Movie Review: Deadpool 2 (2018)

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Plot: Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson (AKA. Deadpool), brings together a team of fellow mutant rogues to protect a young boy with supernatural abilities from the brutal, time-traveling cyborg, Cable.

Wheeew! Am I still alive? Yes. I just SO little drive right now to write blog posts. However, I am still here, still watching and reading things, and hopefully I will have some flexibility to write more often soon.

I liked Deadpool (2016). It was original, foul mouthed and different, and Ryan Reynolds obviously had such a blast with himself that it made for a super successful movie. The return of Deadpool was imminent, and while everyone flocked to the cinemas I didn’t see myself going – mostly because Johannesburg has become sub-arctic and I am either busy working or exercising these days (more on that in other posts).

Deadpool 2 was great. It kept the same politically-incorrectness, swearing, rude, offensive style as the first one, and improved in some ways.  The dialogue is sharp and witty and contains many gold moments from Thanos-lashing to Jared Kushner, and so sharp I think some jokes were missed by the crowd.

The new support cast is fantastic. Zazie Beetz as Domino is charming, strong willed and original enough. She’s a great female addition to the team and seems to have the strongest survival skills and street smarts. Her belief in herself and that she’s lucky is the perfect attitude and she proves herself very quickly.

Villain/Anti-hero/grumpy person Cable is played by Josh Brolin, who seems on a roll this year to traumatize superhero franchise everywhere. Cable is an excellent choice in this film, and he has a lot of depth as a man from the future who is arriving to sort out a problem. He is brutal, angry and has little time for Deadpool’s wisecracks. Also, let’s just face it – Josh Brolin looks incredible and is welcome to continue traumatizing franchises for as long as he sees fit. I’m not telling him otherwise.

Then naturally there is the addition of Ricky Baker Julian Dennison. Russel Collins/Firefist is a mutant who has suffered under institution and is ready for retribution to be meted out against those who have abused him for so long. Julian Dennison plays his role really well, and it even up until the very end you aren’t sure what will happen to this character.

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Returning cast members such as Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), T.J. Miller (Weasel), Karan Soni (hilarious cabdriver and would be assassin Dopinder) and Lesly Uggams (the blind and super sassy Blind Al) keep the movie intact as a Deadpool family affair. They are not as frequent in this film, with focus on some X-Men showing face (I have very little experience with that franchise), and the focus on Cable, Deadpool and Firefist.

Deadpool 2 is great. It sets up a network for a new bunch of films to make more money and is just different enough for the people who want a bit more bite to their superheroes. Ryan Reynolds remains a treat in this role, and he has enough of Wade Wilson in him to mock himself quite literally in some parts.

There seems to be some lazy writing juuuust at the end (if you are patient enough), but the film still works. I had a blast and my cinema seemingly too, and I can assure you, if there’s an X-Force film I will be there for it.

I’d never pass for 16, but kudos for the cinema for checking if we had anyone younger than 16 in our party (hilarious though), because it definitely isn’t something for children to watch.

Have you seen the film yet? Let me know!

Rating: 8.5/10

 

Movies 2016: Worst to Best

The year 2016 will be known for a number of things – an inordinate amount of celebrity deaths and an equally inordinate amount of lackluster movies. Are these two correlated? I’m not convinced its’ not. Anyway, here is my list of movies I watched this year that was released in 2016. It’s not been a good one.

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Number 19: Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice 6/10

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Number 18: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them 6/10

Number 17: Before You 6/10

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Number 16: The Choice 6.5/10

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Number 15: How to be single 6.5/10

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Number 14: The 5th Wave 7/10

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Number 13: SUICIDE SQUAD 7/10

Number 12: Rogue One: 7/10

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Number 11: The Huntsman: Winter’s War 7/10

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Number 10: Legend of Tarzan 7.5/10

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Number 9: Finding Dory 7.5/10

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Number 8: Captain America: Civil War: 7.5/10

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Number 7: Zootopia 8/10

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Number 6: The Jungle Book 8/10

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Number 5: 10 Cloverfield lane 8/10

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Number 4: Dr. Strange 8/10

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Number 3: Deadpool (8/10)

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Number 2: Bridget Jones’ Baby: 8.5/10

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Number 1: Pride and Prejudice vs. Zombies 8.5/10

Movie Review: Just Friends (2005)

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Plot: While visiting his hometown during Christmas, a man comes face-to-face with his old high school crush whom he was best friends with — a woman whose rejection of him turned him into a ferocious womanizer.

