Deadpool

My View:  Deadpool  (2016)  R  Wade (Ryan Reynolds) is a former Special Forces operative who is now a mercenary for hire. He finds out he is dying of cancer and decides to accept an offer to try a rogue experiment. While it does cure his cancer, the experiment leaves him badly scarred. Now he is using his accelerated healing powers and his finely tuned reflexes to find the man who is responsible for the experiment going wrong.  If you are easily offended, then, please don’t see this film. Don’t see the trailer or even go near a theatre showing this film. On the other hand, if you love hilarious, irreverent humor that makes fun of everything, including its own genre, then this is a movie for you. The film is funny and witty from the opening credits. The Deadpool character is someone who can find humor (sometimes in a dirty way) in almost any situation, even life or death. Fans of the comic book are going to be euphoric with this movie, as am I.  I love this film and want to see more of his adventures. Make sure and stay through the credits for a bonus scene you will not want to miss. And a bit of a warning, don't take the kids! This is a hard R rated film and unless you want Child Protective Services after you, leave the kiddos at home.  My Rating:  I Would Pay to See it Again   DeadPool Website

My View:  Zoolander 2  (2016)  PG-13   The “world’s most beautiful people” are being assassinated and left with the “Blue Steel” look on their faces. Interpol recruits Derek (Ben Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) to find out who is doing this murderous deed.  To make matters worse, Derek’s rival, Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell), has been set free from prison and is out for revenge.  I was not a big fan of the first Zoolander film, so it should not be a surprise that I am not a fan of this movie either. I will give the filmmakers props for creating a whole new storyline and not just carrying on from where the first film left off. The jokes are too far and few between long stretches of unfunny material. I am not a fan of the fashion lifestyle, so I am sure a few of the jokes went over my head. There are quite a few cameos, just like the first film, some working better than others, and few are so quick you might not notice them. The Justin Bieber death scene at the start of the film is quite funny. I just wish that they had kept that up.  My Rating: Cable   Zoolander 2 Website

My View:  How to be Single  (2016)  R    Four friends (Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Alison Brie, and Leslie Mann) struggle with being single in New York City. While displaying all the aspects of a typical rom-com, this film is a little smarter than most of its brethren.  Dakota Johnson makes an acceptable “everywoman,” Rebel Wilson is her usual off the cuff self, Alison Brie does an excellent job as the girl who over-analyzes everything, and Leslie Mann is fantastic as the headstrong doctor who is too busy for a family. This is a fun date movie (or girls night out film) where not everyone ends up with who you think they will. It’s fun, moves fast and doesn’t go for the lowest joke every time, so it’s a winner in my book.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee   How to Be Single Website 

Indiefest:  The Lady in the Van  (2015)  PG-13    A playwright, Alan Bennett (Alex Jennings), makes the mistake of letting a homeless woman, Miss Shepard (Maggie Smith), park her van in his driveway.  It’s the start of a relationship that lasts fifteen years. This film is based on a stage play, and I bet, it works better on stage than it does here on film. While it’s always a joy to watch Maggie Smith perform, the material never gave her enough to work with to make this performance memorable. The weak point of this film is the character of Alan.  Throughout the movie, Bennett is seen as two different characters (one real, one imaginary), the playwright and the mild person that is dealing with Miss Shepard.  While things happen in the storyline,  the playwright Alan(imagined) sits and makes judgments on the real Alan while he deals with day to day life with a woman in a van. These dialogues become very tedious and uninteresting, giving us very little insight into his character. I never got the emotional moment that I needed from this film and was never invested in either character.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee   The Lady in the Van Website

Indiefest:  The Final Project  (2016)  The film follows six college students as they set out to create a documentary about one of the most notorious haunted houses in America, Lafitte Plantation. Venturing deep into the backwoods of Louisiana, the students set out to record live footage of supernatural activity at the abandoned plantation, but one unsettled spirit gives more than they asked for.  This is a found-footage horror film that, while I did enjoy some of the storyline, took too long to develop and never quite delivered the scary moments that it needed. For a “found footage” concept, the production values were well done, especially the audio part of the film (very often that is the weak link in a smaller made film), which was crisp and clear. But the film is brought down by the idea that the first part of the film was used to make this film a full-length feature. The Final Project never can sustain any tension, and the ending is extremely predictable.  My Rating: Cable   The Final Project Website

