Magic Mike

[Pwaybloe]

Hiatus, my ass.

I really like Soderbergh, and I hope he keeps moving along.

Brilliant post, right?

[modage]

The trailers are misleading. I was totally surprised by this. Probably my favorite Soderbergh in a decade.

[©brad]

This needed a better script. I loved the cast and premise but this wasn't nearly as fun, funny or surprising as it should have been. Tatum and that girl have no chemistry, the movie has no 3rd act, and Soderbergh continues to barely scratch the surface of whatever subject he toils with.

[Pwaybloe]

I'll mostly agree with you on this one, cbrad.  It was wasn't really enlightening and didn't really go anywhere.  The 3rd act, like you said, what was left of it seeped into cliches.  However, I had no issue with the script (or lack thereof) concerning dialogue.  Soderbergh did have his fingerprints all over the movie, though, which is a good thing. 

[HeywoodRFloyd]

You mentioned the girl and Tatum had no chemistry, honestly I can't see that girl having on-screen chemistry with anyone, who is she & why did he cast her, was the question I was asking myself

[pete]

Soderbergh continues to barely scratch the surface of whatever subject he toils with.

nailed it dude

[socketlevel]

I kinda like how he's been doing that, it seems to be a comprehensive attempt to remove sentiment from his storytelling. I do agree he's gone a little overboard, but it removes all emotional exposition from his work.

[©brad]

Yeah but in doing that the audience is never emotionally invested in the characters, so what's the point? His movies are now just film school experiments that always have a few cool technical things worth geeking out about but never hit you in the gut.

[socketlevel]

being emotionally invested in characters has it's place, but is that the only way we should engage storytelling? I could list many films I wasn't emotionally invested in but still consider great entertainment or works of art. Always doing it that way requires the audience to walk into a film looking to connect or project themselves on the protagonist. this instantly limits the possible plot or story resolution.

[©brad]

Hmm not sure I'm fully following you. By 'emotionally invested' I don't mean the characters have to be likeable or sympathetic, just dimensional and interesting enough to care. I don't see how that limits story.

[socketlevel]

Ah ok you mean not fully fleshed out, I thought you were saying not emotionally invested because of impure motives, which these two male characters do seem to have. It had enough of a dynamic for my interests, I could clearly see where all the characters were coming from and what they wanted at this point in their lives.

soderberg doesn't seem to have any pulling your hearstrings scenes anymore, which i like. I thought this is what the conversation was addressing.

[Kal]

Yeah I was very disappointed with this. I wasn't even paying attention towards the end. Not interesting and most of it predictable.

You mentioned the girl and Tatum had no chemistry, honestly I can't see that girl having on-screen chemistry with anyone, who is she & why did he cast her, was the question I was asking myself

She is the daughter of the President of WB. Wouldn't surprise me if Soderbergh owed him a favor.

[matt35mm]

Well I fuckin loved it.

[Stefen]

Buncha homophobes up in here. Magic Mike was awesome. He was a very deep character with big dreams. Don't act like you weren't rooting for him to get his bro furniture business up and running.

My only beef is Channing Tatum has dumb face.

[MacGuffin]

Steven Soderbergh talks Magic Mike 2
Says he'll be involved to consult on the project
Source: Total Film

Steven Soderbergh might be taking a well-earned break from directing, but his latest comments about the forthcoming Magic Mike 2 suggest that he's still spinning plenty of movie-plates.

"It's getting pretty far along," says Soderbergh of the sequel. "They've got a good idea. There were some stories and events that Channing [Tatum] lived through that we just couldn't fit in the first one.

"One of them is a really hilarious and very cinematic idea that we reluctantly didn't put in the first film, because it was such a big idea you could build a whole film out of it – but we didn't want to build that film out of it. It's perfect for this, though.

"I want to help," continues Soderbergh. "I have some proprietary feelings about it, obviously. I want to make sure it gets done and done well, so we meet every couple of weeks to talk about where it's going. But it's gonna be good. It's a good idea. It's not a retread. And there will be more time spent with the characters - all of them."

Soderbergh has already confirmed he won't quit his sabbatical to direct, but Tatum has suggested that he'd like to make the film his directorial debut. If he does, it sounds like he'll have plenty of help on hand as to where to point the camera...