Hago chás y aparezco a tu lado

Last night I went to the Bijou to see The Illusionist. I was coming from chaperoning a lake party with some of my students, and I just couldn't make it to the Rave, so I thought that the good old Bijou would do, since it was much closer to where I was. And even though this movie theater pales in comparison with the state-of-the-art Rave, the movie was still fantastic.
Keeping my tradition of offering spoiler-free reviews, I'll give you as little information as humanly possible. Let's see...
The Illusionist's main character is the formidable Edward Norton, one of the best actors working in the industry, if you ask me. He is the aforementioned illusionist in turn-of-the-century Vienna, and his show is worth seeing. For reasons that become apparent just a few minutes into the movie, he meets Vienna's chief of police, the as-of-late-ubiquitous Paul Giamatti. Throw in the always interesting Rufus Sewell, and the ridiculously gorgeous Jessica Biel, and you have all the main characters.
The movie is a mixture of mystery, drama, romance, and suspense, and the whole cast does a superb job in bringing their characters to life. As I said before, Norton is an incredible actor, and his performance in this movie left me slack-jawed. His intensity and simultaneous restraint left me gasping for air. And he sports a goatee in this movie, the true mark of cool people, hehehe. Paul Giamatti's performance is nothing short of fantastic, and even though Rufus Sewell's isn't, I think, as good as some of his past performances, he is still very good.
The surprise came with Jessica Biel. I think she's beyond beautiful (close to, as I mentioned recently, Scarlett Johansson), but I've never thought she's such a great actress. However, she does a really, really good job in this movie. I might be biased by how gorgeous she is, but trust me on this one.
The Illusionist is by no means a fast-paced movie, but it never gets boring. The story absorbs you, and the characters make you care about them in ways you would have never thought. Or, in other words, they are compelling and feel real, which of course makes for a compelling story you want to experience and stay with. So do just that: go to the theater and stay with it. You won't regret it.