Putting It All On Two Great Lead Performances And A Strong Script Lead Mississippi Grind To A Big Win

I'm always fascinated by major turning points in an actor's careers, that moment where you can clearly see how one movie changed the trajectory of their careers. Think of how Leslie Nielsen forever became associated with spoofy comedies with Airplane! I'm especially fascinated by contemplating what would have happened if those major turning points hadn't happened. Take Ryan Reynolds for instance. He finally secured A-list leading man status with 2016's Deadpool, but between that film and 2013's blockbuster box office bomb R.I.P.D., Reynolds did a number of offbeat indie projects like The Voices, The Captive and Mississippi Grind that allowed him to show off his talents as a performer beyond just cracking wise and breaking the fourth wall. 

Scream Is A Frighteningly Sharp-Witted Take On Slasher Movies

Scream was to slasher movies what Deadpool was to superhero movies. That may sound like the headline to some ill-fated Hot Take that ends up getting dragged all over Twitter, but it seems to make total sense to me, the guy who absolutely nailed the ending of His Girl Friday. Both Scream and Deadpool were attempting to tweak the noses of their respective subgenres, but neither were explicitly deconstructions of those subgenres thanks to how frequently they still indulged in well-known tropes of that subgenre, albeit in a self-aware manner. Thankfully, there's more than just a snarky self-aware streak in Scream, which has held up quite well in the more than two decades since its initial release.

Once Deadpool 2 Get Rolling, It's A Surprisingly Entertaining Raunchy Comedy

VERY VERY MILD SPOILERS ARE INSIDE THIS REVIEW.

We've been having a pretty good run of comedies in 2018 so far. Not everything has been golden of course (remember Game Over, Man! or Super Troopers 2?) but in just the span of nearly five months, there has been a solid list of well-made comedic films emerging that remind us all of the age-old versatility that this genre has. Comedies can be mystery thrillers (Game Night), heartfelt coming-of-age tales (Blockers), thoughtful family movies (Paddington 2) and thought-provoking political satire (The Death of Stalin), they don't just have to be run-of-the-mill vehicles churned out on the cheap and quick so that David Spade can buy a new condo this coming summer. Surprisingly, Deadpool 2 comes up as the newest 2018 comedy to deliver both further evidence of how expansive the genre of comedies can be and a large supply of laughs.

Zootopia Is Number One Movie At The Box Office Three Weeks In A Row While Allegiant Falls And Midnight Special Hopping

A little movie called Zootopia continued to easily rule the box office with a hearty $38.9 million in its third weekend of release, a 24% decline from last weekend. That's a pretty spectacular number for a movie's third weekend, placing it as the seventh biggest third weekend of all-time, putting it ahead of the third-weekend haul of box office juggernauts like The Dark Knight Rises, Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Zootopia has now grossed $202.7 million domestically, and with no new family movies entering the marketplace for another 4 weeks, it ain't slowing down anytime soon.

The Box Office Goes Wild For Record-Breaking Zootopia

It's clear who was the king of the box office jungle this weekend, as Zootopia easily had the biggest opening weekend for an animated movie in March and beat out the $67 million debut of Frozen to become the largest bow on record for a Walt Disney Animation Studios effort. Zootopia grossed $73.7 million this weekend at 3,870 locations, the second biggest opening weekend of 2016 thus far (only behind the $132.4 million bow of Deadpool) and the fourth largest ever for a March release. To boot, it's the third largest opening weekend for an original film (one not based on any pre-existing material), only behind Inside Out ($90.4 million) and Avatar ($77 million). Finally, it's already the ninth biggest movie ever for Jason Bateman in just three days, while it's the third biggest ever for Ginner Goodwin.

Deadpool Chows Down On Box Office Records Like They're Chimichangas In Record Breaking Opening Weekend

Prior to this weekend. everyone was fairly certain Deadpool would do large numbers at the box office, thanks to the lack of blockbusters in the marketplace and its incredible marketing campaign. But nobody saw it doing this kind of gargantuan record busting business, especially for a character who was previously seen as just a cult item. Now, Deadpool can officially call himself one of the biggest cinematic superheroes of all-time, and is demonstrating that certain R-rated films can make big bucks at the box office.

