Mark Wahlberg's 'Deepwater Horizon' Gets a Heavy-Handed Teaser

I actually liked Peter Berg once upon a time, back when he did Friday Night Lights in 2004, but you almost have to laugh at how on the nose this teaser trailer is. The coke can exploding at the end, really? This is based on the BP oil spill of course, and Berg and Wahlberg had a hit with Lone Survivor a couple years back, so this is probably in a similar, celebrate-the-heroes-on-the-rig kind of thing, but eh. I don't know. I'd prefer a docudrama of what actually went down that day.

Renee Zellweger Returns in 'Bridget Jones's Baby'

Okay, so this apparently is the year for sequels to 15 year old movies that nobody asked for, and after the flop of Zoolander 2 and I'm guessing My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 this weekend, this third film in the Bridget Jones series will probably be next in line. That first film is one of my favorites to this day, but the second one was god awful and this one doesn't look much better. Ugh. Hugh Grant seemed to have the good sense to stay away from it. I don't really get why they would break up her and Colin Firth anyway, but I guess I should just be glad they didn't kill him off like one of the books did.

'Star Wars' Wins Big at the Empire Awards

Star Wars snagged best male and female newcomers, best sci-fi and best director at the Jameson Empire awards, which at least handed out prizes to some different kind of winners, which is nice to see. I love that Paul Greengrass presented Matt Damon with Best Actor for the The Martian, and kudos to them for giving Alan Rickman a deserved legend award.

BEST MALE NEWCOMER
John Boyega, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST FEMALE NEWCOMER
Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST SCI-FI/FANTASY
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST COMEDY
Spy

BEST HORROR
The Hallow

BEST THRILLER
Spectre

BEST BRITISH FILM
Spectre

BEST ACTOR
Matt Damon, The Martian

BEST ACTRESS
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

BEST DIRECTOR
J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST FILM
The Revenant

BEST SCREENPLAY
The Big Short — Adam McKay, Charles Randolph

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Inside Out

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Amy

BEST SOUNDTRACK
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST MAKE-UP AND HAIRSTYLING
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST SHORT FILM
World Of Tomorrow

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Mad Max: Fury Road

EMPIRE INSPIRATION
Paddy Considine

EMPIRE LEGEND
Alan Rickman

EMPIRE HERO
Stanley Tucci

Blake Lively vs. a Shark in Teaser for 'The Shallows'

Lol. I don't know whether to take this seriously or burst out laughing, but it is Blake Lively in danger here, so I'm leaning towards the latter. It's also from the guy who directed Non-Stop, so this may have the potential to be a camp classic.

REVIEW: "Deadpool" (2016) Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin. Dir. Tim Miller

At this point, whenever I go into another superhero movie, I'm mostly judging by whether it turns out to be an endeavor that feels like its own thing. Its own vision, its own story, anything from a singular mind and not some product rolled off the assembly line of formula action filmmaking that feels like it's become a perfected science in the last few years. Much to my surprise, Deadpool really did feel that way. This is a unique, vulgar, self-aware, filthy and somewhat depraved ride that manages to be entertaining and memorable, particularly in how much it stands apart from all the other superhero flicks of the moment. And that really is more than enough to recommend it.

Based on an underground Marvel comic book that's peppered with pop culture references, fourth wall breaking and in joke humor that amounts to a violent genre spoof, the film has been kicking around for the last decade as star Ryan Reynolds' pet project. Only now in the wake of the mass franchise wave was it given the green light by 20th Century Fox, whose only other superhero properties are the Fantastic Four and X-Men series. This is not a studio entirely beholden to formula yet, since its profits from the tentpoles aren't as out of this world as Marvel Studios or even WB, which owns the DC properties. No, Fox isn't exactly on the same page as those, which makes it prone to try a risk every now and then, and going with an R-rated comic that boasts some very adult and decidedly not for kids material isn't something those other studios would have jumped on, at least not before Deadpool's success (I'm guessing we may get a lot of them going forward, however).

But I think this decision was a wise one, because like I said, the best part about it is that it feels like its own movie, completely separate from the X-Men universe despite the detail that Deadpool is sort of an honorary, murderous member of the X-Men (I doubt we're going to see him in any of those films), which he himself jokes about. And the material benefits from a perfect match between actor and role, finally giving the years long quest of Ryan Reynolds to break out in something a definitive payoff. His dry, sarcastic, specific sense of humor has made him an odd fit and a total bore of a leading man for the last ten years, with only occasional glimpses (for instance in a movie like Van Wilder) of comedic talents that were perhaps being underused. Turns out he was born to play this part, and gives Deadpool such a manic, rip smart, non-stop verbal energy that he conjures occasional flashbacks to comics like Jim Carrey in his prime. He may have the ability to regenerate limbs after a sadistic science experiment gone wrong, but his real superpower is cutthroat, profane and pop-culture laden verbal gymnastics. You thought Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark was a wiseass? Yeah, this is him times a thousand.

Reynolds is the movie, dominating every frame of it, but the command of tone makes it feel more akin to a film like 1994's The Mask (coincidentally another Jim Carrey vehicle), with a wacky, cartoonish, dazzling air of unpredictability that you simply don't see in other examples of the genre. He talks to the camera, he quips about other movies and other heroes and makes all kinds of asides letting us know this is all a joke, and yet despite all this the movie manages to have a heart, which is actually the biggest surprise of all. It may not be worth describing too much of the plot, but lowlife criminal Wade Wilson finds his soulmate in Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), a feisty woman worthy of his love, who matches his personality in every way, and after tragedy strikes his life and leads to ultimate physical deformity, every move he makes is guided by the goal of getting back to her. Adult relationships have been all but jettisoned in superhero movies these days, but this film has more sex and love in it than any from the last decade, and somehow within the realm of Deadpool's crazy universe there exists a soul in a movie that by all accounts, should be utterly soulless. The fact that it's not is something of a triumph.

