Transcendence

Transcendence - trɑːnˈsɛnd(ə)ns,tranˈsɛnd(ə)ns noun – existence or experience beyond the normal or physical level

Synonyms       superiority, supremacy, predominance, pre-eminence, ascendancy, incomparability, matchlessness, peerlessness, excellence, greatness, magnificence, sublimity, importance, rareparamountcy

Iron Man 3

You remember what I always say about sequels and their directors.  I keep insisting that sequels should be directed by the same director.  So in this case it should have been Jon Favreau.  But believe me when I say this.  Moving to Shane Black for Iron Man 3 was probably the best thing that has ever happened to this franchise.

The Town

Located in the outskirts of the “Tea Party” city of Boston is a small hamlet called Charlestown. “The Town” is famous, or should I say infamous for producing the maximum number of criminals in the Boston area. The saying goes, “It’s a family business – passed on from father to son”. And in this small hamlet stay Doug McRay (Ben Affleck), James “Jem” Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), Albert 'Gloansy' Magloan (Slaine) and Desmond Elden (Owen Burke) – a gang of bank robbers masterminded by MacRay and controlled by Fergus 'Fergie' Colm (Pete Postlethwaite) a.k.a the Florist. Between the Florist and MacRay 4 robberies have been masterminded to date. Obviously the florist keeps a cut from the job. The FBI is of course onto their backsides but there is absolutely no proof of their involvement with anything. The gang is smart enough to not leave any fingerprints. They either torch anything that they have touched or spray the place with chemicals to not leave any DNA traces either. And also burn any tapes that may have recorded the entire activity. This obviously leaves FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) quite frustrated.


Frustrated till they pull off their next piece of work. They go about the heist dressed as Skeletors but almost get caught this time around. The Bank Manager, Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) manages to sound a fire alarm. She also manages to see the tattoo of a cartoon character on Jem’s neck. The gang is about to leave but on 2nd thoughts decide to take Claire along with them as some sort of a hostage if the cops catch up with them on the way out. Nothing untoward happens though and a blindfolded Claire is dropped off @ the beach with a warning against talking to the cops or the FBI. For some reason the gang also keeps her license. A highly traumatized Claire is then interviewed by Agent Frawley. Still reeling under the stress of the robbery, she divulges very little. She specifically leaves out the part of the tattoo.

In the meantime, our anti-heroes are back @ their rendezvous point and realize that Claire stays barely 4 blocks away from Charlestown. Panic starts setting in and Jem is all set to dispose her off. But better sense prevails and McRay asks the gang to calm down and focus on the next job which he secretly wants to be his last. He takes the onus of following Claire to check on whether she finds her way back to the cops. He also befriends her in the bargain to try and figure out what she has been speaking to the cops about. Now there is no points for guessing that there is a soft corner that MacRay has a really soft spot for the Bank Manager ever since the robbery was in progress. For a seasoned Bank Robber it was quiet surprising that he lets himself fall for the victim. Not sure what they call this. But the reverse is the “Stockholm Syndrome”.

The Town is Ben Affleck’s 2nd directorial venture. His first being an equally intense drama starring his brother Casey Affleck. He continues with his style of movie making which is set against a dark easy going background and deals with a topic that is extremely socially relevant. Must give him credit in the direction department. Definitely not Oscar worthy as on date but definitely loads of potential in there. Lets put it this way, he is a much better director than an actor. He has definitely done his best to squeeze out as much possible from the not so famous cast. He also keeps the movie going with very little or no low points. There could have been some more effort made on consistency. For e.g. Blake Lively plays the role of Doug’s ex Krista Coughlin. For the kind of set up the Charlestown has, one would not expect Krista to have immaculately manicured and painted nails. Maybe I am wrong but instances like these stick out like a sore thumb in an otherwise well made & compact movie. In the acting department, I thought Jeremy Renner’s performance was quite noteworthy. The rest of the cast barely made it. And yes ladies – you can drool over Affleck’s 8 packs for all of 3.5 seconds during the movie. Overall, I give this a 6.5 on 10.

The Prestige

Every magic trick has 3 parts or Acts. The first step is the pledge where an ordinary object is introduced and if required the audience is invited to check on. Then there is the Turn which is the first part of the trick like making the object disappear. But the most important part is the third. The audience needs to see the object coming back before they genuinely place their faith on you and applaud. This is THE PRESTIGE.

In the late 1800s, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) & Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) are 2 up and coming artistes who work for an elderly magician Milton. Cutter (Michael Caine) is Milton’s Engineer – the person who controls the backend of all the tricks. Lastly there’s Julia (Piper Perabo) is the beautiful distraction to the audience, Angier’s wife, Milton’s assistant / helper who also is part of the lead trick – the underwater escape. In one of the attempts, Borden ties Julia’s hands in a different knot. Unable to escape, she drowns. And the story of vengeance between Borden and Angiers begins.

Since Milton’s show is now officially closed, our protagonists decide to start making a living off their own skill sets. Borden is convinced that good magic is all about getting ones hands dirty and is in his first show itself attempts to catch a bullet. A trick that can get a bit nasty if not executed well. Angiers shows up here and demands to know if Borden had tied the knot differently when Julia died. Borden maintains that he does not remember. In disgust, Angiers shoots 2 of his fingers off leaving him almost incapable of performing any further magic.

Both Angiers and Borden continue their rivalry over time and keep sabotaging each other’s shows with a pure intent of vengeance. They are now known as The Great Danton and The Professor respectively. The Professor, however, continues to be a better magician and Angiers the better showman. The constant attempt to stay ahead of the competition leads The Professor to his latest trick – The Transported Man – A seemingly simple trick of getting into a closet at one end of the stage and reappearing through a door at the other end in a split second. The trick, of course turns out to be a huge hit.

Incensed by the success of the Transported Man, Angiers now is desperate to get a trick of his own which is as impactful. However, his limited intelligence only leads him to resort to a body double and launch The New Transported Man which receives reasonable favour with audiences but does not manage to satiate Angiers’ apetite to know what exactly is being done. He starts going to great lengths to find out what is being done. He sends across his extremely attractive assistant Ms. Olivia Wenscombe (Scarlett Johansson) as a defector to the Professor’s camp. Gets her to steal the Professor’s book to which he needs a key to crack the codes. Kidnaps the Professor’s engineer, Fallon who he buries alive all just to find out the secret to the Transported Man. Borden succumbs into the pressure and gives him a one word answer – TESLA

The movie is set in the late 1800s, as mentioned earlier. It is slow but amazingly gripping – atypical Nolan style. This was Nolan’s 5th movie and by now the signs were ominous enough that we have with us someone who is going to be talked about in the movie business for eons to come. The magic that Nolan weaves by taking us way back in time through a rivalry between 2 professionals who are willing to go to any extent possible to be termed the best is simply superb. The cinematography is as always brilliant – with a golden hue that we have come to associate with most of Nolan’s movies to date – even those that have been released in the recent past.

The performances by almost everyone is simply amazing. Even David Bowie in his bit part of Tesla is immaculate to say the least. By now, quite surely, Nolan and Tarantino would be the most sought after directors to work with from an actor’s perspective.

I had mentioned in one of my earlier write ups that Nolan has raised the bar with almost every movie that he has made. One has to watch Batman Begins followed by The Prestige to really make this out. Slightly different genres of movies but distinct improvement in all aspects with no offence meant to any of Nolan’s works prior to The Prestige. I give this 8 on 10.