The Prestige (2006) was the last remaining Christopher Nolan directed film I had yet to see, aside from his obscure debut film Following (1998), and I'm afraid I didn't think too much of it.
Don't get me wrong, like all his films it's a visual joy to behold, is full of great actors all doing stellar performances and the plot is, initially, quite interesting. However, it was the plot which kinda killed it for me from about the halfway mark.
The twists were no surprise & I was waiting for them to happen rather than be enthralled by them and then the ending half hour offered so little in what was potentially promised that it felt like a cartoon bomb where the fuse fizzles out before it explodes.
It's not even very good for pure Victoriana escapism as there's very little here that is relevant to the era specifically and the best we get is some vague similarity to steampunk. Unfortunately it's more in the vein of Cowboys vs Aliens or Wild Wild West than anything.
One of my least favourite of his, for sure
2.5/5
Big Trouble in Little China (1986) is a cult classic I'd somehow managed to not watch over the past 35 years, which seems incredible to me. So another bucket list gap filler here.
It was a good fun film that is part comedy and part action film, self-parodying while enacting pretty much every cliche of the genre in often spectacular and unabashed glory.
It didn't really do that much for me though and since I missed it at the time it doesn't hold much nostalgia for me either. Similarly to The Prestige, even its 80s factor doesn't play much into what we see and there's very little 80sness to be found as most of the film takes place in a fantasy dungeon/palace.
I enjoyed watching it a lot more than The Prestige though, its well paced and does everything a good action movie should for the most part. Something you can munch packet of popcorn to and then sit back and enjoy the ride, brain turned off.
Enjoyed it enough the first time, but not excited enough to rewatch it anytime soon
3/5
Thor Ragnarok (2017) Is one of the Marvel movies I missed upon release that I was quite interested in, having seen and enjoyed the previous two. So another catch-up here.
It was a good rip-roarer that did everything I hoped it would. The comedy and action combo was very similar to Big Trouble, in that it constantly self-parodied while going through the expected scenarios, but in a way that was careful not to overrun the more serious aspects to the plot.
I've not been one to be completionist for all the Marvel movies, so there quite a lot of them I haven't seen yet, but this one completes the Thors and ties into The Avengers, which I've also seen all of. Come to think of it, that's pretty much all I've been following since phase one ended, what, nearly a decade ago.
A highly visual and beautifully well-paced piece full of the unexpected along with the cliches, and it's version of punk on the trash-planet was much more wholesome than The Presitge's attempt. It was almost more Star Warsy than the modern Star Wars tat.
Watched twice already
4/5