Now You See Me (2013)

[over the top , empty vessel]

Now You See Me (2013) 

IMDB- 7.3

Rottentomatoes- 49%

RJG Rating- 20

4 magicians use their audience to rob a bank.Is it real or just a trick?

Starring- Mark Ruffalo,Jesse Eisenberg,Woody Harrelson

Director- Louis Leterrier

Now You See Me has one of the best cast of recent times.Mark Ruffalo (Hulk from Avengers) ,Jesse Eisenberg & Woody Harrelson (Social Network and Zombieland),Morgan Freeman & Michael Caine (Dark Knight) ,Mélanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds) ,Isla Fisher and Dave Franco. And what happens when you pile up so many good actors? You fall flat on your face.

All these actors go so over the top ,that at a point its unbearable to watch the movie.Jesse was the most annoying.His only talent here was to talk fast and thats all he does.Its time he selects more diverse roles.Woody & Mark play characters that are so poorly drawn up that they just end up acting below par.Morgan & Caine can be excused for sleep walking their way through this movie.Isla Fisher is another wasted actress in this movie.The only one that is worth watching is Dave Franco.

The story is one that fills up the crazy plot with really fantastical magic tricks.The problem here is that the writers dont know what the difference between magic tricks and actual magic are.Much of the plot is progressed with the help of real magic ,which is quite baffling since this is a movie about 4 street magicians.Well one of them atleast is a hypnotist who seems to have actual powers at times.

The story has trouble defining what it really is.At times its about magic ,at others its about a heist.And its better we dont talk about the heist, because thats another totally lame idea.Character development is utterly pathetic.While focusing on the 4 magicians at the start of the movie,it leaves them all of a sudden and focuses on the cop played by Mark Ruffalo.

The logic behind actions is completely missing and its extremely hard to connect with any of these low IQ characters.The movie tries so hard to act like a very intelligent magic movie ,without doubt it fails!

Direction was poor.Louis Leterrier does make a stylish movie with a well established cast, but the poor story and direction wastes the potential.On a positive note ,the action sequences were fun and the fight/chase scene between Ruffalo and Franco is a big highlight.

My frustration with the movie reached a peak with the finale and the twist.Both which were completely idiotic.The entire movie leaves you with plenty of questions ,for which finding answers will be a vain attempt.

Overall ,Now You See Me is plain nonsense and crap ,but its a timepass watch if you can switch your brains off.

Acting- 1/5

Story- 0.5/5

Direction- 1/5

Action- 3/5

Drama- 1.5/5

Suspense- 2/5

Monsters kick out Zombies & Superheroes

Monsters kick out Zombies & Superheroes

[Jun21-23]

#1-Monsters University made a solid debut as it opened with a powerful $82million.This is the 4th highest debut for a animation movie with only Toy Story3,Shrek2&3 ,making bigger openings.MU made $54million overseas to bring its worldwide total to $136million.

MU is the prequel to Pixar's classic Monsters Inc (2001) ,and follows the story of how Mike & Sully met.Critics were pleased with the result and MU has been getting good reviews.The movie has a rating of 77% which in Pixar levels ,is below average.

Excluding MU ,in Pixar's 13 movies ,only 3 movies have got a rating below 90% ,Cars 1&2 [74%&39%] and Brave[78%] ,and all 3 were a far cry from the usual Pixar standards of quality story telling.

MU's reviews pales in comparisons to previous Pixar classics ,but its definitely this years best animation movie (so far).

#2-Brad Pitt returned to big budget action movies ,with his World War Z ,the latest zombie apocalypse movie.The movie made a powerful $66million domestically and $45 overseas ,to make a worldwide gross of $111million.World War Z's budget of $190million looks to be easily recoverable considering the big opening.WWZ's opening is the highest debut for a zombie flick (Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead held that record for almost 9years with a distant $26million) ,and also Brad Pitt's highest weekend debut.

