DEADPOOL   3.5***

        Deadpool is Marvel's take on the revenge driven Kill Bill movies. There's graphic violence, close shots of gory injuries and an unrelenting quest for revenge. The tone of the movie is unique to Superhero movies because the main character Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) may have super powers but he is NO hero…in fact this guy is nuts and we love him for it .As an aside, it’s hilarious that the other characters address him NOT as Deadpool but as MR. POOL!!!!!!

 Deadpool is a film that combines both bloody action and comedy. It is a great mix that few films are able to achieve.  As for the story, it is one of those typical superhero stories. By that  I mean, every superhero starts out somewhere, right? Peter Parker got bitten by a spider and became Spiderman, Captain America was in some sort of a American advanced war project and here we have is Wade Wilson who is turned into a man with super powers in the course of curing his “incurable” cancer. BUT there are side effects in the order of a Phantom of the Opera look  .Deadpool seeks revenge of the doctor who left him looking a freak just when he was about to marry the love of his life.

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There is a risky styling move employed in the movie in that  the main character knows that he's in a movie and talks to the camera. (not to mention that basically Ryan Reynolds plays himself  playing Deadpool aka Wade Wilson),The risk pays off in using this style because it allows  details to be communicated about Wade Wilson/Deadpool. And that’s a good thing because let's face it, not many people had ever heard or read anything about him before the film was announced last year. 

 As for his side characters, there has to be someone here that has a strong moral compass because Deadpool is blinded by his compulsion for revenge. The sidekicks are a chrome plated, metal headed robot/human  and a seeming demure girl with quite undefined super powers, and they are quite a treat. They don't appear  much, but when they do, the best action happens. 

And finally there is the awesome  performance by Ryan Reynolds. It's tough to overstate how challenging this role was.. The whole flick is quite good and very quirky, and  it's success relies heavily on a protagonist who's in 95+% of the scenes and spends a large bulk of that time rambling and talking to the audience. And Reynolds kills it.

Rated R for strong violence and language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity 

Clark

BROOKLYN  3.5***

        Brooklyn is a gorgeous old world style Hollywood romance similar to the  charmers of the 40's and 50's .( Oscar Nominee for Best Picture )

Saoirse Ronan's intuitive acting style meshes perfectly with the material here, in the role of Eilis, a young Irish immigrant girl in the bustling spectacle of Brooklyn/New York City for the first time. To go from a quaint, removed town in tiny Ireland to such a gigantic, populated environment is quite the culture shock indeed, and Ronan infuses this into her work nicely. She arrives with no friends, no family, under the sponsorship of a kindly priest, boarding with a mother hen of a landlord and the other mischievous young lady boarders under her care. The scenes of them at the dinner table are packed with dry, well written girly banter and are a joy to watch. One day, as she meets a young man, a blue collar Italian American (Emory Cohen), and the two immediately have an attraction that the film carefully, sparingly kindles with humble character development and realistic interaction. When tragedy calls her back to Ireland, their relationship is put to the test.    

The title of the movie is very fitting in that the amount of painstaking care that has gone into bringing the setting and time period to life is staggering, from cars, costumes and architecture to the linguistic cadence that people used back then. Truly an impressive technical achievement, which when combined with the stellar performances and direction make a well-rounded film in all areas.

The best thing about the picture is without question the performance of Ronan (Oscar Nominee for Best Actress). She has a major presence on the screen and there's no question but that she nails the rather difficult role. The role asks her to play all sorts of ranges and the actress nails all of them. This includes the rather shy and depressed girl at the start of the picture and the way Ronan physically and emotionally shows the character maturing and coming into her own which is  a pleasure to watch.  

It's a genuinely heartwarming picture, beautifully filmed, with a nostalgic feel for anyone that might have grown up during the era.

Clark