Now You See Me: Now You Don’t

Posted on November 13, 2025 at 5:18 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for some strong language, violence and suggestive references
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Social drinking, drug reference
Violence/ Scariness:	Peril and violence, character killed, references
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	November 14, 2025

Take this into account: I loved the first film in this series about the magicians who exchange quips as they dazzle audiences and outsmart international law enforcement, and I liked the second one a lot. So when I say that a better title might be: “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t Think Too Hard,” that doesn’t mean I didn’t thoroughly enjoy this third in what is being set up to be a “Mission Impossible” or “Fast and Furious”-style franchise. It does mean that you will be more likely to enjoy yourself thoroughly if you don’t get distracted by questions of logics or physics. You know, like “Mission Impossible” and “Fast and Furious.”

To recap: In the first film, illusionist Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), mentalist/hypnotist
Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), lock-picker/pickpocket/card thrower Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), and escape artist Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) teamed up as The Horsemen to return a portion of a billionaire’s ill-gotten gains to some of the people he stole from, and they become members of the most secret, selective, and prestigious magic club in the world, called The Eye. In the second film, the three men are joined by Lula (Lizzy Caplan), replacing Henley, and the villain is the son of the villain from the first film.

The team has separated for many years, but they are reunited when they receive mysterious cards from The Eye, and they are joined by three young magicians who are likely being set-up to lead in episode 4, teased at the end of this film. The newcomers are stage performer Bosco (Dominic Sessa from “The Holdovers”), pickpocket June (Ariana Greenblatt the girl who was too old to play with Barbies in “Barbie”), and Charlie (Justice Smith from “Dungeons and Dragons: No Honor Among Thieves”), a magic nerd deeply immersed in the history of the art and craft of deception for entertainment who prefers to plan the illusions but remain behind the scenes. As with the previous films, the fun comes from the prickly banter, the fun of being fooled and then getting a peek at how the tricks are done, and the satisfaction of outsmarting a villain who deserves it.

And Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike) is every bit as worthy of being outsmarted as we could wish. She is the ruthless head of a South African diamond company, inherited from her father. Her diamonds are involved in laundering money for arms dealers and traffickers, and warlords. “She makes all the worst criminals possible.” (If that sounds like crypto, don’t think that gets left out.) There’s also some mention of the entire premise of the diamond business being based on abusive practices. And someone with a disguised voice keeps calling her about something very bad in her past that she does not want to be made public.

Veronika has a gigantic diamond called The Heart that is the size of a very large potato and she is scheduled to show it off at an exclusive formal gala. The Horsemen infiltrate and pull various tricks to steal The Heart. The Eye cards then lead them to a magnificent castle that is like a museum of magic, with puzzle rooms that include funhouse mirrors and M.C. Escher-style steps. Then there is a final confrontation, with more twists than there are in a family size box of fusilli. That includes some appearances by characters/performers from the previous films. The series is bending toward “Mission Impossible” (the TV series, not the movies) territory with its intricate illusions to triumph over bad guys and toward “Fast and Furious” with it’s “I don’t have friends; I have family” moments, and the globe-hopping of both. Plus Lady Gaga’s very apt “Abracadabra.”

Pike makes an excellent villain. She is a master of the mirthless smile. As she did in “Gone Girl,” she shows us the fiercely feral intelligence that is always clicking toward “winning” even as her face is a mask of civility. The four original Horsemen understand their characters and their chemistry and make the most of both and the new additions show a lot of promise. They tell us up front that everything that disappears, reappears. If indeed Sessa, Smith, and Greenblatt take over the lead roles in the next film, we’ll be happy to be fooled by them again.

Parents should know that this film has some strong language, a drug reference, peril, and violence including attempted murder and a sad death of a character.

Family discussion: What kind of magic do you most enjoy? What should the Horsemen do in the next chapter?

