Magic Mike

Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey, Cody Horn

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Rating: B

Despite coming out as a movie all about male strippers, "Magic Mike" has more plot to it than audiences would think. Judging from the trailer, the movie appears to be all about Mike (Tatum) and his dream of breaking out of the stripping business to having his own custom made furniture store. Instead, you get less strip scenes but enough of almost-nude moments to not be a disappointment.

The movie focuses on three central characters. Dallas (McConaughey) owns a small strip joint in Tampa, Florida where he partakes in a few of his own strip nights. Dallas dreamed of taking the business to Miami where the money would come in larger quantities and he would split the profits with Mike who's been his partner for years. When Mike brings in Adam (Pettyfer), a 19-year-old needing money, and he joins the pack and helps Dallas pull in more money, Mike's partnership gets downgraded.

Adam doesn't know what to do with his life but after bumping into Mike, he gets sucked into the world of stripping and selling drugs on the side. What brings this movie into perspective is Adam's protective older sister, Brooke (Horn), who disapproves of the party lifestyle and only wants the best for Adam. She finally gives him the boot from her apartment when she can't stand seeing how his life has gone downhill.

What "Magic Mike" manages to do is get audiences to care about the characters, which is why by the end of the movie it's no surprise that there could potentially be a "Magic Mike 2". The movie manages to pack in good amounts of comedy and drama, similar to the fashion of "Bridesmaids" and "Horrible Bosses". Before I first saw this movie, my expectations were it would be a disappointment. Instead, it proved to be worth the watch and was a personal reminder not to judge movies on their premise.

Haywire

Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Rating: B+

Mallory (Carano) is not your average black ops agent. After completing a successful mission in Barcelona to retrieve a kidnapped journalist, Mallory is sent to Dublin where she is supposed to go undercover with an MI6 agent, Paul (Fassbender). However, Paul has different orders and tries to kill Mallory after the job. Mallory has to fight for her survival while any police force is on the lookout for her and find the people responsible for her planned execution.

Haywire is an action thriller that Hollywood has taken a new spin on. This film is not the average action movie where people can fight and escape with minimal cuts and bruises. When Mallory gets hit, she gets hit hard and it shows. When she falls down after climbing down a building, she doesn't get up and run like it didn't affect her. She stumbles and the audience can obviously see that it was not easy to get up and keep moving.

Haywire's plot isn't over-dramatized. There isn't enough time in the film for character build up so it's hard to get the audience to sympathize for Kenneth, Mallory's ex, or Paul, who is just trying to do his job. The film follows Mallory as she tells her story by starting with her getting closer to the people trying to kill her. She explains to an innocent bystander who ended up being carjacked and taken hostage by her how she ended up running from the police as she hunts for her former boss. The suspense keeps building up as Mallory gets closer to her enemy.

Carano is someone audiences should look out for in the future. Haywire is one of the first few films she's appeared in, though it isn't her first action fighting film. In 2009 she was played a part in Blood and Bone, an underground fighting club type of movie. Next year she'll be appearing in the sequel to Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

While Fassbender may have a brief role in Haywire, as an actor he is busy enough. After appearing in four films in 2011, Fassbender has a few projects up his sleeve for the coming year. He's proven to be a versatile actor, from portraying a classic Mr. Rochester in a remake of Jane Eyre, to being "mutant and proud" in X-Men: First Class, and playing a troubled man with an addiction in the film Shame. Fassbender is an actor worth remembering to watch out for.

Back to Haywire, if you're looking for a good action/crime thriller to see, this is worth checking out. Don't be fooled by the "R" rating because there is not enough in this film to be truly "R". Yes of course there is action, but is there an absurd overuse of cursing? No. There is no sex scenes, only a brief kissing scene. Other than that, this movie should really be rated "PG-13". It's short and to the point, so it can't be a complete waste of time.