Now You See Me (2013)

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Now You See Me (2013)

6/10

Starrring

Jesse Eisenberg

Mark Ruffalo

Woody Harrelson

Mélanie Laurent

Isla Fisher

Dave Franco

Directed by Louis Leterrier

Now You See Me is one movie I sense that Hollywood is probably gonna wreck, reason being when I saw the ending I knew from there that a sequel is being worked on.

Now You See Me is going to remain in the minds of many as one movie all should see if Hollywood would just leave it as a standalone movie.

What makes this movie good is the idea that I’m being fooled twice in a movie, I’m following a group of magicians who are brought together mysteriously by a mythical group called the eye, as I’m being fooled by their robin hood tricks, another spin is waiting for me at ending.

The movie is a masterpiece. Its focus was directed towards the idea of making sure that the rich pays for oppressing the poor, and it did not digress at any point from that focus, from the get go the movie introduces the players both good and bad (based on your perspective) and we are immediately thrown into a rat race between the FBI and the four horsemen.

The movie plot is about four different magicians (Jesse Eisenberg as J. Daniel Atlas an illusionist and the ringleader of the Four Horsemen, Woody Harrelson as Merritt McKinley a mentalist, Isla Fisher as Henley Reeves an escapist and Dave Franco as Jack Wilder a sleight of hand illusionist) who got mysterious call cards inviting them to a meeting. They all show up to meet themselves as a group for the first time and they get to see a mysterious plan that will eventually begin the groups transcend of taking money off the rich and giving it to the poor.

In the mix is an FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) with him is a lady from Interpol and together they chase this crew all over the place trying all they can to catch them unawares. Then there is the know it all Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), a former magician who has devoted his life to exposing the tricks behind all the great magic trick that we all see and are amazed.

Now You See Me boast of an ensemble cast that will make you sit glued from the beginning to the end, the rich insurance company owner Arthur Tressler is played masterfully well by Michael Caine. Morgan Freeman made sure also that his presence was felt as he plays the annoying unfulfilled magician.

But the man that stole the show for me was Mark Ruffalo. I have to be honest I have seen Mark in many films and this is the very first time I get to truly appreciate him as an actor. His portrayal of the Hulk in The Avengers is mostly shadowed by the fact that the CG Hulk was more fun to watch than Bruce Banner.

Go see Now You See Me and no need to delay.

The Smurfs 2 (2013)

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The Smurfs 2 (2013)

4/10

Directed by Raja Gosnell

First thing to understand is that any Smurf movie is for kids, and as an adult the tendency to hate it will overwhelm your desire to like it. From a misguided kidnapping to wasteful one-liners, this is a movie for the kids to see when there is nothing better to watch.

After seeing the first Smurf movie I made a promise to myself not to see the second. But as the DVD was being flaunted in front of me by a friend, I decided what the heck, it can’t be as bad as the first– and it truly wasn’t, although I will not recommend this movie in my sleep, I have to say it is miles and miles better than its predecessor.

For one thing the whole Smurf this and Smurf that was reduced (a welcome development), and the La La song was not used to drown me as they did in the first.

Also, worth noting is the major difference in the performance of the evil Gargamel (Hank Azaria) in the first, I felt his acting was the worst I had seen that year, but in this second movie his acting was redefined. Also, we get to see other Smurfs get involved in another rescue mission to save a Smurf who got stuck in no man’s land.

This time Smurfette was taken by the evil Gargamel who wants to talk her into giving him the secret formula to make his new creations Smurfs. Gargamel has (since the last film) grown to become a popular magician and he has made some help, to help him in his new plan for world conquest.

He has created two new Smurf like creatures and he wants to get them turned into full Smurfs so he can extract their Smurfness.

Recall Smurfette is a creation by Gargamel himself, until Papa Smurf turned her into a Smurf, now Gargamel wants to get her to turn naughty.

Also, another welcome development is the less use of human presence in this movie, making room for more appreciation to the animation that was at play, as the animation was just top class, and I really have to give Sony a pat on the back for this.

The downside of this movie is that, it is about Smurfs, I still find it hard to totally like this movie, I just can’t, but who am I to stop anyone from seeing this movie.

But see at your own risk as I can’t vouch for this.