The Witch - Movie Review

It’s safe to say that writer/director Robert Eggers‘ feature debut, The Witch, giveth no shites about your genre expectations. The film is a powerful slow burn dripping in period detail, dialogue authenticity and atmospheric dread, and while it moves at its own pace the end result is like a Halloween-themed episode of Little House on the Prairie by way of Ben Wheatley’s Kill List.

The oldest daughter, Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), is tasked with multiple chores and responsibilities, but when her baby brother is stolen during a game of peekaboo she finds herself under increasing suspicion by her God-fearing family. Accusations of witchery are lobbed her way by her fraternal twin siblings — who, let’s be honest, add to their pre-existing creepiness inherent in all twins by having conversations with their ominously named goat, Black Philip — and the familial tension continues to ratchet upwards as things go bump in the night and the isolated farm fails to deliver a bounty.

Eggers’ film, subtitled “A New England Folktale,” hits fast and early with the kidnapping/mulching of the youngest family member, but it settles down some as they decide to believe a lone wolf made off with the baby. Life goes on and all of that, but their loneliness and crop troubles quickly bring everyone — characters and viewers — back to the edge. The film’s design, from production to sound, is partly responsible for that as a score made of strings and choral voices works alongside crisply terrifying sound effects to immerse us in this dark new world. That same level of meticulous design and construction is evident in the house, costumes and conversations.

The dialogue adds immensely to that immersion, and Eggers has credited written period accounts with achieving that authenticity. “Did ye make some unholy bond with that goat?” asks William at one point, and it’s both amusingly on point horror-wise and frightening in its implications.

The film does take a minor misstep around its midpoint as the finger pointing grows out of control. Accusations of devilish intervention roll across the screen like a game of whack-a-witch as William reacts violently towards one child, then the next, and then back again without pause. It speaks to the conflict between knowledge and religious belief, where unexplained events could easily be blamed on or credited to supernatural design, and while the back and forth frustrates for a short while it ultimately adds to the uneasy atmosphere. Equally noticeable (and ultimately forgivable) is the film’s desire to build its mystery by intentional misdirection and flat-out avoidance of the truth.We’re made to wonder as to certain characters’ allegiance even though another present in the room should be able to reveal what’s happened.

The cast does strong work, from Ineson and Dickie on down to the twins, but it’s Taylor-Joy and Harvey Scrimshaw (as the family’s oldest boy child) who connect emotionally through powerful, fear-filled performances. Scrimshaw delivers with one scene in particular that sees his character speaking in tongues and terrified of what lies beyond the curtain of our world. Taylor-Joy has the tougher role of balancing her innocence in the face of increasing suspicion.

Make no mistake, The Witch is a horror film, but it’s as interested in the terrors we bring upon ourselves as it is the ones well out of our natural control. The dangers of blind faith, the trouble with interpretation, and the inability to accept the unknown as simply a temporary gap in our knowledge all combine to form a world where man continues to be his own worst enemy. Well, the witch in the woods still isn’t helping matters any either.

Anomalisa - Movie Review

There's everything else happening in America cinema, and then there's whatever Charlie Kaufman is up to.

Ever since 1999's "Being John Malkovich," he has been on a short list of American screenwriters whose work is so original that he must be thought of as an auteur, even though film is supposedly a director's medium. Formidable filmmakers have adapted his scripts, including Spike Jonze("Malkovich" and "Adaptation") and Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Human Nature"), but however assured the results, they were still unmistakably Charlie Kaufman movies, speaking their own alternately down-to-earth and elevated language.

Kaufman's mix of mordant humor, broad slapstick, self-aware storytelling devices, and images and language drawn from psychoanalysis, poetry and dreams coalesced even more strongly in his directorial debut, "Synecdoche, New York," about a playwright spending years (or a lifetime?) rehearsing and rewriting a massive production that was about his life but seemed indistinguishable from it. The undercurrents of wonder and despair ran deeper there than in any other Kaufman story, even "Eternal Sunshine."

