Now You See Me Now You Don't sees a third big screen outing for the Four Horsemen, along with a new generation of illusionists to mix things up a bit (cue a fair few cross-generational jibes in the script). The plot centres around a giant "heart diamond", and an attempt to capture it from Veronika Vander (Rosamund Pike, who is on fiery form as an ice queen).
There's nothing wrong with the film, and it's all perfectly entertaining, but if you've watched the 2013 original, it doesn't add much new to the party. A scene where the Four Horsemen are trapped in a giant tank which is quickly filling up with sand is well executed, and I liked the street chase sequence involving an F1 car, but I'd say it was movie magic at its most middling, to be honest. Nice to see Woody Harrelson at his wisecracking best, whilst Isla Fisher and Ariana Greenblatt are also on good form. Not one that will live long in the memory, much like being hypnotised by Harrelson's character. But having said that, I like the general Robin Hood redistribtion of wealth intentions of the magicians involved, and it's good to see the old gang back together for what I assume will be the final time.
Christy is the gripping and gruelling true story of resilience, which absolutely blew me away, especially the convincing central performance of Sydney Sweeney as a trailblazing female boxer. It's a twin story of sporting determination and coercive control, and manages to keep both plots firmly on track. It could have been about 20 minutes shorter, but Ben Foster plays the 'creep with a combover' controlling husband role very well, and it's a real departure from many of Sweeney's previous roles. I felt like she threw the kitchen sink at her performance, and you were really rooting for her to overcome being shunned by her family and kicked down by life on many occasions.
The film deals with prejudice, domestic violence, family isolation, and an unshakeable determination to win at all costs. There are plenty of heavy themes, all deftly dealt with. I also rather liked the fairly similar Rock film The Smashing Machine, which was out recently, but feel this is the one I recommend you watch first. The final half an hour is certainly full of twists and turns, and we see a few photos of the real Christy Martin appear during the closing credits. A contender for one of my top ten films of the year, and even if you've no interest in boxing, it's a knockout of a movie.
Next week, I hope to bring you the verdict finally on Christmas Karma (can it really be as bad as Cats, which the Telegraph recently suggested?), alongside Richard Linklater's new film Blue Moon and Eternity, amongst others. I'm up to 107 films watched at the cinema so far this year at the time of writing, which I'm quite pleased with! Happy movie watching, folks.
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