Disappearing acts

This weekend I caught two flicks, The Call with Halle Berry and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone featuring Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi and Jim Carrey.

Now The Call I was skeptical about seeing because lately, Halle Berry's films haven't been all that great (cough-Movie 43-cough) but this one was really good! A total thriller, The Call is about a 911 dispatcher (Berry) who takes an emergency call from a young girl whose home is being broken into. Unfortunately, the police aren't able to make it to the girls home in time and the dispatcher has to listen to the poor girls screams for help, helpless herself to come to the girls aid. 

Cut to six months later, Berry's character is now responsible for training new dispatchers as she is no longer able to take calls herself. As she's finishing a tour of the calling center, Berry takes over a call when a newer dispatcher panics while taking trying to assist a girl in distress. Come to find out, this girl has been abducted by the same man who snatched and killed the girl from Berry's call six months before. How will Berry be able to help this girl from the other end of a phone line?

This one will keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what would happen next. I really liked it and thankfully, it wasn't one of those movies where the answer is so obviously in front of you yet the characters never actually use their common sense; this film hits everything and still keeps going! It's a guessing game and the chase is on to find the killer before another girl is victimized. 

If you like films like Taken or Taking Lives, you should be pleased with this one. I won't say it's the most amazing film ever or anything like that, but it was definitely better then I expected. Check it out. 

Having gone to Las Vegas for the first time last year, I now look forward to any movie based in Sin City and was therefore really excited about The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Full of stars, this one looked like it would be full of non stop laughs and while it was very funny, the hour and forty five minute long film felt more like a four hour movie and I just kept wondering when it would end. I didn't hate it, it just seriously dragged. Saying that though, I don't know what they could have cut from the film, everything worked for the story. 

Burt Wonderstone is about two best friends who become magicians and grow up to become a well known Vegas duo. After ten years together as a Vegas staple, they start to get a little jaded and lose their love for the act-think David Copperfield (which is funny because he actually makes a tiny appearance in the film). Coupled with their lack luster act, a new "modern magician"  starts performing on the strip and slowly starts stealing their spotlight. I have to say, Carrey's character was my favorite because the writers were so very clearly poking fun at "performers" like Criss Angel and David Blaine. 

If you're a fan of Carell or Carrey, I recommend this one; but I wouldn't say it was one you need to see immediately. Don't take my word for it though, I was in a pretty full theater and a woman a few rows in front of me was positively dying throughout the entire film. She actually made me laugh more then the movie did.