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Now You See Me (2013) Directed by Louis Leterrier

Posted by: Frank Veenstra Posted date: 7:40 AM / comment : 0 , , , , , , , , , , , , ,



Perhaps I'm just weird about certain things but I don't like movies about illusionists. Thing that annoys me about them is that they can make things as crazy as they want, without having to explain anything. And yes, this movie also features all sort of implausible magic tricks in it. It feels like cheating! It should be a law, that when you decide to do a movie about illusionists, you are only allowed to use actual magic tricks and no 'movie magic'.

But besides all of that, this movie has plenty of other problems in it as well. The premise actually still sounded kind of nice and promising to me but I was absolutely annoyed and disappointed by the way certain things played out.

It believes that keep pulling rabbits out of the hat and stack surprise upon surprise, equals being a clever and surprising movie. But more often than not, things just don't add up too well. It's a typical example of a movie that thinks it's being more clever than it in fact truly is. As a matter of fact, the movie is a very lazily written one in some regards. It mostly relies on coincidences and other conveniences for its story. When looking back at this movie, you have to agree on it that certain things just don't make any sense or add up too well, no matter whether you liked the overall movie or not.

And it still is a very easy movie to like. I mean, sure, it's an entertaining one to watch. It has a constant fast pace and some fine actors, that help to keep you interested in the movie, all throughout. It's not the fun heist movie I expected it to be but it certainly is not without its entertainment.

Thing that still at the same time annoys me about its pace is that it's trying to go to fast at times. Sometimes the camera literally can't stand still and it keeps swirling all over the place, even when not an awful lot is happening. No, I'm not talking about shaky cam but swirly cam...shaky cam's lesser known but far more annoying cousin!

Guess you could say that the foremost thing this movie has going for it, is its cast. Not all characters are equally likable but the actors playing them still give a fine performance. I particularly liked Mark Ruffalo and Woody Harrelson in this movie.

Really, calling this movie a terrible one would be crazy in my opinion. It actually, despite everything, still succeeds to bring some entertainment, some good snappy type of dialog and fine performances by its cast. I just wasn't too fond of its story however and the way certain things played out.

6/10

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Carlito's Way: Rise to Power (2005) (V) Directed by Michael Bregman

Posted by: Frank Veenstra Posted date: 1:54 PM / comment : 0 , , , , , , , , , , ,



It's probably a fact I'm one of the few persons who prefers "Carlito's Way" over the other Brian De Palma directed crime epic "Scarface". In other words; I absolutely love the original "Carlito's Way" and I'm sad to say that this prequel is nowhere in the same league as the first and original movie!

Not just story, character or actor wise but more quality wise! This is a very simplistic, low budget production, that never even was played in cinemas. And rightfully so. This movie has no right to appear in any cinema and it even has absolutely no right to exist in the first place.

It's not like I completely hated this movie but it's simply being such a pointless on to watch. It has almost nothing to do with "Carlito's Way" at all and totally has a different tone and style to it. But also when you look at this movie as just a crime/thriller, it's being a terribly lacking one, that poorly got put together by both its cast and crew.

The cast is most obviously lacking. It consists just out of a bunch of guys, trying to act tough, which does not work out all, simply because they aren't very good actors. They are all terribly unconvincing in their roles, which also really takes away a lot of the tension for the movie and it's being hard to feel involved with anyone or anything in it.

It's not even being a very good 'origins' movie. So supposedly this movie is to show you how Carlito rose to power and gained control over the New York drugs world. But the movie doesn't show you how he slowly rises and gained more and more power and respect but it just simply shows how stuff just happens to him. He doesn't ever come across as a cunning and tough drug-lord, who isn't afraid to steal or kill.

They tried hard though. I mean, there is a scene in which out of nowhere Carlito suddenly shoots and kills a couple of guys. It really came out of the blue, which might sound like a positive thing, ala Michael Corleone in "The Godfather" but it really doesn't fit the character, the moment and just the overall style and story of the movie. It doesn't make sense for him to kill and he never does anything outrageous like that again, later on in this movie, which lets the scene feel all the more out of place and out of character for him. For the rest of the movie he actually comes across as a very nice guy, which probably is being another good indication how miscast Jay Hernandez is in his role. Throughout his career he has always played friendly guys, so why even consider him casting in a tough gangster role, that first got immortalized by Al Pacino, in 1993.