If you like this, try: The first two films, plus “Magic Camp” and the documentary “Make Believe”

Champions

Posted on March 9, 2023 at 5:30 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Champions is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for strong language and crude/sexual references
Profanity:	Very strong language for a PG-13
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking and drunkenness
Violence/ Scariness:	Some peril
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	March 10, 2023

(L to R) Alex Hintz as Arthur, Casey Metcalfe as Marlon, Matthew von der Ahe as Craig, Ashton Gunning as Cody, Tom Sinclair as Blair, Joshua Felder as Darius, James Day Keith as Benny, Madison Tevlin as Cosentino, Kevin Iannucci as Johnathan, and Bradley Edens as Showtime in director Bobby Farrelly’s CHAMPIONS, a Focus Features release. Credit : Courtesy of Focus Features

I have always been impressed by the commitment of the writer/director Farrelly brothers to including performers with disabilities in their movies — and for giving their characters great roles, sometimes funny or raunchy but never treated with anything but respect. Those who skip the credits at the end of “Stuck on You” will miss a very touching speech at the wrap party from Ray ‘Rocket’ Valliere. In “Champions,” Bobby Farrelly’s film, Woody Harrelson plays Marcus, a hot-headed college basketball coach sentenced to community service, coaching a team of people with disabilities. While it has all the expected underdog team with a coach who needs redemption beats, it is done with a good heart and a sense of humor.

Marcus understands the game of basketball very well. He knows the strategy and the skills it takes to win. People, life, basic requirements of being an adult, not so much. We see him being extremely rude to a woman he clearly does not know but has just had, apparently satisfying sex with. Her name is Alex (Kaitlin Olson), and while Marcus is happy to see her go, flipping the bird on the way out, we are already looking forward to seeing her again.

Marcus loses his job as an assistant coach, gets drunk, and drives into a police car. See what I meant about missing the basic skills of adulting? That’s how he ends up sentenced to 90 days of coaching the Friends, a team of young people with disabilities, including Johnny (gracefully played by Kevin Iannucci, who has Down syndrome). If you think that this is one of those movies where the people who are seen as less capable end up teaching the “normie” some important lessons, you’ve got that right. That doesn’t make it unsatisfying, though, because it all plays out with sincerity. It does not condescend to the characters with disabilities or try to make them saintly, giving them most of the one-up-ing punchlines and showing us their confidence. It gives at least one of them a bit of a character arc. But some viewers may find the portrayals reductionist and overly cute-sy.

But they’ve got Cheech running the community center where the Friends play, and it’s always good to have Cheech on board. Second, Harrelson is quite good at all of the frustration, and Olson gets to play a character who is not a hot mess, like the ones she plays on “Hacks” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” Her warmth and strong presence, and her excellent chemistry with Iannucci are the heart of the film.

Parents should know that this movie has some mature material, beginning with a frank if not explicit description of a one-night stand via an app, strong language for a PG-13, some mild peril and tense confrontations, drinking and drunkenness. The theme of inclusion is worth discussing.

Family discussion: Why didn’t Johnny want to tell Alex about his plans? Does this make you think differently about people with disabilities in your life?

If you like this, try: “The Ringer,” also from Farrelly

Midway

Posted on November 7, 2019 at 5:40 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for sequences of war violence and related images, language and smoking
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Smoking
Violence/ Scariness:	War-related peril and violence, characters injured and killed, guns, bombs, aerial battles, some disturbing images
Diversity Issues:	Portrayal of historic events reflects the era's attitudes
Date Released to Theaters:	November 7, 2019
Date Released to DVD:	February 17, 2020

The shocking attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in December 1941 was not just a devastating loss, the “day that will live in infamy,” as President Roosevelt said. It was a humiliating failure of our intelligence operation. We were not prepared for war with Japan in terms of personnel, weapons, or planes. And we continued to suffer brutal defeats in the first months. If America could not start to win some battles, Japan would begin to invade our west coast.

Six months later, the three-day battle of Midway was a critically important victory for the United States. From June 3-6, 1942, American forces gave Japan its first significant defeat of the war, the result of strategy, tactics, better intelligence, and, most of all, the unimaginable dedication and honor of the Greatest Generation. This re-telling of the story has the bombast we expect from director Roland Emmerich, but the stirring story and appealing characters make it a worthy tribute for Veteran’s Day weekend.