Rating: 5/10

It’s rarely that I really don’t enjoy a movie and just wish for it to end. Mostly that only happens when Adam Sandler is involved. I’m most often on board in finding something to like about a film.  I decided to watch Just Friends because I find Ryan Reynolds the height of adorable and he was so damn cute when he just started out. This silly comedy however didn’t satisfy me on any level. Ryan Reynolds was annoying as fat Chris Brander and thin Chris Brander. He was without a personality or substance, and his thicker years didn’t bestow wisdom on him. Amy Smart as Jamie Palamino was a bit lame (okay, a lot), and I couldn’t understand why Chris was carrying a torch for her. Anna Faris as Samantha James was created to be the comedic relief, but there was no comedy nor any relief in this film. I found it stupid, insincere and not funny. I think I’m probably missing the point of the film, it’s probably one of those “So bad it’s good” things, but I’ve seen a couple of those and this wasn’t on that level. Oh well, you can’t win at everything, can you, Deadpool?

Have you seen this? What did you think?

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Movie Review: The Proposal (2009)

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Plot:  A pushy boss forces her young assistant to marry her in order to keep her visa status in the U.S. and avoid deportation to Canada.

Rating: 7/10

It seems that I can put movies into two categories in my life – what I saw before the blog, and what I saw after I started the blog. There is some time difference (I think I started here in 2011/2012), so most of the things in the “before” section needs to be looked at again.

The Proposal is one of those films. For some reason didn’t enjoy it back then. I think I was convinced that Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds had no chemistry on screen. It’s not true though – they worked well together. Can I just be a bit happy for the challenged gender stereotypes in here? Bullock is the total boss and Ryan is her assistant and I was just like yasss queen.

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Most romantic comedies have some gaping holes that should have been stories though, and The Proposal doesn’t really escape from that. I would have enjoyed seeing Andrew’s relationship with his dad being addressed as it was obviously full of anger.  It was sadly just used as a ploy to get Andrew to connect more to Margaret. I’m very confused why Gertude (Malin Ackerman) was named Gertrude and why the hell she was even in this story. She’s obviously Andrew’s old girlfriend, and that’s fine, but why is she only that? Like, she doesn’t cause Andrew to question what he’s doing, he doesn’t seem to b aware of her existence, nothing. It also seems that Malin Ackerman’s main claim to acting is walking into a room and to smile, waiting for the other characters to notice how pretty she is.  It’s mean, but I’ve yet to find a role where she actually has a purpose.

I really enjoyed Betty White as the grandma, she was a complete scream as usual. This woman has just seemingly spent her entire life being a complete joy to everyone around her, and I liked that her character wasn’t just this old granny, she had a ton of personality and opinions.

I definitely enjoyed this film. It seems I’ve given it quite a high rating with a seven, but films should be judged within their genre, and whether you had a damn good time. And I say YES to both of these questions!

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July 2016: Watched, Read, Loved

Gosh I’m glad it’s August! I am over the cold in Johannesburg. For reals man. July was a pretty decent month. I got to see my bestie, and even though the circumstances weren’t that great, I am grateful that I at least got to spend some quality time with her.

Personally I think my eyes finally cleared with a few people in my life – there is a certain level of selfishness I can’t tolerate, and this person finally reached it. I should have cut ties ages ago, but when I bond to someone, you really have to nuke me out of it. Well, I’ve been nuked.

Hmm, what else? I’ve had a couple of hectic weekends and it reflected on my scarcity on my blog, which always happens and always frustrates me. I’m going to do my very best to post more often, as it makes me super happy.

And here’s a rundown of what I’ve been watching and reading. Enjoy, and tell me below what you’ve been up to 🙂

Watched:

At home:

Proposa

The Proposal

I saw this film before I opened this blog, and I have always thought that it was an okay film. I actually really enjoyed this so much when I watched it again. Queen Sandra Bullock and a very young and adorable Ryan Reynolds certainly make an interesting couple onscreen, and I thought the dialogue and hysteria was spot on and funny in the film.

