"SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK' SWEEPS THE INDEPENDENT SPIRIT FILM AWARDS

Director David O. Russell and his quirky romantic-comedy, "Silver Linings Playbook" made a big impression at this year's Independent Spirit Awards as it won four of the major awards including Best Feature. Although the rules state that for a film to qualify, it must not cost more than twenty million dollars to produce and "Playbook" actually cost twenty-one million but the jury can bend that rule at their discretion. Some of my other favs from the previous year won which include "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" for Best First Feature and the amazing performances of Helen Hunt and John Hawkes (who was robbed of an Oscar nomination) for their work in "The Sessions".

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Feature: "Silver Linings Playbook"
Best Director: David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Best Screenplay: David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Best Female Lead: Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Best Male Lead: John Hawkes, "The Sessions"
Best Supporting Female: Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"
Best Supporting Male: Matthew McConaughey, "Magic Mike"
Best First Feature: "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"
Best First Screenplay: Derek Connolly, "Safety Not Guaranteed"



Best Cinematography: Ben Richardson, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Best Documentary: "The Invisible War"



Best International Film: "Amour," Michael Haneke
John Cassavetes Award (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000): "Middle of Nowhere"
Robert Altman Award (Given to one film's director, casting director, and its ensemble cast): "Starlet" Director: Sean Baker Casting Director: Julia Kim Ensemble Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Karren Karagulian, Stella Maeve, James Ransone



Piaget Producers Award: "Stones in the Sun," Mynette Louie
Someone to Watch Award: "Gimme the Loot," Adam Leon
Stella Artois Truer Than Fiction Award: "The Waiting Room," Peter Nicks
Jameson Find Your Audience Award: "Breakfast With Curtis," Laura Colella

MAGIC MIKE (2012)

Written by Reid Carolin


Directed by Steven Soderbergh


Where & When: Arclight Cinemas, Hollywood, CA.  June 29, 2012  5:45PM



Channing Tatum is the current prince of Hollywood, thanks to his past few roles in several moderately successful movies as he appeals to women with the romantic tearjerkers, "The Vow", "Dear John" and (to a lesser degree) men with the action-thriller, "G.I. Joe" and the comedy spoof, "21 Jump Street" which all have helped to raise his profile.

His latest, "Magic Mike" is poised to possibly take him to the next level as the film, directed by the respected Steven Soderbergh,  takes us in to the salacious world of male strippers. Mr.Tatum dazzles as the title character and lights up the screen, even when his clothes are on.

Women have been seductively removing their clothing on a stage for quite a long time but the question remains if there is the same interest in viewing nearly naked, hard muscled men bumping and grinding down to their g-strings. This film, loosely based on the early career of Mr. Tatum, seems designed to capture the attention of the ladies (as well as a certain segment of the male population) and it does this very well but it doesn't have too much to offer outside of the titillation.

Mike (Tatum), spends his days breaking a sweat on a construction site but by the time the sun has set in Tampa, he takes to the stage, sweating throughout the evening as a hip-hop stripper named, "Magic Mike". He has enjoyed all of the perks of being an exotic dancer but after six years, he's ready to move on. Mike dreams of becoming a furniture designer but because of bad credit, he is unable to get a loan to start his business despite offering the bank a down payment of his career-savings of dollar bills. On his day job, Mike meets Adam (Alex Pettyfer), a young, aimless slacker who sleeps on the couch of his sister, Brooke (Cody Horn). After Adam quits this job, through a series of circumstances, Mike introduces him to Dallas (Matthew McConaughey), the eccentric owner of the club, Xquisite and Adam becomes, "The Kid", the newest dancer.

The life of a male stripper appeals to Adam as the job offers him new-found attention from beautiful women, a sense of place and family with the other performers and a lot of cash. However, Adam soon gets swept up by the darker, sleazier side of this world where are there are plenty of wild parties and unscrupulous characters lurking around. Adam begins dealing drugs (and heavily using) and gets in over his head which concerns Brooke but Mike promises to watch out for her brother. Dallas is going to open a bigger club in Miami with an offer for Mike to be a partner. Will Mike continue on as a dancer in a different location or will he stay in Tampa to try and start a new life?

There really isn't much chance that many heterosexual men are going to want to rush out to the theater to see this film and there really isn't anything here that's particularly engaging or insightful that would encourage them to want to sit through the endless parade of half-naked men. "Magic Mike" is light-weight, predictable and drifts much closer to the high-camp of the female stripper flick, "Showgirls" than Mr. Soderbergh realizes but still manages to be quite entertaining. There is a sense of fun and good humor that comes through that makes all of this silliness watchable. Sexual politics is touched upon but what the film is displaying is the male fantasy of being an object of desire as women lose complete control in your presence and quite happily give as much money as possible in gratitude. Seems like nice work, if you can get it but most guys actually couldn't or probably shouldn't.

