Film review: Magic Mike

Tags

Alex Pettyfer, Channing Tatum, Contagion, director steven soderbergh, entertainment, Erin Brockovich, Film Review, hollywood, magic mike, Matthew McConaughey, Peter Andrews, reviews, Step Up, Steven Soderbergh

It may cost you a few singles but Magic Mike shows some of the hottest men in Hollywood take off their shirts, pants and what little they wear underneath. But this stripper film is about more than just some g-strings, great abs and gyrating hips.  Director Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich, Contagion) may have been shooting under his pseudonym Peter Andrews but it’s not hard to miss his skill of pulling the best out of his leading actors.

Set in Tampa Florida Magic Mike tells the story of Mike (Channing Tatum), a part-time roofer who dreams of becoming a custom furniture designer while saving all the singles he earns stripping in the seedy nightclub Xquisite. A chance encounter with Adam (Alex Pettyfer) is the beginning of the end of his stripping career.

Mike takes Adam under his wing and mentor-protégé relationship develops. At first it’s all fun and games and the two hot male strippers enjoy the single life and spending the ones stuck in their underwear. But Adam’s protective older sister Brooke (Cody Horn) isn’t happy with the changes she sees in her little brother and sees Mike as the culprit when things go wrong.  But as the story progresses Mike discovers that the life he is leading isn’t the answer to his dreams and he struggles to see what and how he can change.

Tatum is perfectly cast in the role of Magic Mike and shows he hasn’t forgotten how to move since Step Up and performs acrobatic back-flips and sexy dance moves to prove it. But he is more than just a very sexy body in this movie, it is in the quite moments, particularly partnered with Horn or Pettyfer where his true ability shines through. As a producer on this film the idea behind the script came from his own personal experience as a 19-year old stripper at the beginning of his career, so maybe that is why his portrayal is so raw and real.

Pettyfer holds his own as the bashful newbie stripper, who leaves his socks on, who then succumbs to the lure of the night-life glamour.  But even at his best he can’t steal the scene away from Tatum whose charm and screen presents out shines him.

But the true star of this movie is Matthew McConaughey whose supporting role as the leathery, overly tanned club-owner and old-time stripper Dallas couldn’t be more cheesy, more greasy and more of a self parody.  Seeing him prance around in his ridiculous hats and outfits makes the film worth seeing on it’s own.

Magic Mike is hard to but into one genre as it is not a date-night film, the poor lads will never live up to the expectations given on screen, and it is not a chick-flick either as it is grittier than expected. But even though the ending is a little disappointing and one can’t help but feel let down or that the story ran out, Magic Mike is a good film with strong actors and surprising moments. And if you can look past the fact that Sonderbergh fell a little too in love with his yellow filter that taints many of the scenes and gives them a vintage feel, Magic Mike gives a little insight into a milieu most of us don’t know and isn’t afraid to be a bit controversial.

Film review: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Tags

celebrities, comedy, end of the world, entertainment, Film Review, Keira Knightly, midlife crises, reviews, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Steve Carell

Meteor Matilda is approaching earth fast and in 21 days the world will end.  Of course this means that every day is now casual Friday at work, you can have sex with random partners, not having to worry about any consequences and heroin is the latest party gift.

But while everyone around him has succumb to debauchery, drugs and random looting Dodge (Steve Carell) is stuck in his midlife-crises thinking of all the women who got a way, including his wife. Always playing it safe he sells insurance for a living, even the Armageddon package, and while he keeps trying to fire his cleaning lady he can’t help but wonder where everything went so wrong.

His neighbour Penny (a healthy looking Keira Knightly) is his opposite, a free spirit with a love for vinyl and the wrong kind of men. Always five minutes behind everyone else she has missed all the planes out of the US and can’t help but be upset by missing out on spending her last days with her family. When she discovers that it is her fault that Dodge didn’t get a letter from Olivia, the love of his life, the unlikely pair partners up to try and help each other.  With the agreement that she won’t kill him if he doesn’t rape her the two of them and Sorry the dog go on one last adventure, all bundled up in a tiny blue smart car.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is not your typical rom-com, although it is very funny in parts and tender and romantic in others, but refreshingly the ending is not your normal Hollywood scenario. The main let down in this film is that there is no chemistry between Knightly and Carell and while you could understand why someone like Dodge would fall for Penny, the reverse is not believable. Knightly is good and looks better with a bit more weight on her but Carell only has two facial expressions and none of them ever suit the situation.

