Posts tagged Jesse Eisenberg
“Now You See Me” Misdirection in Its Own Right
Jun 9th
“Misdirection in Its Own Right”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Now You See Me combines the genres of a movie about magicians with a heist movie, and it ends up with an example of more is less.
Even the appearances of Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine can’t pull this movie out of the doldrums.
The story begins when four magicians who each have different specialties are all summoned to a locked apartment in New York City which is full of clues that they have to figure out in order to learn why they were summoned.
The four magicians are Daniel, played by Jesse Eisenberg, who is a master of misdirection; Henley, played by Isla Fisher, who is Daniel’s former assistant; Merritt, played by Woody Harrelson, who is a mentalist; and Jack, played by Dave Franco, who is an expert at card tricks.
Incidentally, Dave Franco is the brother of James Franco.
Then we shift to one year later in Las Vegas, the four now call themselves The Four Horsemen, and they put on a spectacular show in a casino, where Daniel announces, “Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight we are going to rob a bank!”
Well, not only do they rob a bank of 32 million Euros, but the bank is in Paris, France, and the robbery occurs during the show with the assistance of a man pulled at random from out of the audience.
Now the FBI gets involved with Agent Dylan Rhodes, played by Mark Ruffalo, another agent from Interpol, a woman named Alma Dray shows up to assist him, and after an interrogation that is unproductive for the authorities, The Four Horsemen are off to their next big show in New Orleans, which is publicized as the setup for their third show, the “Big Punch,” in New York City.
The thing about magic, however, is that if you know how a trick is done, you lose interest in watching that trick again, and a famous magician tells Agents Rhodes and Dray how The Four Horsemen managed to rob that bank in Paris.
The movie tries to spice things up with races through the streets of New Orleans during Mardi Gras, but again The Four Horsemen escape, and they are on to New York City, where a car chase through the streets and over a bridge don’t help much, either.
Now You See Me itself is all misdirection.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Now You See Me – Movie Trailer
Jun 3rd
“Now You See Me” pits an elite FBI squad in a game of cat and mouse against “The Four Horsemen”, a super-team of the world’s greatest illusionists. “The Four Horsemen” pull off a series of daring heists against corrupt business leaders during their performances, showering the stolen profits on their audiences while staying one step ahead of the law.
“30 Minutes or Less” Dueling Pairs of Idiots
Aug 17th
“Dueling Pairs of Idiots”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
30 Minutes or Less is a comedy about an elaborate plot to rob a bank to pay a hitman to kill the father of one of the characters, so that he can inherit his father’s lottery winnings.
What could go wrong, right?
Well, practically everything, considering that one pair of idiots hatches the plot and gets another pair of idiots to carry it out for them.
When the movie opens, we meet Nick, played by Jesse Eisenberg. He delivers pizzas in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Vito’s Pizza, whose slogan is the title of the movie. If you order a pizza and it isn’t delivered in 30 minutes or less, then the pizza is free.
So, Nick is dashing through the street in his own beat-up car to make a delivery to two teenage boys, and he is rushing, because if he doesn’t make the delivery in time, then the cost of the pizza comes out of his own wages.
Well, the teenagers have pulled a con on Nick to get a free pizza, but then Nick pulls an even better con on the teenagers to get his money and a tip, too.
Then we meet Dwayne, played by Danny McBride, and his buddy Travis, played by Nick Swardson. They spend the day watching movies and playing video games in the house owned by Dwayne’s father, The Major, played by Fred Ward.
The Major, who is extremely unpleasant, is a retired Marine who won $10 million in a lottery, and when he asks Dwayne and Travis what they do, they say hesitatingly, “We’re business partners.”
They also blow up watermelons for fun, and Dwayne gets an idea for how to make their lives even easier: kill The Major and inherit his home and money.
Naturally, they aren’t capable of doing it themselves, and so after finding a hitman, now they have to come up with $100,000 in order to pay him.
So, putting their watermelon skills to bad use, they kidnap Nick on a false pizza-delivery run, strap explosives to his body, and tell him that he has to rob a bank for them or they will blow him up.
In a panic, Nick gets his roommate to help him, who is played by Aziz Ansari.
30 Minutes or Less is a study in dueling pairs of idiots.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”