Media Review

The Prestige
This is a very good movie, so good in fact that it illustrates my frustration with the Netflix star rating system. I’m always torn with Netflix’s star system. One star clearly means the movie blows. Two stars means it’s not a total loss but not recommendable. Three stars means it’s good. Four means it’s excellent. And five stars means it belongs in the Canon of all time great films which must be seen.

I rate based on percentile, meaning there should be relatively few movies that get four stars and even fewer that make it to five stars. This results in a high number of 3 star movies. But there are quite a few films that fall between three and four stars – especially good movies but not necessarily excellent movies.

But you can’t rate something three and a half stars. This is one of those kinds of movies. So I have given it just three stars on Netflix but I do highly recommend it. The less you know the better, so I won’t give any details.


Casino Royale
I had heard a lot of good things about the relaunch of the James Bond franchise with this film. I was one of the few who thought from the very beginning that Daniel Craig would be good. And he was good. The movie is smart and not outdated or ridiculously cheesy. It was sexy and thrilling.

It does have a flaw that all James Bond movies do in that there’s a significant lag late in the second act. But you could argue that it’s what makes it a James Bond flick. Overall, I’m looking forward to the next one.