They course throughout "Anomalisa" as well. The film could be described as a midlife crisis drama with puppets, about a depressed corporate efficiency expert (voiced by David Thewlis) who hears every voice, male or female, as the same voice (Tom Noonan's), and who becomes infatuated with a shy young woman (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who is attending his seminar in Cincinnati, Ohio. "Anomalisa" is based on an "audio play" by Kaufman. It was originally presented as part of a series of such plays, in collaboration with Joel and Ethan Coen and composer Carter Burwell, who has scored movies by both directors, including this one. The actors performed their lines while Burwell conducted a live score and sound effects artists provided background noises. Kaufman co-directed this film version with stop-motion animator Duke Johnson, whose work includes the "Community" episode "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas." It puts a "visual track" to Kaufman's audio play. The puppets are physically recognizable as "puppets," down to the segmented lines of their "face plates." But they move so realistically and speak so naturalistically (even when they're skipping across the tops of desks, as in the image at the top of this page) that there are times when you may forget that they're not people.

The puppet characters in most other films are more sprightly. They exist mainly to amuse. The characters in "Anomalisa" unsettle. Their plight makes you think about 21st century loneliness, despair and alienation— subjects that would be unpalatable if Kaufman didn't write his characters so compassionately and with such dry humor. Kaufman and Johnson shoot the characters in a carefully considered way, not cutting much, just sort of letting them sit there, and be. There are a few stealthy "long takes" in this film that would be much praised if they appeared in a live-action feature—sequences where the filmmakers simply follow characters as they traverse levels of the hotel, or have sex in a slab-like bed.

It might sound strange to say, but this puppet movie gives you a more accurate sense of what it's like to spend a few days in a nice hotel in a city of bad memories than most live-action films ever do—not that that's necessarily the kind of description that will make people want to rush out and see "Anomalisa." Like so many Kaufman characters, the ones in this movie are struggling, stumbling even, towards what might be a mirage of happiness, while battling both their own social conditioning and pathologies and the bland indifference of the world around them—a world that includes billions of other people who all think they are the stars of their own life-movies, and at times seem deeply frustrated by the fact that they haven't experienced one of those transformative moments that tell moviegoers, "Everything is going to be fine for this character now, don't worry."

Thewlis' Michael Stone is clearly unhappy with his work, his marriage, even his child. He seems disconnected from himself and the world. Not much happens to him in the plot sense. His plane touches down in Cincinnati. He settles into the hotel and orders room service while pacing and smoking a cigarette. He impulsively invites an old flame out for a drink hoping to get lucky, oblivious to the fact that he hurt her so terribly that it's painful for her to be in the same room with him.

Then he becomes smitten with a guest at the conference, a young woman who wears her hair to one side to hide a scar on her face. Her name is Lisa (Leigh), and she's the only character in the film who has her own voice (everyone else is voiced by Tom Noonan, remember). It's love at first sight—or Michael thinks it is. He seems to view Lisa as a redemptive figure, somebody who will pull him out of his existential malaise. But by that point we've spent enough time with Michael to know that he's not the best judge of what he needs. In fact his judgment is consistently terrible, and in typically Kaufman-esque fashion, we move from feeling for Michael and rooting for him to be happy to wondering if he's got some sort of debilitating emotional or mental condition (beyond the titular disorder). Then we progress into thinking about ourselves as much as Michael, contemplating our own fears, weaknesses, blind spots, and repetitive behaviors in relation to a world that barely seems to notice us.

For all its visual audacity and honest feeling, "Anomalisa" is a modest, even slight work, aesthetically sealed off from the same reality it engages. It ends a bit abruptly, just when it seemed to be ramping up towards a more definitive statement of some kind, and the general outlines of Michael's story aren't new. (Middle-Aged, Upper Middle-Class Male Grappling with Despair is pretty much a genre by this point.) But there's so much beauty and sadness in it, and so many exquisitely conceived scenes (including an impromptu musical performance that ranks with Kaufman's greatest moments), that it would be miserly to underrate it. Whether you leave the film ecstatically impressed, indifferent or disappointed, you will know you've seen something unique. Too many movies speak in a boringly typical storytelling voice. This one speaks in a voice as singular as Lisa's.

