Tag: Boaz Yakin

REVIEW: The Harder They Fall [2021]

Jared Mobarak

Now it’s us and y’all. How can you not get behind a project like Jeymes Samuel‘s (aka The Bullitts) feature debut The Harder They Fall after hearing him describe the decision to put real life men and women, who may have never met, together in one story with the words, “I just assembled them like Black Gods.” Growing up loving westerns, that’s exactly who they were to him: historical people of color from the Old West who’ve too often been pushed to the fringes as their white counterparts gained legendary…

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REVIEW: Now You See Me 2 [2016]

Jared Mobarak

“You may not be having fun, but I am” The problem with giving a film steeped in misdirection a sequel is that the mysteries have already been uncovered. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle to achieve the same success. Now You See Me had a great magic premise wherein the theatrical audience was as in the dark as the fictional audience attending The Four Horsemen’s performances. We knew something big was happening, but weren’t privy to the plan. We watched the intrigue, received truth from an illusion-debunker,…

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REVIEW: Now You See Me [2013]

Jared Mobarak

“That’s a lot of excitement for a crime” As the characters in Louis Leterrier‘s Now You See Me love to say, the more you see the less you know. This is the line of deflection The Four Horsemen love to package as their neat and tidy rule, ignoring the constant, ever-apparent question magicians and illusionists have refused to answer since the first trick was performed: “How did you do that?” It’s a loaded query posited with full knowledge that understanding would only render the feeling of disbelief we hunger to…

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