Now You See Me

Posted on May 30, 2013 at 6:00 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for language, some action, and sexual content
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking
Violence/ Scariness:	Action-style violence, characters in peril, references to sad death
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	May 31, 2013
Date Released to DVD:	September 2, 2013
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00DWZHTRW

The most purely entertaining movie of the year so far is “Now You See Me,” and like all great magic tricks, it makes us delighted to be fooled. We are warned from the very beginning that the closer we look, the less we will see, but even on the alert for the magician’s tools of misdirection and mirrors, it keeps us happily guessing until the very last second. We might suspect the why, but the who and the how are another story. One of the magicians tells us that stage magic is deception designed to entertain, delight, and inspire, and that’s just what this movie does.

Four magicians with four very different styles, all very independent, rather arrogant, and very competitive but none at the top of their field are brought together in a most mysterious manner, and the next thing we know, they are headlining in a huge arena sponsored by a multi-millionaire named Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine). The master of close-up magic and card tricks is J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg). Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson) is the specialist at hypnosis (and post-hypnotic suggestion). Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) is an escape artist. And Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) is a pickpocket and locksmith. The very fine line between trickery and outright con is crossed now and then as we meet our heroes, or possibly, anti-heroes.

In their big, bravura, very polished show, they announce they are going to rob a bank where someone in the audience has an account. The man they select at random(?) is French. Is that a setback? Au contraire! The next thing we see or think we see is the Frenchman magically transported to Paris, inside the bank’s safe — just as it is about to open for business because Paris is seven hours ahead. And then, the money appears, and the magicians generously distribute it to the audience.

A French agent from Interpol (Mélanie Laurant of “Beginners” as Alma Dray — names are not this movie’s strong point) and a cranky agent from the FBI (is there any other kind?) named Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) team up to investigate. A professional debunker of magicians (a la The Amazing Randi) played by Morgan Freeman provides some guidance — or is that just more misdirection?

It would be wrong to say any more. Just go see it to enjoy the tricks and the great performances and directions that are real movie magic.

Parents should know that this movie includes some strong language (a crude insult, f-word), characters in peril, drinking, and sexual references and a sexual situation.

Family discussion: What clues did you miss? Which kind of magic would you like to be able to do?

If you like this, try: “The Illusionist” and “Oceans 11”

Epic

Posted on May 26, 2013 at 10:08 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grades
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for mild action, some scary images and brief rude language
Profanity:	Brief language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Fantasy/action/cartoon violence and peril, mostly non-graphic, arrows, swords, poison, sad deaths (one onscreen, discussion of death of parents and death of child)
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters and voices, all combatants white males
Date Released to Theaters:	May 24, 2013
Date Released to DVD:	August 19, 2013
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00CQFINCE

“Epic” means big — usually a big story filled with grand adventures. This is a grand adventure, but the story is very small, or at least its characters are. Like “Honey I Shrunk the Kids,” “A Bug’s Life,” and “The Ant Bully,” this is a story about the tiny creatures who live in the forest, riding on hummingbirds and swinging swords the size of toothpicks.

They are so little and move so quickly that most humans cannot even see them. But there is a scientist named Bomba (Jason Sukeikis) who knows they are there. He is so obsessed with tracking the little creatures that he lost his wife and daughter. Everyone thinks he is crazy.

As the movie begins, his ex-wife has died and his now teenaged daughter MK (Amanda Seyfried) is arriving. She has had almost no relationship with him and is not sure she wants one now especially when she learns that he still insists that there is a community of tiny beings in the forest. He has rigged up motion-sensitive cameras and he keeps detailed records of his sightings. MK decides to leave, but on her way out she has a close encounter of her own and suddenly finds herself shrunk down to the size of an insect and with the dying queen of the forest (Beyoncé Knowles) giving her custody of a magical bud. If the bud is not exposed to moonlight at exactly the right once-in-a-century moment, the forest will fall into the hands of the evil Boggens, led by Mandrake (two-time Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz).

In the forest, there is a constant struggle between the forces of life and decay. The queen is protected by an army of Leafmen, led by Ronin (Colin Farrell). Ronin is responsible for Nod (Josh Hutcherson), the impetuous and rebellious son of a close friend who died in battle. Nod quits the Leafmen in frustration, but when everyone is needed to make sure the magical bud gets to bloom in the moonlight, including Ronin, Nod, MK, and an adorable snail and slug duo (Chris O’Dowd and Aziz Ansari, the comic highlight of the film).

