1915 - Now You See Me

I am a sucker for a big flashy con-film - and throw together a cast like this and I'm all-in.  It's the story of four-magicians brought together - why?  They aren't entirely sure - but they're about to become Robin Hood-esque Magicians on a heist that even they don't understand.
To talk about this film properly requires me to go into SPOILER MODE.  But before that I'll say - I liked it - I will absolutely see a follow-up if they make it (although it felt like this whole con had been someone's life's work) - but I did find that the characters were a little one note - and it was almost entirely plot based - nothing wrong with that - I just think the film could have been a lot richer otherwise.

Okay.  Now SPOILERS...

You know that the film is going to end with the twist of us realizing that one of the characters is going be the mastermind - it's not going to be a new character - films don't do that.  They kept pointing at the French lady (also this film seemed to have a bizarre racist slant agains the French...), so it's too obvious to make it her - she's the assistant - and Morgan Freeman's character is too obvious as well.  Ruffalo seemed like the biggest twist, and so to me it only made sense to make it be him.  That said, I just don't know about this twist - I'd have to re-watch the film to make sure it fit and wasn't just parlour tricks.

All that said, it was good popcorn entertainment and I will, indeed, take second helpings should they come my way.

1483 - The Lookout

So I guess it's pretty safe to say that I've abandoned my Christmas-film-fest. Alas. this has been sitting on my desk for some time now, I picked it up based on the cast alone. Big fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Matthew Goode - not to mention Jeff Daniels (all are far more versatile than I think casting in films gives them credit for - although the latter two do get a better shake in that department), not to mention Isla Fisher is here and you can never go wrong with casting Isla Fisher.
I like the idea behind this film, but furthermore I liked that it wasn't predictable. There were so many ways that it could have gone. It just bordered some bizarre cliche things, the character Bone, etc... The robbers, who seemed pretty normal, didn't take much to become instant sociopaths - which was a shame story wise. I think they could have done something a little more honest and original with that.
Still a nice little film and well worth watching if you like any of the aforementioned actors or crime stories at all.

1462 - Confessions of a Shopaholic

Romantic comedies get a pretty bad rap - mostly because they aren't generally all that funny. They're more like extremely light dramas that are amusing.
I happen to think that Isla Fisher is pretty damn fantastic and so it didn't take much for me to want to see this. She delivers the goods - she's gorgeous, funny, smart, and charming. She's got some pretty big flaws, but we care for her, we feel bad when things don't go well for her.
I quite enjoyed this film, it's pretty smart and inventive. Sure it's pretty by-the books, it's a bit over-the-top, but it all works to it's charm. The plotting is pretty tight, and when shit hits the fan it's pretty skillfully done orchestrating all the plots to come to a head in, more or less, the same scene.
Now to my earlier point - this isn't a ball busting laugh-fest by any stretch of the imagination - however I found myself smiling the whole way through - and Emily, who has no movie-attention these days was glued to it. So for me, it's earned it's genre title. I look forward from more to Ms. Fisher - she's a gem.

1245 - Definitely, Maybe

I HEART Isla. It's not just cause she's a red-head and TOTALLY my type. It's because there's this energy inside of her. I'd pretty much watch anything just because she's in it. And I'm a big fan of Mr. Ryan Reynolds. I've had my eye on this film for a while as it tells a similar story to something I have in development. Thankfully there's nothing to worry about. Overall, despite the great cast, save one that I just kinda-can't stand (but refuse to mention), this film was just kinda 'meh'. It was like it couldn't pick a tone or decide what it really want to be. And the ending just kind of dragged a bit. Not a horrible film by any means, but not something I think you just HAVE to see. See it if it looks interesting to you, but for my money there's a whole buttload of better rom-coms out there.