MAESTRO Review

There is a scene late in Maestro where Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein is instructing a student on the instincts of conducting and in that moment, I realized this single portion was more the film I expected from Cooper given the precedent he’d set with A Star is Born than the one we ultimately got. A Star is Born was a movie that truly appreciated the process around crafting a song and/or piece of music and stood apart for its consideration of such. As much as a biopic about the late, great Bernstein felt like a natural next step in Cooper’s directing career Maestro simply never digs into its subject’s process and headspace in the way his previous film did; in a way that never allows the viewer to feel they really understand this man at his core – what exactly was it that made him so great? Is the film visually stunning and sonically overwhelming to the point it can't help but be impressive? Absolutely. And yet, even as I sat marveling at the ways in which Cooper had grown as a storyteller, an actor, and even an "artist" - as pompous as that may sound - I was still left with an empty, hollow feeling in that I could feel the intent and understand the meaning of as much, but never sensed the significance. Like a conductor on his podium who is supposed to be allowing the audience to experience the music, Cooper instead uses his filmmaking as a way of exerting his hard work and dedication over those who may not be as committed. Cooper is proud of himself (as he should be), but instead of allowing the text to do the talking as he did in his debut feature, we see this hubris show through the craft this time around. Not enlightening his audience to a notable figure's creative process through an exploration of the creative process, but instead shoving said intent down their throats.

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN Review

The Magnificent Seven, the re-make of the 1960 John Sturges film starring Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen, from director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer) accomplishes exactly what it intends to be. This is pure popcorn entertainment meant to capitalize on the combination of brand awareness and the popularity of the actors it has on its roster. That said, it takes full advantage of those aspects while delivering a wholly satisfying blockbuster western. It is difficult even, to take away from what is being accomplished within this pure Hollywood product as its only ambition is clearly to deliver something of an updated mythos on the story of seven exceptionally skilled sharpshooters and little more. Given the Sturges film itself was a re-make of director Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film, Seven Samurai, that supplanted the story of a poor village under attack by bandits who recruited seven samurai warriors to help defend their village with an oppressed Mexican village that assembles seven gunfighters to help defend their homes from outlaws relays the idea this particular story is one that can easily be adapted for new ages, new circumstances, and with new relevance. And so, why re-make The Magnificent Seven once again? It seems as though Fuqua, while not having a complete answer, mostly intends to use MGM's idea to raid their classics catalog by allowing him to lend more context to and highlight more of the race relations that were taking place in the late 19th century than might have been approved of in 1960. In light of such a re-framing of history as people see it through pop culture (which is never a good place to rely on for your history, not in 1960 and not now) Fuqua has cast frequent collaborator Denzel Washington in the lead role or the equivalent of what Brynner played in the original. Filling out the titular seven we also have a Mexican in Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Ruflo), a Korean in Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), and a Native American in Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier) with the remainder of the crew filling out the tall white man quota with the likes of Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, and Vincent D'Onforio. Whether Fuqua's version of these events takes advantage of such changes and actually pulls insight or interesting dynamics from these updates is another thing as the 2016 The Magnificent Seven doesn't stand to get too weighty or theoretical, but instead it simply puts these ideas out there for audiences to recognize while at the same time making these characters so bluntly badass that boxes such as ethnicity hardly seem to matter. Whether this works in favor or against the reasoning for this movie to exist is a conversation to be had, but as far as I'm concerned Fuqua's film is so relentlessly entertaining and such a fun experience there need be no greater reason for its existence.

