POTTERmoi: June 2013

Sunday, June 16, 2013

JUST WATCHED 'MAN OF STEEL'

We watched the 'Man of Steel' on the 14th of June at SM North EDSA.

SOURCE

Plot

The planet Krypton faces imminent destruction due to an unstable core, and its ruling council is under the threat of rebel General Zod and his followers. Scientist Jor-El and his wife Lara secretly imprint a genetic codex into the cells of their newborn son Kal-El, and launch him on a spacecraft to Earth to preserve the Kryptonian race. After Zod murders Jor-El, he and his followers are banished to the Phantom Zone, but manage to escape when Krypton explodes. The infant Kal-El lands on Earth in Smallville, Kansas, where he is discovered by couple Jonathan and Martha Kent, who name him Clark and raise him as their adopted son.

Clark's Kryptonian physiology affords him superhuman abilities on Earth. Young Clark gradually learns to hone the abilities that initially cause him confusion and discomfort. Jonathan reveals to a teenage Clark that he is an alien, and advises him to not utilize his powers publicly, fearing that society would reject him. After Jonathan's death, an adult Clark spends the next several years living a nomadic lifestyle, working different jobs under false names to cover his tracks and hide his identity. He eventually discovers a Kryptonian scout ship with technology that allows him to communicate with the consciousness of Jor-El in the form of a hologram. Lois Lane, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist from the Daily Planet, also discovers the ship while pursuing a story, and is rescued by Clark when she is injured. Lois's editor Perry White rejects her story of a "superhuman" rescuer, so she traces Clark back to Smallville with the intention of writing an exposé. After hearing his story, she decides not to reveal his secret.

Detecting the scout ship, Zod travels to Earth where he demands that Kal-El surrender to him, or humanity will suffer the consequences. Clark agrees to surrender to the U.S. military, who hand Lois and Clark over to Zod's second-in-command, Faora. Zod reveals that he intends to use aterraforming "world engine" to transform Earth into a Krypton-like planet, to eradicate the human population, and to use the codex to repopulate the planet with genetically-engineered Kryptonians. After Clark and Lois escape the ship, Clark defeats Faora and another of Zod's henchmen in Smallville, convincing the military that he is on their side. Zod deploys the world engine and initiates the terraforming in Metropolis and over the Indian Ocean.

Clark, now dubbed "Superman", stops the world engine in the Indian Ocean. The military uses the spacecraft that brought Superman to Earth in an aerial strike to create a portal that returns Zod's ship and his crew to the Phantom Zone. Only Zod remains, and he and Superman engage each other. After a battle, Superman is forced to kill Zod to save a group of innocent civilians that Zod attempts to murder. Superman decides to blend into society by wearing eyeglasses, being mild-mannered, and resuming his identity as Clark Kent. He is hired by White to work as a reporter for the Daily Planet.

SOURCE

JUST WATCHED 'NOW YOU SEE ME'

On the 4th of June, we watched the movie 'Now You See Me.' When I saw the trailer of this movie the other day while strolling the theatre of Megamall, I found it not interesting and such a waste of money. But lo and behold, I was fascinated by the story while watching it already.

Plot

Four magicians—Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson)—are brought together by a mysterious benefactor and, one year later, perform in Las Vegas as "The Four Horsemen" sponsored by Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine), an insurance magnate. For the finale of their performances, the Four Horsemen invite a member of the audience to help them in their next trick: robbing a bank. The man is apparently teleported to his bank in Paris, where he activates an airduct which vacuums up the money and showers it onto the crowd in Las Vegas.

FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) is called to investigate the theft and is partnered with Interpol Agent Alma Dray (Mélanie Laurent). They interrogate the Four Horsemen, but release them when no explanation for the theft can be found other than magic. Rhodes then meets Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), an ex-magician who makes money by revealing the secrets behind other magicians' tricks. Bradley was in the audience and deduced that the Four Horsemen stole the money weeks before, and manipulated the audience into believing it happened in real time.

Rhodes, Dray and Bradley attend the Four Horsemen's next performance in New Orleans. The group's finale involves their emptying Tressler's bank account and distributing it to the audience, which comprises people whose insurance claims had been denied or reduced by Tressler's company. Rhodes attempts to arrest the Four Horsemen, but they escape with help from audience members who were hypnotized to tackle whoever next yelled "Freeze". An infuriated Tressler hires Bradley to expose and humiliate the Four Horsemen in their next performance. Later, while researching the Four Horsemen's background, Dray learns about rumors of a secret society of magicians called "The Eye" and suggests to a skeptical Rhodes the case might be connected to a magician whom Bradley once exposed, and was so humiliated that he attempted a dangerous underwater stunt and drowned.

Before the Four Horsemen's last performance in New York City, Rhodes and Dray locate the group's hideout and confront Wilder there. Wilder attempts to escape in a stolen car, but it flips and explodes. Rhodes and Dray learn that the Four Horsemen are targeting a particular safe, which is under the surveillance of another FBI team which has taken over the case. They intercept the safe en route to 5 Pointz, but find it empty. The ability of the Four Horseman to continually outwit the FBI leads Rhodes to suspect that there must be a fifth member of the team, potentially Dray or Bradley.

At the final performance, Rhodes and Dray once again attempt to apprehend the Four Horsemen, but Atlas, Reeves, and McKinney jump from the rooftop, seemingly transforming into piles of money that rain from the sky into the cheering crowd, but it turns out the money is fake. Bradley returns to his car, discovering it to be filled with the real money from the stolen safe. The FBI arrest Bradley and take him to prison, where Rhodes visits him. Bradley claims he was framed and explains how the group performed the safe heist through use of mirrors. He hopes this will clear him of charges, only to realize Rhodes is the fifth Horseman and mastermind of the entire plot, though Bradley is unable to determine why. Rhodes leaves Bradley in jail and reunites with the Four Horsemen, including Wilder, who faked his death. They are surprised to discover Rhodes is the benefactor who assembled them the previous year, and he initiates them into The Eye.

Rhodes later meets Dray in France and reveals that he is the son of Lionel Shrike, the magician who drowned years ago. He designed the Horsemen plot to obtain revenge on those involved: Bradley, for humiliating his father; the bank in Paris and Tressler's company, which refused to pay insurance on his father's death; and the company that produced the safe used in the trick. Due to the inferior quality of metal used to construct the safe, it warped, resulting in Rhodes' father's inability to escape it. Rhodes was living in poverty until The Eye recruited him. He admits that he has fallen in love with Dray. Dray then decides not to turn him in.