Movie Review: Deadpool 2 (2018)

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.

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

 

June 15, 2018 by Natasha Categories: 2018, Movies, movies, Review, ReviewsTags: Deadpool, Deadpool 2, Firefist, Josh Brolin, Julian Dennison, Karan Soni, Lesly Uggams, Morena Baccarin, Movies, Review, Ryan Reynolds, superheroes, T.J. Miller, X-Force, X-Men, Zazie Beetz 3 Comments

Marvelous Mondays: X-Men 3: The Last Stand (2006) by MovieRob

Hey everyone!!!

Today we have the awesome Rob posting again with another X-Men. He reviewed the first two here and here. Thanks for always being willing to contribute Rob! #youRock

Let’s see what Rob has to say about this movie!

“Since the dawn of existence, there have always been moments when the course of history shifted. Such a turning point is upon us now: the conflict between the better and worst angels of our very nature, whose outcome will change our world so greatly there will be no going back. I do not know if victory is possible. I only know that great sacrifice will be required. And because the fate of many will depend on a few, we must make the last stand. ” – Professor X

Number of Times Seen – 4  (2007, DVD, 5 Mar 2013 and 6 Jan 2015)

Brief Synopsis – After a medical cure is discovered to stop the “Mutant X” gene, forces of good and evil face off in order to stop the military from using the drug

My Take on it – One of the things that I have always enjoyed about the X-Men series is how the mutants are basically stand-ins for minorities and how the stories fit into the world we live in that is filled with prejudice and hate.

This movie raises the ultimate question in those situations: what would we all do if there was a way to take away the “differences” between everyone in the world?

Will it make things better?

or worse?

There really is no true answer to that question but it is great to see how this kind of scenario would play out in the world of Mutants.

This story is still the weakest of the original X-Men trilogy, but I think that has more to do with the fact that as the popularity (and budgets) of these movies got greater, they felt it was necessary to introduce many new characters to the story-lines which as we all know lessens the character development in a movie and hence muddles too much along the way.

It was nice to see the holdovers from the previous films, but most of them have little to nothing to do here.

Another issue I had with this film is that it feels as if they wanted to try and tie up too many loose ends, but ultimately, they created too many new questions that would allow for an opening for further sequels which defeats the benefit of tying up those loose ends.

The action and special effects are still top notch and makes for a fun superhero movie.

Ultimately, this is a fun fast paced X-Men movie that just can’t live up to the greatness of its predecessors and if it wasn’t a third part, would have been perceived much better than it was.

Bottom Line – Nice to see the X-Men again, but this story is the weakest of the original trilogy and slightly ruins the series by trying to add in too many new characters.  They tried to tie up a lot of loose ends here, but just raised even more questions, which left things too open-ended. Very action packed and still a fun superhero movie. Recommended!

Rating – Globe Worthy 8/10

January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 by Natasha Categories: Marvelous Mondays, Movies, ReviewsTags: guest posts, Marvelous Mondays, MovieRob, Professor X, Reviews, X-Men 9 Comments

Marvelous Mondays: X-Men (2000) by MovieRob

Hey all!

Rob has been super great during this blogathon… here he is back again today with a review of X-Men that was released in 2000. Thanks Rob!

“Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward. ” – Prof. X

Number of Times Seen – at least 10 times (Theater on opening night in 2000, DVD and 9 Dec 2014)

Brief Synopsis – A group of mutants with superpowers band together to defend the world from other mutants and humans who wish to let their fear of the others rule their actions.

My Take on it – Growing up, I was a Huge fan of comics from the DC universe, but besides GI Joe and the Transformers, I stayed far away from all of the other Marvel titles.

I obviously knew about Spiderman and most of The Avengers from cartoons on TV, but I was never properly exposed to the X-men until I saw this movie on the night it came out in 2000.

What an experience that was for me because it opened my eyes to the possibility that a superhero movie can be more than just fun; the added layers of fear, genocide and accepting those that are different really spoke to me in ways I couldn’t imagine.

This movie does an excellent job introducing and immersing us into a world populated by mutants while at the same time gives us an action packed superhero movie.

This is one of the superhero movies that completely changed the genre and the way moviegoers think about films like this.

Bottom Line – Amazing entry in the series that does a great job of introducing the world with mutants and also gives us an action packed storyline. This movie made me a fan of the X-men. Highly recommended!

