Deadpool lands on huge pile of money. Makes crude jokes about paper cuts, probably.
Sunday, February 14, 2016 at 10:00PM 
Breaking News: Superhero fatigue has NOT set in after all, goddamnit. The extreme negativity that greeted the arrival of Fantastic Four 3ish and Avengers 2 last summer suggested that we were on the brink but along comes Deadpool proving everyone still wants the spandex supers... even B list supers from Fox (!). Warner Bros and Marvel are probably breathing sighs of relief given that Clark vs Bruce and Steve vs Tony are opening soon and have budgets so gargantuan they'll need the continued fervor to sustain them. But more on those later. The crowd I saw Deadpool with seemed really into it but more on that later. More. Later. More. Later. God, it's like a movie trailer in here tonight --- "COMING SOON!"
WIDE BOX OFFICE
01 Deadpool $135 new
02 Kung Fu Panda 3 $19.6 (cum. $93.9)
03 How To Be Single $18.7 new
04 Zoolander 2 $15.6 new
05 The Revenant $6.9 (cum. $159.1) Costumes, Cinematography, Production Design
LIMITED RELEASE
excluding previously wide
01 Where to Invade Next $1 new 308 screens Review & 2nd Opinion
02 The Lady in The Van $.5 (cum. $1.9) 130 screens Review
03 45 Years $.4 (cum $2.7) 237 screens Podcast
04 Carol $.1 (cum. $12.1) 141 screens Top Ten List
05 The Danish Girl $.08 (cum. $10.7) 88 screens Interview Alicia
I took in both How to be Single and Deadpool and also emptied my DVR (hey, it was freezing in NYC) so I'm caught up w/ Younger, Teachers, The Fosters, The Flash, and I also sampled SyFy's The Magicians and liked it... and not just because Arjun Gupta is the prettiest.
You?
Reader Comments (35)
The year has been surprisingly similar to last year so far. January was dominated by a male-skewing Oscar nominee that expanded in January (American Sniper/The Revenent) then the next big hit was an irreverent R-Rated comic book comedy (Deadpool/Kingsman). Is there a 50 Shades of Gray analog coming out next?
I saw "Deadpool", though it wasn't my choice. Not bad, but not great - and the crowd I saw it with wasn't laughing all that much. Surprisingly slow paced, for better and worse. There's going to be a huge drop-off next weekend, right?
Otherwise I've been stuck working from home, which means comfort food DVDs running in the background. So: "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," "The Tao of Steve," and episodes of "Rhoda". The heart wants what it wants.
Avengers: Age of Ultron elicited a lot of fannish nitpicking, but nothing remotely suggestive of superhero fatigue (which people have been predicting since about 2005, but it has yet to emerge).
Clooney's Gams! (aka Hail Caesar!): I could watch that man sit around in that costume for another 100 minutes. And the rest of the movie, though minor Coen Bros., was great intelligent fun. (MVPs: Ehrenreich, Brolin.)
And then I caught up on ABC dramas (don't judge me).
Finally saw Bridge of Spies and Truth.
Watching Bridge of Spies and the fluidity of how the story unravels makes you appreciate Spielberg's masterful storytelling skills. Great film!
Truth.. flawed but my God, what a towering performance by Cate Blanchett. As exquisite as she was in Carol (and she was fantastic in the movie), I believe that her performance in Truth should've been the Oscar-nominated performance. Movie star acting at its finest. It was her Silkwood, her Erin Brockovich. It comes close the stratospheric heights she reached with her acting in Blue Jasmine, and believe me not many performances in history of film come close to that masterpiece. Reminds me of 2001 when Nicole Kidman delivered two great performances. As hypnotizing as she was in Moulin Rouge, The Others should've been the one that was nominated.
I saw Charlie Chaplin's The Kid, which had a superb child performance among many strengths. I also saw Collateral, which could be the poster child for category fraud.
I tried to see When Marnie Was There today, but the screening sold out so I wound up seeing Kung Fu Panda 3. Not my first choice but the only option that didn't require waiting an hour or driving 20-30 minutes away. The panda series is a case of steadily diminishing returns, but the third one is still a pretty likeable, fun, briskly paced 90 minutes.
Last night I watched The Martians (third time). It is still a rock solid, good movie but there is something ever so slightly half assed about it at times.
On the TV front I watched The People vs. OJ Simpson. I really liked the second episode. It's doing a nice job of balancing the surrealness of the spectacle with the achingly human dimensions of the case. Using Kardashian as the audience surrogate for much of the Bronco chase was a bold, fascinating choice.
Monte Hellman's "The Shooting"
Werner Herzog's 'Land of Silence and Darkness"
I also marathoned season two of "You're the Worst." Aya Cash and Chris Geere need to be nominated for every emmy.
Arkaan: Isn't YOU'RE THE WORST so, so good? More people should watch it.
I saw DEADPOOL and my friends and I had a lot of fun. I also binge-watched UNREAL, which was quite good.
I saw Deadpool. It was enjoyable but I felt like it was trying too hard in places and was hit-and-miss.