Indie Film News - 10th February 2016

Dark Dignity




Dark Dignity is the story of the women of a nomadic tribe, searching for a new home five years after the world crumbled. Civilization as we know it is gone due to The Infected that plagued North America and beyond.
This diverse mix of former suburbanites – teachers, doctors, police officers – must always be prepared to fight for survival in the badlands of rural landscapes and desert vistas. The dangers hiding behind every shadow may be thieves or gangs… or perhaps creatures once human and now forever changed.

Website - www.darkdignity.com

A Legacy of Whining

The ghosts of both past and present collide as two former high school friends reunite after thirty years and embark on a darkly humorous nocturnal fever dream of a journey where old emotions and resentments bubble to the surface once again. Written by Ross Munro

I have been granted an exclusive online viewing of this movie so that I can review it, the review will be up withing the next day or so.

Website - http://www.nextoneproductions.ca/

Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnEUlrPdfxg

Street Shots

Go check out my friend's blog "Street Shots". Posts are about photography, skating, street culture etc.

Website - http://streetshots-ds.blogspot.co.uk/

Twitter - @StreetShots_ds

Point Break - Movie Review

Takes the outline of the original and translates it for an audience that has chugged 15 Monster Energy drinks and stayed up for a week mainlining Dude Perfect videos.

“If a tree falls in the forest and no one puts it on YouTube, did it really happen?”

This is an actual line of dialogue, delivered with total sincerity, from Ericson Core’s remake of Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break. It’s one of several dumb “wisdoms” suggested by a screenplay that’s littered with bubblegum philosophy. But if you’re OK with the pseudo-Zen sentimentality of the insta-upload message in that statement, then the shallowness of this derivative and unnecessary reboot might not bother you as much as it did me. The original Point Break wasn’t Shakespeare, by any means. But it was never insultingly stupid. This is.

Core’s Point Break essentially takes the outline of the 1991 genre thriller starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze, but translates it for an audience that has chugged 15 Monster Energy drinks and stayed up for a week mainlining Dude Perfect videos. In the process, Core misunderstands everything that was important to the original film, believing that ramping up the “EXTREME” at every turn will lead to a more rewarding experience. It isn’t. It’s exhausting. Remember the exciting skydiving sequence in the original? This time out, you are going to get large-scale skydiving, surfing and motorcross stunts in the first 15 minutes! But the skydiving sequence from the first movie mattered because by the time it arrived, you cared about the characters involved in the stunt. The new Point Break people have as much depth as actors in a Mountain Dew ad.

Right off the bat, Point Break 2015 makes a fundamental error in setting up Johnny “Utah” (Utah is a nickname this time out, which makes no sense). Keanu Reeves’ version of the character in 1991 was a former athlete but a clean-cut and dedicated FBI agent who reluctantly joined a group of surfers suspected of robbing banks wearing masks of dead Presidents. (The crooks wear similar masks in one scene of the reboot, and never again, because the remake doesn’t get why that gimmick was important.) When Reeves’ Utah gets pulled into the wake of Patrick Swayze’s Bodhi, it goes against everything that Utah stands for, setting up an internal conflict that transcended the impressive stunts.

Point Break 2015 paints “Utah” (Luke Bracey) as a former extreme-sports addict who recognizes the actions of Bodhi (Edgar Ramirez) and his crew because they behave the way that he one did. No internal conflict. No stakes in the game. It’s strange, too, how after one criminal mission at the start of the movie, Bodhi and his team of elite athletes stop committing crimes (hence, the lack of presidential masks) and really don’t create any conflict that would need the FBI… taking the wind out of the movie’s sails. We’re left with new versions of Bodhi and Utah, and the comparisons between the original and the remake – which are inevitable when reviewing this movie – show how wrong this remake is. Swayze’s Bodhi was a charismatic Zen flame drawing Keanu’s moth. Ramirez’s Bodhi belongs more to the tattoo-and-leather Euro-trash category of extreme-stunt seekers. There’s far less appeal – to both him, and to the movie.