In Midway, creenwriter Wes Tooke (television’s “Colony”) balances the big picture battles and tactical overlay with the stories of a small group of real-life heroes. At the heart of the story is Dick Best (Ed Skrein) as the cocky pilot who shuts off the engine before landing on an aircraft carrier, just for practice. His wife Anne (Mandy Moore) is as tough as he is. If this movie had been made in the 80’s, Best would have been played by Tom Cruise. If it had been made in the 40’s, it would have been Clark Gable. Skrein makes Best the quintessential American hero, cool under pressure, confident, a bit of a cowboy. Luke Kleintank plays Earle Dickenson, the first Naval pilot to be awarded three Navy Crosses. If this were made in the 1940’s, his character would be played by Spencer Tracy.

Roland Emmerich knows how to make the battle scenes tense and exciting. He shows us just how fragile and vulnerable the planes were; it feels like they’re up in the air in an orange crate. He shows us how all the pieces came together, including the quirky code-breaker Joseph Rochefort (Brennan Brown) and Edwin Layton (Patrick Wilson), who had served in Japan, and whose warnings were ignored. Bull Halsey (Dennis Quaid) struggled with excruciatingly painful illness as he became America’s most acclaimed fighting admiral. Mandy Moore as Ann Best shows us the spirit of the home front. And Nick Jonas will break your heart as a machinist captured by the Japanese.

We look back at history and we cannot help taking it all for granted. Movies like this remind us how close we came to disaster and how many lives were lost to keep us safe.

Parents should know that this film includes WWII battle footage with bombs, explosions, fire, and guns. Characters are injured and killed.

Family discussion: Why is this film dedicated to the military on both sides of the Midway battle? How were Best and Dickenson different and how were each one’s strengths reflected in their choices?

If you like this, try: Books: The Battle of Midway, by Craig L. Symonds, and The Flying Guns: Cockpit Record of a Naval Pilot from Pearl Harbor Through Midway, by Earle Dickenson, played by Luke Kleintank in the film. There is also a 1976 film starring Charlton Heston and Henry Fonda.

Zombieland: Double Tap

Posted on October 17, 2019 at 5:25 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for bloody violence, language throughout, some drug and sexual content
Profanity:	Constant very strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol and marijuana
Violence/ Scariness:	Extremely violent and gory zombie peril and action with many characters injured and killed and many gruesome images
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	October 18, 2019
Date Released to DVD:	January 20, 2020

Start lining up the cast for part three; we’re going to need another one of these every decade or so. The original Zombieland was a brash, grimly funny story about a post-apocalyptic world in which characters who would otherwise be unlikely to meet, much less spend time together, identified only by their home towns, form a kind of family in the midst of zombie attacks. They are the high-strung but determined Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), the tough, peppery cowboy Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), and two survival-savvy sisters who are skeptical of anyone else, Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) and Wichita (Emma Stone).

As Zombieland: Double Tap opens, the group is moving into the White House, now surrounded by fields of overgrown vegetation. It makes a good fortress and there are lots of cool things to play with, from a Twister game to Presidential portraits and gifts given by dignitaries over the years. Columbus and Wichita are a couple, but there is a problem. In this era of chaos and unpredictability, everyone has different ideas about what makes them feel safe. Columbus keeps making lists of his rules for survival (humorously displayed on screen) and wants to make the relationship official by proposing — with the Hope Diamond, which, like everything else, is up for grabs. But Wichita feels safest not having any connections, except for her sister, and Little Rock, now a teenager, wants to find someone her own age. So they leave.

On a “retail therapy” expedition to a shopping mall, Tallahassee and Columbus meet Madison (Zooey Deutch), who has been living there. Deutch just about steals the movie with one of the truly great comic performances of the year as the perfectly ditsy girl whose understanding of what is going on may be dim and who may not be willing to shoot zombies, but who has a knack for survival on her own terms. Just as she and Columbus get together, Wichita returns. Little Rock has run off with a guitar-playing pacifist named Berkeley (Avan Jogia). So, the group goes on the road to find her, running into some new characters, including many zombies, now faster, stronger, and smarter than before, an Elvis fan near Graceland, and a duo who seem uncannily parallel to Columbus and Tallahassee (Thomas Middleditch and Luke Wilson, both terrific).

