MAGIC MIKE

Vinny says: So whilst there is not much on currently, it being the Dark Knight Rises week, the trailers for Magic Mike convinced me that I had to see this film about....male strippers. Yes really. Having seen Channing Tatum give an impressive performance in 21 Jump Street, it appears he is actually quite funny. Throw in Alex Pettyfer (of Stormrider fame) and I was convinced. Basic synopsis is Mike (Tatum) introduces Adam or 'The Kid' (Pettyfer) to the debauched world of stripping. That is literally the plot.

The first 3/4 of the film were enjoyable, lots of good dance routines and men with no tops on. However when it all started to go downhill for the roguish strippers, I began to wish they had just left it as frivolous bit of stripping froth. The 'bad' side of stripping didn't really hit the mark, just featured some drug taking and vomit. Plus I found it hard to empathize with Mike in his dream to one day stop stripping and design future out of bits of junk, it's hardly heart-wrenching stuff. When compared to another stripping film I really like - The Full Monty, which dealt with poverty, unemployment, depression and provided a believable picture of the dismal climate of Thatcherite England, Magic Mike seemed shallow and juvenile in comparison. Which I suppose could sum up the whole film. However I still would rather watch The Full Monty any-day, even though the men in the film are nowhere near as physically attractive, as it is simply a much better film. Plus the soundtrack for The Full Monty is insanely good, think Wilson Pickett and Donna Summer. 

That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy two hours of mindless gawping at men's abs during Magic Mike. Matthew McConaughey gave an excellent performance as the egotistical and extremely tanned 'Dallas', basically manager of the strippers and King Stripper himself. Watching him parade around in snakeskin flares and no top for the majority of the film whilst teaching the young recruit 'The Kid' how to dance in front of the mirror 'like he was going to fuck it' was highly amusing. This is the perfect film for a ladies night, providing amusement, entertainment and men gyrating in G Strings. However don't go expecting anything meaningful, I would describe Magic Mike as the female equivalent of those lad comedies featuring semi naked women, eg Old School, American Pie, Megan Fox in Transformers, something men like to drool at, but are hardly cinematic masterpieces. At least the shoe was on the proverbial other foot for once, after the deluge of films centered around pleasing their male audiences, to see some men being objectified was refreshing. 

Ladies - treat yourselves.

Warning: For all those prudes or individuals considering taking your grandma/boyfriend/younger pals, there is a penis shot early on in the film.

AMERICAN REUNION

FROM IMOGEN: I’ve never seen an American pie film. Not out of pretentious snobbery. Instead I had a closeted youth free of such vile, crude, populist, lowest-common-denominator jokes.

No really, I somehow just missed the boat. However, this Saturday I decided to end this spell of bad luck. I was going to immerse myself in American Pie and the viewing conditions had to be optimum.

I wanted an out-of-town leisure complex pretending to be American. The sort with a Pizza Hut, Bowlplex, Chiquitos with the chipper Mexican music drifting out the door and the golden arches of McDonalds announcing your imminent arrival from the motorway. A place so successful at emulating the birthplace of the $955 million film franchise, the real-life American I went with felt he was home - that guy sat two seats down could well be Stifler. The only thing testifying otherwise were the Bristolian accents of the ushers.

There’s not much point in going into plot, its pretty simple. One friend asked me if I missed all the in-jokes. Well, I can’t answer that as I don’t know the in-jokes so who knows if I missed them- a catch 22 situation. Yet really it didn’t seem to matter. I went for the cinema experience: the big screen, Hollywood voiceover, the sound of someone cramming popcorn in (and around) their mouth, and, despite Orange’s best attempts, a phone going off followed by a scrabble in a bag and a really-loud-but-still-whispered ‘fuck’.

My tagline of ‘I don’t care what’s on, I’ll come with you, I just LOVE the cinema’ has been dangerous at times. I sat through Wolverine without watching any X-men before. I’ve even watched Hall Pass. American Reunion was more entertaining than the former (which, however, is very unintentionally funny), and less gross-out than the latter (the words ‘too far’ come to mind).

Psychology says laughing releases endorphins etc. etc. As Vinny is a psychologist (-cum-blogger obviously) this is an informed opinion. I’d gone into the cinema feeling a little under the weather, I left the cinema with a beatific Hollywood smile. Siegfried Kracauer damned 1920s Berlin picture houses as ‘palaces of distraction’. Is this Vue Longwell Green’s new tagline? I admit, I was not edified in any way, but it sure was fun.

O U T D O O R S C R E E N I N G S

VINNY SAYS: I know this blog is meant to be for film reviews, but I am getting really excited about all the great summer screenings, there are SO many to choose from. 


-Somerset House Film4 are showing three premieres this year of On the Road, The Watch and Lawless. I personally am going for crime drama Lawless with screenplay by Nick Cave (yes of the bad seeds) and features Gary Oldman. Not to mention Enter the Void. and Pretty in Pink. I think I may just spend my summer there.


-Dalston Midnight Screenings are showing some alt classics like Lost in Translation and American Graffiti (where apparently they will have waitresses on rollerskates, totes amaze)on a roof. Pretty amazing. Bet it'll be FULL of hipsters.


-The Nomad Cinema is the one I am most excited about AND isn't till end of summer when everyone is needing something fun to do before the dreaded end of summer gloom. They are showing at a range of venues including showing The Shining in Brompton Cemetery. I'm going to go scare myself silly.


http://thelexicinema.co.uk/special-events/nomad-roaming-pop-up-cinema/

OH MY GOD NEW BATMAN

Vinny says: I cannot wait until the 20th of July for Dark Knight Rises to hit my eyes in all it's glory. Christopher Nolan is a genius.