THE NICE GUYS Review

From the moment The Temptations' "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone," kicks in and the old Warner Bros. logo flashes across the screen one can't help but be hooked by The Nice Guys. It's been eleven years since Shane Black made his directorial debut with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang after toiling away in the writers room for years and while it's been much too long since I've seen that Robert Downey Jr./Val Kilmer crime caper I have to imagine the cult following it has amassed since its release over a decade ago is happy to see Black back behind the helm of what he does best. Though Iron Man 3 may be the most divisive Marvel film of the bunch, Black clearly has a knack and a love for crafting stories from a time in which he obviously remembers fondly and nostalgically despite those times being admittedly reckless and ill-conceived. We are dropped into 1977 Los Angeles immediately, the music blaring, the now goofy clothes worn with honor, and a smog settling in over the skyline that immediately sets the tone of something being slightly askew. The magic of Black's touch in crafting the exact right tone he desires is that of not making this skewed feeling strictly pertain to the events of his story, but more it applies to the characters that will operate within this series of events that Black has crafted to more or less exploit the type of characters and the type of relationships he finds interesting and funny. That is all to say the plot actually matters very little here, but instead it is the chemistry of our two leads and the understanding with which they convey Black's dialogue and character qualities that make The Nice Guys more of an exception than the rule. Sure, there might have been two other actors that might have pulled this off in a similarly successful fashion and I'd even be willing to bet that replacing Russell Crowe with someone along the lines of a Liam Neeson or Kyle Chandler might have yielded better results, but Gosling absolutely owns his role and is essential to the movies success. This is Gosling's movie-make no mistake-and it will solidify both his presence and his talent as being among the most appealing in the business today (as if it wasn't already). As it is though, The Nice Guys is a buddy cop film that excels in creating a buddy dynamic so fun and compelling that all the cop stuff hardly matters.

Teaser Trailer for THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN Starring Denzel Washington

Antoine Fuqua has become something of a reliable, but still very interesting director save for the occasional Olympus Has Fallen, but even that film had its own set of charms. Following Training Day, which put him on the map and on the road to bigger things, Fuqua turned in a few standard genre films and the obligatory brand recognition blockbuster than never took off before returning to the arena that garnered him attention in the first place. The complicated and arguably underrated Brooklyn's Finest let audiences know (or those that saw it) that this was a man with a certain vision and, at the very least, a deep respect for character and story. With Olympus giving the director a little more creative leeway Fuqua teamed up with Denzel Washington once again for the steady and precise Equalizer which turned out better than it had any right to be. While Southpaw wasn't all I'd hoped for it looks as if Fuqua could really be in his element with his new film, a remake of the 1960 classic The Magnificent Seven. Re-teaming once again with Washington and having well-regarded screenwriters John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) and Nic Pizzolatto (True Detective) adapt the screenplay from Akira Kurosawa's original Seven Samurai script there is certainly reason to be excited for the potential this remake holds. The IMDB page for Fuqua's film doesn't give William Roberts, who adapted Kurosawa's film for the 1960 film, any credit. And so, what this might mean we're getting in terms of Fuqua's film is anyone's guess, but with this first glimpse it seems Fuqua is staying very much within his own stylistic wheelhouse, but in bringing that to the Western terrain we could be in for something very cool if not exactly unique. The Magnificent Seven also stars Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-Hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Peter Sarsgaard, Haley Bennett, Matt Bomer, Cam Gigandet, Vinnie Jones, Sean Bridgers and opens in theaters on September 23rd.

First Red-Band Trailer for THE NICE GUYS

The anticipation for the the return of Shane Black must have been at fever pitch given the guy directed his first feature a decade ago and didn't return until eight years later and for a Marvel movie at that. I feel in the minority when it comes to Iron Man 3 given I rather enjoyed much of it, but the following Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has gathered since it's quiet release in 2005 is somewhat incomprehensible. I saw the film then, as an eighteen year-old and remember liking it, but don't remember too much about the actual film. I'll certainly need to go back and re-visit it soon given the fact anyone I tell that to will tell me the same thing, but if the trailer for Black's third feature directorial effort did anything it was remind me of the noir-sh/irreverent tone his debut featured in spades. I wasn't sure what to expect from the film given the standard sounding premise, but leads Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe look to be having a great time while the seventies setting paired with the outlandish brand of everything...the comedy, the violence, the dialogue, even the look of the film is somewhat over the top in it's homage to that decade...makes this feel like a lot of fun. After seeing The Big Short and the extent to which Gosling can stretch his comedic skills (there's no end in sight, by the way) he looks especially funny here as he seems to more or less be playing the relief while Crowe is the straight man. In short, I'm happy to see this getting a nice, big summer release date and will certainly make this one to see as soon as I can. The Nice Guys also stars Kim Basinger, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Ty Simpkins and opens on May 20, 2016.

