“The Incredible Burt Wonderstone”
Comedy — like magic — has to be performed quickly, cleanly and with enough intelligence that it makes the improbable entertaining. Fail to do this, and the comedic illusions lead to disillusions.
This film fails on all three counts. There are a few funny moments in this story of a Las Vegas magician (Steve Carell) who loses his magical touch, but the pacing is too slow, the performances too uneven and the writing too juvenile to make this a bewitching comedy.
Don Scardino, a veteran TV director, should have kept his actors in line and not let their flights of fancy become such big distractions.
Grade: C-
“The Call”
A 911 operator (Halle Berry) takes a call from a teen who has just been abducted.
If the cell service for “The Call” had run out after 60 minutes, the new film from director Brad Anderson would have been an edge-of-your seat thriller about the operator’s valiant efforts to save a kidnapped young girl.
Sadly, it continues and the last third of the movie is where it turns into a complete wrong number as the writers tried to come up with an ending.
Grade: D
Also new
“NOVA: Australia’s First 4 Billion Years”: Of all the continents, none preserves the saga of our planet like Australia.
“Jack Taylor”: Series based on the crime fiction by Ken Bruen and filmed on location against the rugged backdrop of western Ireland.
“A Place at the Table”: A look at how hunger affects the nation.
“The North Face”: Director Phillip Stolzl’s look at the Swiss Alps’ Eiger Mountain, also known as the “murder wall.”
“Kind Hearted Woman”: David Sutherland’s look at the life of an Oglala Sioux woman.
“As Luck Would Have It”: A man’s (Jose Mota) effort to find work leads him into a media frenzy.
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