MARVEL AVENGERS ASSEMBLE

VINNY SAYS : So I tried to go see Marvel Avengers Assemble, aka The Avengers last weekend. I forgot it was bank holiday monday so was pipped to the post by a load of savvy fourteen year olds. This weekend I booked and boy am I glad I did. Every now and again a really great blockbuster comes along and this is one of them, although not quite up there with Dark Knight. Basic plot is Loki, who is Thor's brother, comes from out of space somewhere (can't remember exact details but he's the bad guy) and is going to open a time portal which means a load more bad guys will come to try and take over Earth. 


So to thwart him they call on THE AVENGERS - Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, The Black Widow and The Hulk (and Hawkeye), who are overseen by Samuel L Jackson with an eyepatch. So basically you get an action film x 5 with the line up, excellent value for money. Plus it's directed by Joss Whedon (Buffy, Cabin in the Woods) who is doing pretty well at the moment. The lines are genuinely funny and not too cheesy, and the characters all bring something different to the movie. Plus the jokes about the courageous, nationalistic, albeit slightly naive, Captain America not being up to date with the 21st century are pretty great, 'There is only one God, and I don't think he dresses like that'. Iron Man is played by Robert Downey Jnr, who does sarcastic, snipey and self assured to a T. Loki was a great character as well, somewhere between Hannibal Lecteur and Severus Snape, think greasy and pale and BAD. HE uses some pretty old school (Q***) swearing too which I had to google.


By the end I was so into the film, I felt like I had become American I was so full of team spirit, it was super. I enjoyed every minute and felt happy for days afterwards. Made me wish I was in a super hero gang. Sometimes it's fun to go and watch something which doesn't require much brain power but isn't completely moronic (Ghost Rider). I would really recommend it for some casual, fun loving popcorn viewing. Anyways I'm off to watch all the individual films now, Hulk first. 

CRAZY STUPID LOVE

IMOGEN SAYS: 

crazy stupid suggestion that changing your new balance for tan loafers would improve your sex life. crazy stupid amount of fit women in one bar. crazy stupid portrayal of women ie. why were said fit women so desperate. crazy stupid incident involving a 17 year old babysitter giving a 13 year old boy a nude photograph of herself. crazy stupid lack of ryan.

crazy stupid vinny for paying £7.50.

STARZ: 2

VINNY SAYS:


This was a crazy stupid film. I cannot believe I ended up paying £7.50 to rent this film off both itunes and film4. I could have gone to the cinema and seen something much better. Even Ryan Gosling couldn't really save this film as he wasnt on screen for long enough and when he was he looked like a mafia member featuring slicked back hair and a gold ring. The other massive problem I had with the film was it's ridiculous portrayal of women as disposable, with Ryan Gosling's slick character suggests all women can be talked into bed by enough compliments and ordering around with some dirty dancing references thrown in. Another plot curveball was the weird and slightly disturbing love triangle between a 13 year old,17 year old and the son's dad, culminating in some inappropriate photographs of the 17 year old being passed around. Is that not illegal.

Finally it was pretty boring, I laughed in a few places, but not really worth watching. I usually quite like Emma Stone (Easy A, Superbad) but even she couldn't save it. At least now we know Steve Carrell can do slightly better than 'I love lamp' (Anchorman), but only slightly. I would recommend 10 Things I Hate About You instead if you want a good rom com.

STARZ: 1/5

TYRANNOSAUR

VINNY SAYS:


This 2011 Film4 drama was written and directed by actor Paddy Considine, who is renowned for his portrayal of dark, complicated characters, and collaborated with Shane Meadow's for his hit This is England, which was pretty bleak. Therefore I wasn't expecting the cheeriest of films, especially with the ominous title 'Tyrannosaur', but his track record suggested he was a pretty experienced director. Oh a little known fact, he wrote the video for the Arctic Monkeys 'Leave Before the Lights Come On'. Anyways back to the review.

Regarding bleak characters and plot, the film did not disappoint. I warn you now if you cannot handle scenes of domestic violence, animal abuse and general misery, then give this one a miss.

However if you can bear some of the more hard-hitting scenes, I would highly recommend this film. As a directorial debut for a feature film, Paddy Considine did VERY well. The script is so realistic it almost made me think he was drawing on some of the themes from real life situations, in that I completely believed in the characters and their world. Indeed the council estate setting matched where Considine is said to have grown up, perhaps why the script felt so true.

Showcasing Olivia Coleman (who plays Sophie in Peep Show) in an incredible performance as Hannah, a Christian woman who works in a charity shop, alongside Joseph, a man with anger problems and a drinking problem. Joseph is played by Peter Mullan, who I was also really impressed by in Trainspotting (he plays Mother Superior) and a little known Film4 flick called My Friend Joe. The two characters work so well together on screen, both unhappy but finding solace in each others company. Both Coleman and Mullan received a load of praise from critics and won awards at Sundance, just in case you don't trust my judgement.

What I thought made the film stand out was the idea that the characters are not as black and white, good and bad, as they originally seem, with the 'good' Hannah having a violent and abusive husband in their 'cosy home', and  'bad' Joseph caring greatly for his neighbours son. The film explores how what appear to be ordinary people can instead act aggressively and violent if they encounter enough adversity, without leaving the characters as stereotypical 'bad people'.  It will change your conceptions of wrong and right, and made me think twice about the type of people I encounter who I would immediately (and probably incorrectly) classify as either yobs with anger problems or a bit mad. As a general rule of thumb I believe that any film that makes you rethink or examine the world around you is a worthwhile film.

STARZ: 4/5

IMOGEN SAYS:


what, its not like jurassic park? land before time?