Streaming magic and cowboys
Magicians are excellent liars. The best of them can make you believe the impossible. Con artists do the same, but they won't tell you it's a trick.
The documentary "An Honest Liar" explores the difference between magicians and crooks from the perspective of James Randi - an acclaimed magician who spent decades debunking psychics and faith healers. The movie, released in select theaters earlier this year, is now available on Netflix Instant streaming.
After an impressive career as a stage magician and escape artist, Randi became notorious for exposing the secrets of less-than-honest liars - people who acted as if their "magical" abilities stemmed from supernatural forces.
Randi became a frequent guest on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," demonstrating how self-described psychics used magician's tricks to persuade people of their abilities. Randi even helped "Tonight Show" producers control the materials and props used by famed "spoon bender" and psychic Uri Geller. In that appearance, Geller was unable to perform the tricks he wowed audiences with on other programs.
Randi also exposed faith healer Peter Popoff, whose messages from God were actually information fed to him by his wife through an earpiece during conferences.
The stories of Randi's crusade against hucksters are enough to make "An Honest Liar" an engrossing view. But the film takes a turn in its final act and casts a critical eye on Randi's longtime partner, Jose Alvarez. Turns out, Alvarez was living for years in the United States under a false identity.
The film tries to explore whether Randi knew about Alvarez's lies and if that knowledge somehow undermines the work Randi and Alvarez did exposing liars. The argument is a narrative stretch, especially considering how Alvarez's relatively harmless lie pales in comparison to the malicious actions of someone like Popoff.
Randi dances around the subject, understandably so. He's a liar by trade, but the lies of a magician are to the benefit of an audience. It's fun to be fooled, especially when there's nothing connecting that lie to any negative consequence.
"An Honest Liar" includes a number of insightful interviews, including Randi and several of his magician colleagues. The best interview is Uri Geller himself, who still seems to buy into his own nonsense.
Apparently a good liar can even convince themselves of the impossible.
'Slow West' worth the travel
Amazon Prime users got to partake in Prime Day this past Wednesday. Basically, it was Amazon's way of signing up new users with the temptation of Black Friday-level shopping deals. Yawn.
For those new (and old) Prime subscribers, the exclusive selection of free streaming movie and television titles continues to be a top-notch value. The indie Western "Slow West" debuted earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, and, after a short theatrical run, is now available for Prime users.
The film stars Michael Fassbender as a bounty hunter who helps a young Scot (Kodi Smit-McPhee) find his lost love in 1800s-era Colorado. The West isn't nice to lovelorn, pimple-faced teenagers, obviously, so Fassbender has some work on his hands.
It's a low-key, gorgeously-shot character study for most of its running time, though things get pretty bloody in the final 20 minutes. Fassbender is commanding throughout.
Western fans will certainly appreciate "Slow West." For everybody else - what's your problem? Stop ignoring the genre so we can have more of these things.
Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.