“You know it’s really summer when my main motivation for catching a movie is to spend a couple hours in air conditioning. I kinda wanted to just go home and rest up before my NYC trip tomorrow, but there was no way I’d survive the 90 degree weather in my fourth floor apartment. This week’s movie must list was Now You See Me and After Earth. I’d actually planned on seeing Earth because the timing worked out better, even though I was a bit more excited for Now. But, as luck would have it, the Earth projector broke so I soon found myself with a freebie return pass, sitting in the air conditioning for an extra hour, reading the newest True Blood and waiting for Now You See Me. Okay so I wasn’t sitting there for an hour but the start time was later than the first choice film. But I am so not complaining.
Such an incredibly fun movie. Really, this is the kind of thing that I love going to the movies for. And it’s what summer movies tend to be all about, which is why it’s my favorite movie season. Oh and that other magician movie that came out earlier this year is not anywhere near the same level as this one was.
First of all, absolutely fantastic cast. Jesse Eisenberg being all smug and smart, Mark Ruffalo our trusty everyman, Woody Harrelson with that twinkle of mischief, Isla Fisher the cute lil bombshell, Dave Franco and the charm that runs in his family, Mélanie Laurent beautiful as ever, Morgan Freeman just being his bad ass self, Michael Caine whose presence I should not have to justify. Every second of screen time had at least one of those awesome peeps being awesome. Oh and I also loved how Freeman was finally wearing his earrings on screen. They’re pretty much his signature thing IRL, but we never really get to see them on film.
So our story is that we’ve got some magicians that somehow manage to rob a bank during their show, and give the money back to their audience. The feds step in to try and stop them, and the fun chase begins! I have a strange appreciation for magic. I don’t know that I would ever really wanna go to a magic show (I’d rather see something with narrative) but I do enjoy it. And I would have wanted to go to these guys shows. There’s two things I like about watching magic. One, I like to be surprised. New and creative tricks peak my interest, not knowing where it’s going next. The other is that I like to figure it out. Guess at what the secret is. What’s frustrating about magic in movies is that there’s usually a lot of “”movie magic”” involved, which is completely cheating. It was about 50/50 on the actually achievable/yeah right split, but the tricks and set ups were a blast to watch unravel.
Yeah I saw some twists coming, and a few things were contrived, but I still left there a very happy movie goer.
Now You see Me – \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/