From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a film watch, react and review for you.
Today I'll be reviewing the movie Magic Mike released in 2012.
Starring:
Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Olivia Munn
Directed by:
Steven Soderbergh
Genre:
Comedy, Drama
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Rating:
R
Budget:
$7,000,000 (estimated)
Current IMDb Rating When Reviewed:
6.1
The Synopsis is:
A male stripper teaches a younger performer how to party, pick up women, and make easy money.
1 minute in
I'm grinning from ear-to-ear because of Matthew McConaughey. This opening is actually a lot of fun and he looks like he's having a lot of this character. Just within a minute we get so much character building. So let's see what else is going to happen.
15 minutes and 40 seconds in
The pacing is very slow and it may be a little hard to get used to. The visuals seem to be drowning in sepia tone. So you can see that the filmmakers are trying to be artistic and there's great cinematography going on here.
The main character is Magic Mike. He works at a construction site and his coworker who just got fired Adam sees them out one night and just ask if he can help him get into a nightclub. Adam is a lost character who doesn't quite have his way in the world figured out. I kind of like that depth of character so early in the film. Already 15 minutes and we know a little bit about these two characters.
Magic Mike is into threesomes with strangers and he's a little bit of a wild smooth operator at the same time. He's laid-back but he's kind of on the wild side.
The two meet some girls at the bar of the nightclub and Mike shows that as he's learning about Magic Mike. I like that because Adam is acting as the audience. We're both trying to figure out what's going on too. So when Adam finds out that his friend who works with is trying to get people to go to a male dance Revue he's curious about it and so are we.
I like that. So far so good.
31 minutes and 13 seconds in
At this point, I love this, It's got the right formula of telling a story through characters and character study. As well, I love the dance sequence and then it has a somber moment where the audience can really absorb what's happening. I would describe this part as seduction of the Adam character into the fold of these male dancers as they are taking him in, in a way and immediately has become part of the group as a brother now. They're going to be looking out for him. He gets the money that he so desperately wants to change his life, dissolving his financial problem in one night. He sees the potential for making more money and access to girls anytime he wants.
59 minutes
We have more of a romance going on between Adam’s sister and Mike. There is a love story happening as she is coming to terms with the fact that he dances and being okay with that. It's something that she has to grow into.
You can see that Mike really likes Adam's sister but he doesn’t want to give up his player ways. At the same time he's changing a little bit and we've come to the part I'm sensing that where something dramatic happens which leads you know these is closer to some kind of character arc.
To the end
I just finished watching the movie. It really has the feeling of Boogie Nights and Flashdance where you have these characters that are struggling and striving to make a life for themselves in an industry that is considered underground entertainment. I did not expect this to be a drama. I expected a comedy actually.
I'm just floored that this was such a deep movie. It is an hour and 50 minutes and you feel every minute of it. I thought the dance sequences were going to be boring and they're not. They're really exciting and fun. Channing Tatum really has an incredible gift for dance and the acting was pretty top-notch by everyone.
Again, Matthew McConaughey was excellent in his performance as Dallas the dance revue owner. He has the eyes of a shark, like a killer who wanted to make sure that his business runs smoothly. He was all about his business and he uses his employees as puppets and generals to enhance his business. He's always projecting shady report numbers so you know he's not exactly one hundred percent honest about everything and he’s a very intriguing character. I mean you can really just do a movie about that character alone and it would really be entertaining.
There's a lot of characters but they're in their own world and in their own mind, They think that they are making the right choices like Adam. We spent a lot of time at the beginning of the film with him but by the end we spend more time with Mike. Once Adam becomes seduced he is our example of what can happen when you get involved with a flashy and fast lifestyle so young. He's only 19 and he's doing drugs, drinking and stripping.
Whereas Mike actually wants to pursue a career making his own custom furniture. I wish the film fleshed out his passion for that. However we do see his passion for dance.
I really enjoyed this film. I'm actually quite shocked and surprised that I liked it as much as I did.
Well that sums up my review. I hoped you liked it and if you did I've got almost a hundred of these videos so you can go on and browse the blog to see more reviews.
My Rating:
8.4
This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off!
Take care movie lovers! I'm off to my next review!
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