Review: Magic Mike XXL

This review was originally published in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad. It is reprinted here with in the Director's Cut version. i.e. it's longer this time...

When Magic Mike opened three years ago it was something of a risky proposition. Male stars exploiting their bodies for a young male star’s dream project loosely based on his own stripping career which he felt no shame about? Who would have guessed? Cut to three years later: Magic Mike and Friends (minus The Kid and Dallas “alright alright alright”) have returned to movie theaters with much teasing and blockbuster fanfare to a relatively new pop cultural context they helped create: male objectification is increasingly the norm. Just ask Chris Pratt, the ascendant superstar of the moment (Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World) who has acknowledged that his new body was key to his ascendance and that he’s all for it… the objectification.

This wondrous new world of happily exposed man-flesh makes Magic Mike XXL feel curiously demure. Usually sequels go for more-more-more but XXL (the title is a misnomer) downsizes even as the stages get larger. There’s less plot since it’s essentially a road trip movie but most curiously there’s much less nudity even if the women this time around seem a lot more eager to see it.

This withholding is smart and funny at the beginning of the film in a sensational opening dance number starring Mike alone in his workroom. [More...]

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Links Today. ANN DOWD Thursday!

The Guardian have you heard about the school Tilda Swinton helped found in Scotland? Is there no end to her wonder?
HugoHugo made a cheeky piece of Jurassic World / Chris Pratt fan art "Clever Girl" that went viral immediately. Sadly almost no one is crediting the source! 
Deadline in the absolute worst "WHY?" inducing news of the week, Maleficent is getting a sequel. I mean, the answer is "Money, duh!" but in TFE's opinion if the answer is only "money" to any movie-making question than we have a problem in the movies
In Contention Kris Tapley thinks Inside Out is Pixar's best film (quite a statement)

MNPP shares the happy news for Winona Ryder fans "Noni got a job!" i.e. a lead role for once - new Netflix show
Screen Crush on the rise of "selective sequels"
Towleroad Kristen Stewart's mother confirms that her daughter is dating a female personal assistant. Adds a whole new eyebrow raise to how damn good Kristen was pretending to be a female personal assistant in Clouds of Sils Maria, doesn't it?
VF BD Wong talks villainy in Jurassic World
The Mary Sue knew that it was necessary to remind genre writers that there are ways to motivate your female characters beyond being raped (sigh)
The New Yorker Perez Hilton, celebrity offspring and #NoKidsPolicy
Uproxx Mike Ryan continues to be awfully skilled at the art of the celebrity interview. Here is Amy Poehler on Parks & Recreation and Inside Out and even the Golden Globes
Towleroad has a new look / redesign. Check it out. Lot easier navigating to the types of stories you're interested in
MNPP remembers Jonathan Schaech's beauty as The Doom Generation (1995) turns 20. What a trippy movie that was back in the day
Boy Culture Burlesque star Blaze Starr -- Lolita Davidovich played her in the movie Blaze (1989) -- has died
Nights in WeHo The stars of Magic Mike XXL came out in full force for LA Pride. Smart outreach.

Programming Notes
Ann Dowd is a very busy woman -- talent like that will fill up your schedule -- so we've had to do some tinkering with this week's schedule. So this week's gone a bit crazy and everything's been pushed back to Friday (Women's Pictures & our Best Shot edition of Magic Mike) and Ann will be taking over Thursday! This is the last time that you will ever read "Ann Dowd" and "Magic Mike" in the same sentence unless she has a surprise cameo in XXL that we don't know about. 

P.S. You'll also notice that there are suddenly dozens of articles about Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy (1990) up around the web. This occassion is the 25th anniversary of its initial release today. Sadly none of these "it's so beautiful!" odes to the movie's exquisite visual work link back to our Hit Me With Your Best Shot episode (we celebrated the movie two weeks ago) but what can you do?! "Best Shot" remains the web's Best Kept Secret of Cinephilia Eye Candy.

Here's what's up next in that series. Join us and spread the word so it's less hush-hush, y'all.

Review: Chocolate City

This review was originally published in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad...

So ballsy: Chocolate City, a black rip-off of Magic Mike, actually name checks Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike (2012) twice -- once in its opening scene even! -- and names it lead character Mike. In one conversation its strippers even dismiss Magic Mike for being 'only a movie' as if they're authentic fantasy workers in a documentary.

Not ballsy enough: Chocolate City has zero actors as brave as Matthew McConaughey what with his g-string ass up to the camera writhing and no actors as nonchalantly nude as Channing Tatum doing that birthday suit bathroom strut. If you're aiming for an even cheaper riff on one of the great low budget success stories of recent cinema (Magic Mike grossed 24 times its meager budget globally; hits are generally lucky to quadruple their budgets) shouldn't you exploit what your mama gave you?

B movies throughout time have been energized by their trashier instincts. Not so much this one. This Mike (super cute Robert Ri'Chard) is practically a saint though he goes by "Sexy Chocolate" while naughty on stage. More...

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147 Days Until... MAGIC MIKE XXL

The teaser for Magic Mike XXL ends with "You're Welcome" which is so presumptuous but also correct. Make that two You're Welcomes since the first poster has also arrived. Let's chat both after the image. Take it all in.

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Joe Manganiello and "La Bare"

It's not every calendar year that an actor gets two titles as diverse as "First Time Filmmaker" and "Hollywood's Hottest Bachelor" but that's just what Joe Manganiello has accomplished in 2014. His male stripper documentary La Bare premiered at Slamdance this past January and hit theaters just as the final season of True Blood was kicking off. Good timing and you have to hand it to him. I mean this in the nicest possible way but actors of limited range who understand both their niche and the unique window of time they have to make some sort of substantial showbiz mark and then maximize it deserve a loud round of applause. Well done. 

With La Bare, Manganiello manages to make a career move behind the camera that's also a not-at-all subtle reminder of his hunky allure in front of it. 'Oh yeah, he was in Magic Mike!' All of which slyly serves to remind us that there's more to him than werewolf Alcides ...and he's willing to show it. 

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