The focus of the film is supposed to be on the budding romance between Mike and the sweet, down-to-Earth, Brooke who offers him a possible alternative but since there isn't much chemistry between these actors and it doesn't help that the monotone Ms Horn is not exactly the most expressive of actresses, their scenes together fail to ignite or generate much interest. The friendship between  Mike and Adam is actually far more interesting although Mr. Pettyfer isn't able to leave much of a memorable impression either.

"Magic Mike" is the perfect showcase for Mr. Tatum as he effortlessly oozes plenty of natural charm and sensuality. Like Mark Wahlberg before him, Tatum doesn't register great intellect on screen but he does comes across as a sweet, fun-loving lunkhead with some killer dance moves. He plays Mike as a stripper with a big heart as all he wants is to help the down on their luck and willing to make great personal sacrifices on their behalf. I don't know how believable this character would actually be but he still does a fine job. Mr. McConaughey has finally decided to break out of romantic-comedy rut and return to displaying some of the early promise he had at the beginning of his film career as a character actor. He plays with his own shirtless, party beach-boy image but adds the right amount of a quirky, dark edge to an aging former stripper with an ego-driven quest for power in this small scale business of flesh peddling. The actors who fill in as the other dancers of the club are familiar faces, mostly from television, which includes Matt Bomer ("White Collar") and Adam Rodriguez ("CSI: Miami") but they are given nothing to offer but their gyrating flesh while performing plenty of cheesy choreography. However, if you ever wondered what "True Blood" 's Joe Manganiello (known in the film as "Big Dick" Ritchie) would look like in a fireman's uniform, "Magic Mike" gives you that opportunity although it doesn't stay on for too long.

"Magic Mike" is a tease of a movie where it distracts you with a tantalizing display of glistening, scantily-clad bodies thrusting at you but once you get past that, there really isn't much else left to see.

2012 SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW

On the third anniversary of this blog, it is once again time to announce my picks of the films that I'm most looking forward in seeing this summer.

Also, as usual, the release dates are subject to change:

"THE AVENGERS" 

Release date: May 4, 2012

We have already seen Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans) and the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, new to the role) each battle against evil individually but now they have been assembled together by Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson) to fight against a bigger enemy in "The Avengers". Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and a new hero to the scene, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) are also brought on board and they'll need all of their combined strength to save the planet. This is probably the film I am most excited about seeing all summer since I was such a big comic-book geek as a kid.

 

"DARK SHADOWS" 

Release date: May 11, 2012

Director, Tim Burton has teamed up with Johnny Deep for the seventh time in this comedic remake of the gothic soap opera, "Dark Shadows" that ran on television from 1966 to 1971 which I watched and loved as a kid. Depp plays Barnabas Collins, an eighteenth century playboy who is turned in to a vampire by an jilted witch (Eva Green) and buried in a coffin before accidentally being released hundreds of years later in 1972. He discovers a world that is a bit different than the one he last remembered and meets his dysfunctional descendants living in his mansion. Chloe Grace Moretz, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Helena Bonham Carter (what's with these three names?) and Michelle Pfeiffer round out the cast.

 

"HYSTERIA"

Release date: May 18, 2012

This British romantic-comedy is about a nineteenth century doctor (Hugh Dancy) trying to discover a cure for female hysteria, which was considered a medical condition that was helped by treatments that involved doctors performing a "pelvic massage". A device is invented to make the procedure more effective: the vibrator. Felicity Jones, Jonathan Pryce, Rupert Everett and Maggie Gyllenhaal also star in this film directed by Tanya Wexler.



"SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN"

Release date: June 1, 2012

This is the second film inspired by the classic fable released this year but unlike, "Mirror Mirror" (the lighthearted version that starred Julia Roberts as the evil queen) "Snow White and the Huntsman" is definitely not made with children in mind. This visually stunning take is a much darker spin with this Snow White being more than capable of taking care of herself and kicking some ass. Kirsten Stewart ("Twilight") plays the fairest of them all with Charlize Theron as the Queen who is not at all happy to hear that. It appears that the dwarfs and Prince Charming take a back seat to the brooding huntsman, played by Chris Hemsworth ("Thor").



