Category: Channing Tatum Film Festival

It’s a Dito Montiel movie, which means that it’s not super fabulous but that it also grows on me until the final scene when I decide I like it, after all.  This movie also did the impossible:  I actually found Terrance Howard’s acting to be quite good in this film, which is a reaction I’ve never had to the man’s craft before.  Aside from the pleasure of watching Channing Tatum wandering through New York participating in illegal fights, this movie exposed me to a world I would have never seen and that, I think is Mr. Montiel’s gift.

Cost:  $2.75 from Videorama*

Where watched:  at home.

poster from: 

http://www.impawards.com/2009/fighting.html

*Me:  I have four movies left in the Channing Tatum Film Festival and I’m hoping you have them.

Clerk:  Are you the founder of the Channing Tatum Film Festival?

Me:  And its only participant!

Clerk:  What exactly do you see in Mr. Tatum?

Me:  It’s the weirdest thing, but he’s quite alluring on camera.

Clerk:  He’s certainly a big slab of meat.

Me:  I know!  That’s what makes it so strange!

Like nearly every movie I’ve watched that stars Channing Tatum, this was much better than expected.  It was free of poop, gratuitous sex, and possibly profanity (my filter isn’t very good in that realm anymore) and was populated with solid actors (I went home and looked up all of them, saying repeatedly, “Oh yes! I remember him/her!”) and interlocking stories.  Though some of the plots fell apart upon reflection, ultimately this was just a tremendously nice movie, which I mean in the best possible way.

Cost:  $10.50 (I know!  But Channing Tatum calls.)

Where watched:  Regal Fox Tower.  It was me and one other guy and that was it.  I can’t even remember the last time I was so alone in a theater.

poster from: 

http://www.impawards.com/2012/ten_years.html

ps.  This movie has a forgettable title and probably the worst poster I’ve seen all year.

This was a big, dumb action movie, but it held my attention.  There were some pretty cool things, and I didn’t see the plot twist coming at all.  It could have done with more character development, but something has to get sacrificed to the special effects machine and I guess that’s as good as anything.

Cost: Free from library

Watched: at home.

poster from:  

http://www.impawards.com/2009/g_i_joe.html

Channing Tatum is in this movie for about 15 seconds.*  I thought I would like this as I am a fan of all three starring actors (Bale, Cotillard, Depp) but Michael Mann likes to make those “manly men doing manly things” movies that I find mostly boring, as I did this one.  However, there are a fun amount of small parts and cameos to look for (Hey that’s Billy Crudup/Lili Taylor/Givonni Ribisi/Leelee Sobieski!).

poster from: 

http://www.impawards.com/2009/public_enemies.html

*Possible lucrative movie site: clocking the amount of screen time an actor logs in each film.  Thus, those of us on personal film festivals would be able to better judge if we wanted to view a film in which an actor appears.  Feel free to take this idea and run with it.  Just tell me when you get it up and running.

So what if your teenage daughter wants to see Magic Mike?  I say let her.  It has some pretty good messages going for it:  drugs are not so great, the main female character is pretty awesome, and in general, stripping is not the best way to make a living, even if you are a guy.

Cost:  $7.00

Where:  Livingroom Theater

*Yes, I

saw it again

.  Yes, I paid matinee prices again. Yes, it was still good.  It’s my vacation, dammit, I can see the same movie twice if I want to.

poster from: 

http://www.impawards.com/2012/magic_mike_ver7.html

Okay, so this movie is incredibly awesome in a sort of throwback spy action flick where you don’t really get what’s going on at first, but if you pay attention the whole thing will be revealed.  It is gripping from the very first scene and has a lot of really amazing fight scenes that had me gasping and saying “Oh my!” to an empty house because I watched it by myself.  Also, the main character is a gorgeous woman who is very fun to watch.

Cost:  2.00 from Videorama.

Location:  at home.

ps. DVD extras are quite interesting.  Also, I like both of these posters.

poster from: 

http://www.impawards.com/2012/haywire.html

So this movie shows the great disparity between men and women in Hollywood from the opening scene. On one hand we have two talented actresses,* who are beautiful, despite being underweight, and shunted, once again to the “girlfriend” role and they don’t do much but react to the males who are both overweight (which would be fine if women of a similar weight could star in or even take the boring girlfriend role, but they cannot so I must call them on this disparity) and making money doing the same shtick they have been doing for years (although I still find Vince Vaughn’s talky-talky arguments quite amusing.)  I’m not sure why Ron Howard directed this, but at any rate, Channing Tatum was quite amusing as a sleazy guy who isn’t quite in control of his emotions.**

*Also, Queen Latifah was completely wasted in this film.

**Channing Tatum appears for a total of maybe 10 minutes, so make your plans accordingly.

poster from: 

http://www.impawards.com/2011/dilemma.html

I dreaded watching this adaptation of a schmaltzy Nicholas Sparks novel, but

Amanda Sayfried

and

Richard Jenkins

are pros and they can sell their characters like nobody’s business.  Thus, though it could have turned into treacle at any moment, it never did, and it even surprised me a few times.  Overall, much better than I thought and actually quite good.

ps. DVD extras includes a gag real which is unusual for a drama, and so quite fun.  The gag part from the scene on the movie poster cracked me up.

pps.  Stupid tag line for this movie as it doesn’t really relate in any way to the content of the movie.

poster from: 

http://www.impawards.com/2010/dear_john.html

Yet another very good film I wouldn’t have seen except for the Channing Tatum Film Festival.  I enjoyed the multiple perspectives and details about how the protests were planned and executed.  Actual footage from the “battle” made the movie that much more gripping.

poster from: 

http://www.impawards.com/2008/battle_in_seattle.html