It came as a bit of a shock how much fun I found myself having as I watched the bronzed, gyrating man-tasy that is Magic Mike: XXL. It’s the follow-up to Steven Soderbergh‘s unexpectedly artful 2012 film Magic Mike, which starred Channing Tatum and was based on the teenage stripper chapter of his life. Like its predecessor, XXL takes a vocation that’s been culturally passé for about two decades and makes it fun again.

Director Gregory Jacobs goes even deeper (*ahem*) and gets to the heart of the matter, taking a look at the virtues of “male entertainment,” from its rejuvinative properties to its nature as an outlet of expression for its oily practitioners. The movie isn’t as fun when the studly cast members start spinning their wheels with the comedically impotent dialogue-driven segments, which take up too much of the swollen (*ahem*) two-hour runtime; the real “magic” happens when the guys start speaking with their bodies.

Take the first routine we see: Mike (Tatum) is hard at work, grinding not a blushing female, but some metal parts for his new furniture-making business. He’s alone at night in his tiny workshop when suddenly his jam, Ginuwine’s “Pony,” hits the speakers like a sticky handful of dollar bills slapped on a cleanly-shaven buttock. As if compelled by the stripper gods, he begins undulating, thrusting, and swinging around the cramped environment like a bulky, after-hours Gene Kelly. The choreography is so cheesy and so smooth that you can’t help but smile, and that pretty much sums up the type of enjoyment the movie offers. At the expense of their dignity, these bros just want to make you happy, by any means possible.

Sick of toiling away on tables and bookshelves, Mike rejoins his old troupe of stripper buddies on a road trip from Central Florida to Myrtle Beach, where they hope to blow minds at the annual stripping convention. Jacobs and returning penner Reid Carolin seem determined to make the road-movie schematic more than just a way to cart us from dance routine to dance routine, protracting the male-bonding scenes and stuffing them with idiotic banter that’s semi-charming and natural sounding but woefully unfunny. I would have preferred putting the story on the fast track.

Big Dick Richie (Joe Manganiello), Ken (Matt Bomer), Tarzan (Kevin Nash) and Tito (Adam Rodriguez) each have a certain charm, and the actors seem to be having a genuinely good time bickering and taunting each other, but they’re the kind of guys who are most interesting at parties. On their off time, they’re high-fiving morons, for whatever level of entertainment that’s worth. Watching them drink on the beach and ride around in a cramped ice cream truck (with their trusty chauffeur, Tobias, played by Gabriel Iglesias) is grating, though their travels introduce us to new characters like a young, cagey photographer (Amber Heard) and a bad-bitch stripper overlord from Mike’s past, Rome (Jada Pinkett Smith).

Mike hits up Rome for a favor after Tobias crashes the ice cream truck, leaving the burly outfit without transport. She runs a steamy establishment in Savannah, a sprawling Victorian mansion lit like a sexy haunted house of sorts and run like 24/7 strip show, where dry-humpy performances can pop up in any room at any given time. This section is the movie’s best showcase, seeing a slew of talented male dancers (including a ridiculously spry Michael Strahan) blow the minds of the hoards of black, female beneficiaries. To earn Rome’s help, Mike is forced to take up his former “White Chocolate” persona and put on the show of his life. He obliges, putting on a borderline pornographic display that’s unbelievably entertaining in its silliness.

It’s true that Magic Mike: XXL is a shameless excuse for women (and men) to whoop and holler at the hard bodies on screen, but that ain’t a bad thing, not at all. That’s the whole point of the story: these guys are here to please and make their audiences feel special. It’s one of the worst feelings in the world to feel neglected and invisible, and for a man to devote his entire body and attention to a woman for a dance or two is a beautiful thing. (Male onlookers aren’t left out of the equation, either; a delightful early segment sees the guys compete at a drag bar to see who can queen it up the most.)

