Movie review - "Fly Me to the Moon" (2024) ***

 Sweet romantic comedy with a strong idea - background to the Moon landing - and theme - about selling, and the truth - is an enjoyable watch. It didn't have to close $100 million, this should've been a $40 million film. Maybe too much plot in the last act.

Movie review - "The Lost City" (2022) **

 I love the concept and the stars and the support cast, was in the mood for a Romancing the Stone throwback but the film didn't quite seem tow woek. Do cover models really go on tour with authors? It feels like there were studio notes to introduce everyone early - Dan Radcliffe, Channing Tatum, Brad Pitt. So there's no time to get to know characters.

Sandra Bullock, an all time great star, has no character to play - what's her angle? Bitter? Romantic? Tired of love? Warm? Her plastic surgery is annoying and she has nil chemistry with Tatum who also has no character to play. A bit snaggy, bit dumb... Why not just make it simple - have her sick of love, cynical about it, have him as a romantic. Or something else. Pick a lane!

Radcliffe is fine. The film lacks a Danny de Vito. People try. Underwhelming action sequences too much CGI. No life, no energy. Some pretty scenery and clever treasure twists. But it misses.

Movie review - "The Lego Movie" (2014) ****

 A delight. Funny, clever, inventive. Great characters, doused in jokes. A really good movie.

Movie review - "White House Down" (2013) **

I've got some affection for this film because it's so obviously trying to pretend it's still 1998 or thereabouts - with its action man lead role and obvious spec script origins (a story full of elements of other successful films) and dopey action. 

And, you know, some of this isn't bad - Die Hard meets Seven Days in May is actually a great idea and the sequence where the baddies take over the White House is well done. And there is one good idea in particular - the head of security has used his position to collect a group of bad guys from all over.

But it's not a very good movie. 

Channing Tatum is a likable star but he's miscast in the lead. I never got a fix on him - a war hero who never does up his tie, a distracted absent dad but he seems to be always around. He's too warm - someone like Arnie or Clint or Steve Seagal would have carried weight and history with him. Channing needed more of a defined character to play.

Also I feel it was a mistake to cast Jaimee Fox as president. He lacks gravitas, clowns it up far too much (I liked the joke about the nicorette though), and has been given too much action stuff to do - it's ridiculous.

Most importantly the movie sets up all these interesting things and then does nothing with them. 

For instance, the baddies are a collection of random nutters/terrorists and ex soldiers... that's a fantastic idea that you could do heaps with but they just have a few people shout at each other. 

Or James Woods is upset at the president's peace plan in the Middle East - fantastic, a modern day Seven Days in May... but in the end Wood mostly ends up yelling and cracking one liners. 

Channing didn't vote for Fox, great - but instead of making them really mismatched (eg super conservative cop and liberal president or vice versa) and getting drama out of it they just sort of hang around. 

The media break flight curfew and endanger the life of Channing's daughter by splashing her name all over the press... but there's no come uppance. 

It's frustrating. The filmmakers have obviously studied Die Hard but not nearly enough.

Jason Clarke and James Wood are good as the main baddies and it's nice Maggie Gyllenhaul is given some status as the head of security. And sometimes the over the top silliness of this is really fun (secret tunnels underneath, a limo on the lawn with a bazooka firing at it.) 

But as the movie goes on it just gets dumber and dumber.

Movie review - "22 Jump Street" (2014) ***1/2

Very funny sequel which in some ways improves on the first. Extremely meta (there's a lovely gag at the end where they riff on all possible sequels) but not in an annoying way. The filmmakers also make sure there's real heart at the center - it's basically a "comedy of remarriage", with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum essentially breaking up, Channing finding a new love in a guy who is a more suitable friend at college, Wyatt Rogers (who is the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn!), but then getting back together.

Ice Cube is given more to do, Amber Stevens is a little bland as Jonah's love interest (they often seem to set up chubby male stars with black love interests in Hollywood - Turtle on Entourage often went black), but Jillian Bell is hilarious as Stevens' roommate. It probably could have had half an hour cut out.

Movie review - "Magic Mike" (2012) ***1/2

As artfully a constructed star vehicle as anything in Clarke Gable's day, with the added appeal that Channing Tatum really was a stripper. He's kind, likeable, funny, can dance, good looking, shows his backside in the first couple of seconds (with two women in bed - how's that for a star entrance), is nice to young Alex Pettyfer, just wants someone to settle down with and leave stripping, wants to make driftwood out of stuff he finds on the beach.... swoon.

