Deadpool Movie Review

Deadpool, the first R-rated Marvel movie since 2004, has finally hit theatres. But is this movie as good as all the hype has made it out to be? Or is it going to have been all marketing magic? Well good news to all of you, the movie is good. They took the recent Deadpool comics and translated them into a movie that we can proudly admit to having been seen. Although, and this is pointed to you parents, I would HIGHLY advise you holding out on taking the kids to this movie. Yes, it is a Marvel movie, but no one will question why Deadpool earned an R-rating and without it this is not the same movie. There will not be a TV friendly version of this movie.

Now lets flashback a number of years to San Diego Comic Con. A trailer of some Deadpool test footage gets leaked. Fast forward to another SDCC and this footage returns later a little cleaned up with the announcement that there will be a Deadpool movie. Fast forward again to this weekend and this same freeway gun fight opens the movie. It even included Deadpool coloring on an overpass listening to some tunes. Immediately during the opening you know this movie will be different. Trust me when I tell you to read the opening credits, it really sets the tone of the movie.

Since this is the first Deadpool movie it requires a long and boring origin story about who Wade Wilson is and how he got that fancy red suit. Well this is done between action scenes with 4th wall breaking flash-backs until we reach the present day. It is a unique method that I am not sure would work with the other Marvel properties since they don't acknowledge they are in a fictional world the way Deadpool does. Now if it annoys you when characters break the 4th wall, you probably are not reading this as you don't like Deadpool anyway, so you will like that portion of the movie. Breaking the 4th wall is used to do more then tell the story. Deadpool also uses this to make a few well timed wise cracks about Fox's X-men movie universe. 

 Now the big question is, should you see this movie? Well if you only like superhero movies that feature a hero who works for the greater good and is a good person without question; then just stay home and watch Ant-Man or Avengers again. But if you are looking for something different, if you are looking to have a laugh then this movie will scratch that itch.

Fingers crossed this scene is in the sequel.

And on a few different notes. Thanks to X-Men: Days of Future Past this is technically the same Deadpool that almost destroyed this movie's chance. Now instead of a mute teleporting sword implanted monster we have the Deadpool we always wanted. A Deadpool that broke records for opening weekend sales for both R-rated movies and for movies opening in February making $135 million domestically and $125 million internationally. Not bad for an idiot in a red suit.

Stan Lee Coming to DCC 2016

A few years ago many of us were disappointed to hear the Stan Lee had to cancel his Denver Comic Con appearance. Well, those dark days are over and he is now scheduled to appear at DCC 2016! He will be appearing for all three days (June 17 - June 19) and will have a panel on June 18th in Main Events.

 This is actually better then the original 2013 appearance were he was only slotted for one day. This year is looking good! Excelsior!

The Professional Gamer - January 25, 2016

This has been another pretty great week. I've again been able to spend a fair amount of time dedicated to the more trivial pursuits of life.  Which means that I'll have a bit more to talk about this week compared to what I might otherwise have.  Read on to find out how I spent that time.

My viewing time this week was dominated by watching all but the last episode of One Punch Man.  The series has been so much fun.  It's a real breath of fresh air among the moe serials and overserious cast-of-thousands fighting series that have dominated the air-waves lately.  I only have one episode left to watch, and I'm kinda dragging my feet about it. Mostly because I don't want the series to end, but also because I'm an older anime fan and have seen so many serials fizzle at the end.  Here's hoping that One Punch Man stays strong to the end.

After I finished writing my article last week, I spent the remainder of the evening playing Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale.  The game is a few years old, and I originally purchased it sometime after it was released on Steam in North America.  I had mostly forgotten about it, but decided to reinstall it on a whim.  I played for a few hours that night and a few more hours over the next few days.  In the beginning it was fun, but I feel on the cusp of a very long grind to get through the rest of the game, and that has somewhat turned me off of the whole thing.

I also finally had enough time to get a few decent sessions in with Elite: Dangerous.  I hadn't played for a long time, largely because it is the type of game that I want to dedicate a relatively large block of time to at once.  For the last few months, I haven't felt that I had the appropriate amount of time to dedicate to it.  Man, I love this game a lot, but sometimes death can be swift and arbitrary.  This is largely due to the NPC archetype commonly referred to as the "psychopath".  Basically, these are folks who will kill you just for fun.  They never ask for your credits or cargo or anything like that.  They just pull you out of lightspeed travel and start hammering your ship with everything they have.  At least insurance costs for my ship are not too punishing at my level of play.  It's a little frustrating sometimes, but from what I can gather in the community this is considered a "feature" and an "essential part of the tone" of the game.  I'm not sure that I agree with that, and I may go back to working the relatively safe career of the merchant.

I'm still reading Ways to the West, but I am now more than half-way through the book.  The current chapter is especially interesting to me because the discussion not only centers around Denver, but on the exact area of my current commute: the Southeast Corridor.  I've been enthralled learning about the history that has lead to an everyday feature of my own life.  I should be finished with the book in time to discuss it more completely in a fortnight.  So you should look forward to that in the future.

I'm going to finish off this week with a couple of fun links.  Elysium Adventures is a Denver based firm that organizes wilderness adventure trips with a fantasy theme.  Think of those urban team building exercises, except out in the wilderness of Colorado, and you can pretend to be an elf without fear of judgement.  Finding Molly is a new webcomic that is being published by Emet Comics.  The comic is brand new, but looks really promising.

I hope you all have fun this week and I'll see you back here again next time.  Game on!

One Punch Man

Recetter

Elite Dangerous

Steven Moffat to Step Down as Doctor Who Showrunner→

BBC America is reporting that Steven Moffat will step down as the lead writer and executive producer for Doctor Who.  He will be replaced by Chris Chibnall, who is the creator of the series Broadchurch.  Moffat's final season will air in Spring 2017 in the American market.

I've pretty much been over Moffat's run on Doctor Who since season 6, and just biding my time until he resigned (an inevitability of some sort) or said something inflammatory enough in an interview to get him fired (he has been known to say some shitty stuff).  Overall, I'm looking forward to a time that I can actually enjoy Doctor Who again.