PicoBlog

Magic Mike’s Last Dance Dir. Steven Soderbergh 112 min. Before getting into Magic Mike’s Last Dance, the third and reportedly final film in the Magic Mike series, it’s worth taking a moment to appreciate the accomplishments of its predecessors. Both 2012’s Magic Mike (directed, like this film, by Steven Soderbergh and written, like all three, by Reid Carolin) and 2015’s Magic Mike XXL (directed by Gregory Jacobs) depcited the world of male stripping with unexpected respect, even tenderness.

By the time Brad Park made it to the NHL with the New York Rangers in 1968, Rod Gilbert was in his sixth full season with the team and had blossomed into a bona fide star. The shy young man from Montreal was comfortable in his skin. Gilbert’s elan and elegance on the ice were matched by his presence off it. Long before the likes of Ron Duguay and Henrik Lundqvist became matinee idols in Manhattan, there was Rod Gilbert, who was just as well-known as ‘Mr.

A couple of weeks ago, Rolling Stone UK published my cover interview with Lana Del Rey. I titled it Lana Del Rey: She Does It For the Girls because when I asked her about immediately attracting a fanbase of tragic, romantic women and gay men, she said this: That’s pretty funny. As one of these fans, interviewing Lana Del Rey was at the top of my kill-me-now-I’ve-made-it list. It usually happens this way but when the big career moments come, you’re typically going through it.

A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.

Poor Things Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos 141 min. Starting with his breakthrough film Dogtooth, Yorgos Lanthimos has shown an interest in how human beings are constructed, particularly in isolation, where their inputs are limited. In the fenced-in compound where three adult children are kept without knowledge of the outside world, the parents have the power to give different words alternate meanings (“sea” means “chair,” “highway” means “strong wind,” etc.) and suggest danger where it doesn’t exist.

“I wanted to somehow pay tribute to Willie [Garson] and put Stanford someplace golden and filled with light, because I hope Willie is someplace golden and filled with light.”  - Michael Patrick King I’m going to, out of grace, pass over the “Anthony doesn’t want to bottom” plotline from the most recent episode of And Just Like That… (his reason why being “because I’m not the woman” will haunt me) and get to the episode’s most affecting and perplexing moment.

A mutual friend introduced Zoanne Clack to me seven years ago, and in the years since I’ve known her as a Writers Guild of America West Board member, a doctor, and a writer on and producer of “GREY’S ANATOMY”. As if this weren’t enough, she was also the mother of three beautiful children. In short, I’ve never not been in more than a little awed by her and her accomplishments.

This week’s What’s Alan Watching? newsletter coming up just as soon as I save the universe with a spoon… Wednesday night’s premiere of The Bear Season Three was the TV event of the week, the month, and arguably of the year so far — the return of a universally acclaimed, adored series that swept the most recent Emmys, and will likely do so again at the next ceremony in a few months.

It’s called The Hunt for Red October. It’s set in November. It’s perfect for December. Yes, I know the fashionable theory is that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, mostly because its fictional plot unfolds at an L.A. holiday party on Dec. 24. That was a clever argument — five years ago. Today, it’s the sort of supposedly subversive take that fuels a thousand podcasts. If you truly want to stake out fresh tracks on this winter holiday — and to wow your friends and family with a perfect movie night — why not pick the next film from director John McTiernan?