Now You See Me

And I will not back up with this statement. It is a good movie, because it's not a boring movie, but it is that kind of movie that you watch once and walk away and forget all about it.

First off, let me tell you why movies involving magic tricks don't work. Because magic is for live audience and everything made on camera loses the main purpose of magic. In order to enjoy it, we have to subscribe to things that defy plausibility, we are obliged to take unrealistic facts for granted. But let's say we're OK with that. The Illusionist or The Prestige worked that way.

The real problem here is that the storyline is cynical and walks on a path of plain 'by the book' twist after twist after twist scenario, even though they lack of substance, motivation, trying to create an undeserved WOW effect. Plus, they forced in a classical fling to satisfy all viewers. There are major unrealistic events, but I guess the movie is not for us who try to find logic, but for those who just want to be entertained and see sparkles.

There are a lot of reviews already for this movie, so it is unlikely anyone will read mine. But I feel like I have to weigh in on this movie.

This is the most fun I've had watching a flick in a very, very long time. This movie is a riot! It isn't quite as clever as it thinks it is. Most of the surprises weren't terribly surprising; off the top of my head I can identify at least three that I saw coming. But I don't care.

It was fun! It was funny and engaging and I found myself simultaneously rooting for both sides. There is no shortage of action, the dialogue is peppy, and - unlike almost everything else I've watched lately - it's never boring.

Do yourself a favor and don't analyze. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Movies don't have to be life-altering.

"Now You See Me" (2013) is a tremendously fun film starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine.

Four magicians (Eisenberg, Harrelson, Fisher, and Franco) are invited to an address. Inside, they encounter a few tricks. A year later, these four have become The Four Horsemen and are doing a show in Las Vegas. They end the first performance that we see with a bank robbery that doesn't look like an illusion.

The FBI gets right on it and sends in an agent, Dylan Rhodes (Ruffalo) and Interpol sends one as well, Melanie Laurent (Alma Dray). Rhodes is arrogant and thinks figuring out how these four did it is going to be easy, but it isn't, even with the help of a big-time illusionist exposer (Freeman). Of course, that robbery isn't going to be their last as the agents become more and more frustrated.

Be ready for the twists and turns, distractions, and sleight of hand. Nothing is as it seems.

Highly entertaining film, with good performances from the young cast, working alongside two major pros, Caine and Freeman. I know the film is preposterous but so are a lot of plots. When a film is well done, I say just relax and go along with it. I'm always amazed at how people review a film like this as if it's Citizen Kane. My advice: If you want reality, don't watch movies.

At this time, there are already 530 reviews for "Now You See It", so I'll try to be brief. The film is about a group of four magicians and mentalists who have been given a brilliant plan by an unseen genius. Again and again, the quartet perform seemingly impossible stunts and always seem many steps ahead of the police. And, in the process, they do HUGE magic tricks that are pretty much impossible. The presentation is VERY smooth and very slick and the overall production looks great. It has great music and effects. But, on the negative side none of this really makes a lot of sense and there is no way you can enjoy it if you think. This is especially true at the end (where there is a profession of love that comes from absolutely no where!!)--which is a gigantic cliché and made no sense whatsoever. The bottom line is that if you turn off you brain and enjoy it on a very superficial level, you'll enjoy it. If you try to make sense of it all, your head will explode. 'Nuff said.

"Now You See Me" came out of nowhere and became the sleeper hit of 2013, getting good word of mouth during its theatrical run. Having seen the movie for myself, I am kind of puzzled by its popularity. Certainly, the movie is far from the worst movies I have ever seen - it's colorful, and doesn't have a dead spot despite running almost two hours long.

But there were some things about the movie that annoyed me enough to prevent me from liking it. The biggest problem is with the characters. Except for Freeman's character, there is not one likable character in the movie. The law enforcement agents investigating the magicians are loud and obnoxious, and the four magicians come across as extremely smug. (Also, there is no attempt to give the magicians real and separate personalities - they all act alike.)

The characters were the main reason why I didn't like this movie, but there were other problems as well. One other major annoyance is the depiction of the magic acts. They have been jazzed up with CGI and other special effects so they don't feel like REAL magic acts - they come across as artificial. Also, as the movie progresses, the various feats the magicians pull off slowly become more unbelievable (and not fully explained) that eventually I wanted to cry out loud, "Oh, COME ON!" Less slight of hand and a more realistic approach would have been a much better approach.

(Note to Michael Caine fans: His role is really just an extended cameo appearance.)