Sunday, February 28, 2016

"Gods of Egypt" (2016)

Starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brenton Thwaites and Gerard Butler
Written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless
Directed by Alex Proyas
Rated PG-13 — Violence
Running Time: 127 Minutes
Trailer

In a world where the Egyptian gods live among man, Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is about to be crowned king as successor to his father, Osiris (Bryan Brown). But during the coronation ceremony, Osiris' brother Set (Gerard Butler) arrives with an army, kills Osiris and claims the throne for himself. He steals Horus' eyes and begins a campaign to conquer any of the other gods who oppose his rule.

A year later, Set has conquered the entire world of man, leaving only the skies above and the afterlife. A young mortal thief, Bek (Brenton Thwaites), is convinced by his girlfriend Zaya (Courtney Eaton) to break into Set's vault to steal back Horus' eyes so Horus can lead an uprising and free the people. Unfortunately, Zaya's plan is discovered by her slave master, Urshu (Rufus Sewell) the architect from whom she steals the plans.

Zaya is killed while she and Bek escape Urshu, so when Bek tracks down Horus he makes a deal with the fallen god to get Zaya back from the afterlife in exchange for Horus' eye. Now, Horus and Bek have only a couple days to defeat Set before Zaya's soul is lost forever.

...or something.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

"Deadpool" (2016)

Starring Ryan Reynolds, TJ Miller and Morena Baccarin
Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick
Directed by Tim Miller
Rated R — Violence, language, sex/nudity
Running Time: 108 Minutes
Trailer (Red Band)

Wade Wilson ( Ryan Reynolds) is a fast-talking mercenary who likes to take on jobs where he can jerk people around. He's got a bit of a reputation for helping out underdogs and those he feels deserve help, though he'll angrily refute that if you ask him. After meeting and falling in love with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) at his friend Weasel's (TJ Miller) bar, Wade discovers he's got cancer and doesn't have long to live.

In comes a recruiter (Jed Rees) for what Wade is told is a super-secret superhero development project. But what Wade discovers too late is that he's actually just signed himself up to become a guinea pig for a mutant named Ajax (Ed Skrein) who is trying to create the ultimate super-soldiers to be sold into slavery to the highest bidder. When Ajax's experiments leave Wade able to heal from almost any wound, but hideously disabled, he breaks free and spends the next year trying to track down Ajax and get revenge for what was done to him.

All the while, Wade, now going by the name Deadpool, is hounded by Colossus (voice of Stefan Kapicic) who wants to recruit Wade into the X-Men. And Wade still has that nagging issue of being in love with Vanessa, who also hasn't gotten over Wade. He just can't stand to visit her while he's still a hideous freak. Not until he's gotten Ajax to reverse whatever was done to him... at whatever the cost.