Deadpool Review

So, full cards on the table time...I've never been a big fan of Deadpool. I don't "hate" the character, but he's always struck me as just another individual in the same vein as Venom or Shadow The Hedgehog, a "too kewl for school bro" character that ends up being more grating than anything else. So while the marketing campaign for Deadpool's first solo movie has been non-stop brilliance, I freely admit to being ambivalent that this character was gonna work in a solo movie.

The Final Batman v. Superman Trailer Brings Brawny Batman Busting Bones. Plus, Wonder Woman Speaks!

It's been ten long months since the first Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer was unleashed onto the public. That's keeping in tune with (skipping over Jonah Hex, the two Red movies, Green Lantern and Watchmen) the marketing campaigns for the last three DC Comics features, Man of Steel, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. Both of those movies had year long marketing campaigns that stretched onto eternity. However, Batman v. Superman had, well, it's had to tackle a bit more negative buzz in its trailers than those three titles. For every trailer (the Comic-Con promo) that goes over well, another piece of the marketing puzzle (the April 2015 teaser trailer and the spoiler heavy December 2015 trailer) just falls flat.

Even Aside From The Crappy Version Of Deadpool, The First Solo Wolverine Movie Is Just No Good

When you're doing a Wolverine prequel centered on the character gaining his powers, you're stuck with the inevitable problem of the protagonist having to lose his memory that the film ever happened before the credits roll. After all, it's been previously established in these past three X-Men movies that Wolverine only has a smattering of recollections regarding where he got his adamantium laced claws, Thus, there's a good chance the entire offering may feel like a pointless venture since it'll end up having a minimal effect on our protagonist.

X-Men Is Far Far From Perfect, But It Forever Changed the Superhero Movie Game

This Friday brings a project to the big screen few thought would ever truly exist...a live-action Deadpool movie. The eighth feature film in the live-action X-Men feature film series in 16 years, it's one of a number of project Fox has in the pipeline for this universe of mutants, most of which are movies (X-Men: Apocalypse of course arrives in May, and next year will bring the final solo Hugh Jackman as Wolverine movie and will likely unleash a solo Gambit film unto the Earth) and a few of which are TV shows (such as the Dan Stevens FX program Legion). With all of these mutant projects on the horizon, it's easy to forget this whole shindig started with one little 2000 feature film called (what else?) X-Men.

Super Bowl 50 Movie Ads Round-Up!

The snacks are eaten. The Bronco's won it all. And boy howdy were there a bunch of ads for movies. Some were awesome blossoms, while others were more lacking in their blossoming awesomeness. Let's examine them all, shall we?

First Deadpool Trailer Isn't Short On Blood Or Quips

I can't believe 2016 is the year where I get movies based on Doctor Strange, Apocalypse and Deadpool, like, how cool is that? I'm not even a huge Deadpool fan, but I just love that studios are embracing the more heightened material from the comic books we all know and love. After conquering Comic-Con, that Deadpool movie has just dropped a trailer that gives viewers a glimpse into the R-rated territory the feature will travel into. Check out the red band trailer below!

Fault In Our Stars Director To Tackle X-Men Spin-Off, The New Mutants!

As the X-Men cinematic franchise prepares to expand next year, hopes are high for this 15 year old film series. In addition to a new X-Men feature (Apocalypse) due out next May, new spin-offs centered on Deadpool and Channing Tatum as Gambit will help take advantage of all the storytelling possibilities this universe has. Now a new project has emerged; a film centered on The New Mutants!

First Photo Of Ryan Reynolds As Deadpool Is All Kinds Of Sexy

Deadpool's been a long time in the making (to say the least!) but it's filming now and Ryan Reynolds just dropped the first official image of the wonky superhero! Thanks to El Mayimbe on Twitter for pointing out this photo had been posted!

The List!!!: Six Great YouTube Channels

EEEEEEEEPPPPPPIIIIICCC RAP.......BATTLESOFHISTORY

In The List!!!, I do a list that just reeks of being click-bait, analyzing a particular topic or subject that pertains to something major occurring in pop-culture. This week, in honor of my CinemaSins editorial, which has had over 400 views in just two days, I take a more positive look at things by highlighting six YouTube channels I enjoy.