It’s an honest-to-goodness good time, and on a cinematic level, it’s far from trashy (though he’s still “retired” from directing, Soderbergh is credited as a producer and cinematographer). The camera moves and lighting are great and show off the zany choreography perfectly. Tatum’s career as an actor has been a lot of fun to watch, and it’s nice to see him be so expressive with his body in a time when everyone seems to be clamoring for more “serious,” talky performances from him. He’s a tremendous physical actor, and he continues to evolve that aspect of his repertoire. Magic Mike: XXL is a perfect movie to unwind to after a long work week, and no one will judge if you doze off during the boys’ banal chit-chat.

In 1982, Godfrey Reggio altered the cinematic landscape with Koyaanisqatsi, an immaculate, haunting film composed of documentary footage of life on earth that pondered the fraught relationship between man, modernity, and nature. This film, along with the other two documentaries in Reggio’s hypnotic “Qatsi” trilogy, 1988’s Powaqqatsi and 2002’s Naqoyqatsi, captures the majesty and complexities of earth and its inhabitants like no other films have before or since.

With Visitors, Reggio drops the “Qatsi” tag, though the spirit and form of the film are very much in line with his trio of masterpieces: he’s still making statements about man and nature, except now with his lens more fixated on the human side of the equation. Unlike its propulsive, montage-y predecessors, Visitors is segmented, crawling in pace, sobering, and cold to the touch. He shows us sleek black and white images of ominous pieces of architecture and ethereal locales, but most of the 74 minutes-long shots that make up the film are of human faces set against abyssal black backgrounds, scrolling across the screen in super slo-mo to capture every detail, every wrinkle, every morsel of emotion. This is a gorgeous film (especially if you watch it in 4k projection, as it’s being presented in theaters at the request of Reggio and “presenter” Steven Soderbergh), but it’s also a trying one.

Composer Phillip Glass, a long time collaborator of Reggio’s, enriches the imagery with his signature hypnotic, swirling orchestral swells that seem in a constant crescendo. The evocative score helps to placate the restlessness of those whose patience for the film’s deliberate pace begins to run on empty, but even then it may not be enough. Visitors, like Qatsi trilogy, is far, far removed from the conventional moviegoing experience, and has no intentions of stimulating the same pleasure centers other movies bombard so aggressively. This is the slowest moving film you’re going to see in a long, long time. Maybe ever. But there’s purpose to the plod, as it takes you (if you’ll let it) to a mental and spiritual place unreachable by conventional cinematic means.

Much like an art installation at a modern museum, the film targets our deepest of emotions, the ones inarticulable and often inaccessible without letting ourselves fall into a state of meditation or hypnosis. These feelings can be fleeting, like a whiff of food that reminds you of your childhood, but their effect is immense. When you see the human faces creep across the screen, some smiling mischievously, some screaming in agony,  perhaps they’ll remind you of a time in your life when you felt sad, or lost, or elated. When you see the spectacular first shot of the film, of a gorilla with jet black hair set against a jet black background, staring you right in the eyes, perhaps you’ll see mother earth, or think about animal cruelty. Maybe you’ll quiver in fear. Or perhaps you’ll see an all-knowing creature existing on a plane higher than ours, observing our petty lives, as we did in Au Hasard Balthazar. This is interpretive cinema at its most democratic and challenging.

The shot that’s lingered longest in the back of my mind is an early one, in which the camera is set at the foot of a towering skyscraper, craned up at an extreme angle to capture the entirety of the colossal building. The skies above rush by with a time-lapse flicker, reflecting off of the polished building. The image leaves me lonely and detached, and it haunts me as I type.

We could be the “visitors” Reggio insinuates, ravaging a planet that will inevitably devour us. Or maybe the visitors are aliens, observing the strange behaviors of the human race. Either way, Visitors is a beautiful picture, but it’s also an alienating one. I can’t say I was enamored for the entire 87 minutes (some images, like several close-ups of human hands, didn’t connect whatsoever) but it’s an experience that has unquestionably expanded my cinematic taste, which is invaluable. The dynamic movement and vitality of the Qatsi trilogy make those films more approachable; Visitors is a tough sit due to its glacial pace. But you know what? Glaciers are freaking beautiful.

