Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Deadpool 2 - A Hooligan Review

 


I laughed. I cried. I got mildly uncomfortable at the amount of penis I bore witness to. Not really; I enjoyed every minute of Reynolds’ nudity as per usual, and it was a great and fun movie to watch! Look out below because there are:


SPOILERS AHEAD!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!


THE GOOD

Let’s be serious. It’s Deadpool! If he’s not your favorite thing on your lips after the first movie, then you’re not going to enjoy this one. But if you took his advice and didn’t swallow and just let it sit in your mouth a bit longer to really soak up the flavor until your tongue went numb only to want a second go, then you’ll love 'Deadpool 2'! So many great references to itself, callbacks from the first movie, and pop culture all in one.

I really enjoyed Van Wilder-, I mean, Ryan Reynold’s being able to keep the spirit of Deadpool alive but with an emotional capacity behind him. Josh Brolin did great as Cable - the Thanos reference was fantastic. Even Colossus had revealed he’s got great buns of steel to prove the entirety of his rock-hard... uhh, constitution.


THE BAD

One bad I found was that there were so many references and overlapping jokes that sometimes I felt a tad overwhelmed with the level of humor that most people aren’t used to experiencing. I enjoyed it, but anybody that hasn’t grown up with such references may not be able to recognize exactly how brilliantly the jokes were written. Recalling the opening notes of Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” made the next sequence predictable to an extent, but it was still funny. Additionally, I tried talking to people about how the Juggernaut Operatic Theme was hilarious when I heard it mid-fight, but they thought it was only at the end of the credits.

The kid who played Firefist, Julian Dennison, though a relative unknown to the acting world, was lacking in his acting overall. That being said, he is a kid and still did well for this type of role. I almost felt the studio banked on the fact that he had an accent to hide any rehearsals they decided not to include him in, but who’s to say that was the case. There was enough to occupy my mind in the meantime, but he was a bit annoying from time to time - like when he had lines. That’s harsh, isn’t it? To be fair, I’d still like to see him in Deadpool 3: The D of Life (not an actual title).

I wish they played out Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) more than they had advertised her to be. It’s as if the writers threw her in for callback juice only without actually wanting her as a supporting character - they gave that to the CGI’d Colossus instead.

Also, why didn’t they expand on X-Force? It was a big part of the salability from the trailers to allude to recurring roles later, but I guess the money was better spent on the X-Men cameos for that half a second they were on screen (worth it).


THE UGLY

If you ever wanted to know what Ryan Reynolds looks like with a toddler penis, you can either ask his wife or watch 'Deadpool 2'. If you missed it, it was coupled with the Basic Instinct reference amongst the vast pool of dick jokes. Hilarious, to say the least.

The one major scene I wasn’t savvy on was the death scene after the final battle. The cadence of the entire film was established really well all the way through, but this particular portion felt like it was overplayed. The joke was funny at first, but I believe they broke the rule of 3 for humor, and it ended up as if we were staring at a burn victim beating a dead unicorn wearing a choke collar... the unicorn, not the burn victim... or maybe the burn victim... both work actually.

Speaking of which, I may have missed it. Hooligan V and I were questioning where the unicorn was hiding the whole time. I guess we’ll just have to go watch it again to find out if we really did miss it, or come to terms that it’s actually just a douchebag only interested in sex who never calls after one tug-n-plug and then steals $20 from your wallet for an Uber ride home.


FOLLOW UP

'Deadpool 2' was everything we wanted from a sequel of Deadpool. Despite being a bit predictable, I found myself cracking up even at the overtly violent kills. I enjoyed 'Deadpool 2' more than 'Infinity War for'... well, for being Deadpool. They were right to keep him out of Avengers for sure. If you missed the mid-credit sequences, be sure to go back and check them out. There’s nothing at the end except the fantastic Juggernaut Operatic Theme (that’s just what I’m calling it). Go enjoy 'Deadpool 2'!!



Written by: -J Hooligan

#deadpool #deadpool2 #marvel #marvelcomics #marvelstudios #marveluniverse #film #filmreview #moviereview #hydehooligans #hooliganreview #spoilers

Saturday, May 12, 2018

 


Whew! We finally made it out to the theater despite running across a few spoilers here and there, but in the end they didn’t truly ruin the overall experience of the movie. This is definitely one you’ll want to see in the theaters if you haven’t yet.


