Saturday, June 30, 2012

Magic Mike

Damn!! :o :o There really are no other words to describe how much fun I had watching this.

Everyone has been talking about Magic Mike lately. A movie about hot male strippers? Sign me up!

Honestly, there isn't much of a plot. It's not one of those movies. Apparently it's loosely based on Channing's real life experiences when he was 19.

 It's hot guys dancing on stage for almost two hours. I'm not complaining of course hehe. That's what I paid to see. But basically the movie revolves around a guy named Mike (Channing Tatum), a 30 year old who by day is a construction worker and by night works as a male stripper in a popular Tampa club. Of course, this is only temporary (even though he's been stripping for about 6 years) while he saves up to start his own furniture buisness. One day on a construction job he meets a messed up 19 year old named Adam (Alex Pettyfer, who was in that god awful Beastly movie but in this he's somewhat tolerable). Mike introduces him into the stripper world, taking him under his wing. Adam quickly becomes a sucess. Tossed into the mix is Adam's caring, protective sister Brooke (Cody Horn, who couldn't act if her life depended on it and seemed to have only one facial expression throughout the whole movie) who's really only there to be Channing's love intrest.

The director of Magic Mike is Stephen Soderbergh. He's good at getting amazing performances out of any actor, even if the actor isn't necessarily that great. I'll admit I'm not really a big Channing Tatum fan (don't get me wrong, he's nice to look at and I would totally sleep with him if given the chance) but I really liked his character. Matthew McConaughey plays Dallas, the owner of the strip club where Mike works. I was surprised at how good he was (McConaughey's perormances are usually hit or miss for me). It's one of his best performances in recent memory. He looked like he was having a blast filming this.

The best part about this, of course, was the dance sequences. I give a lot of credit to whoever choreographed this movie. I kept watching it thinking "Damn, how the hell can those guys move like THAT?". I thought I was going to have a heart attack at times right there in the theater. The performances were that hot.

The movie does seemed to drag a bit in the last half though. It was like, this story is interesting and all, but when are you going to get back to the guys stripping on stage?

My one complaint about Stephen Soderbergh as a director is he always seems to use this ugly yellow tint in his movies. Luckily in Magic Mike he only uses it in certain scenes but still... it's distracting.

If it wasn't for all the eye candy, my rating would be slightly lower. But I really did have a good time.

It's obviously geared towards women and gay men. I just can't picture a straight guy going to see this unless he's being dragged there by his wife/girlfriend.

If you're looking for something fun to do on a girls night out, go see Magic Mike. You won't be dissapointed ;)

My Rating: 7.5/10 

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Snow White & The Huntsman

Finally! A good retelling of a classic fairytale. After a shitfest of other movies that aren't even worth mentioning, I'm happy to say that Snow White & The Huntsman is really good.

We all know the story, but we've never seen it like this. In this version, Snow White (Kristen Stewart) has been imprisoned for years, since her father King Magnus died. Her stepmother Ravenna (Charlize Theron) has taken the once happy, prosperous kingdom and, using her dark magic, has turned it into a very bleak, depressing place. In order to stay young and powerful, Ravenna literally sucks the youth out of various women. But still, her power is growing weaker. In order to live forever, she basically has to consume Snow White's heart. But Snow White manages to escape and ends up in the Dark Forest. The scariest, creepiest place you could imagine. Ravenna sends the drunken, widowed Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), who's one of the few who's been there before, to capture Snow White and bring her back. Eventually he does find her, but he has a change of heart and ends up protecting her and training her to kick some serious ass. Eventually Snow White will lead an army against the Queen and take back the kingdom which is rightfully hers.

The first thing you'll notice about the film is how beautiful it looks. Major props to the visual effects crew for making this amazing world. From the Dark Forest to the various creatures, I just sat there in awe of how beautiful everything looked. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets nominated come Oscar season, as far as visuals go anyway.

Of course, I have to talk about the acting, which was good overall. Yes people, Kristen Stewart CAN act. I think this film proves that. Although I already knew she was a good actress when I saw her in Speak. She gives a powerful performance in that as a rape victim. You really  can't judge her acting abilities based on Twilight. As much as I like the Twilight movies, I know they're far from her best work.

Chris Hemsworth, who seems to be all over the place lately, gave an interesting performance as the Huntsman. I don't think they ever refer to him in the movie by an actual name, but from what I've read his name is suppose to be Eric. Anyway I really enjoyed seeing his story play out. He kicked ass when he needed to, but there were several moments between him and Kristen (I thought the two of them had good chemistry) that were very sweet.

Then there's Charlize Theron playing the evil Queen Ravenna. Wow. She gave a very convincing performance. I think she was the perfect choice for the role. You really hate her character, as you should, but Charlize plays her so well that you kind of understand why Ravenna is the way she is.

The Seven Dwarfs (there's actually eight in this movie), whom Snow White and the Huntsman encounter along the way, are played by various British actors and they were terrific. They provided some much needed comic relief. I just wish they had had more screen time and had appeared a bit earlier in the film.

The director is a guy named Rupert Sanders. This is his first feature film. His first time directing anything really. I couldn't find anything else on his imdb page as far as directing goes. You never would've guessed he hadn't done this before. He does a fantastic job setting the tone and I look forward to seeing more of his work.

The film does have a few flaws. As I mentioned before, the visuals are amazing, but at times it felt like one big acid trip. I don't really have a problem with that (I enjoy a good acid trip type movie once in awhile) but in this one it felt a little too much at times.

Another thing is the character of William. He's suppose to be the "prince" character (in this version he's the son of a Duke and a childhood friend of Snow White's). Not that the guy playing him is a bad actor, but I just felt he had no chemistry with Kristen. And to be honest, his character really isn't needed in this version of the story.

Then there's Ravenna's relationship with her brother Finn. It was just... creepy! Bordering on incestious even. At least that's the feeling I got anyway.

One more thing, and this isn't a big complaint, is Chris Hemsworth's accent for his character. I think the Huntsman is suppose to be Scottish. It just seemed a little weird to me and I couldn't help but laugh at times. But I give him credit for trying. And I've heard much worse attempts when it comes to accents.

I also want to bring up the love triangle between Snow White, the Huntsman, and William. Yes, it's there in a way but it's not in your face which is a good thing. They really don't develop it at all in this movie. Maybe they will in the rumored sequel. Who knows. I really hope they make a sequel regardless since there wasn't a clear ending and I'd love to see the characters developed more.

Action. Amazing visuals. Hot guys. And a kick ass princess. There's something for everyone in SNow White & The Huntsman. Definitely check it out.

My Rating: 8.5/10