ISSUE #3
BEAM FROM THE BOOTH | GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY
[EDITED BY: GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]
Hello, and welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, a new weekly newsletter from the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!
I can’t think of a better way to start this installment than reminding you that today is TWIN PEAKS DAY and GRFS is celebrating with a very special screening of Twin Peaks, Season 1, Episodes 1&2! The doors of the Wealthy Theatre will open at 7:00pm, with the screening starting an hour later at 8:00pm. We encourage getting there early to enjoy some of our complimentary coffee and pie. Plus, there’s a costume contest! Come dressed as your favorite character and you’ll automatically be entered into the contest to win prizes from Scorpion Hearts Club and Stovetop Roasters.
Tickets for tonight’s event are going FAST, so get yours ASAP at the link below.
We also wanted to formally announce an exciting “triple-feature” we’ve put together with our partners at the Wealthy Theatre.
Girl, Interrupted is screening March 7th, as part of the beloved Tuesday Movie Series. Then on Wednesday, March 8th, we’re sharing a favorite: Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. And finally, GRFS is thrilled to present the West MI debut of Aftersun on Thursday, March 9th! We’re so excited about this line-up and hope you all can join us. Look for more details in next week’s installment but for now, get you calendars marked and your tickets bought at the links below!
Now! On with this latest installment of… BEAM FROM THE BOOTH!
ECHOES
[BY: SPENCER EVERHART]
Echoes is an exclusively-visual column based on the MUBI Notebook series of the same name - a fun way to find the repetitions, reverberations, and recapitulations in images throughout cinema history.
Tango (Zbigniew Rybczyński, 1981)
Squid - "Swing (In a Dream)" (Yoonha Park, 2023)
NEW RELEASE REVIEW RETROSPECTIVE
[BY: SAM MCKENNEY]
Magic Mike’s Last Dance (Soderbergh, 2023)
After a long hiatus, the world’s most iconic male entertainer is back in theaters in Steven Soderbergh’s new film Magic Mike’s Last Dance. Met with middling to negative reviews and a box office return that is steady but by no means blockbuster, the film is turning out to be generally received as a bit of a disappointment. All that said, a new film from one of the best journeymen around is always an event in my book, and with it being the culmination of the MMCU (Magic Mike Cinematic Universe), I knew I had a bit of a retrospective on my hands. This was my first viewing of all the films, and boy was I shocked at what they turned out to be.
The first film opens with Dallas (played brilliantly by Matthew McConaughey) attempting to swoon a crowd with his southern drawl and teasing nature, but that is the only bit of titillation Soderbergh allows for a long chunk of the movie. It instead cuts to the titular character, Mike Lane (Channing Tatum), showing off all his other jobs he spends his time doing rather than portraying the entertainment he provides to the masses of Tampa: he crafts furniture, he does roofing. In fact, when the dancing and stripping finally does happen, dirty wads of cash are just as prevalent on camera as the skin of the all-but-naked men. This was where my shock began. The fact that the film Magic Mike is more about the transactional nature of sex work in a recession-era America was an absolute surprise to me. The anxieties of the economy at the time permeate every single interaction, showing the absurdity and falseness of the American Dream, in line with the cowboy/firemen costumes these men dance in. Soderbergh is known for his amorphous style, always trying something new with the camera or the form, and that is definitely present in this film. Shots are framed in a very stark and motionless fashion, barring the dance sequences which are absolutely electric. The biggest knock against this film is one of the lead characters, The Kid (Alex Pettyfer). He is just so empty and lacking any charisma or bravado. During every single scene he is blown out of the water by the other performers, and it really removes viewers from this very unique view into the world of sex work that Soderbergh is showing.