SPOILERS AHEAD!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!


THE GOOD

Infinity War was really well done! The blending of many characters (even similar ones) went a lot better than I had anticipated. The action sequences were on point, and the story had many facets and sidelines that didn’t muddle up the main arc too much. Most of the banter was fresh and lively and kept a light-heartedness that counter-balanced a lot of the “impending doom” moments.

I am particularly a fan of the ending. To me, it ended perfectly. They didn’t even need an end-credit sequence and could have finished it as is (I would have preferred it that way). Though the end-credit scene was funny and gave a ray of hope, I felt it was more fan-service than anything and sort of made me rethink their intentions for how they planned this film to play out. It is a downer ending, but it was done so very well. I like that they let Thanos keep true to his word and take out half of everyone even if they spent a lot of the movie attempting to humanize and rationalize his way of thinking (which they did). It showed that the bad guys can win, which is quite bold and daring in the slew of superhereos always coming out on top. However, that tone was set with the very opening scene, so I feel that it shouldn’t have been a surprise or as emotionally taxing as some people have been claiming it was to them.


THE BAD

The pacing moved pretty quickly. It’s to be expected in a huge ensemble of superheroes but some moments felt a bit rushed (e.g. Starlord and Thor’s first interaction and quick separation). It truly felt like there was movement through the whole film, which can be unsettling to some viewers. Let’s be honest, though, this is an action flick. The final battle alone was a whopping 25 pages long in the script.

I did feel that they did more of a throw-away job at explaining some of the other characters not present. Part of the story literally took 2 characters that were “taking a break” and “couldn’t be found” and were found only minutes after showing where they were ready to go back into it all. The 2 missing characters wanted to “take a break” and “stay with/protect their families.” Really?? Because the fate of the universe isn’t enough to get out of house arrest/surveillance to go save them (looking at you, Hawkeye). Come on, guys, didn’t Clint already break away from his family in order to help save the world?? It seemed like a really poor explanation. If anything, they could have hinted more that they were wrapped up in something else. Even if Marvel tries to put that aspect into the next movies, it still felt like a shit excuse now.

Additionally, there were a few moments that I found myself lost in the lack of quality in the VFX department, and I wondered who was in charge of the scene. The close-ups were fine, but some of the wide shots seemed a little half-assed and not up to the level of what Marvel has brought to the table. Still, it wasn’t many as the rest of the film was done cinematically well.


THE UGLY

If you haven’t seen the previous Marvel movies, you may be at a loss of who is who or how they got the way they are now. There were a couple moments Hooligan V had to ask about as she missed a couple of the films before seeing this one (shame!). However, that’s not to say that if you’ve not seen one or two that you won’t enjoy this movie.

My biggest qualm pertained to the moments when the sarcastic banter seemed to pull in other characters that weren’t necessarily along those lines - particularly Thor and Hulk. If you haven’t seen 'Thor: Ragnarok', then be in for a huge shift in both of their characterizations which they tried to bring out here as well. Forcing hard-set character spines that were set up in previous movies into sarcastic, cynical, almost bumbling newer personas takes me out of the experience that was already established beforehand.


FOLLOW UP

Marvel did a fantastic job with the roll-out of films to build up to 'Infinity War'. If you missed our live video, we mentioned how 'Justice League' missed its mark with this, and that Marvel had a much better sequence of releases from the beginning. This isn’t to bash on DC or anything, but 'Justice League' literally needed half the team to be introduced with backstory along with the main arc to create any sort of empathy for them. That takes time to establish and doesn’t create enough involvement as key players. Before the first Avengers movie was released, every single one of them was already an established character (not necessarily meaning having their own movie). In doing so, and continuing along those lines throughout the phases, it allowed audiences (comic book fans or not) to enjoy 'Infinity War' as a massive ensemble film.

'Infinity War' was a great ride overall. Again, if you haven’t seen it in theaters yet because you pirated the shit out of it (you monster), then I would highly recommend that you go. It’s also recommended that you watch the majority of the other Marvel Studio films before seeing it in order to get a better grasp of where each character or group of characters is at when this begins - it literally picks up right after 'Thor: Ragnarok' ends in the mid-credit sequence. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.



Written by: -J Hooligan

#avengers #infinitywar #marvel #marvelcomics #marvelstudios #marveluniverse #moviereview #film #filmreview #hydehooligans #hooliganreview #spoilers