In all seriousness Tatum is pretty good - he's clearly comfortable in the role, does the dances well, has some good support. Matthew McConaughey continues to defy those who are convinced he's a rom com specialist with an engaging performance as the old stripper who is Tatum's boss (I did feel he would have used another scene just for him), and Alex Pettyfer isn't annoying for the first time I've seen him. These three provide a solid foundation for the movie and ensure it always has somewhere to go.

Some really good scenes, and confident handling; it looks great with it's bright Florida sunshine and dingy clubs (how the hell did this only cost $7 million?). Cody Horn - the love interest - starts off impressive and interesting but we soon realise she doesn't have anywhere to go apart from giving sass to Tatum and worrying about her brother, but Olivia Munn is great as the sophisticated psych student into sex games with Tatum. There's also a rich array of support characters - the other strippers are all well cast (their dodgy dances are funny) and the casting of the girls who go to the shows is spot on (giggling, screaming, flirting, etc.)

At times this was reminiscent of Shampoo (Tatum tries to get a bank loan but is knocked back) but this is a different sort of movie, a lot more positive and "Hollywood". But it's enjoyable and deserved its success.

Movie review - "The Vow" (2012) **

Dopey treatment of a strong idea - Rachel McAdams loses her memory in a car accident and hubby Channing Tatum has to make her fall in love with him again. Tatum went up a lot in my estimation with 21 Jump Street - his limitations are exposed here, but I guess commercially it was a good decision.

This is firmly made for the female audience - Tatum shows his butt, looks sensitive, sleeps with a cat on his chest, pines, plays guitar, wears a cuddle jumper, is incredibly devoted; Rachel McAdams has several men in love with her (the other is Scott Speedman), is an artist, wears a variety of clothes.

This pulls its punches constantly - the secret about her dad is undercooked; the false love interest (Scott Speedman) is shamefully underused; Sam Neill and Jessica Lange are wasted; the characters of the couples' best friends are amazingly irritating and poorly used (what's with that friend with the nose? and the guy with the porkpie hat?).

It does achieve what it sets out to do, you just wish it was done better.

Movie review - "Haywire" (2011) **1/2

This would have been more fun if it was trashier - good on Steven Soderbergh for trying to make a commercial action thriller with a female lead, and attempting to launch a new star in Gina Carano, but the plot will be familiar to anyone who watched a lot of action movies in the 80s. Carano is a kind-of government agent who is set up by - gasp - her own organisation and who try to kill her.

They try to jazz it up a little with some non-linear structuring but that doesn't help. Nor does shying away from fully embracing the cliches to give cheesy emotion - at least that would be something. It all feels a bit flat.

Carano is cute and a terrific fighter, though clearly inexperienced as an actor. There's a divine cast, but Michael Fassbender and Ewan McGregor are called upon to do fight scenes and don't do them that well - Channing Tatum is very believable though. Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas look old, and Michael Angarano seems as though he's going to have a big part but then kind of disappears.

Some of the fight scenes are very well done but a lot of the excitement feels drained out of this movie. Carano would have been better off making her star debut in some straight to DVD action trash.

Movie review - "21 Jump Street" (2012) *** (warning: spoilers)

A throwback to the 80s in more ways than one - it's reminiscent of those buddy cop films from the time, such as Tango and Cash - only here the emphasis is on comedy more than action. It's self referential and doesn't take itself seriously at all - although it does explore some aspects like fear of high school, fear of shooting someone (like Die Hard), and bromance. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are a really good team - they seem to genuinely get along, like Hope and Crosby, and play well off each other. They probably could have done more with the supporting characters - I wish we'd seen more of the gorgeous Ellie Kempel. She's one of many TV faces who pop up in the support cast. It's a shame they didn't get Peter de Luise a proper close up at the end - they make it seem more about Johnny Depp.

Movie review - "The Eagle" (2011) **1/2

Based on a famous juvenile fiction novel which is maybe why so many problems which I thought would have been obvious weren't fixed up: the story doesn't start until 35 minutes in when Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell go on the quest, then once they do it's quite easy for them to locate the missing eagle. They just get directions, raid the camp and escape. This work lacks some thing - a subplot, more emotional stakes, a complication, something. It looks terrific, though - the opening half hour (even though it could have been lopped off and you could have still told the story) is very exciting, with some terrific action. Actually this is the best part of the movie - it's like they ran out of money.

Donald Sutherland lends some class - but his part isn't needed. And I didn't buy that Jamie Bell would pick Channing over his own people simply because he gave his word of honour or there's a bond of honour. (Yes, this is another one where you can read in homoerotic subtext if you want.) I get Kevin MacDonald loved this as a boy but I wish he'd fixed it up.