The Illusionist

Cozied into the basement loft last night to watch a pay-per-view movie: The Illusionist. Edward Norton is Eisenheim the Illusionist who astounds them all in 18th century Vienna. His childhood sweetheart (Jessica Biel) is about to marry the evil (of course he is) Crown Prince (Rufus Sewell) who sends the chief of police (Paul Giamatti) to find out Eisenheim's secrets and arrest him. Only it doesn't quite go according to plan...

I enjoyed this movie - how it was shot, the era and the subject matter. Films like these remind me why I love Edward Norton. He's also recently in The Painted Veil and seems to enjoy slipping into these period roles with gorgeous co-stars. Unlike my uncle, I won't be going to Vienna any time soon (although I think the Czech republic might have sat in for Vienna on this film) but the experience was like watching a fable. A lot less dark than The Prestige, The Illusionist is a nice way to spend a couple of hours - rent it and let me know if there are good DVD extras I missed. MMM

Have to mention the latest Ebert & Roeper at the movies which I did not enjoy. While Ebert is recovering, Roeper has various guest reviewers and his latest was Kim Morgan an on-line movie reviewer. Richard liked her but she drove me kinda crazy. They both lauded 300 (which I will NEVER go see because it's by Frank Miller and it's all about the joys of war) and gave thumbs up to Chris Rock's I Think I Love My Wife (Chris Rock remaking Eric Rohmer - go figure) but split on Mira Nair's The Namesake. I saw it at TIFF and it was okay but Kim couldn't bring herself to give it a thumbs up (Ivana didn't like it either). Roeper and I were kinder agree the father's performance was excellent but both TV reviewers failed to point out that Kal Penn (of Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle - which was such fun) was the weakest link in the film and quite out of his depth with the other actors just as Cameron Diaz was in The Holiday.

Scroll down the page on Kim's website to find a review and photos of Black Snake Moan which looks like it's a big fat guilty pleasure. As Richard points out, why does Samuel L. Jackson only appear in movies with Snake in the title? Based on Kim's steamy review, I might be tempted to cut her some slack next time - or at least see this bizarre-sounding movie...