This is possibly the biggest movie of the year, definitely the biggest R-rated movie of the year (probably all time if it has any legs after last night's huge opening), and Marvel's first R-rated flick to be part of their "Cinematic Universe", so I think it might be worthy of discussion on those grounds alone.

I saw the movie last night in the most packed movie theater I've been in since before COVID. This experience was an absolute treat, and reminded me why I've always enjoyed going to big tentpole Marvel/DC movies opening weekend despite never really being into comics or super heroes as a kid. The energy of the crowd is downright infectious, and impossible to replicate at home.

As for the movie itself, I enjoyed it. I thought the story was a little thin. Deadpool's character arc here is not as strong as what we got in either of his first two outings, with Wolverine doing more of the heavy lifting. The primary antagonists, Mr. Paradox played by Matthew Macfadyen and Cassandra Nova played by Emma Corrin, are also not as well developed as their counterparts from the prior films (Ajax, Rusty, and Cable). However both still turn in solid, funny performances.

I think this is made up for by how well executed everything else is. This is a movie that only works because it is a Deadpool movie. Act 2 in particular is a non-stop assault of cameos and references that would make me groan in almost any other context, but had me laughing my ass off. The chemistry Reynolds and Jackman have on screen is palpable, making for the most entertaining super hero team up I've seen.

Perhaps more than anything, this is a love letter to 20th Century Fox's decades-long run of super hero movies, warts and all.

7.5/10. I had a great time, but I think the central premise here only works once. If there is more Deadpool in our future, a smaller cast with more focus on character work like the first two would be welcome.

Some stand-out moments for me:

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Next up of blockbusters is Barbie from 2023 directed by Greta Gerwig which made a whooping $1.4 billion.

IMDb
Letterboxd
Wikipedia

Is this a proper blockbuster? Were you caught up in the whole Barbenheimer frenzy?

The rest of the schedule is:

• 29th: Edge of Tomorrow

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Next up of blockbusters is Snatch from 2000 directed by Guy Ritchie and it made $83 million in box office.

IMDb
Letterboxd
Wikipedia

Is this a proper blockbuster with all that entails? Any thoughts on Guy Ritchie's other films?

The rest of the schedule is:

• 22nd: Barbie
• 29th: Edge of Tomorrow

disclaimer that I haven't done much research into this thought and it's mostly anecdotal but I doubt I am wrong?

I personally don't go to theaters, except for comicbook movies. and the only reason I go to theaters for comicbook movies is just cause I liked to discuss the comicbook movies on social media as soon as possible, but honestly, either I am getting really old or the redditors on /r/marvelstudios are getting young and younger everyday cause i go to those comments and it's not really a place I'd describe as open to a civil and non-memey discussion of the latest Marvel movie but I digress.

Point being, I personally prefer to wait for movie to arrive at streaming services. why?

1. I don't have to deal with other people.
   1. I went to watch Creed 3 near the end of its theater run. 3 people chose to sit in front of me when the whole auditorium was basically empty (they looked to be in their mid-late 20s, maybe even early 30s.) I didn't care. What I did care was that one of the dudes spent half his time on his fucking phone. To the point that I literally had to bend over and ask him to put it away and he still didn't. this idiot just attempted to angle the phone in a manner such that I couldn't see it, or so he thought, the light still was there, just less. At that point, I just got too resentful of theaters to tell him off again but felt very stubborn about not moving away from my seat.
   2. I went to watch Aquaman 2 (iirc on opening weekend). I knew the movie was not gonna be great going in, just wanted to mark the end of the DCEU in theaters. 3 young girls were sitting in the middle section. as the movie started, these girls started taking selfies of themselves for the grams or snapchat or whatever the fuck it was. The light from their phone was bright. There was a couple sitting a seat or 2 to my right. the dude and I collectively rolled our eyes at the girls. They took 1 picture. I was like "OK, thank God". 2 pictures, I think "let's hope the second take works". Third picture "this is ridiculous". by this point, I wanted to throw something at them and just leaned over and asked them to put their phone away. I may been asshole cause it seemed like I scared them with that comment and to be quite frank, I took pleasure that I scare them, even accidentally.
2. Theaters are extremely non-inclusive. This one bugs me a lot just cause of Eternals and CODA and Hollywood pretending they are woke. Not sure if anyone here has ever tried to use the closed captioning devices. I am personally not deaf, but I do have trouble processing words. I am the kind of guy who will often ask people to repeat themselves to fully understand what they said. Obviously can't do that with a movie but reading closed captioning helps me process. I finally decided to start trying the closed captioning devices in theaters around the time of Avengers Endgame I think. It's very hit or miss. either the theater forgot to charge the device so it gives out halfway through the movie, or it's just all old and it's neck doesn't retain it's form when I twist it into the good position and it ends up pointing the closed captioning at someone who is a good 1 foot shorter than me or it's fully charged and can retain its form but the studios behind the movie didn't put any serious effort into the closed captioning so half the fucking words are missing, rendering it pointless. My gf and I went to watch Mad Max Furiosa in theaters the other day and the theater didn't even have any remaining, they had given their to the studio to fix and didn't have any in stock as a result.
3. Not sure about the states but up here in Canada, our big chain is Cineplex and they are so desperate to charge us extra that they now charge an extra "service fee" that you get charged only if you buy online.
4. And the classic complaint of "just the snacks cost us a movie and a half nowadays"

However, I don't know if I blame the theater for my issues.