Utilizing the script from Scott Z. Burns, Steven Soderbergh delivers a mostly satisfying thriller that presents several twists and turns along the way to keep the audience guessing until the very end. Side Effects starts off as a film about exposing the unethical sides of the pharmaceutical industry but then changes directions several times just as you begin to think the film is about a singular subject. As long as you do not nitpick on the ways the film purposely uses its misdirection to fool you, Side Effects is, at the very least, an entertaining film from the prominent filmmaker.

The brief opening shot of the film is not in chronological order of the story. It shows blood-stained footsteps that lead to model sail boat and an envelope resting on a chair. The film then jumps back three months earlier to show the events that led up to that scene. Side Effects contains many twists that slowly reveal themselves once layers are peeled back, most of which are spoilers, so for your benefit I will not go into great detail about those.

Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) is eagerly awaiting the release of her husband Martin Taylor (Channing Tatum) who spent four years in prison for insider trading. Although she welcomes Martin with open-arms back into her life, you get a sense that Emily has been dealing with depression ever since he was away. Her mental illness is confirmed very quickly when she heads straight for a brick wall with her car without the intention of hitting the brakes or swerving away. The near-death incident lands her in therapy sessions with Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law).

It is revealed that it is not Emily’s first time in therapy and that she has previously not reacted well to the antidepressants that were previously prescribed to her. This prompts her new therapist to write a prescription for a new drug called Ablixa, which does eliminate her suicidal tendencies at first, but as the title suggests, there are side effects of this drug. And anyone who has heard the long-winded disclaimer at the end of medical advertisements knows, the side effects of medicine can potentially be just as dangerous as the symptom it treats.

The major theme found throughout Side Effects is that things are not quite what they seem at first glance. The film deceives the viewer into believing the film is about one thing right before it quickly changes into something different. Side Effects first presents itself as a study about a person who is out of sync with the world, then as a dark look at the pharmaceutical industry, shifting to the unethical practices of psychiatry, all while making the innocent seem guilty and vice versa. The problem is the final twist ends up being more of a gimmicky eye roller than any of the other possible outcomes.

There are a lot of things to admire about the film. Soderbergh uses all the right camera techniques to convey the appropriate message. For example, he uses a lot of angled mirror shots to illustrate the altered perspective of that person, precise focusing and blurring to mimic foggy state of mind, and removing the camera from the steadicam in some scenes to create energy. Then there are the terrific performances from both Mara and Law. Both were at the top of their game which gave the film the validly it needed.

Because Side Effects purposely misleads the audience there is a constant whodunnit mystery that makes for an overall entertaining watch. The first act of the film is deeply engaging as many layers start to unravel. Although the story starts to get a little too procedural in its second act, the final act kicks everything into high gear again by twisting the plot several times before settling (and that is what it felt like) on the final twist. Unfortunately, some of the misdirection ends up feeling more like swindling than intriguing in an otherwise well-made film.

As a child, when staying at a motel or sleepovers with friends with premium cable, watching HBO always felt sneaky. You never knew what un-edited adult gem you’d come across. Watching Behind the Candelabra I was suddenly transported back to those days–and I’d hit the motherload. A behind the scenes look at one of the world’s greatest entertainers: Wladziu Valentino Liberace or, as the world knew him, simply Liberace.

Considering the man made a career of wooing and winning the hearts of many a purple-haired granny, his story wouldn’t seem to fit in with the typically nitty-gritty fanfare of HBO original films. But Behind the Candelabra, based on the tell-all book, can hang with the dirtiest of them. Bringing in HBO’s highest ratings since 2004, the film follows Scott Thorson (Matt Damon), who met Liberace (Michael Douglas), or Lee as his friends called him, when he was only 17. While Matt Damon can’t quite pull off 17, Douglas is a bit old to be playing Liberace anyways, but facial prosthetics (featured a bit too prominently in this film) aid in making him just like the original. With one tour of his gold-gilded home, a dip in the hot tub, and some words of wisdom from Lee about animals, “…they love you no matter what, that’s what makes them dumb animals, I guess,” and Scott is quickly on his way to being another one of Lee’s precious animals lovers.

