[Deadpool] is a fun, hyper-violent, gleefully perverse frolic into the super-powered absurd, and if a sequel does end up happening I could envision a scenario where it does get the opportunity to push the sort of boundaries of good taste this origin tale only hints at trying to demolish.

Ant-Man proves to be one of the more enjoyable entries in Marvel’s so-called Cinematic Universe (MCU). Unlike Avengers: Age of Ultron, the script by Rudd, Wright, Adam McKay (The Other Guys) and Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) is beautifully self-contained, rarely utilized to set up coming events that are going to transpire inside Thor: Ragnarok or Avengers: Infinity War – Part I. It runs less than two hours, tells its own origin story and, while acknowledging the bigger comic book world it is a part of, isn’t beholden to it.

I can’t say Pitch Perfect 2 hits all the right notes, and it certainly isn’t the out-of-left-field treat its predecessor was. At the same time, Banks and her talented group of actors and filmmakers have done a nice job, composing a solid, fitfully funny operetta.

Wyrmwood doesn’t reinvent the wheel. It doesn’t shake up the zombie genre so much that it will never be the same afterwards. Yet it’s filled to the brim with indelible moments that joyfully take up space in the memory, showcases sequences of ingenuity and wit that had me rocking back and forth in my seat in total, unrestrained euphoria.

I’m not entirely sure Paddington, adapted from the works of creator Michael Bond, could be any more delightful than it actually is, the film as divine a piece of family entertainment as any I could have fantasized about. A loving homage to the source material.

As silly as it is, as dumb as the majority of the film might be, this new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, directed by Jonathan Liebesman, produced by Michael Bay, is hardly a total waste of time.

Guardians of the Galaxy takes the Marvel brand into new territories and does so with grandly entertaining brio, and even if all facets aren’t quite perfect they’re still strong enough to make this sci-fi adventure worthwhile.

a SIFF 2013 review Nothing Cheap About These Bleakly Satirical Thrills Cheap Thrills is the best movie you are likely going to be too scared to see. An eviscerating satirical assault on financial disparity and the smug, narcissistic tendencies of a seemingly uncaring elite coupled with the anything-goes neediness of a working class oftentimes willing […]

The Wolf of Wall Street showcases Martin Scorsese at the height of his cinematic powers, and as difficult as the movie can be at times, and as long as it is, this is still an uncompromising, deeply fascinating satirical black comedy I’m certain to be revisiting multiple times in the very near future.