Alternative monitoring of popular culture ~ broadly defined ~ in the pursuit of deeper understanding
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Deadpool
Tim Miller's Deadpool is counterpoint (counterpunch?) to the Marvel Universe's customary earnestness -- much like 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy and 2015's Ant-Man, both of which starred enormously likable leads (Chris Pratt and Paul Rudd, respectively) playing characters who reluctantly pulled on a hero's mantle. In Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds' Wade Wilson -- cancer survivor and mutated vigilante badass -- is no more interested in being one of the sanctimonious X-men (he's being courted by Xavier's emissaries) than he is in flying to the moon. That is to say his aspirations are pretty base. Deadpool, the character, is a lethal, indestructible vulgar hedonist, who delights in both eviscerating his enemies (Ed Skrein and Gina Carano) and in holiday-themed sex play with his squeeze (Morena Baccarin). Deadpool, the film, is a celebration (and also a bit of a denunciation) of fame and fandom, targeted at fanboys who still think a quick punch to the nads is hilarious and the fangirls who hang with them. It's glib hyper-violence and a good amount of tightly choreographed mayhem and destruction. Don't forget to wear your cups -- boys and girls.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thunderbolts*
Jake Schreier's Thunderbolts* (the asterisk is part of the title) takes the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a refreshing direction, w...

-
The rootlessness that comes from pride and calamity threading through Bob Dylan's 1965 hit single "Like a Rolling Stone" als...
-
As you closely read the two photographs above -- Sally Mann's "Candy Cigarette"(top) and Diane Arbus's ...
-
I don't think there's much mystery why Alice Rohrwacher's superb 2018 film Happy as Lazzaro, streaming on Netflix, is so begui...
No comments:
Post a Comment