Soderbergh as Magician, McConaughey as Dionysus, and Tatum as Adonis.

Movie Review: Magic Mike

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Reviewed: 9 March 2013

jamesintexas rating--***/12

"Magic Mike" promises one thing and delivers another, and watching Steven Soderbergh manipulate his audience is one of the year's great cinematic pleasures.  Billed as the male-stripper movie with beefcake posters of stars Channing Tatum, Joseph Mangianello, and Matthew McConaughey, "Magic Mike" offers a slight commentary on our collapsing financial economy as well as the moving journey of one man trying to find his way.  Tatum's titular Mike recruits and mentors young former college football player Adam (Alex Pettyfer), bringing him into the fold of the underworld of Tampa's nightlife.  Mike stars in the all-male revue led by Dallas (McConaughey, a revelation) and Mike proves himself a virtuoso onstage and a saavy businessman with aspirations beyond pleasing the hordes of adoring, screaming female fans.  With its June, July, August title cards, "Magic Mike" offers a vicarious look into the ephemeral industry of skin and the commodification of flesh, with incredible dance sequences punctuating the film every twenty minutes or so.

"Magic Mike" is not all flash and style.  The film has substance, and in particular, the film's ending counters everything that conventional films have taught us to believe about big endings.  Instead, Soderbergh focuses on a quiet epiphany, an important change in a character's core philosophy.  And that choice is set against the backdrop of the aging Dallas and his crew of performers.  McConaughey's Dallas runs his crew of dancers with a ferocity of focus both funny and riveting.  A scene with him in short shorts teaching a new dancer the ropes is one of the year's best.  His performance is the most memorable with its philosophical ranting, its explanation of the rules of the house to the rowdy women.  "But, I think I see a lot of rule-breakers here tonight," McConaughey purrs at the adoring crowd, using his physicality and charisma to the utmost.  Pettyfer brings less to the table as "The Kid" probably by both design and by performance.  Olivia Munn and Cody Horn play less fully realized characters who offer differing perspectives on Mike's life choices.

Soderbergh brings his own take and style on this story, complete with the sorts of artsy angles, red and blue colored lenses, and jump cuts that make this clearly a Soderbergh film.  He wisely shoots the dance sequences broadly, giving us a sense of the stage and the crowd, allowing his performers to use the space with their bodies.  And similarly, Soderbergh creates space in his story for Mike to lose his way and find it.  There is another movie in here, one that paints Dallas as more malevolent and the conflict with Mike as more overt.  However, I think Soderbergh paints lightly here, making Mike see Dallas as a potential future for himself, not necessarily as an adversary but more the Ghost of Christmas Future.  The result is an affecting, funny, and marvelously entertaining film with more than enough grinding and dancing to satisfy some audiences, in addition to a surprising amount of heart.  There is a significant degree of difficulty in crafting this film that Soderbergh embraces.  Well-done.

Side Effects include Frustration, Apathy, and Inconsistency.

Movie Review: Side Effects

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Reviewed: 9 March 2013

jamesintexas rating--**1/2

In his newest film "Side Effects," director Steven Soderbergh depicts a world run amuck by greedy pharmaceutical companies, a populace heavily medicated by a litany of unpronounceable drugs, and the dangerous synergy of business and medicine in a modern film noir-horror film. Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara, sans Lisbeth Salander's edginess) opens the film as the stalwart wife of a jailed inside trader, Martin (Channing Tatum).  Emily is a fragile woman prone to depression, and a recent patient of Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law).  Dr. Banks has the perfect life, practice, family, and professional career, all ripe for a fall.  A drug prescribed by Dr. Banks may have led to a disastrous crime with far-reaching consequences.

What begins as a potential psychological study, complete with Soderberghian colored lenses, oblique angles, and dazzling camera work shifts midway through into a more conventionally shot crime thriller, complete with big reveals.  I enjoyed the rug being pulled out from under me; for half of the movie, I was thinking it was one thing, and then it was another.  Mara and Law are fine here, though Law's performance seems edited in a way to make Dr. Banks's spiral out of control less believable and less emotionally powerful.

