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Sunday May 19, 2013

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New release movie reviews - 26 July

Posted by: Jim Schembri | 26 July, 2012 - 2:20 PM
Magic Mike

Wondering what to see at the movies this week? 3AW's resident film expert Jim Schembri gives you the rundown on the latest flicks to hit the screen: Magic Mike and In Darkness.

MAGIC MIKE ***1/2 (110 minutes) MA
As the advertisements accurately reflect, there's more gym-trimmed beefcake, flying sweat, thrusting hips and shrieking women on display during the copious, gloriously cheesy strip-club dance routines in Steven Soderbergh's low-budget comedy-drama hit than any hen's night could reasonably scream for. And, to their credit, the men in the cast know their moves to a T as they deliver crowd-pleasing, pulsating numbers that are energetic and spiced with good-humoured eroticism. Thankfully, there's also enough of a decent story shoe-horned in between all the gyrations and abdominal close-ups to keep Magic Mike from turning into an unofficial update of The Full Monty. Based partly on his real-life experiences as a 19-year old stripper, the ubiquitous, increasingly impressive Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street; The Vow; Dear John; GI Joe; Haywire; The Eagle) plays the buff titular dancer. Though Mike enjoys his nights and the promiscuous perks they bring, he harbours a modest dream of setting up a small business making customised furniture. He recruits a lazy co-worker Adam (Alex Pettyfer) into the stripping job, but things begin souring once drugs and ego enter the fray. Complicating matters is their likeable but business-minded boss Dallas (Matthew McConaughey), who plans moving the act from the beach of Tampa, Florida to Miami. The cast really shine as Soderbergh - now America's most prolific living director - engages in skillful long takes and a naturalistic, semi-improvised acting style that lends a surprising amount of substance to an otherwise lightweight, decidedly fun frolic through the strip club footlights. 

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A scene from In Darkness. (Photo: Supplied)

IN DARKNESS **1/2 (144 minutes) MA
With any serious, well-made drama about the horrors of the Holocaust comes the impulse - or, some would argue, the obligation - to value its worthiness over its qualities as entertainment. Nominated for best foreign film at this year's Oscars, In Darkness is certainly a worthy film about an important historical event. It retells in  lengthy, graphic detail, how ordinary Polish citizen Leopold Socha (played with mercenary conviction by Robert Wieckiewicz) hid Jews in the rat-infested sewers of his town in return for payment. Acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland is well-credentialled, having made the eye-opening Holocaust film Europa Europa (1990) as well as directing episodes of lauded American TV shows such as Treme, The Killing and The Wire. And In Darkness is gritty, gruelling stuff, set largely in the cavernous sewers with only shimmers of light to illuminate the huddled, frightened characters. But it is a long, slow-moving story, the occasional moments of tension notwithstanding. One aspect of Nazi brutality the film forcefully nails is the price defenseless citizens paid when occupying soldiers were killed by partisans. The scale of reprisal executions makes for some chilling moments in this worthy, weighty film.

 

Blog comments Your Say

  • Very fun girls movie

    Sonja Wednesday 12 December, 2012 - 4:27 AM

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