Wasn't sure where I should post what I wanted to post, but none of the foregoing seem to fit, so thought I'd slip it in here.
I stopped reading Gold Derby when that guy went all ape on Dreamgirls. I stopped visiting Awards Daily when that person refused to see any benefit to King's Speech over Social Network. I almost left you this year because of your anti-Revenant and "everything-about-Carol" is wonderful stance.
I saw Dreamgirls. It was not the second coming that Gold Derby meant it to be. As for Social Network over King's Speech, I side with the latter. That person who presides over Awards Daily needs to get a life.
Having seen Carol today (the dog sleds brought through the first copies of the VHS tapes), I have to admit that you have some justification in promoting it. It's not great. And... I didn't have a stopwatch, but I think Mara was there more than Blanchett. A supporting nod... I don't think so. Regardless, I don't dismiss your admiration for the movie. I'll admit I quite enjoyed the movie as I snacked on my raw bison liver (get over your Revenant hatred!). But I couldn't understand your Sarah Paulson love? Not a worthy performance.
If I were tallying what I thought Carol was worthy of in nominations... Probably 4. (2
actresses; production design, costume design).
That's it. Thanks for letting me have my say.
R.
I saw Deadpool because superhero movies (like Disney movies) are good compromise movies. Within 24 hours I had forgotten most of the jokes, but I will retain the images of Ryan Reynolds's abs forever. Money mostly well spent, glad I saw it at a theater that serves beer and fish strips.
Saw Deadpool with my boyfriend. The humor of the film was right up our alley and we spent the majority of the time laughing.
@ RJL - I think you are missing the fundamental difference. As much as Nathaniel and most of the TFE readers (myself included) do love Carol, there has always been room for dissent on the comments section and elsewhere. In fact, Katie Rich did not love Carol and said so on the review podcast. It also did not make her top 10 of the year on the latest podcast.
On other subjects that are not Carol, I often have a contrarian view and there has always been room for polite disagreement here. Go back a few months and see the topic where I stated that Star Wars should have won Best Picture in 1977 over Annie Hall. Folks were ganging up on me but it was all in friendly fun. In fact, this probably one of the few sites on the web where there is room for that sort of amicable dissent. There are a few episodes when things get a little out of hand (when Meryl beat Viola Davis, for example, things went apeshit), but those are outliers, not the rule.
In that regard, any comparison to Sasha Stone's Awards Daily, which is run with a totalitarian get-with-the-program attitude, is completely unwarranted. I have seen on her boards people who make perfectly reasonable comments in opposition to her thinking and have those comments erased by the moderator Craig Kennedy and replaced by "I love (name of the film being criticised before)". That site could easily be called Awards Fascist.
Gold Derby, on the other hand, is a hilarious mess. The only thing better than laughing at Tom O'Neil's nonsense is reading the AwardsWatch boards making fun of him.
I saw Spotlight and Best of Enemies this week. Both great. I will be a happy girl if Spotlight takes Best Picture.
I am going to see Carol for the 4th time tomorrow :) It finishes at my local cinema on Wednesday. Then I have to wait until May for the DVD. But the soundtrack should arrive in my letterbox any day now.
Me and my sweetie watched Gaspar Noe's "Love" and Mike Nichols' "Carnal Knowledge." Totally random choices made for a real Valentine's misogyny fest!
Carmen - I've always wondered what commenting on other awards sites would be like - thanks for letting me know.
RJL - Liked your comment, I would hate to think that the fact that some of us don't love The Revenant would chase you away from a great site like TFE.
RJL, Carmen: there's also the key fact that Nat and co. can actually write - and maintain a more varied focus than either of those sites you refer to.
Nathaniel - I was looking forward to your comments on the chosen presenters for the Oscar ceremony, did I miss it?
Love,
Jessica
Extreme negativity of Avenger 2? The film have 74% in the rottentomatoes and earned 1, 4 Bilhões worldwilde... PLEASE...
Did you also notice that Brooklyn only slipped by 5% this week. Even for an Oscar nominee that's fantastic. Word of mouth must be through the roof on that one. It's holding better than Spotlight and will possibly outgross it soon (unless Spotlight wins Best Picture and shoots back up the list again).
I saw Compliance before it left Netflix - how disturbing and creepy. Anne Dowd (all the actors, really) was fantastic. Very well done.
Tangerine - finally! Loved it. So fast, funny and loose. The whole cast really sold it. And like you said in your podcast, I never would've guessed it was shot on an iPhone. I haven't seen anything else by Sean Baker but I'll definitely look out for him now.
45 Years - wow, what a slow burn to a devastating finale. Rampling deserves all the honors she's gotten and Courtenay was an understated marvel. For two characters who never really talk about their feelings this was such an emotionally potent film. And I love that it trusted the audience to stay with it even when so much was left unsaid - it still said so much.
And of course, keeping up with "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," "Downton Abbey" and "London Spy."
As a confirmed Art Dweeb, I spent 8 hours on Saturday at our local culture center watching the first half of Jacques Rivette's Out 1 - that's right, only the first half. The second half will be shown next Saturday and I'll be there! Even though I don't really like it so far!! It does appear I'll do anything to avoid getting a life.
