Alright, let’s talk about the evolution of the Magic Mike franchise. The original film, directed by Steven Soderbergh, was a deceptively dark, even tragic look at the lives of a group of male strippers who party hard and get hit by the Great Recession even harder. It’s about the American Dream, it’s about addiction, it’s about finding out Channing Tatum is freakishly athletic. Three years later, Soderbergh handed off the directorial reins to Magic Mike’s assistant director Gregory Jacobs for Magic Mike XXL, a feature-length chill session with the bros that ditches any semblance of conflict to deliver a liberating, radically joyful vision of masculinity.

Now Soderbergh returns as director to inject eroticism back into the multiplex with a sort of “Magic Mike’s European Vacation.” Splitting the difference between the tightly structured drama of the original and the looser, feel-good energy of the sequel, Magic Mike’s Last Dance continues to embody the series’ central thesis that a lap dance has the power to change lives. 

This time around, Channing Tatum’s Mike Lane is lured out of retirement by wealthy theater owner Max Mendoza (Salma Hayek), who flies him to London to direct a theatrical production of his striptease routine starring an Ocean’s Eleven-style group of the most talented strippers in the western world. If that sounds suspiciously like a 110-minute ad for the real Magic Mike stage show, which itself debuted in London in 2018, that’s because it is. This is pretty openly a fictionalized Magic Mike Live origin story, and because of that most of the dance numbers are performed by Channing’s ragtag squad of strippers rather than by Channing himself, who with two notable exceptions is here as a rom-com lead rather than as a dancer. Disappointing as that may be for the Tatum-heads in the audience, it hardly ends up mattering by the time we reach the main event: a nearly half-hour sequence of showstopper striptease choreo capped off by the titular last dance that successfully bridges the gap between Swan Lake and Hustlers. If it all ends up feeling like a backpedal from the ambition of XXL, it’s only a baby step in the wrong direction: in a decidedly sexless era of American cinema, Steven Soderbergh is still the only man brave enough to deliver proudly horny movies to the public. R, 112 min.

Wide release in theaters

Read More

Chicago band Anatomy of Habit have been around in various forms since 2008, sporadically releasing music that hammers together metal, industrial, postrock, avant-garde composition, and more. Originally a sort of floating supergroup with no fixed lineup, in the past few years they’ve solidified into a steady quintet around founder and front man Mark Solotroff. The band’s new fourth full-length, Black Openings (due February 24), recorded with Sanford Parker, features the same lineup as its predecessor, 2021’s Even If It Takes a Lifetime: guitarist Alex Latus, drummer Skyler Rowe, percussionist Isidro Reyes, and bassist and lap-steel player Sam Wagster. 

The moody 18-minute title track starts the record with a slinky, rolling pulse. Rowe’s drums and Reyes’s percussion drive a buildup that sets the stage for the first appearance of Solotroff’s vocals. From there, it’s a long, lovely journey that you can settle into, trusting that you’ll be alternately unsettled, soothed, creeped out, pummeled, and exalted, but never bored. In its harrowing climax, Solotroff screams, ”Remaining faceless / Slipping into a persona,” against militant percussion that sounds as if it’s beating his voice into a pulp.

The second and third tracks are both more than nine minutes long, allowing the band space to explore the full potential of each composition. “Formal Consequences” provides a bit of respite with its dreamy, gothic feel and slightly askew atmosphere of ominous melancholy. Sheets of shimmering guitars appear like torrential rains, giving way to a quiet interlude and a sinister sense of ritual catharsis. The bitter, biting “Breathing Through Bones,” the first song released from the album, evokes the loss and grief of a doomed romance, ending with a heavy slam of sound that’s drawn out to a clanging quiet. This show is a release party for Black Openings, and it features opening sets from dreamy local darkwave outfit Kill Scenes and Indiana goth project Twice Dark.

Anatomy of Habit Kill Scenes and Twice Dark open. Sat 2/11, 7 PM, Cobra Lounge, 235 N. Ashland, $14.84, 17+

Read More

The Racial Justice Writers’ Room is part of RICJ’s Racial Justice Reporting Hub and Writers’ Room is funded by the Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation. DePaul University’s Center for Communication Engagement is donating resources for the group’s in-person meetings.

The project was launched under former Chicago Reader co-publisher Karen Hawkins, who will be among eight mentors to support the first cohort. Reader editor in chief Enrique Limón will also serve as a mentor. Each applicant proposed a story for a project of their choice, and they will receive guidance and mentorship from other journalists throughout the reporting process. They will keep the rights to their work, and will be able to pitch their stories to any media outlet upon completion.

She is the Senior Professional in Residence in DePaul University’s journalism program, teaching documentary production, social justice reporting, media ethics, and broadcast writing.

Meet the  eight participants in the first Racial Justice Writers’ Room cohort, which starts Feb. 13.

For more information on RICJ and the Chicago Reader, visit our about page.

Join the team! For current career openings visit our careers page.