Is Point Break 2015 bigger than the original? Yep. Where Kathryn Bigelow limited her action to the sleepy beach communities of Southern California (for the most part), Core’s Point Break is a global affair that has “Utah” chasing Bodhi to the far-reaches of the Earth to stop him from… well, again, he’s not really committing any crimes, so I’m not surewhy the FBI is so hellbent on bringing Bodhi to justice. The members of Bodhi’s gang are interchangeable and forgettable. Teresa Palmer has a painfully thankless role as the Mother Hen of the gang, cooking meals for The Boys after they complete their missions, and sleeping with “Utah” because the script thinks it needs an emotional conflict. Does bigger mean better? Nope. Because really, how often does “bigger” equal “better” when it comes to Hollywood remakes?

“Let’s just be here.” That’s another pearl of wisdom spoken by a serene criminal in Point Break 2015. When you are at the movie deciding what to see, however, you should just be anywhere else.

Star Wars Rogue One News - Boba Fett

We caution you that the following is all speculation, but it's intriguing. Design and manufacturing lead times often mean that toy companies unwittingly reveal a potential spoiler or two. In this case it's Lego who've set the womp rat among the banthas with an image of a ship in its Rogue One: A Star Wars Story range that has all sorts of implications. Leave now if you don't want to know, before you look too closely at this tweet.

Still here? So yes, that image above the words "Rogue 1 Oktober" (it's a toy fair in Nuremberg) - spotted by Twitterer @StudShooter - looks very much like Slave 1, the iconically odd craft belonging to Boba Fett. Does that mean the cult-favourite bounty hunter will be making an appearance? There have been rumours before about the second of the non-numbered Star Wars "anthology" films - following Rogue Onein 2018 - centring on Fett. Is this just a fly-past cameo teasing that? Or is it simply some other modified Firespray-31-class patrol and attack vehicle? Can't be too many of them in the system...

Some rumours that have already surfaced even peg Felicity Jones' character as Fett's daughter. We couldn't possibly comment - except to say that if everyone in the revivified Star Wars turns out to be the kid of a legacy character, it's getting to be a small bloody universe.

Gareth Edwards finished cranking his cameras on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story at the end of last year, with the post-production process now well underway. The story of how the rebel pilots stole the original Death Star plans arrives in UK cinemas on December 16.

The Birth of a Nation - Movie Review - Sundance 2016

For film historians, the audacity of Nate Parker's Nat Turner biopic begins with the title: The Birth of a Nation. It shares its name with D.W. Griffith's century-old ode to the creation of the Ku Klux Klan — which, like Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda, is too innovative for its time to completely ignore, at least from an academic point of view.

But Parker beats Griffith at his own game. His take on the largest slave rebellion on American soil, which Parker directed and wrote as well as starred in, may be a little choppy, but it's also a remarkable and important teaching tool.

The story begins in Southampton County, Virginia, where young Nat, a slave on the Turner plantation, is adored by his parents and grandparents, who believe he will grow to a special purpose. As far as these things go, the Turners are “good” slavers who refrain from doling out brutal punishment and even aid young Nat by teaching him to read.

The Mistress of the house offers Nat Bible lessons (no other books, she says; those are only for whites), and he grows to become a preacher. Nat's sermons gain attention, and soon his master Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer) is essentially pimping him out to other plantations, hoping that hearing the Word of God from a fellow slave will have a quieting effect.

But seeing the enormity of slavery — especially when it takes a more demonstratively brutal form on other plantations — begins to open Nat's eyes. It's increasingly difficult for him to reconcile the Gospels with the reality around him.

As calamities befall people close to him (his wife is raped and beaten by a group of slave catchers that harassed his father), Nat decides that armed insurrection is actually his true calling.

