I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians. ~Francis Ford Coppola Stories have been weaved into the fabric of our existence—they are as old as humanity. And storytelling as an art form (or perhaps a necessity) remains at the heart of the human experience. Turn movie watching today into a joyful experience by taking an active role. Engage with the story and have the best time. Keep it light and playful. Don’t take things too seriously. Watch with playful curiosity and enjoyment as it comes naturally to you. If you feel you’re stressing out, you’re over-thinking. This defeats the purpose. The main goal is to have fun—consciously.

It doesn’t matter whether we see them on the big screen or from the comfort of our homes. As long as they tell stories, we will be watching.

Most of the actors, directors, producers, and crew on such movies have passed on. Yet their work of art is here to tell the story. They are alive in our imagination. Like The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, the film is a comedy that looks at magic from a slightly different angle. Unlike The Prestige which portrays magicians as very cool characters, the magicians in The Magicians are portrayed as geeks or nerds (which is probably close to the truth in most cases). Often, to be a magician you need to enjoy sitting on your own and practising for hours on end, so stands to reason that it attracts a certain sort of person. We build strong memories and associations with movies that we watched as kids and adults. They are part of our journey. I come from that generation for whom ‘movies’ was a guilty pleasure. You had to hide your love for it, you couldn’t celebrate it; you had to pretend along with the others that it was silly: at best, a way to kill time, at worst, a waste of time. It wasn’t art, it wasn’t a career, (not even a Vis Com course in sight) it wasn’t respected or even respectable. It also had to do with the state of the art of our movies which, frankly, wasn’t state of the art ‘anything’. (Yes, there were some charming, poetic, sepia-toned Guru Dutt-type movies, and some artsy cinema — the parallel cinema — but right there was the problem: it stayed parallel, didn’t connect, didn’t touch, didn’t go anywhere). No one in their right mind could look at our mainstream cinema then and say: that’s the most vital art form of the 20th century.

I guess I might be able to find a few people out there who feel like me. And I hope they’ll agree with me that it’s not just laziness at play here; that it’s out of a deep fascination for this craft, a swooning desire for the art of cinema. Filling our senses in a way no other art form can hope to. And it’s a communal art, which is a bonus. Laurence Olivier was offered the role of the agent but was unable to do it, and then Burgess Meredith was cast. [5] Meredith landed the role after walking into the 21 Club one night when Levine was there – Levine cast him on the spot. Meredith modelled his performance on the agent Swifty Lazar, even shaving his head to look like Lazar. "I tried to get his cool, understated manner, his sharp clothes, and most of all, his way of speaking softly so that you've got to lean over to hear what he's saying", said Meredith. [7] Goldman later wrote about the film that "Burgess Meredith was perfect and Tony Hopkins...was so wonderful here. But running stride for stride with him was Miss Olsson. I think Ann-Margret is the least appreciated emotional actress anywhere." [8] Although he is considered the first cinema artist, the cinema as we know it did not yet exist when Méliès went into production. In fact, it was the cinema that ultimately put him out of business. Barnouw points out that the movies effectively automated stage magic (as talkies would later render live musical accompaniment redundant): "The transfer to screen of the magician's most sensational illusions – disappearances, bizarre transformations and beheadings – proved ultimately catastrophic for magicians. Anyone with a camera and a splicer could produce the same miracles, and did." What then does "magic of the movies" mean in the light of the new situation, namely the development of computer generated imagery? This is really where you get to appreciate the story and the magic of movies. How to immerse yourself fully in the experienceJoanna is the enthusiastic amateur - asking the questions she’s always wanted to ask - and Stephen is The Maestro, providing the answers. Who was better: Mozart or Beethoven? Why do certain pieces of music make us feel a certain way? What do conductors actually do? They also discuss the great composers and symphonies, and the often-remarkable stories behind them, all delivered in Joanna and Stephen’s unique, engaging and affectionate way. I mean, prefer the way movies tell stories to how novels tell them. Oh, it’s not choosing images over words — I do a lot of heavy duty non-fiction reading and love the long-form, immersive factual narrative — it’s more from a preference now for stories narrated in pictures than in words. (I just realised this explains to me my growing interest in children’s picture books!). There was a time I never went to a movie based on a book without first having read the book. Now I put the book down and wait expectantly for the movie version. (You’ll be surprised how many of them turn out nicely). The whole world knows going to the cinema is our national pastime. And that Hollywood hasn’t been able to dent our box-office or our tastes because of the kind of emotional grip our own cinema’s aesthetic has had — and will continue to have — on our imagination and our purses. We know too that the pan Indian Hindi movie is a myth, and that its hold on us is only a small part (too deracinated to take hold, really) of the larger, deeper seduction of South Indian movies which is far more vibrant and rooted than Bollywood. (And now we are hearing of wonderful things happening in the new Marathi cinema). It’s true that movies were even more of an obsession with us before the multiplex, but even so, most weekday evening shows and all weekend shows today still go houseful.

How true is such a thrilling, lofty vision of cinema when it comes to our own movies? How do Indian movies rate as art and entertainment, both now and in the past? I’ve been talking mostly of our shared, common experience of movie-watching in theatres and not in our homes, so how have we fared with our movie-going practices over the years? Watching movies is not just about passive entertainment. Movies are, and will remain, an integral part of our cultural and artistic ecosystem. With the occasional special guest, join the pair as they discover what it really takes to stay relevant in the public eye today.Most of the exterior shots were shot at Le Trianon resort on the Blue Lake in Upper Lake, California. Kilday, Gregg (June 12, 1976). "MOVIE CALL SHEET: Knievel to Star as himself". Los Angeles Times. Part II, pp. 7– 8– via Newspapers.com. Movies bring the story—in vivid detail—to life and transport us to a magical world. We escape, we laugh, we cry, we think and we learn through movies. I list below some of the things I’ve done to enjoy the experience and engage with the story and the team behind such a magical creation.