Tag Archives: Scarlett Johansson

The Prestige (2006)

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The Prestige (2006)Christopher Nolan’s film “The Prestige” (2006) is an adaptation of Christopher Priest’s novel of the same name about two magician friends who become mortal enemies. Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) stands trial in turn-of-the-century London for the murder of Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and faces the gallows. The story is set up as all tricks in three parts: The Pledge, the Turn and the Prestige. Only at the end will we find out the truth.

We are taken back into the year 1887 when both Alfred and Angier were still friends and assisting a magician on stage. During one of the shows Angier’s wife Julia has a fatal accident and Angier blames Borden for her death.

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Match Point (2005)

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Match Point (2005)Woody Allen is back in the game and he has a “Match Point” in this one. Chris (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), a young man who wants to make something out of his life, quits his professional tennis player career, becomes a tennis instructor and quickly moves on once he meets Tom (Matthew Goode) and his sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer). Chris starts dating Chloe but is secretly in love with Tom’s fiancée Nola (Scarlett Johansson). Torn between a posh upper-class lifestyle with all its luxury and his lust for Nola, Chris is contemplating his possibilities to have both and give up neither. A lot of it depends on chance as the movie points out in the very beginning with an analogy to a tennis ball hitting the net. Whether you lose or win depends on where the ball will land: pure chance – the movie’s main theme.

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The Island (2005)

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The Island“The Island” is the last uncontaminated place on earth where mankind can propagate. You win the lottery and you go to the island and live happily ever after. That is what they are made to believe. It’s not a new idea and cloning has been the subject of many books and movies. “The Island” tries the “organ farm” approach, clones as insurance policy for the super rich.

It’s a conglomerate of ideas revisited for the xth time, wrapped up in nice effects and a too obvious story line. Scarlett Johansson never looked hotter on screen, I have to admit. And Steve Buscemi – as always – gets killed off in a pointless way as in all his movies (except for Ghost World).

It all hinges on Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) and his discovery about the real nature of his existence. The viewers are let in on this long before Lincoln’s discovery and we are “dragged along” as the story unfolds.

“The Island” is not a bad movie. It is well made and well acted and the sets look good it’s just that it has no surprises, no twists, no room for speculation. It’s too predictable and the “Logan’s Run” like ending was possibly the worst way to end this movie.
6/10