The Birth of a Nation's most effective moments come in sequences that show the total madness of the antebellum South. The auction scenes are nauseating; even so-called “nice” whites gifting human beings to one another is almost too shocking to contemplate.

Unfortunately, Parker's style is extremely conventional in much of the film's plotting. Too often, the dialogue is on the nose, and some dreamlike images don't seem underpinned by much else in the film.

When the violence finally comes, it happens abruptly. Turner's change from a preacher to guerrilla isn't very smooth, and the independent film's low budget doesn't do the action sequences any favors.

Still: Nat Turner is, for many, just a few paragraphs in a history book. He's an important figure who reflected sentiment prior to the Civil War, but also killed a lot of random white people. Who needs to think about whether he was a hero or a crazy person; let's turn the page.

The Birth of a Nation takes a deeper dive into a man too often relegated to footnote status. The film suggests that, no, there weren't any “good whites” so long as they were enjoying an economic advantage derived from exploiting slaves. Maybe the wives of the slavers didn't “ask” to be put there, but neither did the descendants of those stolen from Africa.

It's a thorny topic, and still a relevant one; no, America hasn't solved its “race issue.” Stories like these must be told, not buried — and while this movie isn't a masterpiece (it has little of the cinematic grace and emotional resonance of Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave, for example), it is absolutely one of 2016's must-see films.

Star Wars Rogue One News - Darth Vader, Stormtroopers and More!

The Star Wars franchise returned to the big screen with Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens in December 2015, and that film was only the beginning. Disney and Lucasfilm have grand plans for the galaxy far, far away, taking the movie series beyond the traditional Skywalker saga with standalone anthology projects. The first of these, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, hits theaters this holiday season and focuses on the team of Rebels who stole the plans for the original Death Star.

With the hype surrounding The Force Awakens starting to cool down, attention will be shifting towards Rogue One, especially on the ever active Star Wars rumor mill. Keeping that in mind, fans should be eager to check out a new report that provides alleged details on the various new characters Rogue One will introduce, as well as one returning Dark Lord of the Sith.

JoBlo has an exclusive scoop covering information about the initial Star Wars spinoff. There’s nothing too juicy in their rundown (i.e. crucial plot twists), so those concerned about spoiling the experience don’t have much to worry about. Their findings are presented in a bullet list below:
The film will feature stormtroopers that wear all-black armor called Death Troopers, seemingly taking a cue from the Shadow Troopers of the now defunct Star Wars Legends series.
There’s a new droid character that works with the Rebels, and he’s a “scene stealer”
One of the main characters is named “Cashen,” but it’s unknown which actor is playing him/her
A new TIE Fighter design and AT-ATs will be shown in Rogue One
Darth Vader is in the movie, and he has a “larger role than originally thought”

The report elaborates that the new droid was originally an Imperial robot that gets reprogrammed to aid the Rebels. As for his appearance, he has long arms, two legs, and is dark grey or black in color. The character is described as being a change-of-pace from the normal protocol droid design fans are familiar with (C-3PO). JoBlo is speculating that this could be Alan Tudyk’s motion-capture role, but there’s nothing to confirm or deny that so far. It’s a logical guess, since it sounds like the technology would be necessary to bring this particular character to life. Time will tell, but after Lucasfilm won fans over with scene stealing BB-8, it isn’t surprising that they’ve apparently created another droid poised to be an instant fan-favorite.

As for Darth Vader, it’s difficult to say what exactly JoBlo means when discussing his part in the film, since it’s never been stated how much screen time the villain will receive. From the wording, it sounds like Vader will be one of the central antagonists of the film, making life miserable for Felicity Jones’ character and her team. If Vader were to have a primary role in Rogue One, it would be a smart move on Lucasfilm’s part. Nostalgia was used to great effect in the Force Awakens marketing campaign. Since Rogue One takes place before the original trilogy heroes even met, their options are limited when playing that card for the spinoff. Placing a recognizable character like Vader front and center is almost a necessity when promoting Rogue One, as that would help sell casual audiences on a Star Wars movie disconnected from the main story line. His appearance is a huge selling point.

