Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco, star as 4 very different magicians/mentalists/con-men, or whatever you want to call it, who come together to form the dynamic magic team The 4 Horsemen.

The film starts off as you would expect, introducing the 4 characters in their own element, making their means of survival, each by using their own “magical” talents.

Then each of them finds a tarot card of some sort, a message, telling them where to meet, which they all do.

After their brief introductory exchanges, they realize they were all brought together for a reason.  To perform a huge heist (similar to that of Ocean’s Eleven).

So the team dazzles it’s audience, often showering them with a rainfall of money too, or paying off their debts, increasing their bank balances.

Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent play the cops trying to catch the magician ensemble, albeit unsuccessfully.

There’s of course a big twist at the end.  But it’s still not enough to warrant the bland nature of this film.  The magic acts are impressive, at times it’s like watching a David Blaine spectacle on the big screen, but apart from that, don’t expect to be wowed.

Fisher and Eisenberg’s performances are far from their best.  While Franco (yes, he is indeed James Franco’s little brother) is also forgettable.  Harrelson and Ruffalo pull most of the movie’s weight.  However the chemistry between Ruffalo and Laurent is pretty much non-existent, making their character’s love story completely unbelievable.

What the film does provide is the important theme of hope and imagination, something a lot of us lack these days and if you can suspend your disbelief for a couple of hours, you might find yourself once again a believer in magic.

5.5/10

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Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor star in ‘The Impossible’, a film about the 2004 tsunami that hit Thailand.

Maria (Watts) and Henry (Ewan) are a couple on holiday in Thailand with their 3 sons.  As they are blissfully relaxing poolside, everything goes quiet for a moment, birds fly away and the screams from afar begin… the tsunami has hit.

In amongst the chaos, the family get separated.  Maria gets a serious leg wound injury but somehow manages to stay close to her eldest son.  They ride the violent waves, swerving in and out of debris, the cinematography on this part is amazing.

After the water subsides. Maria and her son Lucas wonder along the island and stumble across a lone child who they help.  The three climb a tree for safety.

Locals soon find them and take the injured Maria and her son to the local hospital which is overloaded with disaster victims.

Upon request from his mother, Lucas takes on the task of finding lost family members and reuniting them with the rest of their family in the hospital.

Unfortunately, for potentially such a great story to retell, the writing in this film fails to impress.  Firstly, the coincidences are so far fetched that it really does make the whole plot unbelievable, not to mention the lagging dialogue which seems to repeat and re-establish everything that is boring and mundane, and when they do try to dig a little deeper it just sounds too contrived.

The lead actors, Watts and McGregor are definitely competent and deliver good performances, however the writing doesn’t do them any favors.

4/10

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Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star as Dean and Cindy in the intense “romantic” drama, ‘Blue Valentine’.

The film switches from present time to the past and details the antics of Dean and Cindy’s life, how they met, how they fell in love and ultimately how they (or mainly Cindy) fell out of love.

As the film takes us back to the past we see Cindy as a young girl with big dreams to become a doctor.  As her relationship with her current volatile boyfriend comes to it’s inevitable end, she meets Dean, an energetic and passionate young man.

Their whirlwind romance begins as Dean explains to his co-worker how taken he is with Cindy, how she is “different” from other girls.  There’s an attraction between the two that’s unexplainable.

Cindy however, finds out that she is pregnant with her ex-boyfriend’s baby, knowing the consequences it will have on her aspirations for a medical career and also knowing that her ex-boyfriend will in no way contribute to fatherhood, she decides to have an abortion.  But just as the doctor is about to perform the procedure, Cindy realizes she can’t go through with it ad decides to keep the baby.

Dean tells her that he wants to start a family Cindy and the baby and the two get married not long after.

As the film switches back to the present, we see Cindy now working as a nurse whilst juggling being a mother to her young daughter.  Dean still works at the same furniture moving job he had when he first met Cindy, however, the years have taken its toll on both parents.  Their relationship is strained, Cindy seems to have lost the want to fight for their love and Dean seems to avoid facing the problems of their distance by drowning his sorrows in alcohol.

