REVIEW: Deadpool (15)

After many, many debates on whether this movie would be made, Deadpool finally hits our screens and hits it does. Ryan Reynolds has stepped up to the plate twice now in his attempt to break into the superhero genre as a superhero himself. As well as featuring for Marvel in Blade II as Blade’s sidekick, his first real outing was actually as Deadpool in the luke-warmly received X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie. Although it was generally in the lower rated echelons of superhero movie opinions, the Deadpool portrayed there had his mouth sewn shut and was a complete waste of a character much loved by many. As if to rub salt into the wounds, or maybe take a distance from Marvel, Reynolds defected to DC to star in similarly panned Green Lantern which may have had a decent run as a franchise if it wasn’t so badly made and relied on too much CGI. Although Ryan Reynolds is a likeable guy and a great actor – he plays smarmy, arrogant or wisecracking as you require it. So he would be the ideal choice for Deadpool. But, he’s already had two strikes – this one needs to be the home run. And do you know what? It is!

 

This new Deadpool movie is all what you would expect from a movie and more and is full of blood, guts, gore and one liners. Some of the insults are both creative and zany, and with the inclusion of X-Men’s Colossus, it adds a flair to the proceedings. Poking fun at everything it can and highlighting it via quips and jokes about poo, death, blood and just about everything else, Deadpool is a Marvel movie unlike any other but also as you would expect.

 

Once again, as expected, this introduction to the character is an origin movie and charts the wise-cracking Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) in flash back format from two-bit mercenary for hire to the Merc With the Mouth. The film slams straight into the action as Deadpool takes on a multitude of enemies and proceeds to tell backstory while doing it. Once up to date, Deadpool carries on from where we left off in the most basic story of revenge, but the quips, special FX and soundtrack (which includes some Wham! and Salt 'n' Pepa to name but two).

 

Even though it is a very different Marvel movie (the closest to it would most likely be something like a Blade movie or The Punisher) and not yet a part of MCU, all the hallmarks of a Marvel movie are there – ties to other movies (in this instance the X-Men) and, of course, Mr Stan Lee features as a cameo. With added self referential items – which without giving anything away do include said X-Men mentioned above among other things, this movie is all a Deadpool fan would want. With a strong supporting cast and a funky soundtrack to boot, strap in and enjoy the ride as Deadpool is your host on this Marvel’s version of Taken. It’s a great start to 2016’s bumper crop of superhero movies to come but it’s set the bar high.

 

Of course, you have to stay to the end of the credits because it’s a Marvel movie isn’t it?

 

Deadpool is out now at all good cinemas and it’s dead(pool) good.

POPSCORE: 9/10

What am I talking about? Deadpool movie
Where can I find out more? http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/deadpool
If you liked this try: Any of the other Marvel movies but especially Blade II, The Punisher and possibly the Daredevil (Netflix series), Ghost Rider and also the latest X-Men Movies but ...
DEFINITELY NOT X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE OR GREEN LANTERN!

Anything else?

Ryan Reynolds has been Deadpool before in X-men Origins: Wolverine and there is at least 3 sequences in the movie where he makes a reference or there is a reference to this.
Colossus, one of the X-Men, features in this movie.
This movie is not officially part of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) because, like the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises, the movie rights currently belong to Fox.

BYTE: Jolly January

I'm Paul ... and this is Paul & The Popcorn...

Welcome to a jolly January - and I hope it is so for all of you!

It was an epic 2015 for movies wasn't it? It started off exciting, got amazing, what with the Avengers and Ant-man and everything. Via a few comic cons and even TV show viewings, I finished off the year with no less than 4 screenings of the hotly awaited, Star Wars: the Force Awakens.

This year is just as exciting as we have some more Marvel movies - Captain America: Civil War is looking ace, and of course, another Star Wars movie to contend with before 2017 blows us away with it's offerings. Dropping by also will be Deadpool and DC's juggernaut Batman Vs Superman, and rounded off by a nice slice of Star Trek too.

Celebrations this year include 60 years of Batman (the camp 60's TV series) and the anniversary of Star Trek: the Original Series. So it's going to be an exciting year regardless. Added to that all the comic cons, action and unboxings - it's shaping up to be an exciting year ahead.

I've been blogging on and off for a year now, and I'd like to thank everyone who has been reading me. I got a cheap camcorder for Christmas so I'm going to try and do some vLogs too this year - which is something I'm not really accustomed to. But I'll have a go and you can tell me what you think.  it will complement this blog and my Twitter feed so hopefully it will give you enough new content to be getting on with.

Let's get to the computers then -
 

If you are interested in Steam games but want to expand your horizons from just the triple A rated blockbusters and have a peek at other offerings - including indie developers, you could do no worse than checking out a SteamCrate. It says that each game is worth at least £3 and you get 10 random games each month - which could be anything from the latest releases to goodness-knows-what. I have subscribed to this and I'm going to do a review soon - so keep an eye out for it to see if it is worth it or not. They give you a 10% discount if you subscribe to their mailing list too, so it's worth doing that if you want to take advantage.

