It has been a while since I have seen a truly great Steven Soderbergh movie but this one comes close again.

It sort of is a trend for recent biopics to not be movies that focus on it's main subject's entire lifespan but focus on one, relatively short, period instead. This has many advantages, one of them being that a movie can take its time to tell a story and doesn't have to rush through the decades and gloss over some important and emotional things. It doesn't always work out well though. Sometimes focusing on one event- or several years of a person's life isn't enough to learn anything about the person and what's driving him or her. It works for this movie however. It's a movie that's not really telling you anything but instead it's simply showing you it, as it all happens. It feels like an observation of events and through it, you slowly start to get into the character's mindsets.

It's also not picking any 'sides'. This is just as much a movie about Scott Thorson as it is about Liberace really. But through Scott Thorson, played by Matt Damon, you actually also start to learn about Liberace's, played by Michael Douglas, behavior and personality. It's an effective approach, that keeps things interesting as well as unpredictable. Even if you think you know plenty about Liberace already, you still don't know everything- or can predict all of the things that shall happen in this movie.

By just looking at Liberace, you know that he has got to be an unique personality, with an out of the ordinary lifestyle. It are people like this who always trigger the imagination and start to intrigue you, the fist moment you lay eyes on them. You may not like or admire them but it's still interesting to learn about the person behind the person. Because lets face it, Liberace was one big showboat, with an unique distinctive look and outfits and show elements to his performances. But who actually was the real Liberace? The man behind all of the bling and glitter and other show elements. This movie indeed takes you behind the candelabra and it in fact focuses more on the person off the stage.

Thing that the movie does well is show you all about Liberace's lifestyle and personality, through the eyes of another person, in the form of the Matt Damon character. He slowly gets sucked (no pun intended) into the madness and absurdity of 'Liberace's world', once he gets intrigued by this unique, very gifted and charismatic man and eventually starts to fall in love with him.

So it's not just a biopic or drama but a tragic love story as well about two, ultimately, very different persons, who start to develop an unique relationship. Thing that truly makes it work in this movie are the performances by Matt Damon and Michael Douglas. They actually have a pretty good and strong chemistry together and you can understand why their characters would be attracted to each other. It's also good to see that they weren't holding back while playing their roles. Not that the movie ever gets that explicit but there still is plenty of 'gay action' in the movie, mainly between the Douglas and Damon character. It probably wasn't always an easy- and a bit of an uncomfortable thing to play for two straight actors but Douglas and Damon show that they are great and true professionals, who besides are able to play two very convincing homosexual men.

It would have been so easy- and it perhaps was also incredibly tempting, to do things in a very exaggerated and over-the-top way for its actors but also its director and writers. After all, everything about Liberace seems over the top anyway, so why not make the movie like that as well? But the movie actually manages to find a balance between the absurdity of its subject and the tragedy. The movie feels like a very down to Earth one, despite of some of the craziness that transpires in it.

Steven Soderbergh definitely did a good job with directing this movie and of course also helps to make this a technically fine movie to watch. It has some good looking sets (the movie is set in mostly the '70's and part of the '80's), costumes and camera-work by Soderbergh himself. The make-up looks pretty convincing as well, especially for the Liberace character.

All in all, it's simply one great and not too heavy to watch drama, about an interesting subject, with plenty of fun and craziness, as well as some good depth and emotions in it.

8/10

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After a kind of slow and not all that interesting start, this movie luckily redeems itself in its second half!

I wasn't really liking where this movie was heading at at first with its story. The way the story got told made it seem like this was some sort of anti-prescript drugs movie, as if the director Steven Soderbergh had a personal beef against the pharmaceutical companies and psychiatrist who are happy to prescribe all kinds of drugs to their patients, no matter what side effects they might cause. But no, as it turned out this movie was actually about more than just that and it luckily started to develop a better and more engaging storyline for the second half of the movie.

At first it seemed that the Jude Law character was going to be a pretty redundant one but as it turned out, it actually in the end was more or less his movie. He becomes the center of attention, once certain plot lines start to develop. This is also when the movie truly starts to get interesting and the movie decides to keep throwing some nice twists and turns at you.

The movie is still lacking a certain punch to it, to ever truly impress but the movie as it is still works out fine as an original and interesting enough little thriller. It's certainly different from the usual genre attempt, so if you have grown tired of watching big, slick and formulaic Hollywood genre movies, this is a great alternative for you!

Thing this movie fails at though is making you truly feel involved with anything or anyone. The characters are lacking a certain depth to them, to make you feel truly involved with any of them and care about their faith and the eventual outcome of this movie. emotionally this just isn't a very good drama but luckily the thriller elements still work out well enough, so it sort of makes up for things.

