Can Ryan and Hugh save Marvel?
In this week’s Criticize This! we take a look at that little superhero movie everyone is talking about, an Irish horror film that left us extremely jumpy, and a sorta funny, but mostly sad, story about getting old.
THE BIG ONE
With Hugh Jackman returning to the character he was born to play, and an intense marketing campaign that has not slowed down since the first trailer dropped during the Super Bowl, it’s nearly impossible for Deadpool & Wolverine to live up to the hype around it. But it comes very close, and is an extremely fun movie experience overall.
The film is currently “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes with an 80% critics score and a huge 97% audience rating. The favourable reviews are praising the movie for saving the Marvel Cinematic Universe and helping Disney get it back on track after a few underperforming duds, including the likes of The Marvels, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Thor: Love and Thunder.
In his review for the San Jose Mercury News, Randy Myers said “the elixir to all the multiverse burnout arrives in the costumed form of this rude, raunchy and hard-R-rated Marvel resurrection of sorts.” Peter Howell’s review in the Toronto Star has a similar sentiment, saying “the cure for superhero fatigue is mocking the living hell out of it.”
We agree, and the movie even addresses it by way of Ryan Reynolds’ witty, fourth-wall breaking banter, which rips into everything from Disney and Fox, to some of the other MCU movies and actors directly.
The naysayers (and there are plenty of them) are calling the movie out for being too meta. “After about 20 minutes, it started to feel like the entire Marvel Universe had devoured itself and vomited all over the screen,” Lisa Johnson Mandell wrote in her review posted on At Home in Hollywood.
Admittedly, it does get a bit exhausting trying to keep up with the inside jokes, cameos, sexual innuendos, and gratuitous bloodshed, but it by no means appears to have “vomited all over the screen.” It will for sure take multiple viewings to catch everything on display though, and we bet Disney is banking on that during the theatrical run (cha-ching!).
Our take: It doesn’t matter what critics or anyone else says about Deadpool & Wolverine. If you’re even the least bit excited about it, then you need to take it all in and judge it for yourself.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now in theatres
IN THEATRES
Oddity
Directed by Irish filmmaker Damian McCarthy, Oddity is a tense, goosebumps-inducing film about a blind psychic trying to solve her sister’s murder from inside the creepy house she was killed in.
It’s currently one of the highest rated horror films of 2024 on Rotten Tomatoes with a 95% critics score and an 86% audience rating. One critic called it “an excruciatingly scary film” while another said it was a “magnum opus of bone-chilling atmospheric horror.” It left us feeling jumpy and truly uneasy after viewing it, but we loved every minute of it.
Unfortunately, Oddity is only in a handful of theatres before it heads to the streaming service Shudder in the near future. This is one not to miss though.
TOP BOX OFFICE
- Twisters
- Despicable Me 4
- Inside Out 2
STREAMING
Thelma (VOD)
Thelma is not the feel-good comedy it’s promoted as. While it does have some funny and sweet moments, it’s a much more deeper look at how depressing it is getting old. That’s not to say it isn’t a good movie, because it’s actually quite wonderful. June Squibb, who is 95 (!), delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as the title character, and the supporting cast, which includes Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, Richard Roundtree, and Fred Hechinger, are all excellent in their respective roles. Thelma is definitely worth watching, just be prepared to feel some sadness after the credits roll (especially if you have an older parent or grandparent).
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
If you enjoyed the three previous Bad Boys movies, you are going to enjoy Bad Boys: Ride or Die (the audience score of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes is solid proof of this). Even though they try to make it more serious at times (Will Smith’s character has panic attacks and they reminisce over the death of Joe Pantoliano’s Captain Howard), it’s still the same big, dumb fun as the other films.
Also streaming this week: The Mexican thriller Non Negotiable is on Netflix, The Boy in the Woods is on Paramount+, and Kill and Tuesday are on VOD platforms.
COMING SOON
Akwafina and John Cena star in this action-comedy from director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, A Simple Favor) where people are legally allowed to hunt and kill a lottery winner in order to claim the prize (yes, it’s a comedy). Jackpot! premieres on Prime Video on August 15.
Check out the trailer for Jackpot! on our YouTube channel and tell us if you’re excited to watch it or not?
4K BLU-RAY
A remake of the hit ’80s TV show, The Fall Guy doesn’t deserve to be as good as it is! Thanks to a fun performance by Ryan Gosling, and great chemistry between him and Emily Blunt, the action-comedy is the perfect way to forget your problems and be entertained for a few hours.
The 4K Blu-ray for The Fall Guy is an excellent addition to your collection, and also makes a great reference disc to show off your home theatre to friends and family. The picture is sharp, and the Dolby Atmos sound mix makes you feel every gunshot and explosion on screen (and there are a lot of them).
Along with the theatrical cut, the 4K Blu-ray includes an extended cut (on a separate disc) that adds a whopping 20 minutes back into the movie. Special features include audio commentary, alternate takes, a gag reel, and many making-of featurettes (‘Stunts on Stunts’ is a must-watch). A regular Blu-ray copy of the theatrical cut is also included.
The Fall Guy was released on 4K Blu-ray on July 23. It’s currently available to purchase on Amazon.ca for $34.99.
Other 4K Blu-ray titles worth checking out include Twister, The Crow, and Footloose.
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