tHE-AntiCheney….Hey Green Party — GORE/SANDERS 2012

Review by Rob Zeitz

6/2/08

Rating: 12/20

The greatest trick performed by The Illusionist is to make the viewer think they’ve seen a great movie, when in fact they’ve seen something slightly above average. An ambitious screenplay structure of twists and turns, as well as an able performance by Paul Giamatti is overshadowed by a general sense of apathy regarding the fate of the main characters.

Ed Norton plays Eisenheim, a magician whose tricks go beyond sleight of hand and into the realm of the paranormal. Eisenheim falls for Sophie (Jessica Biel), a girl of noble birth, when the two are young children. Through flashbacks, we witness their star-crossed love dashed by the rigid class structure of the Austro-Hungarian Empire circa 1900. But the two are reunited when Eisenheim returns to Vienna from the Far East. But by then, Sophie is engaged to Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), the ambitious and stern son of the Emperor. The story of Eisenheim and Sophie’s struggle to be together is framed by Chief Inspector Uhl (Giamatti).

One extremely distracting facet of this film were the accents. In an attempt to sound both noble and Austrian, Jessica Biel’s German accent phased in between German and British. Ed Norton also struggled to remain consistent with his accent, and Paul Giamatti pronouncing the letter W with a V sound was borderline comical.

The Illusionist did a good job of establishing that anything is possible in the world within the film. This is a product of the script as well as the setting. Turn of the century Austria was a real place, but is also unreal since most people (myself included) know little about it. The endless possibilities allow for the big twist at the end to not only be
believable, but to almost be expected (in a good way).

But Norton, Biel, and the story all come short of making the audience care about what happens to them. One is more concerned with the fate of the Inspector than of the illusionist himself. So the twists and turns of the story are interesting, but failed to invoke their desired emotional responses, at least from me.

I’d recommend The Illusionist to anyone who is a fan of Giamatti or Norton. And people who enjoy a dab of whimsy in their movies without being transported to another dimension. If you like The Twilight Zone, you should check out The Illusionist.

1927-2008

Celtics-Pistons tix available here.

TEAM. 5 is still a four letter word on some teams that demand of their superstars to elevate them into the latter rounds of the postseason. A nudge here, a pocketful of POSEY there and our Post D-Brown Celts are flyin’ into the Eastern Conference Finals for the heavyweight matchup we all wanted (you want it? you got it!) against those Bad Boys from Detroit.

Kudos to McHale’s cronies for working out the blockbuster trades to make fouling the price you pay for going to the rim. PJ Brown? He fouls good. Tommy told us we’d see PJ Brown in the postseason, not simply to spell Perk, but so he can use up those 6 fouls….I bet he’s already dreaming of all the different ways he can put the hurt on our dear friend Chauncy. Remember when Billups went to Detroit and folks around Boston would always say…”Why don’t we get players like that?”

Well, leave it to our Godfather, the dear old late, great, Red Auerbach to hire Rick Pitino to shoot his beloved team in the head, and for years he’s been taking it on the chin just like Mikey Corelone. With Auerbach’s disciples at the helms of some of the worse teams in the NBA they made it look good while the Celtics went on the lam, only to bring back The East, Old Skool, and the bucket and the foul (thanks beta) – only bigger, faster, stronger, scarier. Just like the Corelones. Say it with me now — TEAM.

So it’s easier to foul our friends – but even that gets tired after awhile. So let’s foul ‘em on the road. Foul away. Let’s be villains. Heck, we’re brandishing the good ol’McClothesline. I’m one NBA fan who’s glad to see the post-Jordan NBA has finally come of age, but until then, I’ll be watching He Got Game, and hoping for 8 str8, just like the Sox. Hey Ray – where’s your pic?

Many thanks to the Cavs for their impression of the 80’s Sixers, though they need MJ/LA. Cats out of the bag, beware.

Tickets for the Eastern Conference Finals go on sale at 12 pm. Click on the Celtics tickets page for details or try craigslist. Oh and btw, KG’s still big.

Newton Studios nearly fired (“Name Withheld”), described by news director Charles Haley as “hopefully the last in a slurry of dismissed fax machine workers at our think-tank.” Yolanda Veeners, a longtime cagey NS veteran has come out of retirement to “revolutionize, revitalize and revamp the entire office situation.” Veneers, a farmer, has inherited her late husband’s massive debt, and is looking forward to hanging with the old crew.* (“Name Withheld”) was unavailable for comment.

An unnamed source provided an account of what actually happened and related the employee’s intern confused watching the fax with bostonfilm’s FAQ’s. Rob Zeitgei$t, a recent addition to the bostonfilm lineup, unleashed a torrent of derogatories and nearly quit when NS bungled the fact check on his name. ”

Apparently (“Name Withheld“) started adding ideas to the faq’s, rather than paying attention to the fax. Haley: “We had to apologize to Zeitgei$t for missing the $ sign in his nom-de-plume, which was all we were looking for in the first place. There is currently a debate as to whether we should forgo all uses of the letter “S” in exchange for “$”.  We don’t give short shrift at NS, but (“Name Withheld“) is peeling bananas in Gags & Jokes.”

See Corrections.

A posting in the April installment of News on bostonfilm.com misspelled the last name of bostonfilm’s new film reviewer and review editor. His name is Raw B. Zeitgei$t. (see related article)