The other items from the scoop are not so instrumental to the overall story, but do show how director Gareth Edwards will be making his film differentiate from what came before. The revelation of the Death Trooper brings to mind a behind-the-scenes image Rogue One star Donnie Yen shared, which showcased a black helmet that hadn’t been seen in a previous Star Wars movie. Not only would a new stormtrooper outfit (along with a TIE Fighter redesign) give Rogue One something unique to call its own, it would also give Disney more merchandising opportunities when it comes time to launch all the Rogue One tie-in materials. As for why they’

Exclusive Revenant Behind the Scenes Documentary

Mind blowing western from the visionary director Alejandro González Iñárritu. The Revenant has turned the heads of everyone, and I would go as far as saying it's the biggest advancement in cinematography that we've seen in the past 16 years.

Whilst feasting my eyes on The Revenant the biggest question I kept asking myself all the way through the movie was how the heck did they manage to pull off all of those incredible shots. And thankfully my questions have been answered by this intriguing 45 minute Behind the Scenes documentary answers all of my questions and showcases all of the incredible work that went into creating this blockbuster.

If you're a hardcore movie fan like me, or even just a casual viewer then this documentary will blow your mind, highly recommend watching this.

Here's the link to the video - The Revenant | "A World Unseen" Documentary

Batman V Superman News : Empire Magazine

With only 2 months left until the massively anticipated Batman V Superman movie, Empire Magazine is jumping on the hype wagon and help build the excitement for the movie.
We finally get to see our two favourite superheroes clash in possibly the most thrilling superhero film that we've seen come out of Hollywood. Empire magazine put it in the most perfect of words "History's two greatest superheroes face off in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice".

Here are the two Batman V Superman covers, also featuring articles about Star Wars Episode 8, Trainspotting, The Coen Brothers and The Walking Dead.

Sundance Film Festival - "Other People" brings audiences to tears

Molly Shannon is best known for her outrageous “Saturday Night Live” impersonations, but the woman behind Mary Catherine Gallagher impressed Sundance Film Festival audiences with her subtle, serious turn as a woman struggling with terminal cancer in “Other People.”

The film, dramedy about a gay man (Jesse Plemons) who moves home to Sacramento to take care of his mother (Shannon), kicked off the 32nd edition of the Park City, Utah festival.

As the credits rolled on the film, loud sobs echoed across the Eccles Theater, as many members of the crowd stood and cheered for first-time director (and “SNL” writer) Chris Kelly as well as his cast—including Bradley Whitford and Maude Apatow—and producers Adam Scott and Naomi Scott.

Kelly revealed that the story was mostly autobiographical. “This is sort based on my life,” he said. “When trying to cast this movie, I wanted funny people. That’s what I remember—death isn’t just sad all the time.”

He noted that there are humorous moments even when watching a loved one grapple with a debilitating illness.

“There’d be this horrible, sad, depressing experience and then my mom would be like, ‘I just got done trying medical marijuana,” said Kelly.

Shannon drew the loudest applause as she took the stage and the buzz in Park City is that the actress could get some awards attention if the right distributor picks up the film. During the audience Q&A, Shannon talked about how she started her career as a dramatic actress studying at NYU, and had to catch her breath after reading the script. “It’s just so touching when someone pulls straight from his heart,” she said.

A stream of older audience members left mid-way through the film, perhaps because of its frank depiction of sex between two men, but part of “Other People’s” charm is that it’s the rare movie that features gay characters as three-dimensional figures. Plemons character David is unable to connect with a father (Bradley Whitford) who refuses to accept that his son is gay.

“This is as much about loss as it was acceptance,” said Plemons.

Another scene-stealing performance is from 14-year-old J.J. Totah, who plays the flamboyant younger brother of one of David’s hometown friends and stages a drag dance show for his neighbors. Totah said he helped developed the character with Kelly, including his character’s obsession with carrara marble. “My character is unique and comfortable with himself,” he said, when an audience member noted he’d never seen anything like him in a movie before. “Use color and paint a picture, honey. That’s what we should all do.”