Soderbergh seems to have things to say about our modern age, the New York City high-end world of self-medication, and the melding of profit and medicine.  But why doesn't the film work as well as it should?  Soderbergh's style, a detachment from the characters, an icy remove, lingers over the film.  The mystery may be teased out more than intricately explained, and some characters' behavior just radically shifts without warning.  The film offers diminishing returns; the longer it goes on, the less powerful and interesting it is.  I think the innovative camera work disappears as the film progresses.  I see Soderbergh working here in the vein of the classic noir "Double Indemnity," but perhaps his cast just cannot pull it off?  Law's panic never seems believable, so the stakes remain low.

Medicines dominate our television screens with their quick solutions for complex problems, and the world of prescribing drugs is rife with corruption and collusion.  Soderbergh's ending, though entertaining, is troubling in its positing of the hero.  There are no heroes in this film.  I sincerely hope that this is not Steve Soderbergh's last film.  From "Traffic" to "Out of Sight", from "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" to "Magic Mike," Soderbergh's work endures as some of the most interesting, well-cast, and artful of our era.  It would be a shame to see him go out with "Side Effects."

Haywire

Movie Review: Haywire

Director:  Steven Soderbergh

Reviewed: 18 June 2012

jamesintexas rating--*** (4 Stars = Highest Rating)

Steven Soderbergh, the Academy Award winning director of Traffic, must live the life.  He has done a two-part unseen epic biopic of Che Guevera, a modern horror film with an A-list cast more than willing to die for him about the danger of not washing one's hands, and a trilogy of quasi-caper films which are really fun excuses for George Clooney mugging with Brad Pitt in casinos and fancy locales.  For whatever reason, Steven Soderbergh turned his attention this year to crafting a Jason Bourne-level action thriller and stripped it down to its most essential parts in Haywire, a propulsive, hollow, fun film which is instantly forgettable.  So, in a nod to Steven Soderbergh's deconstruction of this genre, I'll deconstruct my review into ten pieces.

10. I've forgotten the name of the lead actress, but as a former boxer, Gina Carano brings a physicality to the lead performance as Mallory Kane (which I forgot and had to look up), doing her own stunts, jumping and grappling with every male in the film even if her charisma is shaky or her line readings are flat.  Mallory Kane is The Bride from Kill-Bill with even less dialogue and no Hanzo swords.

9. The year of the Fassbender continues as the most exciting actor in film today dresses nicely, drinks Scotch nicely, and fights nicely.  Whenever Daniel Craig wishes to walk away from Bond, he'll do nicely.

8. Construction-wise, Soderbergh plays with the genre, whisking us to and from Barcelona, Majorca, upstate New York as well as a bulk of the scenes in Ireland, shuffling pieces together with a jazz-infused score.

7. Death by ocean tide is always fun.

6. Ewan McGregor is always fun to watch as is a bearded Antonio Banderas.

5. Michael Douglas, as an elder C.I.A. bigwig, is fun to see chewing the scenery, while Bill Paxton dials it down as Mallory's older, military expert father.

4. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy this isn't.  Stab, choke, kick-in-the-head, and head-butt is more like it.

3. A surprise low-level chase through the New York woods with border patrol, bad guys, snow, and animals is a highlight!  Long wordless sections are common.

2. Any movie that has the first and last line "Shit!" uttered by a character is bound to be interesting.

1. "The motive is always money," utters one character.

So, Steven Soderbergh clearly proves that he can put a thriller like this together, and the film moves at an intense clip.  Technically, his editing is propulsive towards the finish line, and the director's eye for colors (his palette at times consists of yellows and oranges, as well as icy blues) and locations (beaches and rooftops) are memorable.  When I say forgettable, I don't mean that as a pejorative; however, there's not much there there for me in this film, but it sure is fun to watch as a cinematic adventure and an exercise.  Does Steven Soderbergh have a genre checklist?  What's next for him?  Magic Mike, the Channing Tatum stripper-dance film.  No one can ever accuse Steven Soderbergh of not being willing to stretch his talents and abilities.