Read More

Alright, let’s talk about the evolution of the Magic Mike franchise. The original film, directed by Steven Soderbergh, was a deceptively dark, even tragic look at the lives of a group of male strippers who party hard and get hit by the Great Recession even harder. It’s about the American Dream, it’s about addiction, it’s about finding out Channing Tatum is freakishly athletic. Three years later, Soderbergh handed off the directorial reins to Magic Mike’s assistant director Gregory Jacobs for Magic Mike XXL, a feature-length chill session with the bros that ditches any semblance of conflict to deliver a liberating, radically joyful vision of masculinity.

Now Soderbergh returns as director to inject eroticism back into the multiplex with a sort of “Magic Mike’s European Vacation.” Splitting the difference between the tightly structured drama of the original and the looser, feel-good energy of the sequel, Magic Mike’s Last Dance continues to embody the series’ central thesis that a lap dance has the power to change lives. 

This time around, Channing Tatum’s Mike Lane is lured out of retirement by wealthy theater owner Max Mendoza (Salma Hayek), who flies him to London to direct a theatrical production of his striptease routine starring an Ocean’s Eleven-style group of the most talented strippers in the western world. If that sounds suspiciously like a 110-minute ad for the real Magic Mike stage show, which itself debuted in London in 2018, that’s because it is. This is pretty openly a fictionalized Magic Mike Live origin story, and because of that most of the dance numbers are performed by Channing’s ragtag squad of strippers rather than by Channing himself, who with two notable exceptions is here as a rom-com lead rather than as a dancer. Disappointing as that may be for the Tatum-heads in the audience, it hardly ends up mattering by the time we reach the main event: a nearly half-hour sequence of showstopper striptease choreo capped off by the titular last dance that successfully bridges the gap between Swan Lake and Hustlers. If it all ends up feeling like a backpedal from the ambition of XXL, it’s only a baby step in the wrong direction: in a decidedly sexless era of American cinema, Steven Soderbergh is still the only man brave enough to deliver proudly horny movies to the public. R, 112 min.

Wide release in theaters

Read More

Chicago band Anatomy of Habit have been around in various forms since 2008, sporadically releasing music that hammers together metal, industrial, postrock, avant-garde composition, and more. Originally a sort of floating supergroup with no fixed lineup, in the past few years they’ve solidified into a steady quintet around founder and front man Mark Solotroff. The band’s new fourth full-length, Black Openings (due February 24), recorded with Sanford Parker, features the same lineup as its predecessor, 2021’s Even If It Takes a Lifetime: guitarist Alex Latus, drummer Skyler Rowe, percussionist Isidro Reyes, and bassist and lap-steel player Sam Wagster. 

The moody 18-minute title track starts the record with a slinky, rolling pulse. Rowe’s drums and Reyes’s percussion drive a buildup that sets the stage for the first appearance of Solotroff’s vocals. From there, it’s a long, lovely journey that you can settle into, trusting that you’ll be alternately unsettled, soothed, creeped out, pummeled, and exalted, but never bored. In its harrowing climax, Solotroff screams, ”Remaining faceless / Slipping into a persona,” against militant percussion that sounds as if it’s beating his voice into a pulp.

The second and third tracks are both more than nine minutes long, allowing the band space to explore the full potential of each composition. “Formal Consequences” provides a bit of respite with its dreamy, gothic feel and slightly askew atmosphere of ominous melancholy. Sheets of shimmering guitars appear like torrential rains, giving way to a quiet interlude and a sinister sense of ritual catharsis. The bitter, biting “Breathing Through Bones,” the first song released from the album, evokes the loss and grief of a doomed romance, ending with a heavy slam of sound that’s drawn out to a clanging quiet. This show is a release party for Black Openings, and it features opening sets from dreamy local darkwave outfit Kill Scenes and Indiana goth project Twice Dark.

Anatomy of Habit Kill Scenes and Twice Dark open. Sat 2/11, 7 PM, Cobra Lounge, 235 N. Ashland, $14.84, 17+

Read More

The Racial Justice Writers’ Room is part of RICJ’s Racial Justice Reporting Hub and Writers’ Room is funded by the Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation. DePaul University’s Center for Communication Engagement is donating resources for the group’s in-person meetings.

The project was launched under former Chicago Reader co-publisher Karen Hawkins, who will be among eight mentors to support the first cohort. Reader editor in chief Enrique Limón will also serve as a mentor. Each applicant proposed a story for a project of their choice, and they will receive guidance and mentorship from other journalists throughout the reporting process. They will keep the rights to their work, and will be able to pitch their stories to any media outlet upon completion.

She is the Senior Professional in Residence in DePaul University’s journalism program, teaching documentary production, social justice reporting, media ethics, and broadcast writing.

Meet the  eight participants in the first Racial Justice Writers’ Room cohort, which starts Feb. 13.

For more information on RICJ and the Chicago Reader, visit our about page.

Join the team! For current career openings visit our careers page.

Read More