MAGIC MIKE XXL Review

In the summer of 2012 the idea of Magic Mike seemed little more than a way for the studio and Channing Tatum himself to push his celebrity and sex appeal even further than The Vow and 21 Jump Street already had that year. When the film ended up having a $40 million opening weekend with only a budget of $7m it was clear Tatum was no longer just an added-value element, but something of a movie star in his own generations right. This was a film with no previous film in the franchise, no brand recognition, no book or memoir it was based off of, but instead was solely the product of Tatum sitting down with writer Reid Carolin and hashing out a story around his early days as a male stripper. Billed as a film for the ladies, Magic Mike actually turned out to be something of a heavy handed dramatic piece as directed by Academy Award winner Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, the Ocean trilogy) that wasn't exactly what the target audience expected. There was still plenty of dancing and grinding and a whole bunch of humping, but beyond this the film examined the social stigmas of such a career choice and the difficult task of leaving that kind of a life behind despite someone only being able to last in that lifestyle for a small window of time in their life. This latter part is where the sequel, Magic Mike XXL, picks up and more or less runs with the idea of knowing this won't last forever so let's give it one last hurrah. There aren't as many deeper themes going on here, in fact there isn't really much going on at all other than the goal of having a good time and in that regard, the Kings of Tampa succeed. Magic Mike XXL is not the same kind of film its predecessor was, but this sequel doesn't attempt to be that kind of film either. Instead, XXL is its own beast entirely and while that may, on the surface, make it less of an artistic success than the first this exclusively fun, road trip movie turns out be just as good and just as insanely stylistic because it never loses sight of what makes these movies tick: the characters.

New Trailer for MAGIC MIKE XXL

Well, here we are again. In what feels like one of the more crowded summers over the last few years it will be interesting to see how this sequel to Magic Mike plays out. The first film opened three years ago at what was arguably the climax (pun intended) of Tatum's rise to fame. It had been a slow build until 2012 when he hit audiences with a three-way (pun intended) blitz of The Vow, 21 Jump Street and then Magic Mike in the summer. He was not only competing against a summer with another Avengers and Ted (which opened against Magic Mike then and will open a week before the sequel this year), but it opened a mere week before The Amazing Spider-Man and just less than a month before The Dark Knight Rises. Granted, it didn't have much competition throughout July besides the two aforementioned tentpoles, but Magic Mike thrived because it spoke to a different audience, a female audience. In the end, Tatum's take on the average working man cloaked in stripper routines debuted to a healthy $39 million and went on to claim $167 million globally. Coupled with the fact the first film was made for $7 million this really shows the power of star plus concept. Tatum has only become a bigger star since and arguably a more credible one which I only assume will boost this sequels prospects given it looks more in line with what women wanted from the first film anyway. With Warner Bros. placing Magic Mike XXL on the coveted fourth of July weekend with its only competition that weekend being the Terminator reboot it seems XXL will again fill the alternate programming slot all the way through to at least the 17th when Judd Apatow's Trainwreck opens. Beside Tatum, Magic Mike XXL also stars Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer, Adam Rodriguez, Amber Heard, Elizabeth Banks, Jada Pinkett Smith, Donald Glover, Andie MacDowell, Michael Strahan and hits theaters on July 1st.

First Trailer for MAGIC MIKE XXL

Well, here we are. In a world not only where Channing Tatum has become something of a formidable actor, but one where his original hit dance movie has spawned four sequels and now his second hit dance movie is getting a sequel as well. Granted, that second dance movie concerned a more specific set of skills and was more of a passion project for the actor as well as featuring THE performance from Matthew McConaughey that signaled his complete one-eighty-it is with anticipation we awaited what Tatum and collaborator Steven Soderbergh have come up with for this second time around. Though Soderbergh only acted as cinematographer this time as directing duties went to Greg Jacobs (who has served as second unit on countless Soderbergh flicks) Tatum again penned the script with Reid Carolin who he also wrote the original film with. While I enjoyed that the first film didn't deliver exactly what everyone expected, this second trailer certainly plays up that same angle so as to pull in the "girls night out" crowds. It will be interesting to see if the ladies still flock to this one knowing how the first turned out, which was good for the rest of us, but maybe they were fine with what dancing and grinding they did see to the point there is no question about attending a sequel. Heavily bumping Ginuwine's "Pony," and putting all their eggs in the confident and cocky basket, Magic Mike XXL is looking to have a massive fourth of July weekend even without the McConaughey returning. Magic Mike XXL also stars Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer, Adam Rodriguez, Amber Heard, Elizabeth Banks, Jada Pinkett Smith, Donald Glover, Andie MacDowell, Michael Strahan and hits theaters on July 1st.

