Magic Mike's Last Dance (2023) - Movie Review

Y’know, it'd be easy (and embarrassingly predictable) to undercut any attempts to pontificate about this movie in my usual way since… I mean, it’s about male strippers, there’s not a lot of wriggle room in terms of its appeal as a movie. But credit to Steven Soderbergh, as I’ve been making a habit of giving in these reviews, for making this a now-trilogy of films that are worth watching for more than just the surface-level titillation. The first Magic Mike was as much a character-driven examination of the effects of the Global Financial Crisis as it was an inside-out look at the world of male stripping. Hell, it swung so far in the former’s direction, making Mike’s decision to be a stripper into something he ‘had to do’ due to economic concerns, that its sequel in XXL almost feels like an apology for that.

Indeed, while I still don’t think it's as strong as the original, the emphasis XXL puts on a pleasure-positive message in regard to this kind of entertainment, highlighting both the man on-stage and the woman watching as equally valid-as-fuck, is quite commendable. And yeah, I’ll admit it, I’m more than certain that these two films had a fair bit to do with me coming to terms with my own Queerness, although I’m going to try not to emphasise that aspect too much. Mainly, because this continues along the same line as both the first film and XXL, and yet feels like an entirely different animal altogether.

Triangle Of Sadness (2022) - Movie Review

 

With a title like that, what could this movie possibly be about?

A Disney movie about the Bermuda Triangle dealing with its parents’ deaths?

An adaptation of Dave Gorman’s Important Astrology Experiment?

Emo porn?

 

No, the title comes from a descriptor for a part of the human face, where furrowed brows meet the top of the bridge of the nose and form a little triangle. It’s a term used a lot by plastic surgeons, who would treat such things with Botox, and it’s an interesting introduction for a film all about people who think money can fix anything and everything.

Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris (2022) - Movie Review

I don’t know if karma is actually a thing. It’s a nice idea as a general principle, and it would certainly help the world make a bit more sense, but... well, that’s just it: It relies on things in the world having a logical progression to them, and I’m not so sure of that. Bad people get rewarded for their dickery all the time, while those trying to do good often run at a deficit because altruism isn’t exactly a profitable endeavour. We should be good to each other and to ourselves, but that doesn’t mean getting recognised by some nebulous universal force is going to be part of the deal. Not that it isn’t a dream worth striving for, though, and dreams are bountiful when it comes to this particular film.

The Invitation (2022) - Movie Review

Under normal circumstances, writing about a film like this that hinges on a plot twist would be difficult. As much as I gush over the films I like, and trash the ones I don’t, I try and be careful not to get too specific about what happens in the story. The last thing I want is to ruin the experience for someone else, even if it’s with a film I personally don’t care for. However. Seeing as this film has been marketed so poorly that both its trailer, and the first paragraph of its Wikipedia page (not even the plot synopsis, but the full page), give it clean away, I don’t particularly feel like putting in more effort than the people responsible for bringing this to the public. Although, as we’ll get into, that will be a familiar sensation throughout this review regardless.

The Personal History Of David Copperfield (2020) - Movie Review

Given what happened last time we checked in with premium Scottish firebrand Armando Iannucci, this follow-up feels a bit… off. One of the current kings of darker and politically-minded comedy, after taking Stalin’s Russia to task in riotous fashion, decides to make an adaptation of a Charles Dickens novel. This is easily one of the broadest things he’s ever worked on, and at first glance, this feels like he’s actively playing against his own strengths on some form of artistic dare. But even though things have definitely been toned down here, it’s also surprisingly in-line with Iannucci’s aesthetic up to this point.

Bad Samaritan (2020) - Movie Review

Remember Geostorm? Unless you’re an obsessive like myself who writes about nearly every new movie they watch, probably not. Well, get ready for the whiplash because this is what director Dean Devlin made after that infamous attempt to beat Roland Emmerich at his own game. And the result could not be more different from his previous. He’s gone from world-spanning disaster spectacle to an thriller with elements of home invasion cinema that has more in common with the works of Thomas Harris than anything to do with making us fear man-made climate change.

The Platform (2020) - Movie Review

Much like with the sudden public resurgence Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion has experienced, this feature’s moment of trending recently makes a depressing level of sense.  An ostensibly straight-forward Spanish feature that uses architecture to portray class divide; what separates those higher from those lower, using food as the primary political symbol, similar to The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. This has been a world of dietary inequality long before everything went into lockdown, but now that we’re in the midst of fearful hoarding of food to last out the potential months this shit could carry on for, it reaches a particular level of poignancy in the current climate.

Ready Or Not (2019) - Movie Review

A newlywed couple, on the night of their wedding, are brought to the groom’s lavish estate for a family tradition: A night of games. If the bride wins the game, she has earned her place among their ranks of the Le Domas’, an illustrious family that has made a tidy fortune in games of all sorts. But as the game begins, the bride realises that things are more sinister than they already appeared at the start: It’s less fun and games and more game hunting, with her as the prey.

Parasite (2019) - Movie Review

Bong Joon-ho is one of those filmmakers where, while it’s difficult to pin down the exact kind of films he makes in terms of genre, you still know one of his works when you see it. Whether it’s the monster trappings of The Host, the kid and their pet narrative of Okja, or the globalist frenzy of Snowpiercer, his blend of poignant social commentary and modestly batshit specifics make him one of the most interesting international directors I’ve come across. And his latest continues with that trend, marking his first return to all-Korean settings and cast since breaking onto the global stage with Snowpiercer, the result of which is one of his best efforts yet.

Missing Link (2019) - Movie Review

I’m starting to get worried about Laika’s foreseeable future in mainstream cinema. Not out of a fear that their work is going to start taking a serious decline any time soon, but out of a worry that there might not be enough people willing to see it. This film came out roughly a month ago, but because of an embarrassingly sparse release schedule over here, I’ve only just now gotten around to it. I know that Kubo And The Two Strings didn’t exactly set the box office on fire, but the reputation the company has garnered as doing far better with critics than general audiences could mean trouble. At any rate, we’re here to look at their latest, and needless to say, it’s another fine entry into their healthy artistic canon.

Us (2019) - Movie Review

This review is going to be quite different from what I usually write on here. As much as I try and refrain from tooting my own horn, I often pride myself on being able to dissect a film in real time as I’m watching it, turning these reviews into a glimpse at how I see a given film and its ideas. However, that only works for the films that make an immediate impact, the ones where what is being communicated is good, clear and foreshadowed early so I can latch onto it. Us is not that kind of movie.

Not to say that its own communication isn’t good, clear and foreshadowed; just that, as I’m writing this, I’m still trying to figure out what the actual ideas being presented are and what they amount to. So, as I get into this movie, know that I’m basically showing my working in an attempt to make heads or tails of this whole thing, so if this comes across as confused rambling, that’s only because it is.

Widows (2018) - Movie Review

The phrase "honour amongst thieves" pretty much serves as the underlying mood behind most if not all heist films. Most of their main drive comes portraying thievery as a competitive sport. And with the placement in the realms of sport comes the preceding fixation on technical skills and strategy, with all the intensive choreography and smooth-as-butter timing that goes with it. There’s also an underlying aspect of revenge, or at the very least retribution, attached to a lot of them, with the heist being the means to get even with someone who doesn’t play fair.

Crazy Rich Asians (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: Asian-American Rachel (Constance Wu) is invited by her boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) to attend his best friend's wedding in Singapore and meet his family. However, Rachel discovers that Nick's family are among the richest business magnates in the region, and while she's coming to terms with that fact, she also has to deal with Nick's mother Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh) insisting that Rachel is the wrong girl for her son.