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Author: Rick Carruth

Film Review: Now You See Me 2

Film Review: Now You See Me 2

Jesse Eisenberg and company are back in a sequel to the 2013 magician heist thriller, and it’s an even more high-flying lark, a roller-coaster of teases, fake-outs, and jaw-drops.

(Image from LIONSGATE)  “Now You See Me 2” is the kind of sequel that has all but gone out of fashion: a follow-up to a blockbuster so flaky and off-center that even those who made the original probably never expected it to spawn a second chapter. The new film is an even wilder lark—a madly spinning top of a movie, powered by an eagerness to please that somehow comes off as more innocent than calculated. The film knows that it’s playing you, and in almost every scene invites the audience to embrace the fact that it’s being played. It now feels downright retro, and maybe even a little exotic — in a good way — to encounter a sequel that isn’t all about setting up a five-year plan of franchise plot points. “Now You See Me 2” is more like a giddy piece of cheese from the ’80s, a chance to spend two more hours with characters we like, doing variations on the things that made us like them in the first place. The revisit, in this case, is well-earned, and fans of the original — as well as new converts — are likely to turn out in droves.  Read more at:

http://variety.com/2016/music/reviews/now-you-see-me-2-jesse-eisenberg-mark-ruffalo-woody-harrelson-1201785586/

Poverty has many faces but few are as colourful as Kathputli in India – the artists’ colony..

Poverty has many faces but few are as colourful as Kathputli in India – the artists’ colony..

The narrow alleyways teem with creativity – fire-breathers, acrobats, snake charmers, puppeteers and musicians call this slum in West Delhi home.

The thousands of people who live in Kathputli have “art in their blood”, according to local resident, Davinder Bhatt.

“I feel very glad that I was born in this colony, really! We are from the very low community, but I feel very glad,” says the 23-year-old smiling broadly.

Mr Bhatt is a teacher at the performing arts school that sits in the middle of the colony. He was once, he confesses with a cheeky grin, one of the school’s naughtiest pupils. Read more.. (photo SBS News)

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/05/22/magicians-ghetto-indian-slum-under-threat

These Nude Magicians Have Nothing Up Their Sleeve ..

These Nude Magicians Have Nothing Up Their Sleeve ..

Australian guys Chris Wayne and Mike Tyler, both 31, have been doing magic for roughly 10 years now. They only started doing naked magic together two years ago after meeting at a show and realizing that was their calling. Now they’re touring the U.S. with The Naked Magic Show, which is like a lot of other magic shows, except they start out fully clothed and end up fully nude.

With their “sleeves up, pants down” approach, the show is part magic show, part comedy show, and part Magic Mike. Cosmopolitan.com called up the guys to find out what it’s like to go on stage fully nude with your best friend to perform magic tricks for strangers.  Read more.. (adult content)

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a58950/nude-magicians-wow/?zoomable

More shows are squeezing into Planet Hollywood..

More shows are squeezing into Planet Hollywood..

By MIKE WEATHERFORD –  LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

If you ride that ozone-bound escalator all the way to the second floor of Planet Hollywood, you will soon find a lot more shows there.

After moving his “Crazy Girls” into the Sin City Theatre last year, producer Norbert Aleman has now leased a former nightclub space a short distance away and is moving the “Sin City Comedy & Burlesque” show into it so he can open more shows in the original venue.

The older venue will host four titles: comedy-magician Murray at 4 p.m., a new musical tribute to boy bands called “Everybody” at 5:30 p.m. starting June 24, a new magic show by Xavier Mortimer at 7 p.m. starting June 6, and “Crazy Girls” at 9 p.m.  Read more..

http://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/columns-blogs/mike-weatherford/more-shows-are-squeezing-planet-hollywood