MAGIC MIKE Review

Before the movie even began I wondered if there might be any point to writing a review about it. The film, from its initial conception seemed a way to push Channing Tatum's celebrity and sexual appeal that much further. Granted, it is made by award-winning director Steven Soderbergh, this still didn't stop me from thinking, after the first few scenes that it would be a film that would require little to no analysis. A film I would likely be able to shed no further opinion on considering the subject matter and considering the movie seemed to take itself for what it was: a fun time at the movies for a girls night out. While serving its purpose on this front and delivering (for the most part) what the ladies in the audience likely expected, Magic Mike also turns out to be something a little more than that. How director Soderbergh has transitioned from directing the apocalyptic-disease tale Contagion last September then moving on to an experiment in the underrated action flick with a feminist drive known as Haywire and now onto a romp of a film like Magic Mike is pretty baffling, but it is also kind of brilliant. As a lover of film I am happy to have such a creative and adaptable director deliver three projects in less than a year, but beyond that the diversity this shows is to be admired, the skill with which he has infused his own touch into each genre is another thing to behold entirely. While Magic Mike could have easily been that male version of Showgirls, it stops itself from even venturing into camp territory (except when intentional) and steps back from the world it is chronicling to take a look at the bigger picture. It analyzes its own issues for us instead of getting wrapped up in itself as most movies do.

Brooke (Cody Horn) and Mike (Channing Tatum) share
a stroll and a drink with one another.

As anyone even remotely interested by this movie might be aware, Magic Mike is the brainchild of star Tatum himself as it is based off his "experiences" as a stripper before he hit it big. That is to say, most of the events that take place are likely slightly embellished but the world, the world in which all of this takes place is what feels truly genuine. As stories go about excess, fame, money, and women go someone undoubtedly will have their good time driven to the point that they cross a line and have to be woken up from their excess to go back to what really counts towards gratification in this life. Magic Mike plays loose with these archetypes as the title character himself Mike Lane (Tatum) is a ring leader of a group of Tampa strippers by night while using the easy money he gains dancing to fund his dreams of being able to build a business out of making custom furniture. Mike is a career oriented individual who we truly believe to have more of an outlook on his life to realize he doesn't want to end up like his boss at the strip joint. Still, it is also clear Mike isn't taking this time in his prime for granted either. He enjoys what he does and the lifestyle that comes with it. He likes to be seen on stage, the adoration it brings to a person is something he likely begins to crave and is hard to go without. It is made clear he likes to fool himself by justifying the stripping as a front until he can get his feet on the ground with his furniture business. He can only tell himself this for so long though until the realizations are brought forth he is doing nothing but lying to himself. To help Mike move along in his developmental stage we have Brooke (Cody Horn, who I liked but looks angry all the time) the sister of new recruit Adam (Alex Pettyfer) and the only one who doesn't seem to be impressed by Mike on first sight. Tatum truly does let his character live the arc written for him in the script and displays the most on screen charisma he's ever been able to convey with this role. In this role it is made evident why Hollywood has become so enthralled with the actor and why he has become the biggest name of 2012.

The men of Xquisite include Adam (Alex Pettyfer),
Dallas (Matthew McConaughey) and Magic Mike.