The co-producer, co-writer, and production designer is the brilliant writer/illustrator William Joyce, inspired by his book, The Leaf Men. The visuals are pure magic, from the grand sweep of the forest to the tiniest details of the saddle on a hummingbird. Every shot is filled with marvelously imaginative ideas, exquisitely rendered. MK’s absent-minded scientist father has a wonderfully messy office filled with charts and equipment and record books that have a slightly stem-punk, Victorian feel. Chase scenes through the trees are deliciously vertiginous in 3D. And the quiet moments are lovely, too, with MK and Nod sharing the experience of losing a parent and learning to appreciate the families they have.

Parents should know that this movie includes a discreet but sad death of the murdered queen and references to divorce and the death of parents. Mandrake’s son is killed, and characters are in frequent peril. There are some scary images and characters use brief strong (for PG) language. There is one sweet kiss.

Family discussion: “Who gives up everything for a world that’s not even theirs?” What does it mean to say “many leaves, one tree?”

If you like this, try: “Robots,” “Ferngully,” and “A Bug’s Life” and the books by William Joyce.

Fast & Furious 6

Posted on May 23, 2013 at 6:01 pm

The storylines of the “Fast and Furious” franchise may be preposterous, but what’s even harder to believe is that, contrary to the history of just about every other multi-sequel series and what I thought were the laws of nature, these keep getting better. There’s something of a pattern at this point. Our happy gang of outlaw car racers gets into mischief of one kind and another in one movie, and then in the next the government asks them to take on some big bad guy in exchange for expunging their records. This being an even-numbered entry, it’s expunging time again as the gang, a Benneton ad of gorgeous and racially diverse people with a love for fast cars and a habitual narrow-eyed facial expression that either says, “Don’t even think of trying to mess with me” or maybe “I’m trying to remember which episode we’re on, but it probably doesn’t matter.” The talking part (I can’t bring myself to elevate it to the term “dialog”) is basic and repetitive. Anyone who’d like to liven it up with a drinking game will do very well going for either the word “family” or some variation of “that’s who we are.”

In the classic mode of motley crew of outsider stories from “The X-Men” and “The Avengers” to “The A-Team” and “The Bad News Bears,” the “Fast and Furious” movies are about a self-made family comprising people with a range of very special skills, including martial arts, weapons, tactics, interpersonal communications, technology, and banter. At the center are Dom (Vin Diesel) and his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster), now blissfully married to Dom’s one-time nemesis-turned BFF, one-time cop-turned-outlaw Brian (Paul Walker). These guys are very, very good at making law enforcement go bad.

In the last episode, our gang took a lot of money from a very bad man. Now they’re enjoying their money in highly photogenic and conveniently extradition-free locations. But then another very bad guy (with an English accent, so we know he’s both smart and evil) is stealing the component parts to some very important something or other and must be stopped. He’s far to smart for Interpol, so it’s time to get the band back together.

But it’s really all about the stunts, and there are some lulus, expertly staged by returning director Justin Lin. There is so much going on at the same time that it gets a little confusing, but you can’t miss the wow moments . There are even a couple of OMGs and a did-I-just-see-that or two. The one thing about which there will be no suspense is who they’ll be facing in #7 — just stick around for the credits.

Parents should know that this film features non-stop action with chases, explosions, shooting and fights, characters in peril, injured and killed, some strong language including one crude epithet, and drinking.

Family discussion: Do you have a code? What is it? How do we decide who counts as family?

If you like this, try: The first five “Fast and Furious” movies and – to prepare for #7 – the “Transporter” series

Related Tags:

Action/Adventure Series/Sequel

What Maisie Knew

Posted on May 23, 2013 at 5:41 pm

A-

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for some language
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking
Violence/ Scariness:	Emotional confrontations
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	May 24, 2013
Date Released to DVD:	August 12, 2013
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00D5XC8MC

She has the face of a flower and she still believes that the world is an enchanted place that cannot hurt her. She does not understand what is going on around her, but we do.

