The general public is wrong*

So, I recently watched Deadpool and Wolverine ... alongside Spider-man home #3 (AKA No way home) and neither one impressed me. Off topic: I can't be the only one who has to google the 'home name' each time since I can never remember which one Homecoming, No Way Home or Far from Home is in the sequence of the Spider-man movies.

 

But, to get back to the point of this post, the reason that I'm singling out those two movies is because both of them made over a billion (gross) at the cinema and both of them are terrible movies *in my opinion. Both leaned into member berries and cameos and both had a pointless plot and characters I did not care one iota about. Maybe I'm getting too old for this ish but I was bored in both of these movies and the constant quips made any stakes in the plot seem more like a mild inconvenience than any actual threat.

In Deadpool 3 I have more of a bitter taste watching this - especially once you understand the context around one of his (ugh) multiverse Deadpools: Nice Pool. Apparently, the inspiration behind Nice Pool was Justin Baldoni and was due to the ugly goings on in the (never been a particularly good actor) wife's project: It Ends With Us. For context, the director-actor, Justin Baldoni, had been shopping his script around hollywood for many years without much success. And then he had a break, with the ancillary fame of Ryan Reynolds' wife (AKA Blake Lively), he finally got it off the ground. 

But it came with a catch.

Blake had somehow weasled out producer credits on the film and begun by redesigning her characters style (dress design credits), attempting to rewrite the story (writing credits), and attempting to master the final cut (editing credits). Naturally, Baldoni did not like this and pushed back in a number of areas during the production - and only when they had an 'edit off' (i.e. both her and the director submitted a final edited version of the film), which the Director won, did things calm down. But then the real drama came, as the mutton-dressed-as-lamb Blake Lively claimed improper behaviour by Baldoni and played the #metoo card to get her way. This caused problems for Baldoni, with his talent agency dropping him but, fortunately (or possibly intelligently), the Director (and crew) had kept detailed records of all the conversations, emails and videos corroborating his story and also painting old Lively in a much less favourable light. They're currently in the process of a lawsuit which Baldoni will more than likely win ... but even with a victory, I don't think either party will come out of this smelling like roses.

That's all to say that when it came time to create Wolverine, Reynolds was still holding a grudge, so he created a vegan Deadpool which was used to ridicule and insult (albeit indirectly) Baldoni. Perhaps if the writing was funny and tightly edited, I'd give it a pass - but it wasn't. This was just mean spirited (once you understand the context) and even old Canada boy came out of it looking less than the stereotypical picture of niceness. I have a feeling that the general public will very soon turn on Reynolds and Lively and I don't think I'll feel particularly sad when they do. Honestly, I'm surprised in the success of both movies although I'm also not surprised in the success. These movies are the kind of swill that pigs love but, for me, I prefer to have a little nuance, thought, and pacing to what is forced down my throat. 

 

Who am I kidding? You ain't doing it right unless you're sloppin' the joe.

I am over-franchised

Do you tire of seeing your favourite stars wearing their underpants on the outside? Have you tired of lense flares and played-out death-to-the-known-universe scenarios? Have your eyes bored at the next PG-rated infinite unobtainiumed star-destroying pile of money-grubbing merchandised-to-the-hilt pile of crap? If so, welcome to the club. You may have just reached a point where you are looking for something a little less soul-suckingly uninspired.

Is it just me or is it really irritating when every enemy/bum/love interest/arch nemesis is somehow related to everyone in a disturbing 2 degrees of Kevin Bacon. That just smacks of lazy writing and a general complacency to dumb things down for the ADD generation. Hey, at least they're not catering for the Pepsi Generation (whatever that means).

There are exceptions, of course. Movies like Deadpool did their best to eschew the standard fare while riding the coat tails of a well-trodden path. It was at its best when it was breaking the fourth wall and noting all the stupid things that it and other movies were doing - even if it's a little too easy to follow the wink-wink path. I think I became a real fan of Ryan Reynolds after he did an interview/roasts with himself after receiving the GQ Man of the Year award.

Maybe I'm just tired of the nefarious higher-ups focussing solely on maximising potential ROI rather than introspectively asking themselves: what would truly entertain/distract the drones to enough-of-a-degree that they will not thwart my plans to take over the world? Maybe the visage is slipping to a point where I am able to see past the curtain to the actual underworkings of Hollywood. Or maybe I just need a few more 'splosions and 'member berries to keep me from waking up. Speaking of which: 'member when movies were good?