Now You See Me - A Two-Minute Movie Review

Now You See Me is an engaging film about a group of magicians, The Four Horsemen, as they’re called, who perform high-concept, impossibly complex, elaborately staged illusions where the audiences walk out with more than they walked in with.  They are Robin Hoods who always seem two steps in front of the cops and their rich targets. The film’s greatest illusion? Making us believe it’s a better film than it is. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Now You See Me. I don’t require all my Ts crossed to like a film. And that’s good, because this one leaves all but the magic and a few shallow details on the cutting room floor.

The Four Horsemen are brought together by a mysterious stranger, but they all seem to have crossed paths at one time or another. The fast-talking J. Daniel Atlas, played by Jesse Eisenberg, has had a fling of sorts with Isla Fisher’s Henley Reeves. Why we’re told that is a mystery, because it doesn’t add anything to the story or even spawn the ex-couple snippiness or flirtations you’d expect. The mentalist, Woody Harrelson’s Merritt McKinney, is the oldest of the four and has issues with Atlas’ need for control. The fourth, Dave Franco’s Jack Wilder, is a small-time street swindler and self-proclaimed Atlas fan. One of Now You See Me’s issues is that it never moves past surface level. The various frictions that occur within the team are introduced and promptly forgotten. They are puppets being pulled by strings, it seems. But when they’re on stage, The Four Horsemen are engaging and entertaining. And it's there when the film is at its best.

Despite not bothering to spend a nanosecond on character development, Now You See Me is a fun enough film. Suspend belief for a moment and you might just think it’s better than it is.

Acting

Solid throughout, but there’s a good deal of actor-for-hire work going on here.

Script

A 50/50 deal. Shallow, but workable.

Now You See Me is rated PG-13.

After Earth - A Two-Minute Movie Review

M. Night Shyamalan has not had a good couple of years. In fact, it can be said that his last good movie was 2004’s The Village. The director and writer who brought us The Sixth Sense and Signs also left us with The Last Airbender and The Happening. Would he make amends with his latest effort, After Earth? I’m going to take the minority opinion (according to Rotten Tomatoes) and recommend After Earth, with a caveat or two.

Will Smith is Cypher Raige, a celebrated war hero known for his ability to “ghost,” which, in essence, is the ability to control his fear. The monsters used by an alien species to fight the humans are sightless, but have an ability to track their prey based on the pheromones secreted while frightened. His son Kitai, played by his real-life son Jaden Smith, suffers from the guilt of witnessing his sister’s death at the hands of one of these beasts and not doing anything about it. The elder Raige sees his son as weak and incapable. When the two crash land on a long-abandoned Earth, the badly injured father has no choice but to send the son to recover the ship’s homing beacon. The resulting hour and a half is spent watching Kitai battle the elements, strange creatures, and of course, the beast that haunts his dreams.

After Earth is not typical M. Night Shyamalan fare. There’s no surprise ending or mystery to unravel.  It’s a simple science fiction film suitable for anyone not interested in complication. Other than the father/son struggle, there are no other story lines to cloud issues. After Earth plays out like a video game, where the hero passes various hurdles before eventually facing the boss to win the game. This makes it ideal for younger audiences, but older viewers may be put off by this simplistic approach. I should also note that the movie plays out for most of its duration with the father and son separated, with one in search of the beacon and the other slowly giving in to his injuries at the ship.

 

Acting

The jury is still out on Jaden Smith's ability to carry a film. He's at time engaging and other other times flat. The elder Smith is convincing as the strict, emotionless father.

 

Screenplay

This is a difficult one. I don't think much could have gone into writing this one, but I do give props to some of the original concepts introduced, like breathing treatments (almost like asthma inhalers)  that make dealing with Earth's diminished atmosphere bearable.

 

Special Effects

Some reviewers have taken issue with how the various creatures are depicted -- hogs, an eagle-looking bird, a pack of monkeys -- but I thought they looked fine. And the scenes in space were real enough.

After Earth is, at its heart, a teenage coming-of-age story. If that’s your thing, you won’t be disappointed by M. Night's latest. If you’d like to see more Will Smith and less Jaden Smith, check out Independence Day instead.

After Earth is rated PG-13.

Epic - A Two-Minute Movie Review

Lawrence of Arabia is widely considered a movie of epic proportions. Schindler’s List is clearly epic.  Spartacus and The Ten Commandments are both epic films. These movies are long productions with sweeping stories that needle at you for days. Epic, the movie by Twentieth Century Fox Animations and Blue Sky Studios,  is not epic. But it’s not bad.

