Gregory Jacobs
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Filmography
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Connections, in both directions
It's instructive to compare Magic Mike XXL with Pitch Perfect 2. Both are sequels to surprise hits with primarily female appeal.
(Yes, there’s a whiff of Pitch Perfect here.)
Anderson and screenwriter Joe Gangemi (Wind Chill) do a fine job of balancing dark humor, creepy vibes, and outright melodrama — although the tongue-in-cheek tone is occasionally undone by some of the plot’s more florid romantic divergences — but frankly Stonehearst Asylum is simply worth seeing for the ensemble cast, the enjoyably eerie asylum setting, and John Debney’s adorably old-school “Hammer vibe” score.
I do hope that Soderbergh continues on this trajectory of making compelling and contemplative films, as the last thing we need is another era of bad films consisting of less-than-ideal Tarkovsky remakes, half-assed crime-centric thrillers living in Ocean’s Eleven’s shadow, or films with the same erotic fervour as Magic Mike (2012-15).
Perhaps Mila Kunis ("Ted") and Cody Horn ("Magic Mike") were onto something.