Looking at the latest stuff as well:

>   Xbox Live:  Games with Gold this month includes:

XBOX ONE gives you:

Thief

Killer Instinct: Ultra Edition Add-on
Zheroes (from 16th Jan)
 

XBOX 360 gifts to you:

DiRT Showdown

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (from 16th Jan)

All the Xbox games have limited availability and are yours to keep once you have purchased them. However, some are only available at the beginning of the month, some at the end and some longer than that. Generally though, there are some games for the first two weeks and then a different set two weeks after, so you need to move quickly.

Every Xbox 360 game that is featured on Games With Gold from now, is now backwards compatibly with Xbox One which means the Xbox 360 games above WILL work on your Xbox one. They are adding new games all the time, so keep checking to see if you can use any of those old 360 games again on your shiny new Xbox One.

>  PSN: PS Plus this month is as follows:

 

PS4 has:

Grim Fandango: Remastered
Hardware Rivals

PS3 gets:

Dragon Age: Origins (yes, really!)
Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Vita receives:

Grim Fandango: Remastered
Nihilumbra
History: Legends of War

 

Of course usual rules apply in that if you stop your subscription those games'll stop workin'. I know this to be true because it has happened to me.

 

Origin has another game on the house and it's Jade Empire: Special Edition - this was an awesome game in it's time so get it now before it's gone forever. As always you need to have an Origin account to get this - but it's really worth the time to get this game as it's fab. If you like Knights of the Old Republic and the more recent Old Republic MMORPG you'll love this.

Origin have a new thing out called Origin Access which is £3.99 a month to play their games and you can cancel at any time. I need to look into this further but it looks pretty cool if you have the time to do it. If you check it out - let me know.

 

As always we have Loot Crate and Nerd Block unboxings to look forward to...

...AND Marvel Collector Corps in February which, I'm told, is Deadpool!

It's time to go now but -  I'll see you soon.

Keep being awesome!

Until next time

Paul

BYTE: A-May-Zing May!

Welcome to May - it's spring time and summer is round the corner!

Time for some movie blockbusters MAYbe?

 

Well, let's be honest Avengers: Age of Ultron will take some beating. have you seen it yet? Finnally you guys in the US have got to see it too - and it looks like it's going to be a (Hulk) smash hit!  The next anticipated behemoth of a movie is Star Wars in December. But you don't have to wait that long to get a superhero fix as Ant-Man and Fantastic Four will be popping by over the summer. If you wap in the Minions Movie and the new "in-your-head" Pixar movie, we still have some things to look forward to.

 

It's been a crazy month so far with no signs of stopping. We are only three days in and we've had the birth of the royal baby - a little princess who is yet to be named. I'm going for Scarlett Diana, but who knows?

 

Sadly though, we've also lost people - the legendary Ben E King (famous for Stand By Me, one of my favourite songs from the 60's), the iconic writer Ruth Rendell and Rebecca Ferdinand, Rio Ferdinand's wife have all passed away the last few days. Sad times, and our thoughts at P&TP HQ are with their families. #RIP

 

There's a lot of stuff going on in this month too. Yesterday it was World Free Comic Book Day and I picked up quite a few free comics. I had picked up Secret Wars #0, and Avengers one, a 2000AD one and others at my local Forbidden Planet. Did you get to get some too? If not, don't worry - it happens every year so make sure you're up bright and early for next time. And, the following two days later (or tomorrow as I write this) is May 4th - which is Star Wars Day. I had to explain this to someone - May The Force... May the Fourth... oh never mind. If you are a member of Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG (like myself - unfortunately my character is called StarJediLord - sorry; but feel free to add ;-) ) they are doing some celebrations, so get logged on for some free digital swag, including, I hear, a free droid. Meanwhile if you are misty eyed about Knights of The Old Republic, the awesome game from a few years ago, Google Play is selling it on Android for the ridiculously low price of £2.33 (not sure how long for) - check it out https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aspyr.swkotor. 

 

In the UK, on May 7th we are having a General Election, and, 5 years ago, I tried setting up a blog and my first post was all about it. Sadly, the blog never got past about 4 entries, and, as an homage to that, I might rerelease one of the movie reviews I did back then for you. I reckon, one of them was Iron Man 2 but I could be wrong.

 

Looking at the latest stuff as well:

>   Xbox Live:  Games with Gold this month includes the full game of Mafia II on XBOX 360 and for the posh 'uns who have XBOX ONE you are treated to Pool Nation FX (still) and Castle Storm Definitive Edition to download free if you are a subscriber.

>  PSN: PS Plus this month hasn't really updated just yet so nothing new to report on this front. Though you can get Destiny for £24.99 if you don't already have it.

 

If you want a free game for your PC, and you like the Ultima series, you can get a free digital copy of Ultima 8 by signing up to EA's Origin and you can download it for free - it's an initiative they have called "On The House". If you do sign up, they do this regularly so it might be worth keeping the account. We've had quite a few games already and my collection is building up - but most of them are older games, but still goodies. Hey, what do you want for free? Please note, though, I am not sure if this would work outside the UK but you could always have a crack to see if it does.  

 

As always we have Loot Crate and Nerd Block unboxings to look forward to...

 

...AND Marvel Collector Corps!

Anyway I've wrote enough now - have a MINT MAY and I'll see you soon.

 

Keep being awesome!

 

Until next time

Paul