As I walked into the movie theater to see Epic, I was reminded of the hundreds of Super Buffets I’ve run across over the years that I wouldn’t step someone else's foot into on a dare.  Labeling oneself as “super” or “the greatest” or “epic” is a poor-man’s Jedi mind trick. Say it loud enough or in a pretty enough font and someone might actually believe Epic is, indeed, epic – even if it does only run 102 minutes long. But Jedi mind tricks don’t work on the weak minded, so I sat down in my seat ready for a disaster…that didn’t come.

Epic is the story of our first interactions with a world of human-like creatures that live among us in the woods. They ride humming birds and mingle with slugs and snails. The queen among them, played by Beyonce Knowles, is a tiny Mother Nature figure who holds the key to keeping the green grasses green and the trees leafy. Her death threatens nature’s balance. But the queen is not without a last trick: she summons a human, Amanda Seyfried’s Mary Katherine, to join with the young and rebellious Nod, voiced by Josh Hutcherson, to make sure a proper heir is found before everything turns to dust.

Epic feels like an animated movie that either ran out of budget or time – or both.  The ending comes quickly and seems too tidy; only a few characters are properly fleshed out.  While occasionally witty (Aziz Ansari’s Mub steals the show), Epic is nothing more and nothing less than animated retread. It follows a tried and true and vanilla path, despite its lofty name.  And like your typical Super Buffet, seconds are not recommended.

Epic is rated PG.

Trebor's Time Machine -- Now Available!

That's right, Trebor's Time Machine is now available in both eBook and paperback editions. It's been a long time coming, but everything is officially up and running. For now, we're going to concentrate our eBook efforts on the Kindle platform before turning to iBooks and Nook. You don't have to own a Kindle; there are Kindle readers (software programs) for all the major platforms, so I don't expect this to be an issue. The ETA at this point is to have the other platforms up by the Fall.

As I mentioned, I released both the paperback and the eBook editions at the same time. Why not just ride the eBook wave and forgo the paper edition altogether? Simply put, I like the paper version better. As most of you know, eBook formatting is still very basic. There isn't much support for images and advanced formatting at this point. Or maybe I should say that the various readers and software programs all handle images and advanced formatting differently. A vanilla conversion is still the safest way to go. So the eBook edition should produce a similar experience on all the readers and devices--no graphics or advanced formatting. We don't have those issues on the paperback side.

For the paperback, we've got drop-caps, graphics on the chapter start pages, associated "elevator" graphics on the title pages...the whole nine yards, so to speak. I'm very happy with the results. I think you will be too.

So, that's about it. Now on to Trebor II!

Trebor's Time Machine: eBook edition
Trebor's Time Machine: Paperback edition

Iron Man 3 - A Two-Minute Movie Review

Iron Man 3 is the best Iron Man to date. While some may have a soft spot for the first edition's origin story, those who prefer action in their movie-going diet will eat this one up. Is it the best Marvel movie? No, not at all. I still prefer The Avengers and Captain America. And it's not without its flaws.

The film's villain (at least on face value) is Ben Kingsley's wonderfully played The Mandarin. As is often the case in movies of this ilk, there always seems to be another evil-doer in the background, in this case Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian. And this is where Iron Man 3 shows its real weakness. While The Mandarin's motivation is clearly defined, Killian's is alluded to, but never brought fully into the light. Is it just me, or do comic book bad guys get their feelings hurt way too easily? And when they do, they tend to create the most elaborate schemes to show the world they aren’t to be trifled with. A good comparison is Javier Bardem’s Silva from the latest Bond film, Skyfall.

Acting:

Kingsley steals the show, but most of the other performances are solid. Gweyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts is a strong-willed, reluctant hero. Robert Downey Jr. is a more emotional, troubled Tony Stark that comes across as genuine and not forced. Don Cheadle’s Colonel James Rhodes, while not asked to do much, is again spot-on as Stark’s right hand man. A special nod should also go out to the young Ty Simpkins for his Harley Keener.  Child actors are often miscast (think Star Wars: Episode 1) or their asked to do more than they should. Simpkins’ Keener is a welcome addition to the story, neither annoying nor “forced.”

Screenplay:

Aside from the villain motivation issues we discussed above, the screenplay does what it’s asked to do. You won’t leave the theater replaying the storyline in your head, like you would the first Mission Impossible, but that might not be a bad thing.

Special Effects:

Not to the par of Star Trek Into Darkness, but above and beyond most titles in this genre.

Wrap-up:

Iron Man 3 is a good way to spend 130 minutes of your day. Don’t ask the villains to explain themselves and you’ll find the film one of Marvel’s best.


Iron Man 3 is rated PG-13.