With Mike serving as the ringleader of this crew (and the only legitimate dancer) he goes out recruiting ladies for their show and happens to run across Adam, a college dropout who he met earlier in the day at a roofing job. The Kid, as he comes to be known, is an impressionable 19 year-old that seems to have lost any kind of ambition for anything. Feeling sorry for the Adam, Mike takes him under his wing and introduces him to that world of money, women, and a good time. Hesitant at first to embrace the lifestyle it quickly becomes like a drug to Adam when he begins to understand the rewards it can bring. Rounding out the troop of Tampa dancers is Ken (a briefly seen Matt Bomer), Big Dick Richie (Joe Manganiello), Tito (Alex Rodriguez) and Kevin Nash as Tarzan. These guys don't actually do very much dancing, more grinding on poles, chairs, women or pretty much anything you put in front of them. They have the looks required to fulfill the fantasies of their female patrons and that seems to be enough to overlook the lack of actual talent they display. I guess this makes it easier to better understand why each of these individuals doesn't come to the same realizations Mike is having. They need nothing more than the instant satisfaction of what's given to them on stage and have no thought of where this might lead them to be 10 years down the road. This kind of sad and pitiful lifestyle is summed up in the true leader of the Tampa boys and their hotspot. As Dallas, Matthew McConaughey gives yet another great performance in what seems to be the midst of a career renovation. Dallas is a 40-something who runs his own club and leads a lifestyle of leisure and unchallenged ideas. He has no desire to reform to what might be seen as more respectable, but he has no reason to either. He can see the restlessness in Mike as he begins to formulate plans of a big business move to Miami. He too takes Adam under his wing and we see the subtle hint of the cycle beginning again with The Kid as it likely did 6 years earlier when Mike wandered into the world Dallas made so appealing.

Dallas gives Adam his first lesson in stripping.

The way in which Soderbergh presents his story is that he takes more care to deliver the audience a portrait of the title character and who he is rather that what he is at this moment in his life. This is critical to the sincerity of the film and in terms of it succeeding as a story. This could have easily been a slapdash effort and a quick cash grab for Tatum and everyone involved, but lucky for the males who do in fact venture out to see this it is something more than that, something anyone in that audience can likely relate to. Feeling stuck in a rut, wanting and aspiring to go to places you would feel content with in your life rather than constantly struggling to reach what feels like an unattainable goal. No, Magic Mike is probably not what many of the women walking in expected it to be. This is not the light-hearted stripper movie that delivers the goods and leaves no price to pay for the excess within which these boys operate. No, it is an introspective look at a world that has never really been explored with such a credible hand before. Sure, the case can be made that such a topic deserves no serious consideration, that by pure virtue of what it is and what it represents is an artificial and vulgar view of what women want and desire in their most carnal of natures is nothing to be proud of. The idea that such a movie, with such a cast could exceed those characteristics itself to become a more human story is almost as unbelievable as the fact I would have expected to enjoy it as much as I did. In the end, it is the fact director Soderbergh was able to take such a subject matter and turn it into a movie that means something more than an excuse to watch hard-bodied actors take off their clothes and that he was able to turn it on the audience and make them look inside themselves to help motivate them to understand that you can only fool yourself for so long. In the most ingenious of ways it is delivering the message to the hoards of women that have gone out to see it that they are not restricted to one role in life, that they have the power to make the decisions for how they want their life to turn out. Now, if they could only see that past the biceps and the gyratng.

          

MAGIC MIKE Review

Before the movie even began I wondered if there might be any point to writing a review about it. The film, from its initial conception seemed a way to push Channing Tatum's celebrity and sexual appeal that much further. Granted, it is made by award-winning director Steven Soderbergh, this still didn't stop me from thinking, after the first few scenes that it would be a film that would require little to no analysis. A film I would likely be able to shed no further opinion on considering the subject matter and considering the movie seemed to take itself for what it was: a fun time at the movies for a girls night out. While serving its purpose on this front and delivering (for the most part) what the ladies in the audience likely expected, Magic Mike also turns out to be something a little more than that. How director Soderbergh has transitioned from directing the apocalyptic-disease tale Contagion last September then moving on to an experiment in the underrated action flick with a feminist drive known as Haywire and now onto a romp of a film like Magic Mike is pretty baffling, but it is also kind of brilliant. As a lover of film I am happy to have such a creative and adaptable director deliver three projects in less than a year, but beyond that the diversity this shows is to be admired, the skill with which he has infused his own touch into each genre is another thing to behold entirely. While Magic Mike could have easily been that male version of Showgirls, it stops itself from even venturing into camp territory (except when intentional) and steps back from the world it is chronicling to take a look at the bigger picture. It analyzes its own issues for us instead of getting wrapped up in itself as most movies do.