Hail, Caesar! Review
I went to see a Thursday 7:15p showing. It is a smaller auditorium in the theatre, with about 30+ people in it. In my row, I am pretty sure two girls are Channing Tatum fans. Channing has three or four scenes, two are more substantial. The total of his screen time is about 15 minutes. His first appearance is 50-min into the movie, the last one, 80-min into the movie. The movie is short though, only about 100 minutes.
Now non-spoiler part of my review.
The movie is full of great moments, but as a whole, it lacks an engaging storyline. The most likeable character in the movie is definitely the western star Hobie Doyle (played by Alden Ehrenreich). Alden got a lot of praises. He is relatively unknown, therefore many find him a pleasant surprise. I think it also has something to do with his better character development. The movie has many interesting characters, aside from Eddie, Baird and Hobie, you can only get a glimpse of other characters, and I need a TV mini series to explore all the sub plots. In this movie, Josh Brolin's main character Eddie Mannix has a lot to deal with within one day, but they are not as exciting as the movie's trailers tricked you to believe. In the end, everything is back to normal, except for Burt. The movie has its flaws, but isn't the filmography looking so good? I love ScarJo's water ballet scene and Channing's tap dance number.
Spoiler Part.
(1) Burt Gurney might just be the first gay character Channing ever played on big screen. In Hail, Caesar!, the fixer Eddie Mannix referred Burt as Laurence Laurentz’s (played by brilliant Ralph Finnes) protégé. I got a feeling that they were actually lovers, and Burt leaked the gossip about Baird (how he got the role in the movie "On Wings as Eagles") to one of the Thacker sisters (played by Tilda Swinton). The movie is not long, I think the Coens didn't have the intention to explore the closeted actor sub plot (The Laurence, Baird, Burt love triangle?), but they gave viewers the naughty sailor dance as a wink, then fans can explore the possibilities in fan fictions.
(2) Coen's movies need repeat viewings. There are a lot of things you may overlook during the first time you watch their works. For example, in the dance scene, Burt made this jump.
Pay attention, he made a similar jump in the submarine scene. I feel this is the way Coen brothers show you that Burt had been planning this escape for a long time. Speaking of the submarine scene, it made me laugh so hard. I am okay with a blonde Channing. Also, didn't Burt has a tasteful house? Another hint that he is probably gay. Does he have a lot of wonderful nights with Laurence in it? Hehe.
Friday box office number is out. It seems Hail, Caesar! can only make a bit more than 10M. However, the production budget is only 22M, so it should be fine. After all, it is a Coen Brothers' personal project. I think Channing probably didn't get much for appearing in this movie. But the trade off is: (A) He got FREE training on tap dancing and singing, and the end result is well received. (B) On Thursday, I wrote: will studios be confident to give Chan and Joe money to do a movie musical? One day later, we learnt that Universal Pictures (also the company which produced Hail, Caesar!) has greenlighted an original R-rated musical comedy starring Chan and his good friend Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The premise of the project is described as two pilots on a misadventure. Could be interesting. For fans, we get to see Chan and George Clooney doing press together. They are so fun to watch, check this out:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lindsayfarber/george-clooney-and-channing-tatum-took-our-bff-test#.gxvjKnPzY
Finally, a few articles:
The first one was probably done last year, he talked about Gambit, his family etc. Some stuff I have not read before.
http://entertainment.inquirer.net/189367/channing-tatum-tap-dances-for-the-first-time-and-sings-too
The following two are about his dance training. They all praised Channing.
http://playbill.com/news/article/how-newsies-tony-winning-choreographer-made-a-tap-dancer-out-of-channing-tatum-384444
http://www.broadway.com/buzz/183746/channing-tatums-broadway-tap-coach-meredith-patterson-on-the-joy-of-yelling-at-the-hail-caesar-hunk/
A love letter to CT's career so far
http://uproxx.com/movies/hollywood-figured-out-channing-tatum/
Coen Brothers Interviews
http://variety.com/2016/film/features/coen-brothers-hail-ceasar-george-clooney-1201695058/
http://www.hitfix.com/motion-captured/joel-and-ethan-coen-on-how-they-turned-hollywood-history-into-the-hysterical-hail-caesar
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/04/the-coen-brothers-the-oscars-are-not-that-important.html
Now non-spoiler part of my review.