Reviews for the movie was average with a rating of 67%.WWZ's altering its source material (the novel its based upon) and its uneven plot is the major criticism.Although the action and Brad Pitt's acting is praised.

#3-Man Of Steel had a steep fall of 65% as it stumbled to $41million in its second week.But with a world wide gross of $398million ,the movie has safely recovered its budget and might be able to cross $600million if it doesnt lose steam this week.

MOS has now become the highest grossing Superman movie ,beating 2006's Superman Returns ($200million).

#4-This is the End held on making $13million ,bringing its total gross to $57.7million.For a small budget movie ,TITE is a big success.

#5-Now You See Me stuck around making $7.8million in its 4th week.The movie has so far made a worldwide gross of $134million.

2013 Top 5

#5-Star Trek Into Darkness -$430million

#4-Oz The Great and Powerful -$491million

#3-The Croods -$577million

#2-Fast & Furious 6- $645million

#1-Iron Man 3 -$1.207 billion (#5 on all time grossing list)

This week is going to be another action movie oriented one.And i must admit both dont look to be any good.One is an action comedy,The Heat, and the other an all out action movie,White House Down.My pick of the week is....WHD

White House Down- JUN28

story- after a group take over the White House ,a Secret Service Agent must rescue the President.

+ Stars Channing Tatum & Jamie Foxx who are both on a good run.

- its directed by Roland Emmerich ,who is known more for his liking of destruction rather than a good story.

Heat on the other hand is directed by Paul Feig ,who directed the superb Bridesmaids.The Heat stars Sandra Bullock & Melissa McCarthy.The trailers havnt been too funny and i think this will be a disaster.

As for WHD ,its directed by Roland (2012,Day After Tomorrow) and could be entertaining.

What your pick?

Man Of Steel makes a smashing debut

Man Of Steel makes a smashing debut

[Jun14-16]

#1-Man Of Steel outdid all expectation as it opened to a wonderful $113million on its first weekend.Man Of Steel's strong crew led by Zack Snyder & Chris Nolan had a solid collections on each of its 3 days.

It has made $125 in 4days domestically.The movie made a strong $71million from overseas bringing its total 4day collection to $196million

MOS is the reboot of the first superhero movie ,Superman (1978). Written by Goyer and Nolan ,they injected Superman with the same amount of gritty realism they had given the Dark Knight Trilogy.

Majority of the critics were pleased and the movie has been getting good reviews ,even though its controversially rated rotten at Rottentomatoes with 56%.

MOS first weekend collection is the 2nd highest  of superhero origins.

1-Spiderman $114million

2-Man Of Steel $113million

3-IronMan $98million

4-X-Men Origins: Wolverine $85milion

5-Incredibles $70million

**UPDATED -check below

#2-Even though with crushing competition from MOS , comedy This Is The End scrapped up an encouraging $20million.The comedy movie starring the top comedians of the recent times ,play themselves in this movie about the apocalypse.Critics are very happy with the movie and have rated it at 85%. Reviews say its the best comedy movie so far.

The movie has already recovered its $30million budget this weekend!

#3-Now You See Me held on to the 3rd spot making $10million this weekend.The movie has been a success so far and has already made $108million worldwide from a budget of $75million.

#4-Fast Furious 6 continued its steep fall as it fell by 55% this week. It made $9.4million this week ,just enough to become the top grossing movie of the Fast Furious series.With the exception of Tokyo Drift,the Fast Furious series has been consecutively topping its predecessors ,a very rare occurrence for a franchise.Fast Furious 6 has so far made a worldwide gross of $636million!

#5-The number 1 movie of last week ,Purge fell by 75% this week to end up making $8.2million this week.The thriller has so far made $58million ,and for a movie made on $3million ,Purge is a gigantic hit.