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The Wedding Planner

Oh, Maththew McConaughey has a few gems under his belt before he started being all badass in things like True Detective and that other horsey movie that everyone liked. This is a boogy, definitely, and it was silly enough that I got quite annoyed. There were a few pros, which I will mention when I review the film soon, but let it be noted that Jennifer Lopez is a fantastic singer (for her genre) but acting should never be part of her repertoire.

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Valentine’s Day

VD worked well, and it is surprising because the film is packed with actors and actresses, and that rarely works. Mostly it is just a situational feel good film, but there is nothing wrong with that!

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Runaway Bride

I’m on such a Gary Marshall/Julia Roberts run, it is not even funny. They do seem to be a dream team, because when they get together there always seems to be some romantic comedy as a result that is actually enjoyable to watch. Between this and Pretty Woman I enjoyed Pretty Woman much more, but I definitely liked this.

Skyfall

I already reviewed here, and if you haven’t read it yet, rest assured that I really liked this Bond film. It’s my second favorite after Casino Royale, and I must say, I am really surprised how much I’ve enjoyed all these films.

 Ugly truth

The Ugly Truth

It’s really ugly, and it’s really bad. The awful dialogue results in awful acting, I’m not really blaming our leads here at all, it’s just a shit film with crap writing and is as believable as anything Donald Trump says.

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27 Dresses

JAMES MARSDEN. You have no idea the amount of hilarity this man causes in my family. I really like him, but his dress sense in this film was absolutely awful. Like, AWFUL. It is also a depressing movie – I will shoot myself before I’m a bridesmaid 27 times, it’s just not right or fair. I love our girl Katherine Heigl in here, and thought there were pretty good moments between the rapid romances and problems being solved easily.

In Cinema:

The Legend of Tarzan:

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I reviewed this one here. It’s man candy season in this film. I’m not gonna lie. However, it isn’t nearly as bad as the trolls want you to believe, and I am still calling it the most pleasant surprise of 2016.

Series:

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Vampire Diaries Season 4

I finally switched it back on! It was a time issue, not because I’m struggling to watch it. It is still quite a solid show, but there are a few dips, something that probably can’t be helped when you travel this far into a show. I’ll post all the reviews once I’m done watching, then I can do them consecutively across a couple of weeks : )

Books read:

The Obsession – LOVED this!

Honest Illusions – It was okay – review here

Currently reading:

I’m actually in the middle of way too many books! I am reading Twilight again (the shame, I know) and I am definitely enjoying it more than Blood Bound (Rachel Vincent). I can promise you, when I get through this book, the review will be up here in no time and it will be a bad one – this book is so stupid. It is taking me ages to get through it, a damn shame because it is supposed to be a quick read.

So there it is – I am way behind on everything in life at the moment, but at least I got to do see and read some great material! What have you been up to?

Movie Review: Deadpool (2016)

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Plot: A former Special Forces operative turned mercenary is subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopting the alter ego Deadpool

Rating: 8/10

There is a war going on right now. You might be thinking that I refer to the war between DC and Marvel, but this war I speak of is one where Marvel and DC seem to be on the same side. The other side is us, the innocent consumers. Because every time I hear a mention of superhero fatigue, either Marvel or DC does something that makes you pack that exhaustion away and sit back and watch another damn entertaining movie.

Deadpool is nothing like anything that has been seen on the screen in a very long, if ever, time. It is rude, very inappropriate and not for anyone who takes offense every time someone who makes a joke that is very below the belt.

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Ryan Reynolds is Wade Wilson, the ex-super soldier who spends his free time beating up men who enjoy beating up women. He meets Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and for a while everything seems like it is working out. But as cancer sets in Wade is reminded of his mortality and chooses to go with the definitely shady offer that is thrown to him by a very shady looking man.

That is as far as I will go into the story, because you need to go watch that for yourself. Deadpool is hilarious and very rough, the violence is graphic and inventive. The language is strong and Marvel is out with all guns aimed at being a bit more original.

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It works. Really well. I laughed, I cringed and there were scenes where everyone wondered if someone actually said that out loud. The movie has everything it needs – violence, heroics, drama, sadness and serious concerns for some of your favorite characters. It entertains you, insults you and makes you laugh very hard.

Fuck you, Marvel.