The movie is full of great moments, but as a whole, it lacks an engaging storyline. The most likeable character in the movie is definitely the western star Hobie Doyle (played by Alden Ehrenreich). Alden got a lot of praises. He is relatively unknown, therefore many find him a pleasant surprise. I think it also has something to do with his better character development. The movie has many interesting characters, aside from Eddie, Baird and Hobie, you can only get a glimpse of other characters, and I need a TV mini series to explore all the sub plots. In this movie, Josh Brolin's main character Eddie Mannix has a lot to deal with within one day, but they are not as exciting as the movie's trailers tricked you to believe. In the end, everything is back to normal, except for Burt. The movie has its flaws, but isn't the filmography looking so good? I love ScarJo's water ballet scene and Channing's tap dance number.
Spoiler Part.
(1) Burt Gurney might just be the first gay character Channing ever played on big screen. In Hail, Caesar!, the fixer Eddie Mannix referred Burt as Laurence Laurentz’s (played by brilliant Ralph Finnes) protégé. I got a feeling that they were actually lovers, and Burt leaked the gossip about Baird (how he got the role in the movie "On Wings as Eagles") to one of the Thacker sisters (played by Tilda Swinton). The movie is not long, I think the Coens didn't have the intention to explore the closeted actor sub plot (The Laurence, Baird, Burt love triangle?), but they gave viewers the naughty sailor dance as a wink, then fans can explore the possibilities in fan fictions.
(2) Coen's movies need repeat viewings. There are a lot of things you may overlook during the first time you watch their works. For example, in the dance scene, Burt made this jump.
Pay attention, he made a similar jump in the submarine scene. I feel this is the way Coen brothers show you that Burt had been planning this escape for a long time. Speaking of the submarine scene, it made me laugh so hard. I am okay with a blonde Channing. Also, didn't Burt has a tasteful house? Another hint that he is probably gay. Does he have a lot of wonderful nights with Laurence in it? Hehe.
Friday box office number is out. It seems Hail, Caesar! can only make a bit more than 10M. However, the production budget is only 22M, so it should be fine. After all, it is a Coen Brothers' personal project. I think Channing probably didn't get much for appearing in this movie. But the trade off is: (A) He got FREE training on tap dancing and singing, and the end result is well received. (B) On Thursday, I wrote: will studios be confident to give Chan and Joe money to do a movie musical? One day later, we learnt that Universal Pictures (also the company which produced Hail, Caesar!) has greenlighted an original R-rated musical comedy starring Chan and his good friend Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The premise of the project is described as two pilots on a misadventure. Could be interesting. For fans, we get to see Chan and George Clooney doing press together. They are so fun to watch, check this out:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lindsayfarber/george-clooney-and-channing-tatum-took-our-bff-test#.gxvjKnPzY
Finally, a few articles:
The first one was probably done last year, he talked about Gambit, his family etc. Some stuff I have not read before.
http://entertainment.inquirer.net/189367/channing-tatum-tap-dances-for-the-first-time-and-sings-too
The following two are about his dance training. They all praised Channing.
http://playbill.com/news/article/how-newsies-tony-winning-choreographer-made-a-tap-dancer-out-of-channing-tatum-384444
http://www.broadway.com/buzz/183746/channing-tatums-broadway-tap-coach-meredith-patterson-on-the-joy-of-yelling-at-the-hail-caesar-hunk/
A love letter to CT's career so far
http://uproxx.com/movies/hollywood-figured-out-channing-tatum/
Coen Brothers Interviews
http://variety.com/2016/film/features/coen-brothers-hail-ceasar-george-clooney-1201695058/
http://www.hitfix.com/motion-captured/joel-and-ethan-coen-on-how-they-turned-hollywood-history-into-the-hysterical-hail-caesar
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/04/the-coen-brothers-the-oscars-are-not-that-important.html