2013 Top 5

#5-Star Trek Into Darkness -$386million

#4-Oz The Great and Powerful -$491million

#3-The Croods -$576million

#2-Fast & Furious 6- $636million

#1-Iron Man 3 -$1.201 billion (#5 on all time grossing list)

This week we have 2 heavyweights clashing against each other.First my early analysis on the two.

Monsters University 

story-The story of how Sully & Mike met ,10 years before the events of Monsters Inc.(animation)

+ PIXAR ! The animation studio has brought about multiple animated classics and this is the sequel to one of their earlier classics.

- Being a sequel to a classic carries a lot of weight.And Pixar hasnt made a classic since 2010's Toy Story 3.Cars 2 was horrible and Brave too kiddish ,can Monsters University break the bad run?

World War Z 

story-A UN employee travels around the world trying to stop the Zombie virus.

+ Brad Pitt & Running Zombies ! whats there not to like !This is an adaptation of the novel of the same name.

- The movie going over budget ($200million +) ,re-writes ,delays ,re-shoots could have made the movie a mash up of second hand work.

Both the movies have got respectable reviews.76 for WWZ ,and 87 for Monsters.But being a big fan of Pixar ,my Pick for the week will be Monsters University.Whats yours?

*****UPDATE*****

As i earlier reported ,initial estimates for MOS first weekend was $113million ,but according to latest reports MOS has actually made $116million!Whats the big deal?
With this ,MOS has now become the biggest debut for an Superhero origin story beating Spiderman's 11 year record!MOS is also June's biggest debuting beating Toy Story3

1-Man Of Steel $116million
2-Spiderman $114million
3-IronMan $98million
4-X-Men Origins: Wolverine $85milion
5-Incredibles $70million

With the foreign collections ,MOS has now made $200million worldwide!

Furious slips but holds off new release

Furious slips but holds off new release
[May31-Jun2]

#1- Fast & Furious 6 slipped by a large 65% ,to make $34.5million on its second weekend.With this F6 has made $480million worldwide ,and is $120million short of overtaking Fast5.

#2- Now You See Me made $28million which was upto studio expectations.The movie stars some of Hollywood's finest actors such as Jesse Eisenberg ,Morgan Freeman,Woody Harrelson,Michael Caine along with others.But even with such talent ,the movie failed to please the critics.The movie scored only 43% ,with critics saying that the director failed to extract anything from the already weak story.

Made from a budget of $75million ,the movie's success now mainly depends on its overseas collection.

#3- After Earth was another example of wasted talent.After Earth flopped hard with just $27million.With a budget of $130million AE is turning out into a big disaster.After Earth panned by critics ,scoring just 12%.This is director Shyamalan's second worst score after his previous attempt ,Airbender (6%) ,while its Will Smith's lowest scoring movie in his almost 30year career.After Earth's main issue seems to be its slow pace and poor direction.

#4- Star Trek Into Darkness suffered another steep fall as it made just $16.4million in its 3rd week.With this the movie has currently made a gross total of $328million which is somewhat par to that of its predecessor.

#5- Epic also made $16.4million.The animated kids adventure movie has so far made $150million thus safely making up its budget of $100million.

2013 Top 5

#5-G.I. Joe: Retaliation -$359million

#4-Fast & Furious 6- $480million

#3-Oz The Great and Powerful -$490million

#2-The Croods -$569million

#1-Iron Man 3 -$1.180 billion (#5 on all time grossing list)

The latest entry into Top 5 was Fast Furious 6 ,which has enough power to boost even further up the list to #3 by this week.

This week we have a comedy and a horror-thriller.Both are uninteresting so not gonna choose any.

1-The Purge-Starring Ethan Hawke ,the movie has a strange concept.The movie is about a day on which everyone can do whatever crime they want to do.The trailer was interesting but the concept is too weak.Initial reviews give it 63%

2-The Internship brings the Wedding Crashers team ,Owen Wilson & Vince Vaughn together.Its about two unemployed guys who compete against each other at an internship.