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Film Review - Now You See Me
Nov. 5th, 2013 01:01 pm1. I'm procrastinating voting. Yes, it's my hard fought for right - but here's the thing about "rights" - it's not exactly a "RIGHT" unless you can CHOOSE not to do it. If you have to do it or are compelled - there's no free will involved and it's not a right. Choice also has consequences. So you should have the choice to vote, not vote (ie. abstain), vote for X, Y, Z, or N candidate. If you don't get all of those choices - then it's not a right and you do not live in a democracy or a free society. In short if you are compelled to vote - your society is NOT a democracy. So, after the numerous and annoying political calls (local politicians are the worst) I'm tempted today to stand up for my right to ABSTAIN due to the fact that I don't like any of the options. There's a reason that there isn't a high voter turn out for Mayoral elections.
[ETA - voted for this guy, but mainly to keep this guy out of office. For this reason - amongst so many others.]
2. Finished watching a rather interesting movie, flawed in places, but rather fun with a fantastic cast, although the female cast and roles were somewhat lacking.
Now You See Me - is a magic trick/heist/revenge fantasy flick. Starring Mark Ruffalo,
Woody Harrelson, Melanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and that guy from the Social Network whose name I forget.
It's rather fun in places. The ending and beginning are good, drags in the middle.
Four high quality street magicians get selected by an anonymous magician to do a series of heists. After their first heist, robbing a French bank, a reluctant and cynical FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo at his scruffiest) and an eager French Interpol Agent who believes in magic are assigned to figure out how they did it and arrest them. The four are told by their mysterious boss not to worry - just to follow the plan to the letter.
Michael Caine plays the magician's benefactor, Tessler, who sets them up in their own high profile magic show - in Vegas and later in New Orleans. While Morgan Freeman plays a professional magic debunker, named Thaddeus, who enjoys debunking acts, humiliating the magicians, for financial gain. In part because he wasn't that good a magician himself.
The story is a puzzle - who is the mysterious fifth magician and why is he doing this?
Unfortunately the dialogue and writing aren't quite as good as the idea, or the plot, or the performances. Also the female roles are rather limited and not given much to do - a shame.
There's a lot of pointless chase sequences and Ruffalo's character appears to be the blunt of a lot of the magician's jokes. It also meanders in places.
That said, the twist at the end - took me a while to figure out and I didn't guess it until about 10-15 minutes before the reveal. So the film works as a sleight of hand on the viewer in much the same way Sixth Sense, The Others, and The Prestige did. And like the Prestige it gets across that the best magic tricks require a lot of patience, lots of pre-planning, and takes years to develop. Short-cuts don't work.
Also the twist is good enough that it makes you sort of want to rewatch the film, but the film isn't good enough to quite bother.
It's worth a rental. And enjoyable in places.
Overall rating? B-
[ETA - voted for this guy, but mainly to keep this guy out of office. For this reason - amongst so many others.]
2. Finished watching a rather interesting movie, flawed in places, but rather fun with a fantastic cast, although the female cast and roles were somewhat lacking.
Now You See Me - is a magic trick/heist/revenge fantasy flick. Starring Mark Ruffalo,
Woody Harrelson, Melanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and that guy from the Social Network whose name I forget.
It's rather fun in places. The ending and beginning are good, drags in the middle.
Four high quality street magicians get selected by an anonymous magician to do a series of heists. After their first heist, robbing a French bank, a reluctant and cynical FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo at his scruffiest) and an eager French Interpol Agent who believes in magic are assigned to figure out how they did it and arrest them. The four are told by their mysterious boss not to worry - just to follow the plan to the letter.
Michael Caine plays the magician's benefactor, Tessler, who sets them up in their own high profile magic show - in Vegas and later in New Orleans. While Morgan Freeman plays a professional magic debunker, named Thaddeus, who enjoys debunking acts, humiliating the magicians, for financial gain. In part because he wasn't that good a magician himself.
The story is a puzzle - who is the mysterious fifth magician and why is he doing this?
Unfortunately the dialogue and writing aren't quite as good as the idea, or the plot, or the performances. Also the female roles are rather limited and not given much to do - a shame.
There's a lot of pointless chase sequences and Ruffalo's character appears to be the blunt of a lot of the magician's jokes. It also meanders in places.
That said, the twist at the end - took me a while to figure out and I didn't guess it until about 10-15 minutes before the reveal. So the film works as a sleight of hand on the viewer in much the same way Sixth Sense, The Others, and The Prestige did. And like the Prestige it gets across that the best magic tricks require a lot of patience, lots of pre-planning, and takes years to develop. Short-cuts don't work.
Also the twist is good enough that it makes you sort of want to rewatch the film, but the film isn't good enough to quite bother.
It's worth a rental. And enjoyable in places.
Overall rating? B-