The film moves quickly, not stopping to focus on the actual attraction between Lee and Scott, just jumping into the relationship. Between sex scenes Lee convinces Scott to have plastic surgery to look like him. He discusses adopting him. Scott develops a pill popping addiction, introduced to him by his scene-stealing plastic surgeon played by Rob Lowe. Before Scott knows it, Lee is over him, ready to move on to the next pretty young thing.

This is supposed to be Steven Soderbergh’s last film. He’s vowed to retire, and if that’s true it’s a shame he had to end it with a film that could only find distribution through premium cable television. Studios wouldn’t touch the film, afraid it was just too ‘gay’. And although the man denied his homosexuality up until the day he died of complications with HIV, he really was the most flamboyant entertainer in show business. However, being “too gay” is not the main fault I find with this film. Instead it’s the complete lack of romance, gay or straight. There’s glitz, there’s glam, there’s grit, but there is none of the pizzazz that any quick YouTube search of Liberace will show you the man possessed.

Michael Douglas recreates Liberace’s performances to the T, and his accent and mannerisms seem to be spot on, but he just doesn’t exude the sort of enchantment that kept Mr. Showmanship the top paid entertainer for 20 years running. There just doesn’t seem to be enough of Liberace’s theatrics and allure present to find him believable, as both an entertainer and a lover. And while Damon plays Thorson credibly naïve, his character’s immaturity doesn’t allow for much intimacy. The film picks up as the two become pitted against each other after the break-up, but then tries for an emotional ending with lukewarm results. Douglas and Damon give fantastic performances, just not the right ones.

Behind the Candelabra is a well-crafted film with two remarkable lead actors. It stands out among HBO original films and has enough dirt to satisfy 7 year-old me, but not enough genuine emotion to satisfy adult me. Too much shock, not enough awww, but a bold last go from Steven Soderbergh. A man who will continue to keep us wanting more.

I’ll be up front with all of you immediately. I was excited for Magic Mike ever since I saw the first preview back in early Spring. Channing Tatum, who is easily my choice for breakout star of the year, doing a film with Steven Soderbergh? Yeah, I’m there. Soderbergh has been on an interesting run in the last 5-6 years. Other than Ocean’s Thirteen, which I felt was complete dreck, he’s been on fire. Lately it feels like he’s been trying a more naturalistic approach to filmmaking. More on that later, let’s get to the meat of Magic Mike (pun intended). Mike is played by yes, the ubiquitous Channing Tatum. Tatum is actually the catalyst for the story behind the film as it’s inspired by his life exploits as a male stripper from years ago before he was famous.

So I found myself in the theater with my girlfriend and slowly watched it fill with eager women of all ages. Some of the younger ones were literally running into the theater to claim a spot as if it was a piece of land in the Louisiana Purchase. This land grabbing wasn’t as vicious I suppose but still it was fun to watch. So here I am in this theater full of women, I’m maybe one of four guys in this place and yet I think I was as excited for the film as any of the other ladies. Of course, our reasons couldn’t have been more different. I was there for Soderbergh’s approach to the material and the women for well, yes, tons of male stripping.

The story has been told a dozen times, sometimes better but mostly worse. It’s more or less the story of a young man Adam (Alex Pettyfer) who is completely strapped for cash and is slowly searching for his place in the world. He lives with his sister Brooke (Cody Horn) who is a nurse. She supports him at times but doesn’t hesitate to push him to become something better. He is hired on at a construction site where he is paired with Mike to work on the roofs of new buildings. The partnership only lasts the day as the foreman accuses Adam of stealing and swiftly fires him.

Later that night, Adam is out with Brooke and her boyfriend at dinner, when Adam decides to take a walk. He coincidentally runs into Mike outside of a bar. The two make their way in and begin talking to some young women. Mike tells the women to meet him at a specific club later and they will get the night of their lives. Adam is unsure if he wants to tag along, but Mike has a certain charm to him and is able to convince Adam to go. I mean, he’s magic right? Adam finds out that Mike is a male stripper by night. As soon as Adam gets to the club he finds himself stripping. He ends up with a job doing it nightly earning tons of money and soon enough, tons of trouble.

