couldn't have possibly known for a fact what her husband was, but sensed a clear dichotomy? Probably. I can't say it was all for the best, the method she chose to remove herself from a worsening situation, but I'm sure it saved her from furthur grief at the least. One can only hope her daughter was young enough not to be too damaged by all the shit her parents were going through. And I was really very fond of Cutter, by far coming off as one of the more sane and well adjusted characters in the movie, but by the end? Yeah, he sucked too.
The last shot of the movie perplexed me. The way in which the dead Angier double in the tank was filmed felt like it was done in such a way as to convey something new to the audience. Surely it wasn't to clarify that "yes, Angier planted a water tank below the machine in every act to do away with whichever unlucky Angier happened to be above the trapdoor" because the audience was already aware of this fact (right?) and I didn't get the sense that it was intended for Borden's sake, either. He hardly looked at it--he may have already figured it out himself already. I felt like the soggy-Angier body was supposed to just make us wonder, "if even for a moment", to lend some credence to Angier's Death Monologue. Or maybe I just want to believe that somewhere floating out there, in response to a Borden who will probably never do magic again, is another Angier--both miserable and devoid of furthur desire for either magic or revenge. But then I like the idea of balance.
Of course, we could also just assume that "Borden" died with some finality, and the remaining brother just isn't "Borden" without the other, and a single Angier dying is therefore completely appropriate and in balance. Or almost 100 Angiers dying. I think I just confused myself again.
Also, how classy is it that the movie itself followed the formula of all the great stage magic tricks? (Reiterated at the end of the movie yet again by Cutter, just in case anyone didn't catch it) .. well, I thought it was nifty. And, like Borden almost randomly having a double, even with hints and doubts peppered throughout the film--like Cutter says, it really is kind of disappointing when you know the secret. But it's awesome because it was following format. So. Like yay.
So, is anyone predicting some major grudge-fuck slash for this movie? Even Olivia said Borden and Angier deserved each other. And I know she said that in a bitter and not!slashy way, but really, if they just went at each other there certainly wouldn't be undeserving wives and mistresses getting caught up in the middle of their war. (Yeah right, my slashy ideas are so altruistic..) And holy GOD, the slashbunnies centered around Angier's duplicating machine alone have such insane potential I wouldn't know where to begin. WOULDN'T KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN. I don't care if that machine makes not a lick of sense, that machine is a vehicle for sheer kink. Egomaniacal doubles-sex (is that masturbation? I don't even know O_O) or an errant Angier kept around as a grudge-fuck!slave by whoever wants him but probably one of the Bordens. The possibilities are as varied and nonsensical as the machine itself! WRITERS: I WILL PAY YOU IN SKETCHES FOR THIS.
Anyway, it's a much better movie than my fangirlish squeeings made it sound, but then you ought to know that if you're reading this--otherwise I've just spoiled a shit ton of stuff for you ^_^;;
After the movie and an early early breakfast at Denny's:
chasiewbao spotted the incredible phallicicicity of it all--I just ran up to take advantage of what was being offered. I didn't even get his name, though. Very inconsiderate of me.