So while Amanda Seyfried’s acting (and the presence of Channing Tatum) saved the day in Dear John, this movie did not fare so well. It suffered from the problem of both male leads being insufferable, so I found myself wishing poor Sophie would find someone else. It was also kind of boring.
I liked this movie, it was interesting and had Abbie Cornish who is fast becoming another Melanie Lynskey* in my world. I haven’t seen much of Bradley Cooper and he was interesting to watch. Also, Anna Friel had a bit part which was lovely as I miss her and Pushing Daisies.
*Melanie Lynskey is a fabulous actress who delights me by appearing in bit parts here and there. Unlike Abbie Cornish who seems to be the girlfriend of the moment, Melaine Lynskey didn’t go through that phase. I wouldn’t mind seeing her star in something, or get to be the girlfriend, though she is now old enough to be the wife.
So while Magic Mike held up to a second viewing, this movie did not, alas. Matt fell asleep in the middle and I was not nearly so charmed as the first time. But Charlize Theron’s costumes were still fabulous.
Cost: $3.00
Where: Kennedy School
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
. 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.
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This movie had an equal amount of “gross adolescent boy” in it as all of the gross adolescent boy movies, despite the fact that it starred women. There were things I liked about it: the fact that it portrayed that awkward phase of friendship when your friend moves to a different stage than you; the fact the fat girl wasn’t apologetic about being fat; the fact that I laughed a lot. I am looking forward to the evolution into funny movies with women that does not have gross adolescent boy humor and this is a movie on that evolving pathway.
Cost: free from library
Watched: at home.
I really wanted to like this well-acted, beautifully filmed movie by wonderful director Todd Haynes, but it was very esoteric and I was quite tired, making it hard to pay attention. Plus, I don’t know enough about Bob Dylan’s biography to relate it to what was going on onscreen. So I did not like this, but I really, really wanted to.
Cost: free from Libray
Watched: at home.
I have to say, the most surprising thing about watching Channing Tatum’s movies is that they have all been quite enjoyable. At this point, I’ve seen 11 of them, and they have been fairly different including romantic comedies, dance movies, dramas, action flicks. He hasn’t been pigeonholed into just one role.
The thing I find odd about Channing Tatum is that in still pictures he looks rather goofy. Here’s his current picture on IMDB. His ears stick out, his neck is too large, he’s sort of flat and dumb looking. His two-dimensional static representation, along with his idiotic name, may be the reason I never saw him in a movie until this July.
picture from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1475594/
It doesn’t help that movie posters tend to overemphasize his physique as in this poster. With his ears and the focus on his abs, he just looks like a goon, and we all know goons can’t act.
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2011/eagle.html
But can he? I’ve tried to look past my strange infatuation and I think I can say, yes, he can indeed act. He does do a bit too much of acting with the jaw clench, but I don’t think I would have enjoyed as many movies as I have (even ones I thought I would hate like
The Vow and
Dear John) if he had the acting chops of say, Keanu Reeves. (I love Keanu Reeves, but I heard him described once as attending the “Al Gore School of Acting” and I think that description pretty much hits the nail on the head.)
So yes, Channing Tatum is no Laurence Olivier, but he can certainly carry a movie.
And here’s why. In motion, Channing Tatum is hard to look away from. Something about the way he moves holds the eye. He could be dancing, as in
Step Up.
Or fighting in Haywire.
Or wooing his wife in The Vow.
Whatever he is doing, when he is moving, he commands attention. I think that what Channing Tatum might have is a healthy dose of charisma. That charisma has made for a delightful personal film festival.
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.
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Because how much money I spend on a movie has a direct bearing on how much I like it I will now be reporting on the amount of money it cost me to watch the movie and also the location. I am very lucky to live in Portland and have a variety of options which fall in a financial range from free to $15.00. Here they are:
First-run evenings. These cost something like $12.00 or $15.00, an amount I almost never pay unless someone who is not as frugal as me wants to see the film or it is a movie I MUST see on opening night. Or perhaps the movie theater has tricked me and now charges full price for afternoon weekend shows that are not the first showing (bastard Regal Cinemas, this is one of the many reasons I do my best to see movies somewhere else.)
First-run matinees. Something like $7.00. Here I have the choice of the evil Regal empire, which sometimes I capitulate to because there are two theaters within walking distance of my work, one of which shows a lot of indie flicks. But also, even closer to my work, is the Living Room Theater, which I initially never went to because their ticket prices were even higher than Regal, but now they have lined up with them and I would rather support them than the evil empire that makes me watch “the 20” before the show. I hate “the 20” which is now called “Regal First Look” but it was originally called “the 20.” Before a movie I want to read or chat, not be assaulted by ads for products and ads for products that are movies and tv shoes.
First run movies at the St. John’s Cinema. Matinees are $5.00 and evening rates are $7.00. They tend to show a lot of action movies, so this is my go-to place for things like Spider Man and Batman, etc.
Tuesday nights at Regal. Movies are $5.00.
Second run movies at the Laurelhurst. $3.00 before 6:00pm, $4.00 after. The Laurelhurst often shows a lot of the indie movies that the Regal Cinema Indie cinema shows, I just have to wait for them.
Second run movies at McMenamins. Still $3.00, the price they have been the entire ten years I’ve lived in Portland. I’ve got two theaters available to me: St. John’s Pub and the Kennedy School.
Rental at the video store. $2.75 “older” movies for five days, $2.00 for new releases overnight. I still have a video store! It has reduced itself to 1/3 its former size, but it is still there. The $2.00 new releases is particularly delightful as I can think, “I want to see [insert specific movie title here] and I can walk to the store and bring it home within 30 minutes. So cool! (As you can tell, we don’t have that on-demand cable thing or the Netflix that appears on your TV, we’re a bit behind.)
Rental at Redbox at the Fred Meyer near my house. I’ve been charged $1.20? I don’t really fully understand how the system works. This is good for when I feel embarrassed about renting a movie, but must see it now. Though I try to support the video store, with its nice living and breathing employees.
Library. FREE! And this is how I see a lot of my movies. I almost said “the majority” but I think I might still see more movies in a theater than at my home. With the library, new movies are a very long wait, but movies a year or two old are no wait at all and they have an amazing selection. You can also keep them for three weeks, which means I bring home a lot more movies than I actually watch.
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.
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