When I didn’t see Steven Soderbergh’s name as the director on the next film, Magic Mike XXL, the alarms started going off in my head. This second film is instead directed by Gregory Jacobs and opens similarly to the first, lacking any form of sexuality or bare skin, and just focusing on Mike as he navigates life outside of dancing. But it quickly turns as he is whisked away on a road trip to a convention in Myrtle Beach with the gang (minus Dallas and The Kid) all back together. This is where the film turns into the best road trip movie you’ll see this century, featuring some of the most fun and charismatic performances in town, especially from Richie (Joe Manganiello) and Ken (Matt Bomer). A real bonus for this movie is its positive approach to sex work. These men aren’t dancers because they are down on their luck or addled with addiction, they do it because they are male entertainers, and this is how they express themselves, and it is very powerful. Every single person in the film is beautiful, regardless of gender, skin color, and body size, which is something that is pretty radical when looking back at the tradition of representation in classical Hollywood film (specifically summer blockbusters). The film drops the grittier, heavily color-graded look of the first film, yet maintains the ‘place the camera and let them cook’ approach to shooting interactions between the main cast, and the dance sequences are just as electric (the “Pony” sequence is maybe the best diegetic needle drop I have ever seen - put it in the Louvre). Who knew I would like it more than the first?
Now to the final chapter in the Magic Mike saga, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, which is once again directed by Steven Soderbergh. This film opens with Mike as a bartender, distanced from his days as a dancer and male entertainer, this time because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mike is now a bartender floating around Florida until he meets a wealthy socialite (Salma Hayek Pinault) who lures him into a chance to achieve his dreams as a performer, but she has an agenda of her own as well. Unfortunately, I have the least to say about this film because it just has the least going on out of all three, both formally and thematically. All we get from the original cast of dancers is a glitchy zoom call, and they are replaced with nameless and emotionless hot guys, removing the fun and camaraderie that was largely the best part of the previous film. There is by far the most dialogue in this film out of the three, and the least amount of dancing as well (barring the final 20 minutes which, to be fair, are pretty spectacular). This isn’t inherently a problem, but when the dialogue is as stilted and one-note as this, I was really aching for some more Magic Mike magic. This is a good time to talk about Channing Tatum as a performer, because without him this cinematic universe wouldn’t exist. He is so effortlessly charismatic and talented in each installment, it is easy to take him for granted. His skill as both an actor and a dancer are on full display in these films, and he pulls it off like no one else could.
All in all, it feels like such a strange thing to say, but Steven Soderbergh really did make the two worst Magic Mike movies.
A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION…
Hi, folks. Editor Griffin here again. Before we wrap things up for this installment of BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, I wanted to take a poll on what seems to be a divisive topic. And by “divisive” I mean, most people I’ve asked about this either have very definitive thoughts or truly don’t give a damn.
With that said…
“Appropriate” doesn’t necessarily refer to the season with which the movie takes place during, especially since it can sometimes be indiscernible. Here, “appropriate season” refers to the season most closely related to the film “tonally,” so to speak.
Or in layman’s terms… does the season the movie was released during add to the ~vibes~?
We’ll be following up on the results of this poll in an upcoming issue, so be sure to cast your vote to aid in the research!
UPCOMING EVENTS
TWIN PEAKS DAY: SPECIAL EVENT
WHAT: A special screening of TWIN PEAKS Episodes 1 and 2 in celebration of the iconic series. Coffee and pie provided. Costumes encouraged.
WHEN: TONIGHT!!! Friday, February 24th, 8:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
TRANSIT (Petzold, 2011 - Germany)
WHAT: The final film in CHIAROSCURO INTERNATIONAL FILM SERIES’ “Absence/Presence” Series! Screening to be followed by discussion and reception.
WHEN: Sunday, March 5th, 2:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
LITTLE WOMEN (Gerwing, 2019)
WHAT: A special screening of Greta Gerwig’s recent rendition of a classic! Part of a triple feature event (see above)!
WHEN: Wednesday, March 8th, 7:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
And so we’ve arrived at the end of another BEAM FROM THE BOOTH! We appreciate you taking the time to read it and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to get each issue in your inbox every FRIDAY and stay up-to-date on all things GRFS!
Plus, join us on social media! We’d love to chat with everyone and hear YOUR OWN thoughts on everything above. (You can also hop in the comments section below!)
Know someone you think will dig BEAM FROM THE BOOTH? Send them our way!
Look for ISSUE #4 in your inbox NEXT FRIDAY, 3/03!
Until then, friends…