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10)

December 15, 2014December 14, 2014 by Natasha Categories: Movies, ReviewsTags: marvel, Marvelous Mondays, X-Men 8 Comments

Marvelous Mondays: Days of Future Past by The Sporadic Chronicles of a Beginner Blogger

Today’s Marvel installment if from my bestie Bkushi over at The Sporadic Chronicles of a Beginner Blogger. If you haven’t, go to her site and quickly click on her follow button. I guarantee you it is worth it! Thanks for taking part mah friend!

“Just because someone stumbles and loses their path, doesn’t mean they’re lost forever.”
– Charles Xavier

SYNOPSIS: The ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods in X-Men: Days of Future Past. The characters from the original X-Men film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from X-Men: First Class in an epic battle that must change the past – to save our future. – via IMDB

So after all this time, I saw that Days of Future Past was still chilling on Chemistry Kidney’s list, and I thought this was unacceptable in the most extreme kind of way. How was this possible? Does this movie not deserve love, if not at minimum its due? Well, I am here to right that.

For one, I was really excited about this movie. I was excited because Bryan Singer was coming back for it. I was thrilled because it was part of the new segment of these movies, featuring James McAvoy (and you all know how I feel about him), Michael Fassbender and some more fantastic actors and actresses. I was over the moon because it was going to be a mash up of the old and the new actors. Initially I was not sure how this was going to work out, but I had faith. I avoided reading too much about this movie because I wanted it to be fresh and new when I went in.

I was so amped to see this, and I was not disappointed at all. Days of Future Past touts some simply amazing effects (especially Blink’s portals), and the cast handled their roles incredibly well across the board, too. The story, which should have been incredibly complex, is presented in such a way that it does not lose the audience, which is no simple feat to achieve. It never once comes across as though it is treating the audience as though they don’t have the brain capacity to follow it either, which is also great. Anyway, Hugh Jackman returns to helm the role of the insanely popular Wolverine once more and it was a much better outing for him, considering The Wolverine was such a let-down. Wolverine features prominently here, but it never becomes only about him. There was such a vast amount of characters in this movie, but it didn’t cumbersome, though there are a few I would have liked to see more of. Maybe in future movies. Too many characters usually result in a terrible ordeal, but the balance was struck pretty well here.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender take up their roles of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr and both excel at it once again (as though I expected anything else). McAvoy plays a more disillusioned and broken Charles, and he plays it fantastically. Tortured, bitter, depressed and prickly, he is holed up with Hank McCoy Nicholas Hoult plays Beast really well, and I think him and McAvoy work well together, too, and the arguments that Beast has with Wolverine are excellent. There was a ridiculously hilarious bit about the revered JFK and Magneto, and it had me laughing quite a bit, seeing as how I find the Kennedy assassination wildly enthralling. Anyway. Evan Peters, whose pictures popping up just before the launch of the film did nothing to allay worries about his character appearance (though his performance was never in question), stole the show in each and every single scene he featured. It was sheer perfection, and I think he was an excellent embodiment of Quicksilver. The film struck a perfect balance between action, drama, and wittiness, and needs to be commended for that.

I feel, sadly, that Peter Dinklage was criminally underused in here. Trask represented a character that could have been so much more intense and layered had they just spent some more time on him, though I understand the movie needed to move some things along (as it is, Days of Future Past comes in at 131 minutes). Still, I would definitely have enjoyed seeing more of him. A younger Stryker features too, and naturally I had fun with that. Jennifer Lawrence returns as Mystique, and is still impressive as ever in the role. The story revolves more around her decisions and the way she thinks than anything else, but it worked for this. She is an incredibly popular mutant, so that worked out just fine. I adored seeing Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen return for a last outing as the mutants we have come to love over the years, and while their roles were not huge, they were pretty integral to all that was happening. The Sentinels themselves looked great and were well done, and it is easy to see why they would be so terrible and scary.

Overall, there is a lot to say about this movie, but I am going to stop for now. Obviously I was rather taken with this movie. If you have not seen it, go now and rectify that immediately. This was some of the most fun I’ve had at cinema in a while, and it loses none of its rewatch value, either. It is my favourite X-Men flick to date.Days of Future Pastis fun, smart, fast and entertaining – everything an X-Men film should be.

November 24, 2014November 20, 2014 by Natasha Categories: Marvelous Mondays, Movies, ReviewsTags: Blogathon, Charles Xavier, Days of Future Past, Erik Lehnsherr, Evan Peters, High Jackman, James McAvoy, Magneto, Marvelous Mondays, Michael Fassbender, Movies, Nicholas Holt, Peter Dinklage, Reviews, Wolverine, X-Men 18 Comments