I've read the stories about how Disney have theaters over a barrel with how controlling they are with how much of a cut of a theater tickets goes to Disney and how Disney insists on how many auditorium the theaters devote to their movies. And how theaters charge so much for concession cause they are trying to keep the lights on to some extent cause the studios demand so much of the profit. And if it's a struggle to keep the lights on, I am not surprised they can't be more enforcing with the policy of no-phones during a movie.

It seems to me the studios, in an attempt to "maximize" their profit as much as possible, demanded as much as possible from theaters, while not realizing that the less of a cut that theaters take, the less theaters can invest in a welcoming environment where people actually want to go to and therefore people come less cause couple that with streaming services, why wouldn't people come less?

So I think the demise of theaters and the rise of streaming service can't just be attributed to how much more convenient it is to wait 8 months for a movie on streaming service but it's also attributable to the decline in quality at theaters which I think is cause studios are bleeding them dry.

So I find it odd that studios and production companies bitch moan and complain that people don't go to movies more in a time where a movie has to make 500 million $ just to be considered profitable but they've never really done any proper self-reflection on a possible reason why people don't go to theaters as much anymore.

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Next up of blockbusters is Mission: Impossible - Fallout from 2018 which made $791 million at the box office. Second M:I film directed by Christopher McQuarrie.

IMDb
Letterboxd
Wikipedia

Is this a proper blockbuster with all that entails? Any thoughts on the franchise in general?

The rest of the schedule is:

• 15th: Snatch
• 22nd: Barbie
• 29th: Edge of Tomorrow

We begin June with Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man from 1973 which is now considered a horror cult classic.

IMDb
Letterboxd
Wikipedia

Since this is the month of horror movies, did you find it scary, unsettling, creepy, eerie, spooky or horrifying?

The rest of the schedule for June is:

• 10th: Ravenous (1999)
• 17th: X (2022)
• 24th: The Exorcist (1973)

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

I'm here watching Furiosa which has noticeable CGI. So noticeable in fact that my partner, who doesn't give a second thought to the technicalities of movie making commented on it. Painted backgrounds, obvious green screen and so on.

What is also noticeable is that the movie wasn't cheap to make. It has also excellent, energetic direction, camera work and action set pieces and the character design has the same care as Mad Max Fury Road.

The movie also has this cooky, kinda goofy tone from the get go. Stylistically the CGI doesn't really get in the way because there's a real distinct step between our reality and this crazy world on screen. It serves its purpose.

So what's y'all's thoughts about this? I think with money and time (I guess they're the same thing) the movie could've looked a lot better and avoided the paintbrushly fogginess that comes with the green screen -- but would've that actually been worth it?

(There's also a lot of stunts, real handcrafted care and crazy, inspired camera movement. The movie's good, you should probably consider seeing it.)

Starting the month with blockbusters with The Mummy from 1999 which made $417.4 million at the box office.

IMDb
Letterboxd
Wikipedia

Is this a proper blockbuster with all that entails? Have you seen the other movies in the franchise?

The rest of the schedule is:

• 8th: Mission Impossible: Fallout
• 15th: Snatch
• 22nd: Barbie
• 29th: Edge of Tomorrow

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

We end the horror month with William Friedkin's The Exorcist from 1973. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound.

IMDb
Letterboxd
Wikipedia

Since this is the month of horror movies, did you find it scary, unsettling, creepy, eerie, spooky or horrifying?

July's schedule is:

• 1st: The Mummy
• 8th: Mission Impossible: Fallout
• 15th: Snatch
• 22nd: Barbie
• 29th: Edge of Tomorrow

It is summer and that usually means a good time for blockbusters! So lets see if we can find 5 good blockbusters for July. I am not making hard definitions for what a blockbuster movie is, but I might have some questions if you pick a movie that got only $100,000 at the box office.

Rules

• Be considered a blockbuster movie
• Not one we have done before
• Only one nomination per user
• Please only nominate if you intent to participate
• Upvote the post(s) with a nomination you would like to be picked for discussion next month
• Please state the title of the movie clearly on the first line, and add any additional general comments in the next paragraph to keep voting simple

In case of ties in the number of votes, random.org will decide. Voting closes Sunday.