Magic Mike

First Hit:  The girls in the audience (both in the film and in my theater) really enjoyed these well sculpted males.

This story was somewhat unique in that male exotic dancers are rarely the subject of a film.

Mike (played by Channing Tatum) is “an entrepreneur”. He is a roofer, he does odd jobs, he’s a male exotic dancer, and his love is furniture making. He does everything well and he cares. As a dancer he is phenomenal. His moves are like “magic”.

He works in a club owned by Dallas (played by Matthew McConaughey). Dallas is in-charge and it is evident. He’s also great at making his dancers feel good about working in his club while he enriches himself. He’s got a dark side but it is rarely evident.

Adam (played by Alex Pettyfer) is a lazy lost young man who won’t wear a tie for a job, but really finds something wrong with every job he thinks about. He lives with his sister Brooke (played by Cody Horn) who has a steady job in medical insurance and is very protective of her younger brother. One day Mike takes Adam to Dallas’ club. He’s thrown on stage and lo-and-behold, he has found something he can do and he makes money – easy cash.

Brooke asks Mike to take care of her young brother although she disapproves of Adam and Mike’s chosen field of work. Mike has an occasional, on-call girlfriend named Joanna (played by Olivia Munn) who does three-ways with him, is a psychologist, and is very seductive. She appears in the film in an on-call basis until her truth becomes known to Mike.

The film isn’t about the dancing, which is some cases extraordinary, it is about growing up and living one’s truth.

Tatum is strong and wonderful in his portrayal of a man who really wants to find a different life, but shows enough internal roadblocks to make mistakes in judgment. McConaughey is perfect as the somewhat sleazy male dancer night club owner. Pettyfer is good as the lost young man but there isn’t enough understanding as to why he’s so dead set against doing various jobs (where was his pain?). Munn is very good as a woman who lives two lives and likes to play with Mike. Horn is a revelation. I really liked her look and feel as her character. She felt real in her role. Reid Carolin wrote a very strong script. Steven Soderbergh delivered yet another excellent film. The direction was clear, strong, and crisp – no wasted scenes.

Overall: This was a very entertaining film as the girls in the audience vocally reminded me.

I Am Number Four

First Hit: The beginning was mediocre but it picked up quickly and became a very entertaining film.

In the first 10 minutes I thought this was going to be a waste of my time. I’m not sure about the initial sequences but they weren’t a good setup for the rest of the film.

However, the rest of this story worked out and only because the actors were good and they wanted the characters to be as real as possible. John (played by Alex Pettyfer), who is Number Four, is one of 9 aliens sent to earth by his planet to save their planet’s species.

His home planet was invaded by Mogodorians who destroyed his planet’s inhabitants. They are out to find and destroy the 9 who were sent to earth. Each of the 9 has a guardian who assists them from being found by the Mogodorians. Numbers One, Two, and Three are dead and now they are after Number Four.

He is discovered to be an alien by a couple of kids his own age as the Mogodorians are closing in to kill him. At the same time Number 6 (played by Teresa Palmer) comes on to the scene to assist in killing the Mogodorians who have found Number Four.

The ending leaves it possible for there to be multiple follow-up films.

Pettyfer made this film work for me because he came across as thoughtful and made his character as honest as he could. Palmer was fun. Dianna Agron played Sarah an earthling John falls in love with. She was very good and held her own in keeping this film as solid as possible. Callan McAuliffe was wonderful as the odd earthling boy who figured out something was odd about John. Timothy Olyphant was good as John’s protector. Alfred Gough and Miles Millar wrote a really good screen play except for the initial 10 – 15 minutes. D.J. Caruso directed this sci-fi fantasy in a clear story like way.

Overall: I was surprised by how this film grew on me.