Deadpool 2 - Movie Review

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, TJ Miller, Lesley Uggams, Karan Soni, Brianna Hildegard, Terry Crews, Bill Skarsgard, Rob Delaney, Eddie Marsan and Stefan Kapicic.
Written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick & Ryan Reynolds.
Directed by David Leitch.

★★★

Deadpool, the anti-hero that can't die, is back, and he's as zippy and self-referential as ever. This movie recaptures the magic of the first one and moves along nicely to new characters, particularly Cable (Josh Brolin, having the best summer ever), an assassin from the future hear to kill a young mutant that Deadpool was trying to help.

There are fun cameos, funny side-jokes, and really, the plot doesn't matter that much. Even when Wade Wilson is having a tearful moment, he has to mention this is for the Academy voters. This movie feels like everyone had a blast making it, and their enjoyment is infectious.

Bring on X-Force and/or Deadpool 3!

Deadpool 2 is #1

For the weekend of May 18-20, 2018, Deadpool 2 finally ousted Avengers: Infinity War from the #1 spot. The $125 million opening is actually a little lower than what the original opened to; nevertheless it's a big hit and it should cross $300 million domestic once it's all said and done.

Book Club opened to be decent counter-programming.

Show Dogs bombed; it always felt like a straight-to-DVD sequel to something that somehow got a theatrical release.

In limited release, Paul Schrader's First Reformed, starring Ethan Hawke as a conflicted priest, had a $25,068 per-screen average. A re-release of 2001: A Space Odyssey had a $50,000 per-screen average.

Avengers: Infinity War is now at $1.8 billion worldwide.

Rampage is in the black; it's grossed over $400 million worldwide.

Opens May 25
SOLO with Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover and Emilia Clarke.

Avengers #1 for 2nd week

For the weekend of May 4-6, 2018, Avengers: Infinity War snapped its fingers and demolished the competition, as expected. It's already grossed $1.2 billion worldwide.

Overboard did surprisingly well with its per-screen average. The gender-flipped comedy is already more successful than the 1987 Goldie Hawn-Kurt Russell original.

Despite being a reunion of the writer and director of Juno, Tully couldn't find an audience. The marketing was never really clear what it was about, besides that it's hard to be a mom. Bad Samaritan flopped.

In limited release, RBG did well. The documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsberg had a per-screen average of over $17,000.

Opens May 11
LIFE OF THE PARTY with Melissa McCarthy and Gillian Jacobs.
BREAKING IN with Gabrielle Union and Billy Burke.

Avengers: Infinity War - Movie Review

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Tom Hiddleston, Karen Gillan, Don Cheadle, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Benecio Del Toro, Danai Gurira, Idris Elba, Peter Dinklage, Benedict Wong, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Letitia Wright, William Hurt, Carrie Coon, Ross Marquand and Winston Duke.
Written by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely.
Directed by Anthony & Joe Russo.

★★★

This 2-hour 38-minute epic showdown is what all 18 previous movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been leading up to, and this movie is leading to the next Avengers movie opening in May 2019. This movie ends on a cliffhanger. It is definitely part 1. And it needs every minute it takes to get there.

I like how this just assumes you're up to speed and you've seen most of the Marvel movies leading up to this one. The action starts immediately, with Thanos (Josh Brolin) attacking Asgard looking for one of the infinity stones. The infinity stones have been around in previous movies. We know the tesseract that Loki used is one. That the stone in Vision's forehead is another. Dr. Strange's amulet is another. There are six total, and with Thanos's gauntlet, he will have ultimate power over the universe if he's able to attach the six stones to it.

There are so many superheroes in this movie that they use one line to explain why Hawkeye and Ant-Man aren't here (but they'll surely be in the next one). We get to see characters meet and interact in fun, unexpected ways, like the arrogant Tony Stark and the equally arrogant Dr. Strange. Chris Hemsworth gets to continue showing his comic chops he displayed in Thor Ragnarok by bouncing off the Guardians of the Galaxy. And so on.

This movie is really about Thanos, who's lurked in the shadows but takes center stage here. He wants ultimate power because he believes his cause is ultimately for the greater good.

I've seen a lot of references to people crying at certain deaths in this movie. I didn't. It's pretty obvious that many of the characters who die in the final battle are going to be brought back to life in the next one. And I for one am excited to see Hawkeye, Ant-Man, and (after-credits spoiler hero) team up with the survivors in the next one to take on Thanos.

Summer Box Office Preview

Summer usually doesn't start until May, but Marvel threw us a loop. Those who listen to Jedi & Jerms know I had my list written up before Avengers opened, but here's my write-up.

1. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR - $720 million - Every Marvel movie made has lead up to this point, and this movie is leading up to next year's Avengers movie, and so forth. The record opening was easy to predict.

2. INCREDIBLES 2 - $410 million - Pixar's had a couple stumbles lately (Cars 3, The Good Dinosaur), but Coco soared, and this movie should do Finding Dory type numbers.

3. SOLO - $380 million - This "smaller" side adventure looks like it's finally come together.I don't feel like this has the buzz of Rogue One, but it'll still make a ton of money.

4. JURASSIC WORLD FALLEN KINGDOM - $350 million - The marketing campaign has reminded me of Terminator: Genisys, where the initial trailers don't really spark excitement, so they cut another trailer that makes it look like a completely different story. I just get the feeling the reviews are going to be mixed and it'll fall quickly after a massive opening.

5. DEADPOOL 2 - $300 million - It's opening in a great spot, and I see it outgrossing its predecessor.

6. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT - $210 million - Tom Cruise's track record may be hit and miss lately, but the Mission Impossible franchise is rock-solid reliable. Looking forward to seeing him and Superman fight.

7. ANT-MAN & THE WASP - $190 million - Ant-Man may have sat out the latest Avengers movie, but things are getting darker over there. Here he gets to keep his light touch going, and it'll be another grossing example of how Marvel can do no wrong.

8. OCEAN'S 8 - $144 million - All-star female cast. Breezy ad campaign. Sequel without really being a sequel. It has all the markings of a summer hit, and hey, three Oscar-winning actresses letting their hair down.

9. HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3 - $125 million - This franchise is fine. Not great, not bad. I don't see why this won't be successful.

10. MAMMA MIA: HERE WE GO AGAIN - $118 million - I have zero interest in this, but I'm not the target audience. I could be wrong, and this could be a Rock of Ages level dud, but I think it's more likely to be a hit.

11. SKYSCRAPER - $110 million - Dwayne Johnson takes a break from pre-established IP and stars in a semi-original movie that looks like a cross between Die Hard in the Towering Inferno.

12. THE EQUALIZER 2 - $108 million - Denzel Washington movies tend to come out in the fall, but I see this doing just a smidge better than the original thanks to its release date.

13. CHRISTOPHER ROBIN - $100 million - Haven't seen much of this yet, but I have a sneaking suspision Disney's going to be able to pull this off, with Ewan McGregor as an adult Christopher Robin who suddenly starts seeing his old friend Winnie-the-Pooh in real life.

14. THE FIRST PURGE - $90 million - This has been a pretty reliable franchise, and while the third one effectively wrapped it up, this goes back to the beginning to show where it all began. Plus it has Marisa Tomei.

15. UNCLE DREW - $72 million - I think tracking for this will rise as it gets closer, as the NBA Finals heat up. Reliable comic actors like Tiffany Haddish, Nick Kroll, and LilRel Howery (Get Out) mix together with NBA greats in old-age makeup (Kyrie Irving, Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, etc.)

16. TEEN TITANS GO TO THE MOVIES - $70 million - Hey, I didn't think the Emoji Movie would be successful either, but it was.

17. LIFE OF THE PARTY - $63 million - Melissa McCarthy's own version of Back to School looks all right.

18. THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME - $60 million - Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon look like a decent comedic pair, and something has to make money in August.

19. THE MEG - $58 million - This giant shark movie has the weekend to itself, so why not?

20. HEREDITARY - $55 million - I've heard this is a genuinely frightening movie, so it'll need that word-of-mouth to crack the top 20.

Wild Cards:
(Between $30-50 million)

Action Point - Johnny Knoxville's slapstick humor might get some people out, but after seeing the preview more than once, I feel like I've seen the whole movie.

Adrift - Those waves look amazing, but otherwise I don't think this'll break out.

The Darkest Minds - Looks like a YA X-Men rip-off, but if it hits the right emotional notes...

The Happytown Murders - Haven't seen a trailer yet, but the thought of a murder mystery in a world where humans and muppets interact is intriguing.

Hotel Artemis - It looks like a blast, like a John Wick spin-off, but I don't trust the studio releasing it. I'm rooting for it to be good.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado - The marketing's been going on forever, but the first one, while really good, wasn't exactly a box office smash. And Emily Blunt's not here this time around.

Slender Man - You never know what horror movie will take off, but this has a decent chance.

Tag - Looks like one of those comedies that opens in the mid-teens, grosses around $45 million.