The club Mike strips at is run by Matthew McConaughey. Every time McConaughey was on screen I made a mental note to do more crunches. There is a running gag among film fans that McConaughey hates wearing shirts and in Magic Mike I honestly don’t remember a scene where he dons one.

The plot of the film really didn’t interest me as much as the aesthetics did. It’s by no means terrible; it just felt pretty routine and at times really lazy. Let’s be real here though. The film was sold on Channing Tatum’s sex appeal and the fact that it’s him stripping for 2 hours, not Soderbergh’s name. The film that is actually present is a complete 180 from what the previews make it out to be.

There are a lot of great ideas in Magic Mike but I don’t feel like they were fully realized. Mike is good at what he does, but knows that he has time against him. He is harshly reminded of this fact by McConaughey late in the film. He actually has a plan with his money that he earns. Of course, a romantic subplot starts between Mike and Brooke but it never really takes off.

What I did like about the film is the way Soderbergh kills any sexual tension that builds throughout the film. It had to be a deliberate choice. Yes, I’m sure women are going to love all the scenes with men stripping, but anything else remotely appealing in terms of sexuality are quickly quelled by Soderbergh. This choice of editing was quickly voiced by women in the audience, which actually made me laugh.

Another thing Soderbergh did that I really liked was his stripped down approach (pun intended, okay that’s the last one) to the filmmaking. Much like his previous effort this year Haywire, he chooses to shoot the film in a completely naturalistic way. I don’t think there was any artificial lighting. Nearly all the lighting came from what you saw on screen.

I also must mention how Soderbergh uses sound in the film. The film’s sound was completely mono the entire time. This combined with the natural lighting makes me feel like Soderbergh is going for a throwback to 70’s filmmaking. The old school Warner Bros. logo kind of reinforces this theory of mine.

One thing last thing must be said. Channing Tatum.The guy is having one hell of a year. Haywire, The Vow, 21 Jump Street and now Magic Mike. Each different from one another, all successful at what they are trying to do. Tatum is picking the right films at the right time in his career. He’s also picking the right filmmakers to work with. A year ago I would’ve laughed in your face if you had told me the guy had a shred of talent, but my feelings about him have changed.

I don’t know if Magic Mike works completely on its storytelling, but from an aesthetic level the film is well done and was enough to keep me interested.

Haywire is the new icy cold globe-trotting film from veteran director Steven Soderbergh. It’s a lean and mean thriller that starts in Upstate New York and works its way all over the world. From Barcelona to Dublin to the desert of New Mexico and back to New York again, Haywire is everywhere. I personally saw Haywire as a great throwback to spy and espionage thrillers of the 70’s. Everything from the music, to the cinematography and editing seemed to be celebrating that generation of secret agents.

Former real life MMA fighter Gina Carano takes lead in the film as Mallory, a freelance black ops operative who seeks revenge against her employers who betray her after a rescue mission in Barcelona. She is beautiful, mysterious and most of all, deadly.

The film begins with Mallory sitting in a booth at a small café in Upstate New York. She sits. She waits. Suddenly a man walks in and sits down at her table. The man is played by Channing Tatum. He asks her to turn herself in. Make it easier on herself. She declines and the within seconds Mallory is fighting for her life.

Mallory escape the café brawl with a young man in tow. They take his car and flee the scene. While this happens the movie cuts to the Barcelona job where we Mallory leading a team of operatives to the aid of a hostage. This team includes Tatum’s character with whom Mallory hooks up with after the mission is complete. This makes the opening scene all the more interesting.

Once the Barcelona job is done, Mallory returns to the States only to be recruited on another European mission by her employer played by Ewan McGregor. He is a snaky and sly person who seems to never be telling the truth with anyone. Mallory is sent to Dublin to meet up with another secret agent. He is name is Paul and is played by Michael Fassbender. Fassbender is having one hell of a career at the moment. He seems to be everywhere.

In Dublin, Mallory and Paul are in Dublin pretending to be a married couple. We soon find out that Mallory was sent there to be killed by Paul. This leads to an extremely brutal fight in a hotel room between the two. I can’t remember the last time I saw a fight on film that was so barbaric. The first that comes to mind is the climactic fight in William Friedkin’s The Hunted. They beat each other to a pulp.