Deadpool - Movie Review

Deadpool is definitely a superhero that the general public will not know. Technically Deadpool is an antihero but then again, he is kind of in his own league as there really isn’t any other character that is similar to him. Instead of me talking about how much I love his character I will restrict myself to the movie, in order to keep this review at a reasonable length. If you want to know more about him then you may want to do a bit of a Google.

Firstly this is not a normal comic book movie. The movie wants you to believe that anyway.

For one it's rated R, as a movie like this should be). Just like his comic book counterpart, Deadpool is very Meta (you might want to look that up) and makes various references to pop culture, especially films. For a diehard movie fan like me, the references are very funny, and it’s cool to see the movie make fun of its series' and actors' past failures *cough* X-men Origins, Wolverine and Green Lantern *cough*.

With that in mind I do have to bring up that, yes, Deadpool has been in an X-men movie before, played by the same actor, but we do not speak of that movie. But on that note, I’m so happy Ryan Reynolds reprised his role as ‘the merc with a mouth’. He has now joined the group of a few actors who are the only ones that we can see playing their respected heroes i.e. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man. He fits the Deadpool persona perfectly, and he carries the entire movie. Reynolds is a joy to watch, and has many hilarious moments in the film. But that isn’t to say he is the only good character in the movie.

The supporting cast is great and they all play along to Deadpool’s interesting personality. T. J. Miller as always makes you laugh and even characters you don’t see much, like a bloody taxi driver, are great additions to the movie. I can’t leave out the two guest X-men, Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, who add a kind of balance to the film, while also helping to get the message across that this isn’t a regular comic book movie.

The movie does a great job at balancing the comedy with the serious moments. It knows when it to tone down the funny and when it doesn’t have to. There are a lot of movies that do not know how to balance the two. There were some heartfelt moments in the film, which I was pleasantly surprised by.

Now we get down to the stuff that may factor in to whether you will enjoy this movie, for my family especially.

As an R-rated movie, Deadpool does not shy away from violence and blood. Every action scene has its fair share of bone, breaking, sword stabbing and blood squirting. It’s not excessive “this is Sparta” 300 level amounts, but it is definitely present.

Also the jokes. There is an array of genitalia and sex jokes and certain actions that are scattered frfequently throughout the film. I found them all hilarious, but some perhaps older people (sorry dad but I’m calling you out) just can’t stand that kind of entertainment. But people like what they like, I’m not judging anyone.

As funny as this movie was, the story was basic: guy tortures and experiments hero, hero breaks free, hero wants revenge on guy.

So people wanting something different plot wise will be sadly disappointed. That being said, the story works for this film, as it isn’t the centrepoint and it is Deadpool himself that makes up for the lack of plot depth.

Something I do have to give the film props for though is scaling down the scope of the film. It has been getting a bit tiring seeing mass ensembles of superheroes blow up the world time and time again, so it is a breath of fresh air to have a ‘small’ film, if you know what I mean, especially before we get into one of the most hectic years in comic book movie history.

A similar thing can be said for the villain, who is a bit shallow, and doesn’t really do anything that threatens anybody.

But he makes up for that with character. He really gets into what he is doing, and it looks like he is having a great time. He is nothing special, so don’t expect a Loki or a Wilson Fisk.

After years and years of waiting the fans have finally been given the Deadpool movie we deserve. The film nails Deadpool in spades and it was really surprising given that this was a first-time director. Did I mention that this was the director’s first film? Shout out to Tim Miller.

It balances all the funny and the fourth wall breaking really well with the tension and the serious stuff. The movie may not be for everyone, due to its very obvious R rating, but the movie would probably be bad without that big fat R.

Thank you especially to Ryan Reynolds who nailed the character. I love you man. Everyone who is old enough to see it should go, and don’t take your kids.

Note: The opening credits are probably the best opening credits ever. Of all time.