Her name is Maisie (the exquisite Onata Aprile). She is seven and she lives in New York with her parents, a fading rock star named Susanna (Julianne Moore) and a British art dealer named Beale (Steve Coogan). They are self-centered and feckless, and she does not yet realize that their hugs are more about themselves than about her. They split up, and then, incapable of being alone and primarily to reassure themselves and spite each other, immediately take on new, very unwise partners. Beale begins a romance with Maisie’s nanny, Margo (Joanna Vanderham). And Susanna, feeling doubly betrayed, one-ups him by impetuously marrying a bartender named Lincoln (Alexander Skarsgård). This comes out when Lincoln, who Maisie has never really met, appears at her school to pick her up. “I’m sort of like Maisie’s…stepfather,” he sheepishly tells the teacher.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtoYBL-mJL4

Maisie’s clothes often have fantasy elements, like a tiara, showing the gloss of fantasy she brings to her world — and the casual indulgence of the adults in her life. Moore’s neediness, as a woman who is losing her career, her romantic partner, and her child, is raw and affecting. Coogan gets a rare chance to show what a fine serious actor he can be. In one scene, he impetuously invites Maisie to go to England with him, and then immediately changes his mind. We see every thought on his face, including his chagrin at recognizing that he is betraying the daughter still young enough to believe in him.

This movie feels very much of this moment and has a very specific sense of place in its shabby chic New York settings. But it is based on a book by Henry James written more than a century ago. Directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel have a delicacy and sensitivity that gives their superb cast the chance to create complicated characters. They are not afraid to mix moments of humor with selfishness, heart-wrenching loss, and tragic choices.

Parents should know that this movie deals with themes of parental neglect and family dysfunction. It includes sexual references and non-explicit situations, drinking, strong language, and many poor choices.

Family discussion: What will happen to Maisie? What will she think of her parents when she gets to be a teenager? A grown-up? What has changed since Henry James wrote the book?

If you like this, try: “Careful, He Might Hear You”

The Hangover Part III

Posted on May 23, 2013 at 11:02 am

Let’s hope that this movie is the much-needed stake in the heart to the triligization of popular movies (okay, with an exception for Richard Linklater’s “Before” series and “Toy Story”). I began to think of the three films as a shell game, with the pea of novelty and humor under just one shell, and shrinking retrospectively as I was dragged through this far distant last in the series, so entirely disappointing that it diminishes any fond memories of the original.

And that is the key word. The first chapter was original. We got to enjoy the speculation and schadenfreude as we lived a night of mostly unintentional debauchery and mayhem backwards. Feral man-child Alan (Zach Galifianakis), cynical Phil (Bradley Cooper), and mild-mannered Stu (Ed Helms), a hapless trio, in Las Vegas for a bachelor party, wake up in the mother of all mornings after and spend most of the movie piecing together the events of the evening before. They have to discover how they ended up with a tiger, a baby, a missing tooth, and a hospital bracelet. And the prospective groom is missing.

In #2, there’s another wedding to make in time, and another morning after. Some people found the second one a garish and cynical retread. I thought it was pretty funny and even managed to find some meta-commentary in the way it rang changes on the first one. And I liked Paul Giamatti.

In #3, director Todd Phillips and Craig Mazin (the execrable “Identity Thief”) take over script duties from the original’s writers, who were off plagiarizing themselves with a college-age version of the very same movie. This one jettisons the backwards-style structure, which is fine, but it plays as though they pulled it out of a slush pile and did a global search and replace to insert the first movie’s characters, who, in one of many increasingly less funny repetitions of almost-jokes we’ve increasingly tired of, are referred to by one character as The Wolf Pack.

Once again, they are separated from Doug (Justin Bartha), who is held hostage by a thug (John Goodman) while they are sent to track down their old frenemy, Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong). We also meet up with the first episode’s characters drug dealer Black Doug and former stripper Jade (the criminally misused Mike Epps and Heather Graham). And here is what we learn:

1. These are really unpleasant people. They are selfish, childish, and uninteresting.

2. A little of Leslie Chow is better than a lot.

3. It is impossible to make the same joke funny three times in a row. The second time may provide a pleasant sensation of remembered humor. The third time is just irritating.

4. It is possible to criminally underuse even John Goodman, completely wasted here.

5. Melissa McCarthy, on the other hand, while also underused, manages to make her five minutes the highlight of the film.

6. It is possible to miss Mike Tyson.

This movie is the bad hangover from the now-tarnished original.

Parents should know that this film includes comic and more serious violence including murder, guns, chases, characters and animals in peril, injured, and killed, extensive drug content, constant very strong language, sexual references (some crude) and situations (male and female nudity), pervasive very bad behavior

Family discussion: Which of the friends makes the best choices? Do you think that the different structure of the story-telling works as well as the original?

If you like this, try: the first “Hangover” movie and “Cedar Rapids”

Related Tags:

Comedy Series/Sequel