Movie Review - Magic in the Moonlight

Magic in the Moonlight

Starring: Colin Firth, Emma Stone, Eileen Atkins, Simon McBurney, Jacki Weaver, Erica Leerhsen, Jeremy Shamos, Hamish Linklater, Marcia Gay Harden, and more.

Directed by: Woody Allen, Written by: Woody Allen Cinematography by: Darius Khondji

Premise: A fellow magician asks Stanley, aka Wei Long Soo, to come with him to the south of France to help debunk a psychic who's ingratiated herself with a friend's family. Exposing fake mediums being one of his hobbies, Stanley agrees. Yet Sophie turns out to be very different from what he was expecting. And her powers seem to actually be the real thing - throwing his beliefs about life entirely topsy-turvy. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Colin Firth is delightful as the egotistical, genius, and magician, Stanley. He does a fabulous job of being the arrogant disbeliever while charming the audience at the same time. Emma Stone was a lot of fun as Sophie, who is the almost polar opposite of Stanley. Eileen Atkins as Aunt Vanessa gave as good as she got. It was a blast watching her steer her nephew along. Seeing Jackie Weaver again, as bubbly as ever, was an extra treat. Hamish Linklater just made you feel sad for poor, besotted, ukulele playing Brice.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: A lot of subtle effects - from the beginning with the amazing skills of Wei Long Soo, to the floating candle, or the fast moving lightning storm. The special effects department did some lovely work.

3) Plot/Story - Total Thumbs Up: I tend to have coincidences or 'runs' of similar things and this film landed in my current trend of things to stumble into in the form of both the 20's and magic. (Hubby and I had just this week watched the Houdini special on the History Channel as well as episodes of Poirot.) In many ways Stanley is a British Houdini - they even mentioned how he got his start as an escape artist. Another aspect related to Houdini was how he spent a lot of time after his mother's death seeking a true medium - and exposing all those who were fakes. Houdini's intent (and Stanley's secret hope) to find a real medium through whom he could contact his parent.

Wei Long Soo even did the disappearing elephant trick!

The film's story is pretty straight forward, but does have some lovely unexpected twists. It plays a lot with expectations and assumptions, even the blindness of narrow mindedness. But what makes the film a true treat is the witty repartee between Sophia, Stanley, and others as well as the giant verbal blunders by Stanley when speaking to Sophia. Watching the Aunt work her own brand of magic was also highly entertaining.

4) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: From the theater in Germany to the lovely gardens, and the coast of southern France, the locations definitely set the stage. By adding in all the great Jazz and 20's music, it was easy for the audience to be transported back to 1928.

Conclusion: "Magic in the Moonlight" is a nice, quirky romance with an odd but fun cast of characters. The verbal fencing, especially towards the end, made it very fun to watch.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)

Movie Review - The Amazing Spider-man

The Amazing Spider-man

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Irrfan Khan, Chris Sylka, and more.

Directed by: Marc Webb Screenplay by: James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, and Steve Kloves Story by: James Vanderbilt Based on the Comic Book by: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Cinematography by: John Schwartzman Original Music by: James Horner

Premise: When Peter Parker stumbles across and old leather briefcase that once belonged to his father, he finds an old newspaper picture of a colleague and decides to go to Oscorp and see what more he can find. While there, he illegally enters a lab and accidentally picks up a hitchhiker - a modified spider which later bites him in the back of the neck. As Peter tries to deal with his new found powers, high school problems, and budding affections for Gwen, he also inadvertently gives away a secret his father may have died to protect and opens the door for huge problems for New York City. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Andrew Garfield, with his great acting skills and thin, almost gawky build, was a great choice for Peter Parker. Emma Stone was vibrant as Gwen Stacy. Rhys Ifans gave us a multi layered Curt Connors. Denis Leary oozed protective parent and added a bit of fun and seriousness to his role as Captain Stacy.

2) Special Effects - Thumbs Up: While all the effects and CGI were well done, there was nothing spectacular presented. Following behind the awesome special effects in movies like "Prometheus", "John Carter", and others, "The Amazing Spider-man" appeared almost blase in comparison. Sadly, it made the higher expense of seeing it in IMAX 3D not worthwhile. Sadder still, there were several instances where they had an opportunity of doing so much more but didn't and it showed. (And most of the good ones were given away in the previews!)

But like I said, what was there was very well done - the room with the spiders and fibers was very cool. There just should have been more. And for the fans, they did incorporate several "classic moves" for the costumed vigilante that could have been pulled straight from the comic book pages. Those were a lot of fun. (They even sneaked in the traditional look of Dr. Connors' lizard form with the torn lab coat in there. Though the look of the lizard's face itself was not.)

3) Plot/Story - Neutral: To be honest, story wise, while replacing Mary Jane with Gwen, the Green Goblin with Dr. Connors, and adding a touch of mystery to what happened to Peter's parents and why, there was little that was different or all that new with regards to the story when compared to the 2002 "Spider-man" film. Not only that, but the way the story was set up added its own set of issues to trip it up without any new twists or real surprises.

Gwen is a high school student, yet she is not only working at Oscorp but has tremendous amounts of both training on very high tech equipment and security clearances. Also the means by which Peter picked up the spider didn't match the intelligence and cunning he showed in just getting to that section of the building. So it made it very difficult to believe it. More so was the fact no alarm was raised by his interference in the smooth running of the particular room. The major 'about face' by Flash with regards to Peter, just had me shaking my head.

Another big issue was Spider-man's web. He got the idea from a commercial of an Oscorp product and when we saw him build the wrist mechanisms, he used the containers we'd seen at the lab (which implied he was using their product in his machine). Logic dictates that not only would he not be able to afford to buy the stuff, the government would have seen the commercials and figured out what he was using and used that knowledge to try to track him down. (In the comics he'd come up with the formulas for the webbing and the mechanism on his own.)

But I must definitely give kudos for the writers' attempts to show Peter could not save New York alone, that everyone could do their part to help.

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: Whether real, CGI, or a mix of the two, the stunts for the film were great. The fight scenes were smooth and believable. Stan Lee's cameo during the high school combat was particularly fun.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: Cool shifting points of view, a couple even done through Peter's eyes to try to give the audience an idea of what it would feel like to swing around from building to building in downtown New York. There were several great span shots and even overhead shots of the city. Several cool views of the bridge during combat were taken as well.

Conclusion: The movie is worth seeing for the great acting and watching Peter cope with his new found powers. Aside from trying to sow seeds for mysteries to explore in further films, the basic story of the web slinger remains much the same as previously shown. There were not enough cool things to make it worth the higher price of IMAX 3D, which was a pity.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Matinee Price)