Now You See Me Movie Review

Ocean's Eleven set a pretty high standard for heist movies where the scoundrel robbers manage to stay just a couple of steps ahead of everyone who is pursuing them. Now You See Me (2013) doesn't exceed Ocean's Eleven by any means, but it blends a heist movie with the idea of magic, which leaves us with a pretty creative and interesting movie.

Four street magicians, Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Reeves (Isla Fisher), and Wilder (Dave Franco) each answer a mysterious summons to an obscure address with secrets inside. A year later they are The Four Horsemen, big time stage illusionists who climax their sold out Las Vegas show by apparently robbing a bank on stage. This puts agents Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) of the FBI and Alma Vargas (Mélanie Laurent) of Interpol on the case to find out how they did it. The mystery proves difficult to solve even with the insights of the professional illusion exposer, Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman). What follows is a bizarre investigation where nothing is what it seems with illusions, dark secrets, and hidden agendas galore as all involved are reminded of the great truth in the puzzle: the closer you look, the less you see.

In the opening scene we see each of the magicians showing off their skills and it really draws the audience in quickly. Atlas is doing a card trick on the streets and asks a young lady to pick any card from a deck while he flips through them himself. For the heck of it I picked a card I saw as the deck passed by the screen. The trick is finished by the selected card's suit and rank appearing in lights on the side of a large building. Interestingly enough, it was the card I picked out as well. That instantly made me think that professional stage magicians were consulted in the making of this movie, and that it wouldn't need a lot of CGI effects to impress the audience. Yes, there was some CGI used, but most of it was used in complex camera work, less so for the "magic tricks."

There is a great cast in Now You See Me. Woody Harrelson is great in most everything he's in. Jesse Eisenberg is a fast talking arrogant dweeb as usual, but he plays that sort of role well. The actors who play The Four Horsemen have distinctive differences in how they act when the characters are on and off stage, which is impressive. You can tell when the character is performing and when they are not, an indicator of good acting. I haven't seen Mark Ruffalo since The Avengers, he's a great Bruce Banner and he's a great FBI agent who is at his wits' end chasing stage performers who seem to possess actual magic abilities. We've even got Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman topping off the ensemble; even when they appear in subpar movies, their mere presence improves the overall quality of the film.

The script is not perfect by any means, but it remains engaging and fun. The dialogue was witty and flowed well. It seemed to think it was a bit deeper than it actually was. Rhodes keeps insisting that magic can't be real, but finds fewer and fewer reasons to believe that it is not. Alma also thinks that everything the Four Horsemen are doing is simply an illusion, but makes statements about how good it is to believe in something. That's nice, but I never really saw where they were trying to go with that idea. While most of the script is pretty good, the ending seems very out of sorts. It's as if the script writer finished writing the climax and kind of threw some random stuff in at the end because there needed to be a conclusion of some kind. You simply don't see the end coming at all. On the one hand, it sort of fits thematically; we're constantly told a magician distracts the audience from what's really happening. But there was next to nothing that even hints at what was "really happening" in the movie and from a film making standpoint, that made the ending seem unjustified, incongruous, and sloppy.

Now You See Me was a clever concept that was really fun to watch. It wasn't great; the script has some flaws, there's a baseless love interest, it doesn't resolve all of the questions it raises, and the ending comes out of nowhere. In spite of that, it has excellent cast, some outstanding visuals that don't rely heavily on CGI, and it coyly plays with the movie viewers. Some of the magic was debunked, but we never know for sure how much of the tricks were illusions or if it was actual magic. It evens out into what a summer movie should be: fun. While it is a fun movie, I'd wait for it on Blu-Ray; it's worth seeing, but not on the big screen. I also recommend seeing it twice. It's the kind of movie that's probably a bit more interesting when you know the end from the beginning.

Here's the trailer for Now You See Me:

What is your favorite heist movie? Comment Below and tell me why!

Warm Bodies Movie Review

Gentlemen, I have good news! If you've ever had a girlfriend make you sit through an appalling Twilight movie, then you will definitely have grounds to make her watch this supernatural/romance/comedy/horror movie with you. It's hard not to compare Warm Bodies (2013) to Twilight, but I guarantee Warm Bodies is a fun movie that you will both enjoy.

