Photo © Warner Bros.
Magic Mike's Last Dance
Magic Mike's Last Dance
iMordecai
(In Theaters February 10)
The story of Marvin Samel (Sean Astin), a Florida resident who went from cigarmaker to filmmaker, is woven into this comedy featuring Samel’s 80-year-old father, Mordecai (Judd Hirsch). A Polish immigrant, and survivor of the Holocaust along with his wife, Fela (Carol Kane), Mordecai spent years learning to use a flip-style cell phone, when son Marvin upgrades him to an iPhone. Mordecai is mystified by “this phone with no buttons,” and is pleased to be tutored in its operation by young Nina (Azia Dinea Hale).
His iPhone reveals so much that’s new and interesting but causes problems too. Fela becomes jealous after overhearing Mordecai talking to Siri. Marvin is concerned that 80-year-old Dad is pursuing new experiences. In addition to the years he spent writing this story (after making cigars and promoting them during the day), director Marvin Samel then spent a year studying filmmaking online, in classes taught by masters such as Martin Scorsese, to learn the craft. He relentlessly pursued Hirsch (now 88), to star, winning him over by recounting Mordecai’s life story. Shown at a handful of film festivals, iMordecai has garnered several awards ... and the day is young! (Lisa Miller)
Magic Mike’s Last Dance
(In Theaters February 10)
Eleven years after appearing as Mike Lane in Magic Mike, Channing Tatum (who actually worked as a stripper), returns to the role for this final installment of the trilogy. Having failed in his attempt to run a small business, Mike is bartending when he meets wealthy socialite Maxandra Mendoza (Salma Hayek). After learning of Mike’s hidden talents (via his extended, personal lap dance demonstration), Maxandra offers to finance a stage show choreographed by and starring Mike, in London. Once there, Mike finds the challenge of writing, casting and training the dancers, overwhelming. Having become romantically involved with Maxandra, he begins to suspect her of a hidden, personal agenda. Clocking in at 110 minutes, director Steven Soderbergh says the film ends with a 30-plus-minute dance/strip sequence unlike any put on film. The film’s box office success will soar if once again, women gather in groups to see it in theaters. (Lisa Miller)
Voodoo Macbeth
(Lightyear Blu-ray)
Orson Welles’ 1936 direction of an all-Black Macbeth was one of the legendary chapters in 20th century American theater The Ron DeSantises of that time were outraged. Voodoo Macbeth dramatizes the making of that production in breezy style. Jewell Wilson Bridges plays young Welles, an arrogant young aspirant at the start of a long career, convinced (sometimes with reason) that he was the smartest person in the room. Inger Tudor endows the play’s leading actor, Rose McClendon, with fierce dignity and assurance.
In this version of the story, Welles dismisses the idea of a Black Macbeth until badgered by his first wife, Virginia. While walking through Harlem, he had an epiphany: transfer the Scottish play to 19th century Haiti, substituting Vodun for witchcraft. The Welles Macbeth, produced by the Federal Theater Project, a New Deal agency, drew predictable fire from right-wing politicians but opened doors Black stage actors. (David Luhrssen)