But if you are looking for a funny and at times endearing film to while away a few hours on a grey and wet afternoon, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is a good, enjoyable choice.

Film Review: Dr Seuss’ The Lorax

Tags

Betty White, Dr Seuss’ The Lorax, ecological responsibility, Ed Helms, entertainment, Film Review, lorax, nature, reviews, Rob Riggle, saving the planet, Taylor Swift, The Lorax, Wall-E, Zac Efron

It may be 30 years since Dr Seuss published The Lorax but the topic of deforestation and ecological responsibility couldn’t be more timely. Sadly the latest animation by Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me, Hop) is more plastic than real and even the singing and dancing can’t mask the fact that this film is all about commerce and not about saving the planet.

The story revolves around Ted Wiggins (Zac Efron), a young boy who lives in the walled city of  “Thneed-Ville”. Everything in Thneed-Ville is made out of plastic and is brightly coloured, even the pets aren’t real and trees glow at night and spin. When Ted’s crush Audrey (Taylor Swift) declares she would marry the guy who brings her a real tree Ted’s adventure begins.

Ted’s lively and feisty granny (the dame du jour Betty White) tells him he has to look for the Once-ler (Ed Helms) who lives outside the city walls, as he is the only one who knows what happened to the trees and where to find one. Escaping the clutches of the nasty mayor of Thneed-Ville (Rob Riggle) Ted finds the Once-ler living in a shack surrounded by pollution and wastelands.  The Once-ler agrees to tell Ted his story and over a series of visits Ted learns all about how the Once-ler invented the Thneed by chopping down a native Truffula tree. This act against nature summoned the Lorax, the grumpy, orange, peanut-shaped guardian of the trees. With a lot of singing, dancing and rhyming the Lorax persuades the Once-ler to not chop down any more trees, but to just harvest them instead. But when the Thneed becomes a commercial success reinforcements are called in and the Once-ler breaks his promise, destroying everything around him.  Now it is up to Ted to change the way things are and save the trees.

Unlike Wall-E, The Lorax fails to practice what it preaches and everything feels plasticy and even the forest animals and The Lorax are noisy and synthetic.  The film is loud, preachy, a little bit hysterical and very annoying. And while the animations in The Lorax do emulate Dr Seuss’s distinct quirky drawing style the graphics are more decorative than actual elements of the film.

Overall Children will enjoy the film due to its catchy music and easily learned songs and possibly the sensory overload will appeal to their sort attention spans. But the more mature audience may find The Lorax that bit too much and regret having paid for a ticket to watch such trite.

bubbles I my brain

Tags

bad eating habits, bubbles in my brain, champagne jam, food, good eating habits, health, jam, miscellaneous, pink champagne, psychology, random, thoughts

After a a quite morning I met up with a very good friend for lunch yesterday. I hadn’t seen her in while so we had lots to catch up on and as girls do we chit-chatted over soup and caesar salad.

As we ate and talked I started to think about how nice it is to eat together and of how many meals I eat alone. I am often too lazy to set the table and actually sit down all by myself,  so I end up with a plate on my lap in front of the TV, some sitcom, rom-com or even the news keeping me company.

I generally have no problem being on my own and quite enjoy my own company, after all no one gets my jokes the way I do, but somehow eating by myself feels quite lonesome. There just seems to be something about a single place-mat, one knife and fork and a lone plate that screams LONELY. In addition to this studies have shown that, particularly in men, eating alone causes bad eating habits, singles tend to snack more, eat less vegetables and have “food on the go”.

That is why instilling good eating habits in children is so important. Sitting down and enjoying a meal together as a family teaches them community and how to interact with each other, and while thy are learning this they also pick up what healthy portions should look like and that variety is key to a good diet.

So with these thoughts bubbling around in my mind yesterday evening as I boiled down the last bit of summer fruit I had left to make some jam, I made a decision to make more of an effort myself, to actually sit down at my lovely table more and enjoy my meals even when I am alone at home. With that in mind I poured my self a glass of bubbly, left over from my peaches, vanilla and pink champagne jam, and toasted to a better me, bubbles in my brain and all.