While Williams and Gosling definitely get kudos for their performances, the film itself feels a little too drawn out.  The ending is also far from satisfying and there seems to be a significant central goal lacking.  The film’s narrative seems to jump from place to place without much reason and we as the audience seem to become as lost as the characters themselves.

WRITING:  6/10

ACTING 9/10

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Robert Zemeckis directs ‘Flight’ a hard hitting drama written by John Gatins (screenwriter of ‘Coach Carter’).

Denzel Washington stars as Whip Whitaker, an alcoholic and super experienced commercial air pilot of fictional airline Southjet Air.

It’s another “ordinary day” for Whip, as he wakes up next to his flight attendant girlfriend, has a drink and a snort of cocaine before heading for the airport for another flight.  However midflight, as Whip takes a much needed nap, he is awaken by his novice Southern co-pilot Ken Evans (played by Brian Geraghty), “The elevator feels stiff”, Evans voices, alarmed and scared as the plane looks set to go down.

Whip stays as calm as ever as takes control, delegating his co-pilot and head flight attendant Margaret (played by Tamara Tunie).  Whip manages to manoeuvre the plane upside down to steady its alignment.  The plane glides towards an empty field where it has its somewhat “gentle” crash landing.

Remarkably, with over a hundred people on board the plane, only 6 perished.  Whip, suffering only minor injuries has an epiphany when he awakens in the hospital.  He knows he needs to get sober, but at the same time, he must do everything possible to avoid being prosecuted for flying an aircraft under the influence.

That’s where his attorney Hugh Lang (played by Don Cheadle) comes in.  Lang manages to get his toxication report thrown out due to technicalities.  It seems more than likely that Whitaker will come off as the “hero” pilot that he is and avoid any penalties.

Meanwhile Whitaker has fallen for Nicole (played by British actress Kelly Reilly) a fellow substance abuser he met at the hospital.  Nicole also wants to get sober and her life back on track, maybe more so than Whip.  Nevertheless, they help each other as Whip dodges the legal matters of the plane crash investigation.  This is a dramatic and touching film, with wonderful thrilling elements as well as comedic moments (mostly provided by John Goodman’s character Harling Mays, who is Whip’s drug supplier).

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Ryan Gosling, Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor star in the thought provoking film ‘Stay’.

Gosling stars as Henry, a sad, seemingly tormented art student who becomes the new patient of Sam, a psychiatrist played by Ewan McGregor.

Sam feels obligated to help when Henry expresses that he’s planning on committing suicide.  The events that follow puzzle Sam as he seems to be drawn into a confusing maze as he tries to track down the mysterious Henry.

Sam’s girlfriend Lila had also once tried to commit suicide so the two discuss Henry’s situation as Lila tries to be there for Sam who continuously gets intertwined in Henry’s life.

However as Sam tracks down the people in Henry’s life, he starts to find out that everything is not how it appears and that Henry’s friends and family think that Sam is actually Henry.

Throughout the film, we see duplicates occurring.  From people, dressed the same as one another and situations and conversations that repeat themselves, we as the audience start to think that this world we are viewing in this film is not quite right.

Soon Sam and Henry’s dialogue start overlapping each other and we start to realize that they could be one person, but then we wonder who is real and who is imaginary.  However the twist at the end exceeds all our expectations and we find out that nothing is at all what we thought.

The beautiful transitions in this film bring us from scene to scene effortlessly, yet with such detail it really is like witnessing a piece of art unfold before us.  This film is not just a story, but it’s a poem and a painting that evokes all sorts of discussion and thought even after the answers are revealed.

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Australian’s Radha Mitchell stars in the new series ‘Red Widow’.

Mitchell plays Marta Walraven a house wife with a seemingly perfectly privileged life, a beautiful family living in a beautiful home.  However behind the scenes reveals that Marta’s husband, Evan’s means of providing for his family are indeed illegal.

Not only is Marta’s husband involved in the underworld of drugs, but so is her brother and father.  When her husband is gunned down and killed in front of their young son, Boris, Marta never imagined she too would be involved in her family’s dark secrets, but in order to save her family and protect them, she’ll do anything.

