The new Steven Soderbergh film "Magic Mike" is excellent. Its a funny, fast-paced and yet serious film about the male stripper scene in Tampa, Florida. Channing Tatum is incredibly fun to watch as the film's main character Magic Mike, who takes another young man under his wing and introduces him to the fun and profitable life of male-stripping. The club owner is played by Matthew McConaughey who delivers the best performance in the film because of his energy, charisma and dominating character traits. This is definitely Steven Soderbergh's most entertaining film since "Traffic".
Many of the filmmaking techniques used in this film are reminiscent of Soderbergh's earlier films. "Magic Mike" definitely displays his fast-paced, jump-cut-style editing that was used quite a bit in 2009's "The Girlfriend Experience" as well as natural lighting that is similar to certain scenes in "Traffic". Much of the music used in the movie has a catchy, techno-like rhythm to it which adds to the movies overall entertainment value. Music like this was also used very well in Soderbergh's last film "Contagion" except in a much more dramatic fashion.
Channing Tatum's performance in the film was incredibly fun to watch and yet intriguingly complex. His character Michael "Magic Mike" Lane is the lead star of the stripping crew yet he also shows a mature interest in furniture design and his best friend's ambitious sister, Brooke--played by Cody Horn. Mike does his best to enjoy the lifestyle he leads while also looking out for his new young friend Adam(Alex Pettyfer) and convincing Brooke that his life means more than that. Tatum displays a very impressive balance between smooth charm and caring sensitivity that makes him one of this generation's most entertaining lead actors. By the end of the movie we are glad to see that Mike wants to grow up without losing his sense of humor and boyish charm.
Grade: B+
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Brave
Movie Review on "Brave"
I saw "Brave" a few days ago and I thought it was pretty good.
The film is a Disney/Pixar movie set in the ancient and mythical times of Scotland. The story is about a girl named Merida who is born into the royal family of the area and raised to succeed her mother in the throne. Then three of the town clans compete for the hand of Merida which she does not care for but eventually agrees to be part of. The three town clans then unsuccessfully compete in an archery contest for Merida's hand in marriage which leads Merida to openly proclaim that she will not marry and can take care of herself just fine. This infuriates her mother Elinor.
Merida and Elinor then get into a heated argument which leads to the point of no return in the story. After the argument Merida goes to a which and asks her to change her mother but the wish backfires on her when the witch turns her mother into a bear. Bears are feared and killed in the area so Merida then spends the rest of the movie attempting to reconcile with her mother in order to break the spell and change her mother back.
This movie was well done in several ways. It was funny and entertaining while also presenting a good story with a moral lesson that never seemed too corny. Most of Pixar's films like "Toy Story", "Finding Nemo" and "A Bug's Life" do well in making movies with good storytelling and entertainment value. This film was definitely no exception.
Grade: B
I saw "Brave" a few days ago and I thought it was pretty good.
The film is a Disney/Pixar movie set in the ancient and mythical times of Scotland. The story is about a girl named Merida who is born into the royal family of the area and raised to succeed her mother in the throne. Then three of the town clans compete for the hand of Merida which she does not care for but eventually agrees to be part of. The three town clans then unsuccessfully compete in an archery contest for Merida's hand in marriage which leads Merida to openly proclaim that she will not marry and can take care of herself just fine. This infuriates her mother Elinor.
Merida and Elinor then get into a heated argument which leads to the point of no return in the story. After the argument Merida goes to a which and asks her to change her mother but the wish backfires on her when the witch turns her mother into a bear. Bears are feared and killed in the area so Merida then spends the rest of the movie attempting to reconcile with her mother in order to break the spell and change her mother back.
This movie was well done in several ways. It was funny and entertaining while also presenting a good story with a moral lesson that never seemed too corny. Most of Pixar's films like "Toy Story", "Finding Nemo" and "A Bug's Life" do well in making movies with good storytelling and entertainment value. This film was definitely no exception.
Grade: B
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