This week, we might finally have found the person who might knock Avengers: Infinity War off top spot, and it isn’t a talking dog or Diane Keaton.
1. Deadpool 2 (Fox, 4,349 Theaters, 119 Minutes, Rated R for strong violence and language throughout, sexual references and brief drug material, Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer at press time: 84% Fresh [184 Reviews]): It seems hard to believe that just three years ago, this property was toxic. It was mangled so much that it seemed that there would never be a film. One leaked test footage led to one hit film and her we are in sequelville.
Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) must protect a young mutant (Julian Dennison) from a time-travelling commando from the future named Cable (Josh Brolin). This turns out to be more than just a one man job, so Deadpool must create X-Force to fight by his side.
The first film caught a lot of people by surprise. This one won’t have that going for it. Let’s see if it’s got what it takes to be better than the original.
2. Show Dogs (Global Road, 3,145 Theaters, 92 Minutes, Rated PG for suggestive and rude humor, language and some action, Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer at press time: 33% Fresh [12 Reviews]): Here’s a secret that Hollywood has stumbled upon that you might not know: kids love dogs. And if you can make those dogs talk, even better. You don’t even need things like a good script, sensible plot, funny jokes or adequate acting—just the talking dogs.
Any parent will have had to suffer through some completely awful talking animal films. Your kids are probably begging to be taken to see this one. I know mine is. But we have to be strong. Our kids deserve quality films, or at least films where the adults don’t want to yell obscenities at the screen.
This film focuses on a police dog who must go undercover at a dog show to break up an animal smuggling ring. I spent half the trailer wondering if the humans could hear the animals speak, the other half wincing at the horrible jokes. Then I spent a good hour thinking of ways to talk my daughter out of wanting to see it.
3. Bo0k Club (Paramount, 2,781 Theaters, 104 Minutes, Rated PG-13 for sex-related material throughout and for language, Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer at press time: 63% Fresh [52 Reviews]): Every so often, we get a romantic comedy for the 65 and over set, usually a film starring Diane Keaton. And that’s what we have here, only she shares the screen with acting legends Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen.
The quartet are friends who participate in a book club. Things change when Fifty Shades of Grey is introduced to the club and it changes the way the ladies look at their relationships.
These women are all Oscar nominees. Three have won at least one. And the one who didn’t get an Oscar won an Emmy. These ladies could probably make a dramatic reading of Ikea instructions interesting. So this one might be worth a look.
Next week, Han goes Solo in the new releases as the summer season hits high gear.