Marta now has to pay off the debts incurred by her late husband which involved performing risky duties in the drug trade with Evan’s former colleagues.  Whilst doing so her youngest son still struggles with being traumatized by witnessing his father’s death while her oldest son helps cover for her.

Her first duty is to find a new point of contact at a port to help smuggle out the drugs.  She is forced to seduce Bob to get her way.

While the pilot was definitely attention grabbing, the plot that follows isn’t entirely convincing.  Mitchell does a good enough job however the actor that played Evan Walraven, Anson Mount certainly had the most screen presence.  Too bad he doesn’t get much screen time before his character is killed off.

The world that Marta is pulled into is portrayed realistically enough, however how easily and calmly she is able to perform her duties is the unconvincing part.  Her character isn’t shown to have mourned much at all considering her circumstances.  She almost seems like she’s enjoying this new life of hers, it really seems unbelievable and not to mention doesn’t make us have much empathy for her.

But maybe it’ll get better, maybe it won’t.  Right now it deserves a 6/10.

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Starring Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins and Michael Peña, The Lucky Ones is a great “road trip” film filled with heart.

Colee, Cheaver and TK, three soldiers who have returned home for their 30 day break after being injured in the war.

Colee (plated by Rachel McAdams), is a sweet, somewhat naive young southern girl whose boyfriend was killed in the war.  She comes back to the States carrying his prized possession, a very valuable guitar, who she intends on returning to his family.  Being estranged from her own mother, Colee hopes to find a family with her deceased boyfriend’s parents.  Her innocence is charming and sometimes gets her in conflict with the more straight forward and realistic TK.

TK (played by Michael Peña), is like a cat with nine lives.  After surviving a near death attack in the war, albeit with an injury to his “privates”, he is reluctant to come home to his fiancee, who is still unaware of the details of his injury.  TK comes from a family of soldiers so even though his heart isn’t entirely in it, being a soldier is all he knows how to do. After the traumatic incidents overseas, deep down he wishes he didn’t have to return to the war and with the encouragement of Cheaver, he explores avenues of his escape from duty, without having to succumb to the potential disappointment of his family.

Cheaver (played by Tim Robbins) is like the Papa Bear of the film, but sometimes Papa Bear needs his “kids” more than he thinks.  Cheaver is happy to retire from the army so he can return to his wife who is misses so dearly.  However upon returning home, Cheaver isn’t as welcomed as he had hoped, his wife springs on him that she wants a divorce. Struggling to come to terms with his wife’s wishes, Cheaver must also find $20,000 to pay for his son’s acceptance into Stanford University.

Initially the threesome set out on a journey of convenience, due to cancelled connecting flights, the group rent a car together to attempt to drive to the next airport.  However, after Colee and TK see how broken Cheaver is from hearing the news from his wife, they decide to accompany Cheaver across the country to Las Vegas.  The many towns the group drive through along the way, offers a great set of turning points for each character, as they all try to repair their not-so-physical injuries inside.

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Another great AMC show, The Walking Dead, is still going strong in season 3.

As this season concludes, we see Daryl’s brother Merle perform the ultimate sacrifice by trying to take down the evil Governor.  Unfortunately the Governor overpowers him and kills him and because of the new change in the zombie virus, everyone that dies becomes a zombie at death.

This all came about when Rick was given an ultimatum by the Governor to hand over Michonne in exchange for “peace” between the two groups.  Seeing the difficulty Rick had with making the decision, Merle took matters into his own hands and knocks out Michonne, ties her up and attempts to deliver her to the Governor himself.

Halfway there, Merle changes his mind, partly due to Michonne’s reasoning and partly due to his own conscience and decides to face out the Governor alone.

Discovering Michonne’s and his brother’s disappearance, Daryl sets out to find them both, finding Michonne first who tells him what his brother did.  Poor Daryl then finds his brother eating the flesh of another human and heartbreakingly brings himself to end the life of the zombie, his brother for good.

Meanwhile the Governor is like a cockroach, surviving like no other villain has.  Poor Andrea is still held hostage by him, unbeknown to her friends back at the prison.