Like the original, the zombie attacks and shoot-outs are punctuated with deadpan (maybe the correct term is undead-pan) humor, brilliantly delivered by the powerhouse cast. From the opening Columbia logo showing the lady using her torch to bash some zombies, the film moves briskly along with a gruesomely delightful mix of mayhem, romance, and humor. It’s a story about family, resilience, courage, and staying limber — with a great scene over the credits featuring a not-too-surprising guest star.

Parents should know that this film includes constant zombie peril and violence with many graphic, bloody, and disturbing images, characters injured and killed, constant very strong and crude language, sexual references and non-explicit situations, and alcohol and marijuana.

Family discussion: Why did Wichita say no to Columbus? What rules do you follow?

If you like this, try: the first “Zombieland” and “Sean of the Dead”

The Highwaymen

Posted on March 21, 2019 at 5:12 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for some strong violence and bloody images
Profanity:	Some mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking and alcohol abuse
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended bloody violence, characters injured and killed
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	March 22, 2019

The titles say it all. Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, robbed banks, stores, and gas stations, masterminded a prison escape, killed police officers and civilians, all while they were still in their 20’s, until they were gunned down by law enforcement. They were populist celebrities of their time and have been glamorized in movies, most notably the Arthur Penn film “Bonnie and Clyde,” starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty. They get their names in the title, but for the story of the men in law enforcement who tracked them down, a generic term will do.

“The Highwaymen” is the un-glamorous story of former Texas Rangers called back into service who persevere despite unreliable politicians, incompetent federal agents, and a population, including criminals and Depression-era fan who were on the side of anyone who was not on the side of the banks. The story of the lovers who defied the rules created by the rich and powerful and shared cheeky photos of themselves holding guns was much more appealing than the idea of bringing them to justice.

Director John Lee Hancock “The Blind Side” and writer John Fusco (“Young Guns,” “The Shack”), are, like the story’s lead characters, disgusted with those who think that Bonnie and Clyde are more appealing than the men who caught and killed them, though that does not prevent them from altering some of the facts themselves.

The focus here is on the two old pros, Frank Hamer (Kevin Costner) and Maney Gault (Woody Harrelson). In the Penn film, the Hamer character was portrayed as hapless in comparison to the people he was tracking, initially captured by them (which never really happened). In this version, we only catch brief glimpses of the notorious duo. It is clear who we are supposed to respect and root for.

Texas governor Ma Ferguson (a deliciously bellicose Kathy Bates) has shut down the Texas Rangers in favor of a more modern form of law enforcement. But when it comes to the crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde, she recognizes that she doesn’t need modern and she doesn’t want law enforcement. She wants them dead. And so she has someone contact Hamer, now a successful private investigator living comfortably with his wife (Kim Dickens). And Hamer contacts Gault, living in near-poverty with his daughter trying to stay off the booze.

The pace of the film is slow and deliberate because what these men are doing is slow and deliberate. The filmmaking is straightforward but thoughtful. A scene where Hamer and Gault search what turns out to be an empty house is especially skillful, with the lawmen framed in a dresser-top mirror. The images of Depression-era life, the campout of what in those days were called hoboes, the saucy red shoe that is all we see of Bonnie in her first appearance, the stop to buy guns and the boys who help Hamer with some secret target practice, the face of Hamer’s wife (an excellent Kim Dickens) as she says goodbye — all reward the patient viewer.

Costner and Harrelson have the kind of easy chemistry that suits their characters, men who have seen too much and done too much. They know they have done wrong in the cause of right, but they also know that their wrongs kept people safe. They know that they will not be appreciated by the politicians who will claim credit for their successes and blame them for mistakes made by others, or by the people who thought of Bonnie and Clyde as a romantic fantasy of living fast, dying young, and leaving a good-looking corpse, if you don’t count the bullet holes. But that knowledge will not, as anything else can not, turn them away from what they see is their duty. This movie does what they were too proud to do themselves, tell their story and let us learn from it.

Parents should know that this is a crime and law enforcement story with extended peril and violence. Characters are injured and killed and there are some graphic and disturbing images. The film also has some sexual references, some potty humor, alcohol and alcoholism, and some strong language.

Family discussion: Why did Hamer and Gault take the job? Why did Clyde’s father want to talk to Hammer? Why did so many people root for Bonnie and Clyde?

If you like this, try: “The Untouchables” and “Bonnie and Clyde”