Movie Moan - Melting Into Money
Mon, June 3, 2013 
Lots of craziness happens in Now You See Me. Nothing, however, can explain how the magician protagonists physically turn into money. We’re stumped too, folks.
It's a bare-bone, no bells-and-whistles edition of Movie Moan. Straight talk led by the British Gentleman Agent Phil Gee, his Mouth from the South sidekick Jamie Williams and frequent guest, their pal Gabe Toro, film critic for The Playlist and Jumpcut Junkies. Spoilers ahead, kids!
Gabe reviews After Earth, the newly reviled sci-fi actioner, theorizes a race-bent angle to the hatred of the Smiths, if Will Smith has a Nicolas Cage or mid 80s soda name and the group ponders how many more chances will M. Night Shyamalan get before Hollywood throws in the towel. Jamie sits through The Hangover Part III, admits his personal (family-related) bias and how it could have been William Friedkin thriller from 1982.
The afore-mentioned Now You See Me is discussed at length, including Phil's ABC pitch "My Pal Bob Orci" and how Mark Ruffalo talks with plenty of Michael Caine impressions. Gabe concludes the podcast reviewing Behind the Candelabra, the final ("final," if you believe him) film from the great Steven Soderbergh and how it couldn’t have been a theatrical release.
All of that plus Phil and Jamie talk up meeting in 2 weeks, seeing Man of Steel for the first time, the frustrations of bad customer service and dealing with US/UK theaters (ahem when trying to bring in a video camera!)
Reader Comments (5)
Aww, thanks for the shout out Gabe, I'm touched (that's what I'm supposed to say right though I'm a little weirded out actually). But no, seriously, I do enjoy your comments a lot, so thanks. I hate to break your hearts but I don't listen to you in the car (maybe you're confusing me with some other fan?) I would except I don't own an iPod so I can't, I'm a luddite. But I did listen to your Violating Our Sacred Holes podcast a lot after it came out, both Gabe and Justin were hilarious in that.
Incidentally, what happened to Gabe's solemn vow he would never watch a single scene of After Earth?
Ah, okay, sorry my earlier question was premature, I didn't realize Gabe had to review it. My condolences. If it makes you feel any better, I (in a state extreme delusion apparently) guessed After Earth would make $170 million in the box office prediction for After Earth. If you never hear from me again, it'll be because I've had myself committed for making that prediction. I hope they let me listen to MM at the local sanitarium.
I'm really sorry to keep spamming but I had to weigh in on the After Earth debate. I have no idea where you all are getting the racism thing from. People are hating on AE in two parts mostly 1) Shymalan for being, well, Shymalan and 2) Will Smith. Mostly what I'm seeing is Will Smith.
Yes, Jamie is right that nepotism in Hollywood is hardly new but no one, no one seems to be doing it as egregiously as the Smiths do where they're literally creating entire productions just to push their kids into show business and it's starting to raise questions of whether it's really the kids' idea to do it or the parents'. The rumor is that Willow quit her rap career to go back to school because she got tired of it. When Kate Hudson entered the biz, she was already all grown up and she said that her mother supported her but Goldie didn't force her to do it. And did you guys know Meryl Streep's daughter acts, too? You probably wouldn't because unlike Jaden, mommy didn't buy her a movie to star in, she had to slum it on some CW tv show which got cancelled this season. It's like I said, nepotism is normal in Hollywood, but what the Smiths are doing with their kids goes way, way beyond that. They're starting to come off as unbearable stage parents at this point and that's what's turning people off this movie. Just my 2 cents.
@ Shelly
You're right, I got a little mixed up. But you thought about us and our words in a car one day right? Is that what I was thinking of?
Hi Phil, yeah, I was driving one day and saw a landscaper truck and started laughing because of Justin's words in the Supergirl podcast about how it was "literally about two women fighting over a landscape artist" (you have to listen it, the way Justin delivers his comments is really funny.) :)
But rest assured, if I owned an iPod and could listen to you without having an accident and killing everybody on the road including myself, I would.