The movie also absolutely tells you nothing about the background or youth of Carlito. In that regard, this movie feels all the more pointless as a prequel. It doesn't tells you anything new, at least nothing interesting and you are obviously way better off watching the original "Carlito's Way" instead and forget about this movie.

But it's not just simply the casting or characters themselves that make this movie a poor and disappointing one. It also really could had used a more tight script, that offered some good moments and surprises and some better storytelling as well. This movie really doesn't get pleasantly told, which makes you feel glad when the movie is finally over.

Bad as a genre flick and even worse as a prequel to "Carlito's Way"!

4/10

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Man on the Moon (1999) Directed by Milos Forman

Posted by: Frank Veenstra Posted date: 7:13 AM / comment : 0 , , , , , , , , ,




(Review originally written at 16 January 2007)

 *** This review may contain spoilers ***

 This is a perfectly good and entertaining movie to watch. However as a biopic the movie remains pretty shallow and we never fully get to understand the character, though that also would had been virtually impossible, considering who's the subject of the movie.

 Not really Milos Forman's fault that the movie remains too shallow, since he's obviously capable of making an unsympathetic and unpredictable character accessible and likable (watch "The People vs. Larry Flynt", for instance). This movie doesn't ever really gives us an impression of the real Andy Kaufman. It's hard to tell in the movie when he's trying to be serious and when he's joking around. This is also due to Jim Carrey's acting. If you look at footage of the real Andy Kaufman you'll notice how incredibly natural and subtle his humor is He's not ever acting, he's just natural. Jim Carrey, no matter how great he is in his role, is clearly acting and playing a character. Guess that Andy Kaufman just wasn't the right subject to pick. He was too complex and unpredictable to make a fascinating and engaging biopic about. It has always been hard to define Andy Kaufman, since he was not your ordinary comedian and never referred to himself as being one.Having watched this movie, I still have no idea of who the real Kaufman was and what drove him and went on in his head.

Don't get me wrong, Carrey is great, I mean he gets really absorbed by its character but he just isn't Kaufman. It perhaps makes his performance- as the entire movie a bit overrated.

 It's fun to see that lots of persons involving Kaufman's life and career play themselves in this movie such as most of the "Taxi" cast, Jerry Lawler and David Letterman. But the movie also features some other great 'real' actors such as Danny DeVito, Vincent Schiavelli, Paul Giamatti and Courtney Love.

 The movie focuses on Kaufman's entire career as a comedian (and wrestler!). Obviously a lot to put in a merely 2 hour movie but the movie manages very well to put the interesting and groundbreaking legendary things of his career into the movie. It also makes sure that the movie always keeps pace, though its not always for the best of the movie. Basically in a 15 minutes time-span we go from the beginning illness, to Kaufman's Carnegie Hall performance and his death. The movie doesn't leave much room for thinking. Perhaps also a reason why the movie remains pretty shallow, though the movie still has some good emotions in it.

 So the story-flow is a little offbeat at times and things happen to fast and are forgotten in the next sequence again. It's perhaps the only flow in the otherwise great directing (though the audience reaction in the movie were also distractingly overdone at times with lots of over-the-top laughing and standing ovations, as if Kaufman was some sort of God to everyone.) and entertainingly written story.

 It's definitely true that the movie focuses on the more merry aspects of Kaufman's life. For instance the birth of his give up for adoption child with his only 17 year old girlfriend is not mentioned at all in any form in the movie. The movie focuses on the humorous side of life and is made in the same style as Kaufman's kind of humor. Guess that the movie is pretty much like Kaufman himself would had liked it

But even if you weren't a Kaufman fan, I think this movie would be still one worth watching. It's greatly directed with good productions values and a solid cast.

 More entertaining than engaging or interesting really.

 7/10

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