Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Magic Mike XXL (2015) - Lots of fun and skin but still no gay as Mike goes to the convention

7/10/2015

Magic Mike XXL (2015) - Lots of fun and skin but still no gay as Mike goes to the convention

♥♥♥

+ Best Dance Movie of the Year
+ Best Shooting Star Actor of the Year (Donald Glover)

The five recurring stars of Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL

So this is gonna sound silly... Here's a plot outline for Magic Mike XXL:

Mike is trying to run his carpenter business, but when he hears the song he used to dance for, he decides it's time to go with the decimated 'Kings of Tampa' on a trip to make his dent at the stripper convention in Florida.

No doubt XXL is a worthy follow-up to Steven Soderbergh's stripper hit Magic Mike (2012). - Audiences love it, and it is an extremely light, good time at any cinema this overheated summer. The inferences coming are minor, - I certainly didn't miss either Matthew McConaughey or Alex Pettyfer from the previous film, - and I am in fact very close to awarding the film its fourth ♥.
Soderbergh serves only as cinematographer and editor of XXL, as he has left the director's chair for his long-time first assistant director Gregory Jacobs (Wind Chill (2007)). Reid Carolin (Magic Mike) is back as writer and producer, and the tone is similar to the first film, though the hint of seriousness in the first film, - McConaughey's douchey character, the drug issue theme, - is totally gone in XXL. This Magic Mike is pretty much all fun and games, - and some spectacular male stripping!
- What's not to love?

Young Donald Glover is my favorite added value in Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL - look out for him in the future!

A rundown of the most enjoyable actors in the new movie:
Channing Tatum (Jupiter Ascending (2015)) is back in top shape and can still move like you wouldn't believe. Joe Manganiello (Sabotage (2014)) gets a more prominent part in the new film; he is a welcome enhancement, funny and sexy. Adam Rodriguez (About Last Night (2014)) is also a looker, and his final performance is probably the best of all of them. Of fresh faces, we get Stephen 'tWitch' Boss (Step Up 4: Miami Heat (2012)), an amazing dancer giving another of the film's best dances in the club owned (in the film) by Jada Pinkett Smith (The Nutty Professor (1996)), who acts out her cool character with flair and gusto aplenty. Andie McDowell (Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)) is another stop on the way for the guys; she has a memorable role, - and still looks great, - in XXL. Finally there's Donald Glover (Community (2009-14)), my favorite addition, a very promising young actor.
OK so here are the small problems with Jacobs' male stripper romp: First of all, the team behind it have teased that the sequel would have something in it especially for the gay audiences, which, besides a short stop at a drag bar in the beginning, it really doesn't have at all. - Major disappointment.
Secondly, Matt Bomer's (The Normal Heart (2014)) character is really pissed at Tatum's for something that is never really clear. Perhaps those two should have had the gay storyline that apparently couldn't be apart of something as pristine as the sequel to a movie about male strippers... - Let me know your opinion in a comment, if you have one.
Lastly, the skimpy plot grinds around in at least two clichés: The guys visit the black strip club, which is a paradise of lush, no-holds-barred passion; then they visit a house full of middle-aged, wealthy, white women, who are (of course) sexually neglected and a bit sad.
But there's still some fun characters, game actors, many amusing scenes and crazy male stripping, which makes up a really big chunk of the film, just as it should be.

Related posts:

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Magic Mike (2012) - Soderbergh and Tatum score big with cheeky male stripper romp

Stephen 'tWitch' Boss lets you enjoy his formidable body and moves in Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL

Adam Rodriguez is back for Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL

Here's the awesome trailer for the movie -- now go and have an awesome time at the movies with Magic Mike XXL

Cost: 14.8 mil. $
Box office: 21.3 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[XXL only opened July 1st, and so the first weekend's gross is not even in yet, but it looks like a sure bet that it's gonna make a lot of dough, especially because it has a surprisingly low reported cost. - Probably key people in and behind it are taking profit percentages instead of salaries.]

What do you think of Magic Mike XXL?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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7/10/2015

Magic Mike XXL (2015) - Lots of fun and skin but still no gay as Mike goes to the convention

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