Logan

#StokerScore 9.5/10

I know I'll probably get some stick for deducting half a mark, but hear me out first, ok? What do these characters have in common; An Egyptian posing as a Spaniard*, A British secret agent**, an Irish policeman***, a Russian submarine commander****, and a Greek king*****? Yes, The same accent, courtesy of the one and only Sean Connery.

There comes a time in your career when just being cast is what's important, not the accent that you bring with you. Connery has long been cast for his acting and his name, not his ability to drop that shtrange accshent of his.

There are countless examples of bad accents, that I'm sure I must have mentioned on here before, but there are actors who only bring their name, not an ability for mimicry. Tom Cruise is another who springs to mind for never trying different accents (with the glorious exception of Tropic Thunder)

Logan is the movie that every Wolverine fan wanted to see. It has Jackman finally being allowed to sink his claws all the way into various body parts, all in the knowledge that this Wolverine, who should be virtually immortal if you have been following the other movies, is looking his age and isn't healing.

The sunset is beckoning and references to the deaths of colleagues and watching the final scenes of the old Alan Ladd movie Shane all seem to suggest that Hugh Jackman was being honest when he said it was time to hang up the claws after nearly 20 years. 

The movie brings on a great variety of bad guys and introduces us to the lttle-girl-lost we saw in the trailers. Patrick Stewart tries to steal every scene that he's in and almost succeeds but for Logan's presence. Everything moves along at a pace that doesn't feel rushed or leave the viewer bored. Instead, it adds to the mythos and legacy that someone else has to try to fill.

I loved this movie. Everything about it, well nearly everything. There's one character that appears in this movie who was also in X-Men Apocalypse. The problem isn't the actor he's played by in either film, it's the accent the Logan version has. It's the actor's real accent and it's a perfectly reasonable accent to have, but the continuity of having the character leaving the USA and immersing himself so deeply into the Bristol area of the UK that he now sounds like a native of that area who has then gone back to Mexico, I can only assume he had had enough of the Bristolian way of life. He's just not quite at the stage of his career where I'm prepared to forgive the part/accent combination.

It's a tiny, tiny thing but mattered enough for me to take the half point....

Deadpool

#StokerScore 8/10

I've been waiting to see this movie. Not because it's a Marvel universe movie, nor even that it's a superhero movie, certainly not because it's got Ryan Reynolds in it. No I've been waiting for this because in much the same way I liked Kick Ass and Kingsman I rather like movies that don't take themselves too seriously.

With Superhero movies that can often be the case, they end up dwelling too much on the hero's angst and it has often taken away from the fun that should be inherrent in these kind of films. Marvel/Disney do seem to be doing quite a good job of rubbishing everything I just said but that's still a fairly recent development. 

Deadpool isn't a well-known character. If you'd asked most people prior to the excellent marketing for the movie to tell you anything about the character I'm sure most would have looked a little befuddled. I know the character, but not that well. I was aware he has a propensity for bad language and breaking the fourth wall whereby he often talks to the audience directly, either through the panels of a comic book or in this case through the screen. I was also aware that he knows he's a comic book character and so doesn't really take anything too seriously.

This movie used all of these character habits to a greater or lesser degree and as you can see from the score I gave it they nailed it pretty much spot on, from the irreverent opening credits to the characters behaviour. I'm also not sure that anyone other than Reynolds, who in previous movies could have been accused of egotism, arrogance and downright smarminess at times, could have played the part better.

He is at pains to remind us that he's not a hero, in fact his motives are generally rather unheroic although he obviously has his saving graces. Think Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly or better still Mel Gibson in Mad Max 2 where he ended up in a situation where by trying to help himself, he inadvertently helped others. Deadpool has similar situations thrust on him and walks the line between good and bad himself, more often than not falling onto the latter. When you realise that the character is in fact insane it's nearly akin to expecting The Joker to magnanimously do someone a favour. 

I have to admit that I wasn't expecting too much. I've seen movies well marketed before and turn out to be shockingly bad; League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to name just one, but I have to admit that I found myself laughing at a lot (you're supposed to) and with the exception of Ed Skrein's forgettable bad guy I really enjoyed it. I certainly think the immediately greenlit Deadpool 2 could potentially be even better given the name dropped at the end of this first one and, if they can find any way to link him into Fox's mutant-verse, even as a cameo, it might help Bryan Singer to rely less heavily on Wolverine for screen presence.

If you're looking to have a fun movie experience, don't mind (a lot of) bad language and can get past most of Ryan Reynolds previous movies you're in for a treat.