10 February 2023.
By Neptune
MAGIC MIKE’S LAST DANCE **
This Steven Soderbergh extravaganza starts off with quite a bang. We’re in beautiful Miami and the living is rich. Our hero, Mike, who was a male stripper (played by the talented Tatum Channing, from the past two Magic Mike movies), is now bartending at the charity bash of the bored but fabulously wealthy Max, who is played by the curvaceous Salma Hayek Pinault (“From Dusk till Dawn” and “Frida” amongst her many films, and wife of one of France’s top billionaires).
Mike and Max end up in a steamy lap dance that is a specialty from Magic Mike’s past. Their performance is somewhat reminiscent of the incredible love scene Hayek did back in 1995 with Antonio Banderas in “Desperado”, when they moved like two glorious felines.
Well, that feat gets Mike a free trip to Max’s lavish home in London and a job opportunity as the new director of the theatre that she seems to have inherited from Roger, the English multimillionaire whom she is divorcing. You’ve got the gist of the story, and it’s been fun and fresh up till now.
Now Mike has to create a fabulous dance spectacle for Max’s theatre and he may be in over his head. The repetitive buildup to all this and the grand finale is where the film, despite a beautifully erotic water dance, goes overboard. It becomes not only sappy emotionally but also embarrassing and unreal. Pity, for some of those moves are amazing.
ALIBI.COM 2 *1/2 (vo French)
Why do the French keep making such inane comedies when they are so talented?
This one is about a group of guys who started a company to create alibis for people who are in trouble. Don’t ask. Now the main man of the group is in love, wants to get married and be honest, but some events intervene and he has to go back to his buddies for some alibis for himself. It’s a lot of silly slapstick.
MUMMIES (Sacrées Momies)
I missed the press screening but this sumptuous animation looks good, and also thrilling for children interested in ancient history (Egypt) melding into the modern world.
Do rush to these excellent films before they are off the screens (reviewed here already):
LA CONSPIRATION DU CAIRE (showing at the Cinelux, see on their site for times)
CARAVAGE (at the Grütli and the Bio)
RESTE UN PEU (at the Grütli, only on Monday 13/2 at 14h and 16h30)
THE LUNCHBOX (Grütli, Tuesday 14/2 at 15h)
Get the schedules here.
“VIVA FRIDA KAHLO” in Lausanne
Speaking of Salma Hayek’s “Frida”, here’s the real McCoy! Make sure to see this brilliantly produced, full-immersion exhibition about the mythical Mexican painter who created some of the most colourful and exuberant art despite her terrible accidents and lifelong handicaps.
Showing at the Beaulieu complex in Lausanne until March 19, the exhibition depicts her amazing life and paintings in an “immersive experience”. It combines narration, music and moving images on the walls around you, as it takes you through her turbulent, painful, short but very rich life which she shared with many world figures, but above all, her husband Diego Rivera, Mexico’s grandest painter and muralist of the early 20th century.
This is a moving experience not to miss! You can find all the info on their site – vivafridakahlo.ch.
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars
By Neptune
Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.

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