At this point Mallory discovers she has been set up and sets out to exact revenge on those who betrayed her. After Dublin, she is back in the U.S. And now in terms of the plot we are back at the beginning of the film in New York.

Haywire if anything is a very efficient thriller. Like I said earlier, it’s extremely lean. The movie doesn’t concern itself with anything other than its main objective, Mallory’s quest for revenge. The movie is edited in a very slick manner. Cutting back and forth between previous missions and present time, the movie is constantly alive.

Soderbergh uses different colors and hues to distinguish which setting we are in. This makes it easy for the audience to figure out where in the timeline we are. Barcelona uses a warm palate, Dublin more of an icy blue.

The cinematography (by Soderbergh himself) is very well done. The brighter scenes have really nice warmth to them, reflecting the sunny locations of Barcelona and other parts Spain. When the blues are present they crisp and cold, hinting at the loneliness of the life of a secret agent.

The big talking point about Haywire seems to be Carano and her acting. When the film began I’ll be honest I wasn’t that impressed. But as the movie wore on, I honestly couldn’t picture anyone else in the role. Carano is a good choice because she isn’t known as an actress. She doesn’t know how to be a flashy movie star. She’s known for kicking butt, something she does very well in this film. Soderbergh doesn’t give her a lot of dialogue to begin with, but when she has some she delivers it just fine.

Another person I want to bring up is Channing Tatum. A few years ago I could not stand him as an actor. He seemed so awkward on camera, almost as if he didn’t belong there. But recently his choices of films have been great for his career. He’s having a great 2012 at the moment. He was first in Haywire. Then The Vow, which even I thought was pretty decent. Then he did 21 Jump Street, which was a critical success. Next he’s in a film called Magic Mike by none other than Soderbergh.

Haywire is smart, brutal and at times very fun. It’s a very confident spy film that doesn’t insult its audience. It plays to its strengths and has almost no weaknesses. The film has no fat on its bones and moves along at a consistent enough pace to keep the viewer interested and like most great espionage films has a lot of style.

The Playlist names their Top 10 most anticipated indie films this summer. Some of them that made the list are; Moonrise Kingdom, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Safety Not Guaranteed, To Rome With Love, and Take This Waltz. [Playlist]

Speaking of Top 10’s recently Roger Ebert names his Top 10 Movies of All Time. The biggest surprise in his list was the inclusion of last year’s Tree of Life. Or maybe it was not such a big surprise, it scored high in our review of the film. [HitFix]

LA Film Festival made their lineup announcement with Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike and Wood Allen’s To Rome With Love making premieres. There are almost 200 films playing at that festival which begins on June 14th in downtown LA and ending on June 24th. [LAFilmFest]

Sounds like Spike Lee finally found his villain for his re-make of Oldboy. Sharlto Copley (District 9) will be playing the “mysterious billionaire trying to destroy the life of Joe Douchett (Josh Brolin).” I just hope the remake is half as good as the original (it’s one of our highest rated films). [MovieLine]

We posted a trailer for Beasts of the Southern Wild that we think must be watched by all. The film won the Grand Jury Prize for Drama at Sundance. Watch the trailer now.

Another trailer worth taking a look at is Your Sister’s Sister. We recently posted the official trailer for the film by director Lynn Shelton that stars Mark Duplass, Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt.

It was nice knowing you Kodak. A deal was struck that The Dolby Theatre will host the Oscars’ for the next 20 years. “Dolby will continue to update the theatre with innovative, world-class technologies to ensure that the theatre remains state-of-the-art, beginning with the immediate installation of its recently released Dolby® Atmos sound technology.” [HitFix]

Ever wanted to go behind the scenes with a film festival judge? Follow an IFC contributor who joins a film jury at the Sarasota Film Festival. [IFC]

News hit last week that Windows 8 will not support DVD or Blu-ray playback natively. Because of decoding licenses Microsoft has opted to not support playback by default even if the computer comes with a DVD or Blu-ray drive. Windows 8 will require you to buy an upgrade option in order to play your movies.