While we thoroughly enjoy the challenges these characters face on The Walking Dead, sometimes it feels the writing lets the viewers down by ignoring authenticity to create more drama where it’s needed.  For instance, the audience has known Rick’s character from the beginning, we trust him (apart from his moment of mental weakness after his wife’s death).  But the way he even considered giving up Michonne and relying on the Governor to keep his word was ridiculous.  Rick should have known better than that and we all know it.

Also, the way Andrea kept “believing in” the Governor and how long she continued to be infatuated with him, even though she had witnessed his evil nature at work and heard about his dark ways through many of her own friends like Michonne and Glenn, was also preposterous.  It continued to drag out until an episode or two ago when she FINALLY decides it’s time she kill the Governor (after missing plenty of golden opportunities beforehand).

Anyway, it’s still an enjoyable watch and we look forward to season 4!

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Bates Motel is the prequel story to Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’.

Vera Farmiga stars as Norma Bates, the overprotective and somewhat obsessive mother of Freddie Highmore’s character, Norman Bates (the villain in the film ‘Psycho’).

After Norman’s father’s death, Norma constantly picks up and moves her life from place to place, finally settling on a motel in an eerie, strange town.  The Bates motel is then born and the unimaginable follows.

Not long after moving into the motel, Norma is visited by an upset member of the family which the motel had originally belonged to.  He later attacks Norma and rapes her.  Norman intervenes and Norma is able to kill the man.  The Mother-Son pair now have a murder on their hands.

After disposing of the body, the Bates troubles don’t end there, as they realize how this strange town of theirs works.  They have a sense of retribution when injustice is seen, flaming bodies (literally) start to appear in the town.

The Sheriff has a close eye on Norma as his suspicions of her arise.  Meanwhile his Deputy has his own eyes on Norma as a romance between the two start to develop.

Norman also has a romance brewing as he’s caught between a love triangle of two very different town’s girls.  One of which is extremely inquisitive in all things strange and the two explore the town’s mysteries together.

All in all, Bates Motel is definitely an interesting new show with great promise.  The acting is decent, while I feel Farmiga perhaps makes Norma’s character more empathetic than scary or creepy, however Highmore is perfectly cast as the oddly innocent, yet soon-to-be creepy Norman.

The chemistry between Farmiga and Highmore is also great, intensifying the inappropriately close relationship of the two lead characters.

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Three “Birding” enthusiasts, Brad (played by Jack Black), Bostick (played by Owen Wilson) and Stu (played by Steve Martin) are all competing the break the title for ‘The Big Year’.

The Big Year title is the number of birds a “Birder” sees in the space of one year.  During the film, the number to beat is 732.  Competitors don’t have to prove their bird numbers with photos of the sightings, in fact, they can fairly count their number just be merely hearing the bird.

But just because the contest is relied solely on an honesty policy, doesn’t mean it’s full of cheaters either.  Brad (Black) loves birds and he spends the majority of his time listening to bird calls and bird songs so he’s able to remember and recall the name of a bird just be listening to it.  However, life isn’t how Brad would like it, he works at a job that he hates, his love life isn’t great and his father thinks he’s just wasting his life away.

Kenny (Wilson) or ‘Bostick’ as he’s better known, is the current title holder of ‘The Big Year’.  He’s got a good life, everything he wants in his personal life and the recognition in birding.  However he will also do whatever it takes to make sure he keeps his title and he’s got his eye on his main competition, Brad and Stu.

Stu is as successful as can be, he’s retired twice, yet somehow he’s still working.  He’s committed his whole life to his work and it shows.  Yet he’s not quite content, not quite satisfied, because what he really wants to do and has always wanted to do is to claim the title of ‘The Big Year’.  So this year, he’s gonna go at it.

Of course, these lovable character do encounter some obstacles, Brad uses up all his money, Bostick’s wife wants to get pregnant and funnily enough needs his help with the matter and Stu, of course gets caught up in his work, or better put, his work constantly finds ways to draw him back in.

The Big Year is a wonderful story, with enriching characters and heart felt, entertaining subplots for each of them.  It’s a good watch.  So go rent it now on DVD!

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