"PROMETHEUS" 

Release date: June 8, 2012

Ridley Scott, the director of "Blade Runner" and "Alien", has returned to the world of science-fiction with "Prometheus", a film that is set before the first "Alien" film. Although the filmmaker insists that this is not exactly a prequel to that film but it's also clear that "Prometheus" is closely connected to what happened before the "Alien" series began. Does that clear things up? Noomi Rapace (the original Lisbeth in the Swedish version of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo") leads a strong cast that includes Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba and Michael Fassbender.

 

"TO ROME WITH LOVE"

Release date: June 22, 2012

After the surprising success of "Midnight In Paris", Woody Allen is hot once again with his forty-third film, "To Rome With Love" being highly anticipated. The film was first going to be called, "The Bop Decameron", then "Nero Fiddles" before settling on this fairly generic title but hopefully the film will be much more interesting than the title. The cast includes Penelope Cruz, Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, and Judy Davis, with the return to the screen of Roberto Benigni (Best Actor Oscar winner for the 1997 film, "Life Is Beautiful") and Mr. Allen himself , who was last seen in 2006 in his film, "Scoop".



"MAGIC MIKE"

Release date: June 29, 2012

A movie involving male strippers doesn't require much more than that to get me interested but Steven Soderbergh as the director involved makes this even more intriguing.  Loosely based on star, Channing Tatum's past as an exotic dancer, "Magic Mike" is about the veteran stripper, Mike (Tatum) teaching a newcomer (Alex Pettyfer) the ropes while trying to gracefully leave the profession. Television hunks, Matt Boner ("White Collar"), Adam Rodriguez ("CSI: Miami") and Joe Manganiello ("True Blood") fill in as other dancers with Matthew McConaughey as a former stripper who now owns the club.



"TAKE THIS WALTZ"

Release date: June 29, 2012

Following her terrific debut, the award-winning 2006 film, "Away From Her", actress, Sarah Polley made quite an name for herself as a writer/director and has finally returned with her latest, "Take This Waltz". Michelle Williams (recent Oscar nominee for "My Week With Marilyn") plays a happily married woman to her husband of five years (Seth Rogan) but finds herself being drawn to her attractive neighbor (Luke Kirby). The drama also features comedian, Sarah Silverman, being very serious.



"TED"

Release date : July 13, 2012

"Ted" is a raunchy new comedy written and directed by Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the raunchy animated television series, "Family Guy" and "American Dad". John (Mark Wahlberg), as a little boy, wished that his teddy bear would come to life and he does; Ted is a foul-mouthed, drug-taking bad influence on John and is standing in the way of him growing-up and finding happiness as an adult with a potential new love interest (Mila Kunis).



"THE DARK KNIGHT RISES" 

Release date: July 20, 2012

Although "The Dark Knight Rises" is being touted as the third and final chapter in the Christopher Nolan - Christian Bale collaboration but I think it's pretty safe to say that we have not seen the last of the caped crusader. This time Batman has to deal with not one but two dangerous foes in the form of The Catwoman with Anne Hathaway filling in as Selina Kyle and Bane (Tom Hardy), a masked, lethal brute with super-strength. Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman return in their previous roles along with Nolan's "Inception" stars, Joesph Gordon-Levitt as a Gotham City cop and Marion Cotillard as Bruce Wayne's potential new love interest.

 

"TOTAL RECALL"

Release date: August 3, 2012

I admit to having zero interest in seeing "Total Recall"(one of Arh-nuld's most popular films) which seemed like yet another pointless Hollywood remake that would pale in comparison to the original but then I actually saw the trailer. Now, I have to admit that the trailer alone makes this version look like a vast improvement over the 1990 film. I realize this doesn't mean this film will be any good but now I'm much more interested in seeing it. Set in the near future, Colin Farrell (improvement number one) takes over as Douglas Quaid, a factory worker who discovers that false memories have been implanted in him to cover that he is acually a rebel fighter trying to take down the government. This version (directed by Len Wiseman) also features Bryan Cranston, John Cho, Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale as Quaid's loving wife.




"SPARKLE"

Release date: August 17, 2012

In what is, sadly, Whitney Houston's final film is a remake of the 1976 musical, "Sparkle". Now set in the 60's, this story is still about three young sisters who dream of becoming singing stars but fail to see the price they might have to pay for this success. Their mother (played by Houston) tries to protect her girls as she knows firsthand about the hardship of the music biz. The cast includes Derek Luke, Mike Epps and "American Idol" winner, Jordin Sparks making her cinematic debut. "Sparkle" will feature some of the original music written by Curtis Mayfield as well as new material by R. Kelly.