With much of the future world's population rendered into an undead horde, R (Nicholas Hoult) is a young and oddly introspective zombie. On a feeding encounter with a human gathering party, R meets a human named Julie (Teresa Palmer) and feels an unusual urge to protect her. What happens with that is the beginning of a strangely warm relationship that causes R to start to regain his humanity. As this change spreads throughout the undead population, Julie and R eventually find they are facing a larger issue even as their friendship is challenged. Caught between paranoid human forces and the ferocious "Bony" zombies who are a mutual threat, R and Julie must find a way to bridge the sides of the fight for a better world no one thought possible.

There isn't much of a way to describe Warm Bodies without it sounding silly and cheesy. It's a romance story between a girl and a zombie amidst a zombie apocalypse. Yes, that sounds just like Twilight with zombies instead of vampires. That is a completely justified reaction, but there is more to it than that. Warm Bodies is creative, funny, and doesn't take itself too seriously. It's also got some highly interesting social commentary on interpersonal connection and dating. Twilight didn't do anything beyond the dreadful relationship, but Warm Bodies does. Besides, I think most of us could believe a story where a girl falls in love with rotting corps rather than a sparkly one.

This is the first time that I can think of where we get to see the zombie apocalypse from the zombie's perspective. R has some remarkably hilarious inner monologue as he thinks about the state of the world, the dull repetition in his life, and longing to connect with people. It's not really clear why R still has complex, civilized thoughts but still shambles around eating people.  The setting isn't quite detailed enough to explain that, but that's a silly thing to get hung up on. The Bonies were too convenient of an antagonist; they are just there to be a mutual problem. I understand the zombies and humans needed a reason to unite, but I think a little more thought could have been put into it. R narrates the only functional difference between them and the zombies, "They call these guys Bonies. They don't bother us, much, but they'll eat anything with a heartbeat. I mean, I will too, but at least I'm conflicted about it..."

Good science fiction makes commentary on contemporary issues in a unique, metaphorical way. Early in the movie R is lamenting how he's surrounded by dead beings who don't communicate with one another and tries to imagine what it was like before the apocalypse. It cuts away to the same pre-apocalyptic airport with living people who are all aimlessly wandering around while focused on their cell phones and electronic devices and not making eye contact. Our technologies and portable instant gratification devices are killing our ability to converse and meaningfully connect with others; we really are becoming zombie-like in a way. Warm Bodies also comments on the awkwardness of dating. R is a dead decomposing corpse and is looming over Julie and thinks, Don't be creepy! Don't be creepy! Later, R is trying to impress and thinks to himself, Play it cool, say something intelligent. He groans out the words, "How...are... you..?" then thinks, Nailed it. I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who hasn't had a similar thoughts stemming from their own lack of confidence.

Warm Bodies makes some very subtle allusions to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The two characters are R (Romeo) and Julie (Juliet) and they come from warring "families." Julie's former boyfriend is Perry (Dave Franco) references Paris, R's zombie friend M (Rob Corddry) is a reference to Mercutio, and Julie's friend Nora (Analeigh Tipton) is a nurse referencing Juliet's nurse. Julie's father (John Malkovich) is the hardcore military zombie-killing authority figure and kind of resembles Juliet's family who refuses to allow her to be with someone from the opposing family. There is also the infamous "balcony scene" parodied in Warm Bodies. These are pretty subtle; the movie isn't technically based on Romeo and Juliet, they just reference it in creative, subtle ways.

Warm Bodies features fairly simple but very relatable characters, zombie mayhem, some special effects that falter a little bit on occasion, some great social commentary, a well written script, some strangely sweet romantic scenes, good acting, and hilarious comedy. It managed to do this without screwing up our well-loved concept of zombies the way Twilight did with vampires. Yeah, there is some violent imagery but most of the nasty gore and such takes place just off screen; the imagery is suitable for its PG-13 rating. I took a friend to see Warm Bodies with me; she doesn't like zombie movies but she said she enjoyed this one. Warm Bodies probably isn't going stand the test of time. It's good, but not great; but still a better love story than Twilight. At just over an hour and a half, it's a nice, fun romp that never seems to quite fit into one genre. I'm going to say this is worth renting when it hits home video, however I enjoyed it enough to buy it on Blu-Ray.

Here's the trailer to show you how humorous Warm Bodies is:

Stephenie Meyer totally raped the concept of a vampire then left it wounded and crying. Warm Bodies put a slightly new spin on our beloved zombie model, but it's okay since it didn't twist it around into something shameful, deplorable, or irritating. Can you think of a movie or book that puts a new spin on a classic fictional creature idea that still respects the original? Comment below and tell me about it! I don't want to miss anything good.