Also I saw Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and even though I know it's early, I'll put my money on it as worst film of the entire millennium. Unspeakable.
Two movies this weekend:
Some Came Running--Watched this Friday night with my partner. It's one of my dad's favorite movies, and after recently watching and loving Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment, I wanted to give it a shot. It's definitely not one of the ages. It's badly dated, overlong, Sinatra is wooden, and the tone shifts so radically towards the end it's like it becomes another movie. I read up on it a little and it seems the filmmakers were trying to recreate some of the magic from From Here to Eternity. On a positive note: MaClaine is awesome in it. Funny, heartbreaking--definitely the best thing about it.
The Revenant--Mixed feelings about this one. I was not bored, it was "impressive" in some ways, but it was SO over-the-top and one-note. I like DiCaprio a lot, and I thought he was good--but he has had better, richer roles elsewhere. He is obviously winning the Oscar this year. It'd be great if he won for something else, but it's not the strongest category this year, and I do think he deserves to be an Oscar winner. So I guess I'm OK with it. We also always assume that there will "always be other chances" with some of these actors--and that is not always the case. Back to the film itself--I'm glad I saw it but I would never want to see it again. And I hope it does NOT win best picture. Could we please have a shocking Mad Max upset? Please?
Loved Deadpool. I am the target audience for it. I've been reading the comic for year, collect the merchandise, and evangelize the property to anyone who is curious.
Now, the reason I liked the film is that I thought it was one of the rare superhero origin stories that actually tried to do something interesting with structure and tone. The cast across the board was excellent. It really felt like what Scott Pilgrim could have been if they stayed true to the comics.
Glad to hear you liked THE MAGICIANS! I enjoyed the book series but I was dubious on the show...
Robert G.--agree with your second paragraph. I'm usually meh on super hero movies, but there are big fans in my house so I'm usually dragged along. Enjoyed all two hours of this one, from the hilarious opening credits to the after-the-credits ham. Plus, Ryan Reynolds, with his charming snark and killer bod, was born to play this role.
Deadpool. Often funny but standard CGI comic book film. Forgettable. Ryan Reynolds perfectly cast.
Saw Deadpool and I really enjoyed it.
I also caught up on Vice. Am I the only person in the world watching this show? I think it is the best news program on television right now. They are doing fascinating in-depth (and at times really dangerous) reporting. If you aren't watching it, check it out. It's not for kids. Lots of violence shown. But it really hits home.
Saw ROOM and was more or less blown away by it. I had high expectations going in, which is never good (so easy to be disappointed), but every aspect of it felt perfectly conceived and executed. Such a finely crafted, low-key masterpiece. Great performances, not just by Jacob Tremblay (a phenomenon) and Brie Larson (who makes a high-risk role look effortless), but also Joan Allen, doing some of her most ego-less work in years, the unknown (to me) Canadian actor Tom McCamus, and in a note-perfect one-scene part as a police offer, Amanda Brugel. This one will stay with me.
SanFran: I'm with you on Tom McCamus, I thought he was terrific in Room - an unsung hero of that movie.
BUT if he's unknown to you, that might mean you haven't seen The Sweet Hereafter, in which case, do yourself a favor.
I watched Carol for the third time. I fell in love all over again.
I watched Clueless for the millionth time. It brings so much joy in my life.
I watched The Conjuring and It Follows, cause I was on a horror movie kick.
I stayed at home most of this weekend due to the cold as well, and returned to the comfort of The Office and 30 Rock, rather than catch up on the crazy amount of shows I'm behind on. Oops.
Finally saw Room. Liked Brie in it but I'd still rank her behind Cate, Charlotte and Saoirse.
Saw Deadpool. It was alright. Liked the contributions of Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (that name!). Laughed most when Colossus tells Deadpool, "I'm taking you to the professor." and Deadpool's response is, "Stewart or McAvoy?"
Watched The Dresser, Finney/Courtenay version TREMENDOUS and I'm gonna be calling everybody "ducky" for awhile now. Immediately watched the Hopkins/McKellan version and it just pales in comparison as Hopkins and McKellan are just too similar in size and temperament.
@Mike in Canada: I have seen Sweet Hereafter but it's been years! Didn't recognize him.
"Hail Caesar" an amusing spoof of the classic Hollywood studio era- it works better in parts than the whole - it still was a lot of fun specially if your favorite channel is TCM. My favorite scene was Channing's big Gene Kelly like production number- Magic Mike can dance and looked great in that sailor suit and someone really needs to cast Scarlett Johansen in a Lana Turner bio
I finally got around to seeing Her which I thought was a near masterpiece. I'd give it a B+ on the movie scale and a C on the masterpiece scale. Pretty shocked to realize Joaquin Phoenix was not nominated for an Oscar. I thought the "sci fi" aspects of the movie were downright believable.
I also saw The Man From UNCLE and thought it was much better than I was expecting. Fun to look at and briskly paced. No new territory covered but it deserves a sequel (like SPY this last year) and probably won't get one.