I had a crazy good time during Deadpool, and even though it may be bound to inspire copycats that will ultimately work to cheapen any effect this one has, I give it all the credit in the world for daring to stay true to the anarchic nature of the source material, and producing something that's not just another generic, character free, hodgepodge romp of what may as well be anonymous actors in different colored tights fighting each other for no reasons that carry any weight or feelings of satisfaction. This one has real flavor to it.

* * * 1/2

BOX OFFICE 3/18-3/20: 'Zootopia' Stays on Top While 'Allegiant' Disappoints

The third entry in the Divergent franchise opened soft this weekend with just 29 million, a 50 percent drop from the last entry, which had already debuted with less than the first. This movie got a horrid 10 percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and clearly is an example of either fatigue with the genre itself or just a sign that fans of this particular series are few. Not good news for the fourth film next year, which was as always, an unnecessary splitting of the final book. Meanwhile, that cleared the way for Zootopia to stay in first, as it fell a tiny 25 percent from last week and pulled in another 38 million as it cruises past 200 million and looks well on its way to finish with over 300. That would be a first for an animated film to come out in the first quarter of the year, and its global gross is approaching 600 million in record time, with still some big markets left to open in, like Japan. It may end up overtaking Frozen as the biggest Disney film of all time at this rate.

Jennifer Garner's faith-based Miracles From Heaven opened in third with 18 million, a good debut for Sony's Affirm label, which has been having success in recent years with faith-based films that clearly have an audience out there waiting for them. Holdovers 10 Cloverfield Lane and Deadpool filled up the top five, with Deadpool set to overtake American Sniper soon as the second biggest R-rated movie ever, although it won't catch Passion of the Christ, which remains in first with 370 million.

Top 5:

1. Zootopia- 38 million
2. Allegiant- 29.1 million
3. Miracles From Heaven- 15 million
4. 10 Cloverfield Lane- 12.5 million
5. Deadpool- 8 million

In limited release this week, Jeff Nichols' Midnight Special did pretty well, securing a PTA of  37k on just five screens. Next week Zootopia's reign ends, as Batman v Superman finally comes out, after what seem like an eternity of hearing about it. It's tracking to open at 140 million, but the budget is about twice that, so this movie needs to make a LOT of money. We'll see if it can live up to expectations, or if it falls of a cliff the way Man of Steel did.

Mystique Rises to Apparent Leader of the X-Men in New 'Apocalypse' Trailer

I'm starting to think every blockbuster movie scheduled to come out this summer is going to just full on suck. There is nothing interesting about any of the trailers for this new X-Men movie, and having them all just fighting each other and a big blue villain who's out to destroy the world? Could this be any more generic? Ugh. I was bored by this after the first 30 seconds.

Trailer for 'Ben-Hur' Remake Drops

Um, talk about another flop waiting to happen. What the hell is this? Bad acting, again, awful CGI, and Boardwalk Empire's Jack Huston chooses to make this his first starring role? Good luck with that, guys. I can tell you right now that the chariot scene was better and more exciting in both the 1959 and 1925 versions.

Bad CGI Takes Hold of New 'Legend of Tarzan' Trailer

Boy, this looks rough. First of all, the CGI is atrocious in this trailer, so let's just hope the explanation for that is that it isn't done. Because man, that stampede? Yikes. Second, what on earth is going on with the convoluted story here? Tarzan and Jane are already married? Jane is inexplicably American? All the battles with humans and gorillas swinging through the vines with him...I really don't think the Tarzan story needed all this "re-imagining," I mean, it's not like it's been told that many times on film. The last one was what, Disney's version from 1999? This is clearly a massive flop waiting to happen.

New Red-Band Trailer for Richard Linklater's 'Everybody Wants Some'

Richard Linklater's first film since Boyhood got some pretty stellar reviews out of SXSW this past week, and the new trailer advertizes the tone of the movie much better than that first one did. For everyone calling it a spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused, you can definitely see that in this look at the movie, so I'm probably going to have to check it out, since Dazed is one of my favorite films ever. It's coming out in limited release next month.

First Trailer for 'Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children'

Eva Green stars in Tim Burton's new film, which doesn't look half bad, or at least I wouldn't think so if I hadn't lost faith in Burton at least since Sweeney Todd. I'm pretty sure that was the last time he made a good movie, although maybe now that he seems to have moved on from the Johnny Depp collaboration he can make a comeback. This one does look kind of interesting, anyway. It's based on the children's book and is coming out September 30th.

Final International Trailer for 'Batman v Superman'

Here's probably the last chance to see any new footage for BvS before it comes out next week- it's screening for the press next Tuesday night, which is a little late for this kind of thing, but early buzz is that if you liked Man of Steel, you'll probably go for this one too. As you should know by now, I HATED Man of Steel, but I will probably end up seeing this anyway just because I'm a masochist. As far as I'm concerned, Zack Snyder has completely wrecked the tone of the DC Universe movies, so everything from here on out is a lost cause.