Indiefest:  Where to Invade Next  (2015)  R  Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore travels around the world to seek out alternative methods of dealing with the social and economic problems that the United States is experiencing.  I enjoyed Michael Moore’s early documentaries that were quite funny while hitting some serious subjects, but his last few haven’t quite hit the mark. I think it’s because Moore now overshadows his subject matter. It used to be that Moore was an everyman fighting for the little guy, but I just don’t get that feeling from his films anymore. The idea of this film is that other countries are doing things that could solve some of America’s biggest problems, like healthcare, the cost of education and the overburdened prison system. The film is very one-sided, showing us only the happy, harmonious side of the offered solution, but never delves too deeply to discover the problems with other countries’ systems. My biggest issue with this film wasn’t that it was one sided, it was that I rarely found it funny.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee   Where to Invade Next Website

Indiefest:  Southbound  (2016)  The film is made of five interlocking tales of horror as it follows the fates of a group of travelers as they travel through the desert. Some of the tales are better than others and most don’t deliver enough horror to make them work, but I did like two of the stories, and I also liked how they all interconnected, even at the end. There are some nice homages to “The Twilight Zone” and one of the tales is funny in a strange kind of way, so some of the pieces work. I just wished that they all had. This is the type of film that you would probably enjoy more if it were showing at a horror fest and it was the midnight movie.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee   Southbound Facebook Page

Indiefest:  Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words  (2015)  Produced with the full cooperation of Ingrid Bergman’s family and friends, In Her Own Words is a film that is loaded with personal photos and home movies of the actress and her family. Bergman had a fascination for cameras from an early age. Her mother died when she was young, and her father seemed to want to document Ingrid’s life with photos and even home movies to make sure that she remembered everything from her childhood.  The film documents the struggles that Bergman went through, giving us insight into her thought process in the letters that she wrote to family and friends. Ingrid Bergman kept every correspondence and home movies that give us a complete picture of what it was like in the Bergman home. The home movies are wonderfully shot, primarily by Ingrid, and most are in color.  While a little long and spending a little too much time on footage showing the kids playing, Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words is a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes footage that will make any fan happy to rediscover this amazing actress and the life she led.    My Rating: Full Price   Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words Website

Indiefest:  Tumbledown  (2015)  Hannah (Rebecca Hall) is a widow of a musician who only recorded one album before he died. She still lives at their home in Maine, never quite getting over his death. A brash, New York professor(Jason Sudeikis) comes to town wanting to write a book on her husband. After much indecision, she decides to let him into her world and the grief that she has for her husband. I loved this film. It’s smart, witty and touching with great performances by Sudeikis and Hall. They have great chemistry on screen, and their banter back and forth is hilarious. It’s a film about grief, and when is it time to let that person go. Go see this rare film that combines romance and drama with a bit of comedy to make a winning combination.     My Rating: Full Price   Tumbledown Website

Forgotten Film:  Marjoe (1972)  PG   Marjoe Gortner, at the age of four, felt the call to preach to the masses and heal the sick. He went on the evangelical circuit, becoming famous for his sermons and making a boatload of money for his parents.  In 1972, at the age of 28, he went back on the evangelical circuit, this time, to expose the shady dealings and false healings that he had done in his childhood (most of which he didn’t know about). Sounds like a work of fiction, but this is one of the most fascinating documentaries that you will ever see. Because of this film, Marjoe went on to have a moderately successful acting career.  My Rating:  Full Price   Marjoe Info

Weird Credits:  From the credits of Deadpool:  Truck Costumer

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You:  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot  (2016)   Kim (Tina Fey) is tired of being behind the scenes and volunteers to be a war correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. She finds a fellow woman correspondent (Margot Robbie) who shows her the ropes and lets her know that she may have been a “four or five at home but is a ten here.”  Kim, who always was in the background in the states, is suddenly front and center and has the attention of a dashing war photographer (Martin Freeman). The trailer makes this film look like a blast to watch. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Website 

Until Next Time!