CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
Film Review: Channing Tatum’s ‘10 Years’ Resuscitates High School For 50 Worthwhile Minutes
CHICAGO – “10 Years” unintentionally backfires by proving that a real-life Hollywood couple – Channing Tatum and his actual spouse of three years Jenna Dewan-Tatum – has less on-screen chemistry than two actors who’ve practically never met.
Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
Attempting to capitalize on everything we loved, hated and have certainly never forgotten about high school, “10 Years” is a somewhat effective blast to the past that mixes the seemingly authentic moments of various intersecting characters with forced attempts at overly obvious Hollywood screenwriting.
Exploiting nostalgia as its primary sales tool and Channing Tatum as its linchpin casting credit, I watched the progression of some of the characters and their stories indifferently. For others, my life would have been improved without them and the film would have benefited by cutting the bloat they added to the project.
Read Adam Fendelman’s full review of “10 Years”. |
But there was one and only one bewitching story – with actual enchantment and intrigue – that I felt like I had to watch. It wasn’t co-leads Channing Tatum (Jake) and Rosario Dawson (Mary). Their characters have moved on to other people since a flame that lasted throughout high school. And it wasn’t even Jake with his real-life wife Jenna Dewan-Tatum (Jess), who played his current lover.
Instead, anyone attempting courtship should have emulated the romance between Kate Mara (Elise) and Oscar Isaac (Reeves). Their backstory was never even realized and, of course, is propelled with titillation because its undertone is infidelity. They’re the only two you actually root for in this film and grow to care about – all while their affair is the most unethical of all.
Channing Tatum, Rosario Dawson, Justin Long, Kate Mara, Chris Pratt and Ari Graynor.
Image credit: Anchor Bay Films