Of course another thing that this movie has obviously going for it is its acting. Rooney Mara is especially great and I also really liked Jude Law in his role. It still seems like a weird choice to cast Channing Tatum in any sort of dramatic role but luckily he never becomes the main focus of this movie, so he doesn't really get to 'ruin' anything.

A good and original watch but just not the greatest genre movie you are ever likely to come across.

7/10

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Based on the autobiographical novel, the tempestuous 6-year relationship between Liberace and his (much younger) lover, Scott Thorson, is recounted. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Matt Damon, Michael Douglas, Rob Lowe and others

Current release date: May 26, 2013

A woman turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband's upcoming release from prison. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law and others

Current release date: January 8, 2013

A woman turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband's upcoming release from prison. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law and others

Current release date: February 8, 2013

It's always good to see something fresh and new. This movie turns tables around and turns men into sexual objects, the same way women have been portrayed for years, in many different type of movies. And I truly applaud this approach, since it finally gives women something tasty to look at (goes for some men as well of course) and something to lust over. After all, women are only human as well, it appears.

It really was inferable a movie like this would be made one day. But it's surprising to see it's being a pretty decent movie to watch as well. Yes, even for straight males. It's also somewhat surprising to see how popular and what a box office hit this movie was. This was probably only mean more movies like this, catered toward women, will be made, or at least more movies with some male nudity in it. It probably will start to become more acceptable and in some ways also starts being a must to bring in a large crowed, also for big mainstream movies. in that regard "Magic Mike" might turn out to be a revolutionary movie but for now, it simple remains a pretty good and fun little movie to watch.

And it really is a fun, little, harmless movie. Serously, I can't anyone being offended with this movie its theme or amount of nudity. The striptease moments really get really well incorporated into the movie and are not just there to shock or to make women gush. it's obviously being a big part of the story and everything got quite tastefully done. Even the straight males shall be able to appreciate the choreography and all of the skills and effort that went and to it and the whole way it got brought to the screen, by Steven Soderbergh.

Steven Soderbergh's approach was probably the reason why this movie was an above average one to watch. He often manages to put a certain realism in his movies, mostly with the way he lets his actors work. That works well for this movie and makes it a mostly pleasant watch.

I still have plenty of problems with it though. In essence its being a very simplistic movie, with a simple story in it, that isn't necessarily always going anywhere. At least not anywhere interesting. Another thing is that the movie mostly seems to be focusing on two different characters, which each their own thing going on. I feel that in this particular case it would had been better for the movie to focus on just one main character and have one main story going on in it.

It's definitely true that Channing Tatum's gets better and better, with every movie he appears in. He simply was perfectly cast in his role (after all, the movie is also loosely based on his early pre-Hollywood life and career) and this movie also was the one Matthew McConaughey had been waiting for all his career! Finally he has a good excuse to take his shirt off in a movie.

All in all, it's being far from a perfect film but most women will most likely hardly care about that. It's still being a good enough movie in itself as well, for basically just about everybody to enjoy!

7/10

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Mike, an experienced stripper, takes a younger performer called The Kid under his wing and schools him in the arts of partying, picking up women, and making easy money. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Olivia Munn and others

Current release date: June 29, 2012

(Review originally written at 23 December 2007)

Basically this movie is a great, fun, quality way to spend 2 hours.

The whole script and 'criminal plan' in it is not as cleverly or solid constructed as in the first movie, so fans of the first, don't expect another "Ocean's Eleven". The movie doesn't really have a clear main plot, since you as a viewer also don't know exactly how the plan is going to work out. It isn't really the sort of a movie with a clear beginning, middle and end. It's more the sort of movie with a story that just 'happens', in which events just happens as they come along. It also adds to the unpredictability of the movie, which is of course on the other hand a good thing.

It's again a greatly directed movie, with some great and unique classy style of its own, that shall remind you the most of movie's from the old days. The movie is good looking and fast paced, which makes the 2 hours go by without really realizing it.

It was great to see Al Pacino in a role such as this. He hadn't played a real villain for far too long! In this movie he can basically let himself go, but without ever really doing so, in order to not totally outclass the rest of the cast, that are after all the real heart of the series and are what the movies are all about. All of the other 'eleven' actors also appear in this movie again. It's obvious they still have just as much fun playing together as they did when they first started in 2001. That is the foremost reason why it's not unthinkable that more sequels will follow in the future, which will most likely also be directed again by Steven Soderbergh, who also seems to get along with the cast just fine. It's the fun and the fun that the actors obviously had playing together in this movie. that makes "Ocean's Thirteen" also such a fun movie to watch. Especially George Clooney and Brad Pitt seem to have really found each other.

No, nothing too impressive or memorable but as long as your expectations for it aren't too high and you're not expecting another "Ocean's Eleven", you'll simply have a fine and fun time watching this and therefor this is a real recommendable movie.

7/10